I Love You O Lord My Strength

As you know, I love the psalms, and I've been studying them looking at them from a somewhat different angle. As I read them, I'm thinking of how David was both a psalmist and a warrior. This has been an interesting study and I've learned a lot. I am making a bit of progress on the project. Hopefully, I'll have something together on it soon and can share it with everyone.

Last night I was looking over my notes and my attention was drawn to Psalm 18. I've always liked this particular psalm, but what I noticed last night was the difference in David in the first few verses and some of the latter verses. He starts out with that psalmist heart by (in my mind) singing - I love you O Lord my strength! And by verse 40 he's talking about smashing the enemy. Now, I realize throughout this psalm, and many others, David gives credit to the Lord for strengthening him for the battle. David says that God taught his hands to war, and that by God's strength he could run through a troop and leap over a wall. This warrior attributes his victories to the Lord.

In my mind, David cleans the blood off his sword, then picks up his harp and sings about how his God led him to victory. In this psalm, though, David starts out with what I interpret as a softness... singing about his love of the Lord. I love You O Lord my strength.... right before he smashes the enemy.

I think as caregivers we can relate. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God strengthens us for this walk. It is He who carries us through the darkest, roughest times. We can sing I love You O Lord my strength! And mean it. Those tender moments we have with Him can be what carries us through the tougher moments. We can relate to David when he says the Lord teaches him to war. Or when he says You've strengthened my hands for battle. We know that's true.

One minute we are singing His praises and the next we may be in an altercation with the agency that sends the aides. We can be praising Him and then have to tend to the baser needs of our loved ones. It's those tender moments with Him that carry us through the tougher spots we face. Because I love Him I don't want to walk through anything without Him. I need Him to strengthen me to face the day, and I have to get up-close-and-personal for Him to do that.

Today I will rejoice that He gives me the strength for this walk. I'll thank Him for walking it with me and for empowering me to continue walking with Him. My thoughts will be on how He smashes my enemy (fill-in-the-blank... depression, discouragement, exhaustion...). I'll meditate on His strength and how it is strong in my weakness. And I will rely on and trust Him for one more day. Will you join me?

Ups and Downs

Maybe it's just "that time of year" for me, but I've struggled a lot the last few weeks. I still affectionately call it the caregiver's fog. Lol. Okay, maybe it's not-so-affectionately. I know I can share my true feelings with you guys because you get it. You understand the day-to-day grind of caregiving. The military has a saying about there being no easy day. I think we live in that reality. It's just not easy caring for another whole person, is it? Caregiving presents many difficulties. We can find ourselves alone, so very alone on this journey. It doesn't just go away. We don't just work through it. It seems to go on and on. There are lots of ups and downs - and that can be about every 90 seconds some days. Right? (smile!) As I've been working through this emotional maze the last few days, I turned my thoughts to Daniel. Let's take a realistic look at his circumstances because as we read his story in the Bible, we tend to glamorize i

Seasons Are Temporary

This morning, I found myself reading in Isaiah 28. I ended up there because I was looking for something in particular, and even though I didn't find what I was looking for, I found what I needed. God's so cool like that, isn't He? My eyes first fell on verse 29, which says in the NKJ: This also comes from the Lord of hosts, Who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance. I rolled that over in my mind and heart a few times and spent a few minutes thinking about how I'd seen His counsel in action in my own life. We've all had those times when we weren't sure what to do or where to go, and suddenly, an idea drops into our thoughts. There are many ways He provides direction for us. He may direct our steps through a passage of scripture, a trusted spiritual leader such as a pastor, a YouTube teacher, and maybe even a lowly blog writer. Lol. No matter how He chooses to deliver His counsel, it comes - but we must listen. After I had rolled these thoughts and t

The Practical Side of Caregiving

This week, I've been reading the book of Acts. I am enjoying the journey of the early church. Can you imagine what it would be like if your church saw 5000 people saved in a day? Mass chaos would ensue as leadership tried to figure out how to serve that many people! It'd be great and difficult at the same time - kind of like caregiving. Lol. But yesterday, I got stuck in Acts 9 thinking about a practical caregiving issue. In verse 32, we read that Peter was traveling around and encouraging all the new believers. He came to the town of Lydda. Verse 33 says in the NLT, There he (Peter) met a man named Aeneas, who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years. Now, the next verses talk about how Peter proclaimed healing, and the man just got up! That's so amazing. But my brain got stuck on some of the practical parts. Aeneas was paralyzed and bedridden. My mind compared the situation to my son, of course, even though he's not "paralyzed." I started wondering

Daily Devotions for Caregivers

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