Is It Ever Too Late to Help Someone

My family and I took a ride to Creole Country this past weekend to spend some time with my mother-in-law.  She just celebrated a milestone of a birthday on June 18.  The weekend spent at her house was trying my patience at best.  Please don't get me wrong, I love my mother-in-law, she's a sweet person and I'd like to think at times that she's in her right mind.  I mean she raised my husband to be a spiritual, hardworking, honest and very caring man.  But there were times I just shook my head and said nobody can be this ignorant.  I'm sorry if that's a harsh word to use, but it is the truth.  She talks about things without having done the research and will argue you down if you try to correct her.  Having a conversation with her is like trying to figure out a riddle, she'll jump from one subject to the next in one sentence.

If you're in one part of the house talking about apples she'll come out of nowhere to talk about oranges.  You can tell her the correct information about something she'll take that add something else to it, and then she'll say, "I'm older than you, I know better."  If my daughter is asleep and my husband and I are whispering she'll loudly interrupt the conversation.  To which I have to shush her and remind her, sometimes more than once, "please lower your voice, the baby is trying to sleep."  

Have you ever been around someone and all they talked about was the ex-spouse owing them?  Not only that, they harp on things in the past.  Things that happened 30, 40, 50 plus years ago.  Have you ever been around someone and they start off a conversation with, "They say?"  "They say the state is 'bout to run out of food stamps," "They say they going to start making candy from wax." Instead of picking up a newspaper to read it for herself she relies on second-hand information.

I ask my husband has she always been like this?  He said no, and that the older she gets the worst she gets.  He sometimes jokes about having to get her checked out to which she adamantly replies, "I am not crazy!"

It's sad to admit, but the only highlight of the weekend was spending it away from her and instead, spending it with my husband's old college roommate and his family.  He grilled t-bones, rib-eyes, and German-styled potatoes.  His wife and I both loved wine so we drank two bottles.  My 13 month old daughter had a wonderful time playing with their daughter and the evening flowed smooth, until we came back to my mother-in-laws.

I overhead my husband telling her that she needed prayer and that he was going to anoint her by The Father, The Son and Holy Spirit.  She shouted, "I don't care about no father, son, and holy spirit!" OH-Kay, this woman has gone far enough.   She's 70 years-old, I wonder if it's too late to get her  1) Spiritual help 2)Into some GED classes 3)Out of the environment that's bringing her down with it?

My husband tries to get her to spend time away from home but it's like competing in a decathlon to get her.  First I take my husband to the airport.  He flies from Houston to Lafayette and from there he has to find someone to pick him up because my mother-in-law refuses to drive anywhere other than the town she lives in.  Once he arrives at her house he has to take her car and drive three and half hours from her house all the way to Houston.  After her week here is up, he has to drive her all the way back home then figure out how he's going to get from her house to the airport.  Then fly from Lafayette all the way back to Houston. For some strange reason she does not want to leave her car behind, even when we spend time in Lake Charles with her sister, she'll come only if someone comes to pick her up and drive her back using her own car.  Is it too late to help her?  God, I'm praying for her and I'm praying for my husband, too.  She raised five boys and my husband is the only one who will spend time with her.