Skip to main content

Always On Call

Chris and his sister, Ronella

 I was reading a post on caregiver "self-care" this morning. It mentioned how we are always on call. I started thinking about that and realizing my lack of breaks of late. The lack of a break and midnight runs to the ER just don't mix. Hence, I've been out of pocket the last few days due to running behind.  Whether we are full-time caregivers or long-distance caregivers, we are always on. It's so easy for our lives to become imbalanced, and midnight runs to the hospital don't help. Lol.

No matter what our caregiving situation is, we don't get real time off. Our phones must remain on for those just-in-case moments. It can be tiring and wearing, especially on our emotions. I was praying about that this morning. Okay, so I was whining about it to God. Lol. But He listened anyway.

I realized God is always on call too. He designed it all that way. I love that He is always there, always in our here, always listening to our hearts and seeing our silent tears. Whether we are up at night monitoring temperatures and oxygen levels or find ourselves sitting all night in the ER with our loved ones, He is there. He is attentive, even to the things we cannot use words to express. And I am thankful.

We are never gonna start praying only to be greeted with an "I'm sorry, I'm out of the office until..." message. We won't get a busy signal (remember those? lol) or an answering machine. We won't even reach someone who doesn't speak our language. Actually, God knows our caregiver language quite well. He knows what our silence is saying. He hears the deepest cries of our hearts - the ones we don't even understand fully. He hears the words and emotions behind every tear - even the ones that don't escape our eyes to run down our cheeks. He even gets all the feelings that thrust out the deepest sighs. And He still doesn't take a moment off from watching over us and caring for us.

Today, I will remind my tired self that He's still got me. My thoughts will be on how somehow He continues to give me strength even after I'm sure mine ran out long ago. I'll focus on His soul-sustaining power, and trust Him for one more day. Will you join me?


                                                                                                                                           


If you enjoy these devotionals, I have others! I've expanded my bookstore on Amazon. My devotionals are available in Kindle or print format. The new Bible study guides are now available on Kindle and in print! Check out my growing bookstore: 

I also recently opened my own bookstore. I'm presently filling it up with my books - check out the ones I have available in eBook format. You can download them and read them on your phone! Dove's Fire Ministries Bookstore.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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

Seek and Ye Shall Find

 Over the last few weeks, I've been trying to strategize ways of dealing with stress. It's something we all deal with, especially caregivers. I'm walking and exercising more, which helps the body get rid of stress and it helps improve sleep to some degree. But I've also been working on training my thoughts. I've been working on purposefully finding things to be thankful for. At first, it was a bit difficult because let's face it, caregiving is hard work.  This morning, I was plugging Chris into a nebulizer for a breathing treatment as he had an asthma attack yesterday afternoon after we'd been out for a little bit. As I was doing his treatment and his tube feeding, I didn't even really think about it; this "thought" just rolled up out of me. I thought, thank you, Lord, for carrying us through the long night. My own thankfulness surprised me! Lol. I realized at that moment that it's getting easier and easier to be thankful, even for the litt