Daily Devotions for Caregivers

  Philippians is an interesting New Testament book. Paul wrote it to the new believers while he was sitting in a jail cell. His future was uncertain on this earth, but his heart was grounded in the truth of God's word. He made some very strong statements to the church at Philippi. In fact, he started in the first chapter. In verse 6, Paul says, He who began a good work in you will complete it.  That's a pretty bold statement for someone spending his days and nights in a prison cell awaiting his fate. What a great representation of how faith works, though, right? But he gets more extreme in chapter 2, because he reminds Christians to do all things without complaining. Really, Paul? Do you know my circumstances? Do you know my struggle? Of course, he does not - but he knew his own. He also knew how his own heart longed to be out traveling, establishing churches, and encouraging believers. Yet, here he was spending his time locked up. So he chose to write...and not complain. See,...

In the Old Testament, Gentiles were outcasts. There was a "Court of the Gentiles" in the temple plans, but they could never go into the inner courts. Just because they were not Jewish - they were Gentile. It could be easy to think that we are the outcasts and rejected based on something we cannot control, right? Seems like prejudice at its best. Lol. Of course, Paul mentioned in Galatians 3 that we are all in Christ,  and there is no more separation of the Jew and the Gentile - we now belong to the same class - we are HIS! But in the Old Testament, the dividing wall (Ephesians 2:14-19) had not been torn down and the Gentiles were separated. However, I notice this interesting trend. Every so often, maybe God forgot or something, but He included us in the promise. I've got two examples. Isaiah 60:1-3. God is prophesying through Isaiah, the prophet. He is really talking about the coming of the Messiah, Jesus. The light has come! Even in the midst of the earth's darkness,...

 I'm trying to stay off social media for the most part, except for the posts that I need to make. It's volatile and toxic, to say the least, and there's no such thing as a reasonable discussion. So, I'm mostly taking a break. But this morning, I had to post the link to this blog and a couple of other things, so I scrolled my FaceBook feed for just a minute.  There was a story of a police officer who had been in his patrol car during the recent tornado outbreak across the eastern US. The twister picked the police car up with him inside. Twisted it around and spit it out a way down the road. Scary ordeal, by any measure. The posting party stated that the officer suffered some very significant injuries and that he had quite the road to recovery. Then they said, " God was with him." I know they meant this in a grateful way and that the man was spared because God was with him.   But it kinda set off a bunch of questions for me. Firstly, if God was with him (and of ...

 Stress for caregivers can't be measured, leveraged, or turned off. I don't think anyone will argue that caregivers live stressful lives. In fact, my own stress was the reason I started this blog 15 years ago. I started out just writing what I needed to hear. And here we are!  Caregiver stress can lead to burnout if we don't manage it. But that's no small task.  As believers, we know how to soothe our spirit. I have my go-to verses that I lean on and put at the forefront of my mind every single day. I may sit at the piano and sing the verses to make sure they are tucked into my heart. Or I might use them to write a new tune while I strum my guitar. I memorize scriptures and meditate on them. The word has definitely been what has gotten me through some of the roughest passages and darkest nights. Here are a few that I find myself running to over and over again. Psalm 46:1 - God is our refuge and strength, a very present help  in times of trouble. Isaiah 43: 1-3 - God ...

 During my personal devotions this morning, I continued reading in Nehemiah. I am always amazed at how blatantly evil some people can be. Nehemiah has a heart to rebuild Jerusalem. As he is working, evil people begin to say things to him solely for the purpose of discouraging him from continuing the work.  In Nehemiah 2:10, Sanballat and Tobiah were deeply disturbed  when they heard someone had come wanting to do good. How messed up is that? In the first verse of chapter 4, Sanballat and Tobiah become furious and indignant just because Nehemiah was rebuilding the wall. They started mocking the workers and making fun of their work. They laughed at them. In verse 8 of chapter 4, it says they tried to create confusion.  How crazy is all that? And basically, all for nothing except to create fear, confusion, doubt, and discouragement.  Doesn't that sound a LOT like the enemy of our souls? I don't know about you, but I know me - and I have tons, thousands of questions...

 One of the things caregivers have to deal with is feeling separated. We can feel separated from family and friends, our job, and just a "normal" lifestyle since ours is so different than the norm. Our lives don't revolve around regular things like our jobs, hobbies, or family. Instead, everything, literally everything,  revolves around our loved ones and what is best for them! It's "okay" since it's our choice. But we can feel so separated from life in general that it wears on our souls. Separated. That's the term I thought of as I was reading Nehemiah this morning. He was the cupbearer for King in Persia during the time that the Jews were in exile. In Chapter 1, he asks how the Jews who had escaped captivity and survived were doing. He also asked how the holy city, his beloved Jerusalem, was faring. When the messenger stated that the wall around Jerusalem had been broken down and its gates burned, Nehemiah was overcome with grief. In verse 4, Nehem...