Daily Devotions for Caregivers

It's so easy to feel like our circumstances rule our emotions. Personally, when my son is doing well, I handle things better. When he has a rough day, my day becomes rough. I'm the first to admit that everything in this household runs around him and his care, mostly because he is total care. I live my days walking on emotionally thin ice, praying nothing breaks.  I've even "bragged" before about being able to go from the mountain to the valley in less than 3 seconds! That's fast. LOL. But it happens. Paul had that opportunity, too, I assume. A quick run-through of 2 Corinthians 11 reveals that he was beaten, stoned, and left for dead, faced dangers on every side, was shipwrecked three times, and drifted out at sea for days. If anyone had an excuse to just give up and sit down, it would be Paul.  As caregivers, we can understand what it is like to have our worlds stripped away. We all face it on some level. Paul could have felt sorry for himself. He could have ...

Does it ever feel like life is broken? I have those days when everything feels broken. It can be in one specific area or (usually) several areas. Everything seems like it's out of place, and nothing is working or going like it should. It's exasperating, physically, mentally, and emotionally.  I mention being in the crucible of life a lot, maybe because I feel like I'm there A LOT! It feels like life is just pressing in and pressing the life out of me sometimes. But even in this "broken" state - I know God has me and I am not broken. Being broken before God doesn't mean we are broken. We may be brokenhearted and poor in spirit,  meaning we are very familiar with our deeply intense need for Him. That's the opposite of being broken... it just means we are smart enough to figure out in our brokenness, we need Him more than anything.  I love that God made it clear in the Word that He is with us when we feel broken. Psalm 34:18 says that He is near the brokenhea...

I made it to Nehemiah 2! The story just fascinates me. I love Nehemiah's dedication to rebuilding the walls, even though it looked impossible. He was faced with a huge chore, plus physical enemies who tried to talk him out of it and tried to discourage him on every side.  In Nehemiah 2:14-18, it talks about Nehemiah surveying the walls. In one area, the rubble was piled such that even his donkey couldn't navigate through it. Donkeys are classic pack animals. They are some of the oldest domesticated animals used to transport goods. This was partly due to their ability to carry heavy loads across difficult terrain. Yet, the wall was in such disrepair that his donkey couldn't walk across it. That's some major destruction! If I'm honest, and I usually am, there are times when I feel like my emotions are broken beyond repair. Emotions can be difficult to manage, and even harder to explain. But the difficulty of navigating heaps of rubble didn't stop Nehemiah. He was ...

  I've spent quite a bit of time in Nehemiah the last year or so. I taught a class via Zoom in Pakistan, and we went through the entire book. I am currently turning all those notes into a study guide. Hopefully, I'll make better progress on it and get it done soon!  I didn't realize how full of prophetic action Nehemiah is. Intriguing as that is, it's not usually that that draws me back over and over. I also used Nehemiah for my leadership conferences. It's such a great book for all of us, and for leaders. It works for leadership, and that's why I included Nehemiah in the four men studied in Making of a Leader. So, this morning, I found myself going back through Nehemiah. Honestly, I looked at the first page of the book and thought, why isn't this more marked up? lol. As my eyes ran back over chapter 1, a phrase jumped out at me. It's in verse 9. It is in Nehemiah's prayer, and he says,  even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring y...

I make a lot of promises, mostly to myself. One promise I make is every night as I am lying down, I promise tomorrow I'll work harder. I'll do better. Another frequent promise I've been making to myself is to talk kinder to ME! Yesterday, I was encouraging Chris as I was transfering him from bed to chair. I wondered if I could say those things to myself.  Good job! Way to try! I've got you! Negative self-talk is so destructive, but it seems to go with the territory. I don't know why. Perhaps because we are in a constant state of overwhelm. Maybe because we feel inadequate. Or maybe it's because no matter how much we do, we never feel we've accomplished it all. Who knows? So, this morning I was looking for some positives to speak to my soul. I found a whole list of things in Isaiah 49. I think sometime last year I did a series of sorts on these points. But this morning, I wanted to string them all together to encourage myself and you, too! This seems to be pa...

 This week, I re-explored the story of the 3 Hebrew Children. The king had set up an idol and demanded that everyone bow down to it when they heard the music start. Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah refused to bow to any god but God. The king threatened to throw them into a fiery furnace, which would mean sure death. They still refused to bow. I love their faith statement. Our God is able to deliver us, they said. But if He doesn't, we still won't bow. They must have had some doubt that God was going to come riding in on His proverbial white horse to deliver them. But they were resolute. Even if...  they would not bow! I wonder what they thought as the day began to unfold. God didn't come before the ropes were tightly secured around their hands. Maybe they looked toward heaven and asked, Are you coming now? No sign yet. They were led toward the furnace, which was being heated up 7 times more than normal, to represent the king's anger toward them.    Just before they get...