Daily Devotions for Caregivers

  Do you ever just feel alone? Not just a little bit lonely either. That gut-gnawing aloneness that digs deeply at your soul. And sure, we know  we are not alone. God is with us. We get that. We understand that. But there are times when our souls sink into the mire of aloneness and it's difficult to climb back out. Here in Oklahoma, we have this nasty, red, clay-like "dirt." If it gets wet, it gets so slick that you can't walk in it. If there is any slant to the ground at all, you may find yourself covered head to toe in muck, trying to get out of it. Lol. It can be quite the sight and quite the difficult situation. Sometimes, aloneness swallows us whole and it's like trying to get out of the mucky, wet clay pit. We just keep sliding back emotionally. It can feel like you're not making any progress at all, just getting sucked into a pit. Ever feel that way? If we think about it for a few minutes, there are a lot of emotional caverns that can suck the life out ...

 I'm an honest person, and I'll be the first to tell you that my responses are not always that great. In fact, I fail in that area a LOT! My first response is pretty much to freak out. Then, when I think it all through and finally pray, I'll act a little better.  Maybe, just maybe, I've gotten a little better over the last nearly 18 years of caregiving.  When we are thrust into crazy situations, our responses can be hectic, unpredictable, and extreme. Once we walk it out a little bit, some of the craziness of caregiving becomes normal to us. That's sad, right? LOL. But I think we don't tend to freak out quite as fast as we think it through and develop a solution. That's because caregivers are awesome problem solvers and critical thinkers. The nature of what we do demands it.  This week, I've been exploring some responses in the Bible. First, I looked at the Children of Israel. God comes in with His strong arm and rescues them out of bondage. As they jour...

 We are still slowly moving through Isaiah 49. When I find something in the scriptures that really speaks to me, I just camp there. This chapter is so full of God's passionate pursuit of us. It's loaded with His compassion and comfort. Right here in the middle of the Old Testament! Imagine that.  Today, I am focusing on verse 13. In the NLT, it says Sing for joy, O heavens! Rejoice, O earth! Burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted  His people and will have compassion  on them in their sorrow.   Several things stand out to me in this verse. First, I love the full-spectrum command for all of creation to respond. Why? Because God has comforted His people and had compassion on them. But not just compassion. He shows compassion to them in their sorrow. I love that because you almost can't have caregiving without some level of grief.  We may be watching our loved one fade slowly away day after day. Or we may suffer the "loss" of our loved one who...

 It's easy for life to feel like a wilderness. I will say that my mental image and definition of a wilderness changed when I used to hike the Kistachie National Forest wilderness areas. I thought it was going to be barren, dry, and empty. I was surprised to find it natural, full, and living. Wilderness doesn't mean there is nothing there.  A quick look at the online dictionary reveals wilderness to mean: uncultivated, uninhabited, and inhospitable. Yup. That's about right. At least the 7-mile trail I loved to hike was that way! It had abundant plants, animals, and beautiful natural features to enjoy. But it was a rough hike filled with climbing, sliding, and crossing small waterways. It was the challenge that drew me to hike it over and over again! In Isaiah 49:11, God tells Isaiah that He will make mountains into level paths... and that He'll raise the highways above the valleys. Sounds like to me that He's going to smooth out the path in the wilderness.  What I no...

We do what we do out of genuine love. Caring for our loved ones is our number one priority. It's so easy for us to get lost in the process, which means that as caregivers, we deal with social isolation. The loss of our social life can weigh heavily on us, even if we can get out and about some; there are times we feel imprisoned by our circumstances. Personally, I've missed weddings to funerals, and everything in between, because of caregiving duties and a lack of help. I'm not complaining, just stating the facts. That's why this phrase in Isaiah 49:9 grabbed my attention. This chapter is Isaiah's commission from the Lord. God is giving him instructions and explaining the mission. Part of this mission is to tell the prisoners of darkness to come out into freedom. (NLT) As I read that phrase, prisoners of darkness  I felt like I could relate on some level. Of course, this is talking about stepping from darkness into the light and the basics of salvation. (IMO) But on ...

 We don't always get answers to our questions, do we? It's impossible for us to understand why some things happen or why they happened a certain way. Just because there are unanswered questions running around in our minds, it doesn't mean God hasn't responded. Maybe He didn't respond like we thought He would, or with the response we thought we were going to get. In Isaiah 49:8, God tells the prophet, I will respond to you. He goes on to say, I will help you. If I'm totally honest, God's help, which I am very thankful for, doesn't look like what I expected or desired. David understood that God was his help.  In Psalm 121, he declares,  " My help comes from the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth!   Isaiah and David both knew the source of help. But it can certainly look different for each of us. It can even look different from one day to the next.  As caregivers, there is a lot on our proverbial plates. We have to wear many hats. We are caregive...