Hope and a Future for This 80 Year-Old Grandpa?

That’s what I asked when I first posted this project.  Along with: Does life always get better as you get older?

And here’s why I posted the project (so many thanks to those who have responded from the beginning!):

To Let You know That:

▪ The first picture I had posted was of the night when a "bomb cyclone" wind storm brought down many huge trees throughout the Pacific Northwest region where I live and this massive one in my backyard crashed down through the roof of my townhouse apartment, and into the bed and living rooms below. 
▪ The second picture is how it looked on my patio.
▪ The third picture is of what has been a major part of my entire life: making music (like at this senior residence -- for "those old folks"; sorry my head was turned away, I didn't know the camera was going to click)!

▪ When you're "suddenly 80 years old" and even though you've worked all of your life -- with some successes and some failures, FULLY UNEXPECTED EVENTS CAN SLAM YOU . . . BIG TIME.

▪ For me, it began in 2023 when I got hit with health issues -
   ▪ Throughout ‘23 and ‘24 I had five surgeries, but I was recovering and managing well enough that I could keep working, gratefully.

How’s it All Been Going Since?

▪ Well, the damage to my apartment home has turned out to be almost just a minor happening . . . 
▪ Because all my life belongings, including musical instruments and music I have written/recorded as well as all of the tools I've used in contracting work, had to go into storage units — and I had to move out; 
▪ And the months since have been extremely challenging as I've navigated-life-in-limbo - 
▪ Two things have harmed and distressed me greatly — and for this grandpa, this has meant loss, chaos, upheaval, and pain (physical and emotional) taking completely over my life;
    ▪ With work equipment locked in storage, I’ve not been able to keep working and earning income; gratefully, I do receive a small monthly Social Security check -- but that mostly goes to pay for the storage units, car insurance (thankfully, my 2010 Ford Escape which I bought from a client some years ago is completely paid off), cel phone and email accounts, and living/gas/food/etc) . . . but, also, I’m unable to get enough money together to find another place to live and unpack my life now;
    ▪ And then, this past July, I had to face another challenge head-on — a shoulder replacement surgery which has put me in and out of hospital ER medical treatment at least 12 times because of what the surgery triggered in me (blood clots, disorientation, vertigo, edema, along with physical therapy to recover full use of the arm).

But, Well, Now I’m “One of Those” That Other People Point Out:

    ▪ Who are they?  The “Homeless” . . . who sometimes land at a friend’s place, sometimes can get a small room in a hotel or motel if someone gifts it for me or I can save up enough money;
    ▪ But the place that most people (maybe you too?) don’t notice is all the places in our society where one can "camp" in their vehicle at night — and that’s where I’ve landed nights most of the time since last summer (yes, even the weeks after shoulder surgery);
    ▪ Go ahead, imagine your life this way . . . go ahead, you try “living” that way: “the big wide world is your living room, the library is your office, your car is your bed/dining room(s), and your bathroom is an out-of-the-way-tucked-down-a-back-hallway-at-the-local-hospital place where you can clean up with no one probably noticing”;
    ▪ So, yes, that is the way I “live” my life these days and I’ve gotten clever enough that probably no one would even guess;
▪ Yeah, go ahead, imagine your life this way.

▪ And that all gets really hard when you also withdraw from others (including my two adult married daughters and a 12-year-old GrandBoy I'm not having a life with as he's quickly growing up!) because where once I had a heart-flame that gave energy and focus, now there's just a blank . . . now there's the pain of having to admit how badly I failed throughout my life to do better financial planning;

So, to Any of You Good Folk Who Might Be Reading This:

▪ Right now I have no idea how or where I will ever have a place to unpack my life's belongings and set up "home" again.  

▪ The only hope I have about past, present and future is in God's promises and those people who've been in my life along the way.
▪ I've walked with Jesus since my childhood -- the connection which has been the constant thread through my very turbulent journey.
▪ Which means that I am more and more becoming confident that the answer to the question "Does life always get better as you get older?" is:  "No, not necessarily in how this world teaches us to think about things," but "Yes, what Abba Father has for us is always better for our lives as He unfolds His story for us"! 

Posting My Need on this Website Is about:

▪ My hope that God's promise that He provides for his children's needs will prove still true for me.
▪ Where you come into this story: 
   ▪ That you may be one who is willing to be an encouragement and helper for me right now. 
   ▪ Like the website puts it: Your support isn’t just about financial aid (even as desperately as I would welcome that), but it represents shared dreams and promises kept in these difficult times. Every dollar given counts because each one reaffirms God’s faithfulness to keep providing through each of us for all of the others of us.
   ▪ My hope that you will be willing to help me on my path toward reestablishing normalcy and stability in my world.
   ▪ To challenge those who come across this posting to examine what you believe about what a person's quality of life after 80 years of age is like: Do you simply buy-in to this world's ideas, or do you understand that for the Creator of life what a person's life is like after 80 is merely the last chapter of the upward journey from this planet into Eternity.

Thank you so very much for taking the time and having the interest to read through this posting. If you decide to share financially with me, I am most grateful. And, please, if you decide to share this posting with others you know and encourage them to help, that would be most kind.

-- To those who have already helped, many, many thanks.

Blessings / Nels