Skip to main content

Caregiving is Beautiful (Mostly...)

 

Chris making good eye contact while standing

There is nothing that comes close to the beauty of caregiving. It all comes down to one person who is willing to lay down their own life and set aside their own comforts for another. That's a beautiful picture. But as caregivers, we also know that all the aspects of caregiving aren't beautiful. There are some tough things, rough times, and lots of unmentionables that go on in a typical day. Some things are too deep to talk about. Other things are not socially acceptable topics. You know, the stuff you can't talk about with the family around the dinner table. :-)

Some things we must remain silent on and just trust that God sees it all. However, I found something shocking in the Bible this morning. Well, it wasn't exactly in the Bible, but in the Strong's definition of a term used in Psalms. It covers our unmentionables. 

My reading this morning took me to Psalm 66. In verse 12, it says we went through the fire and through water - but you brought us out into abundance. (my loose paraphrase.) I was actually using the Strong's to look up "abundance." I wondered what that would mean naturally - and for me personally, too.

While I was there, I thought I'd hit fire and water. Maybe there were some unusual insights that would be enlightening. I think I blushed, actually. The fire was just fire, heat, or burning. No surprise there. But water? It's a primitive root that could be anything liquid. Anything.  Oh sure, it means water, flood, spring, or even juice. But the Strong's said by euphemism (urine) semen. I'm sure my mouth dropped open, and like I said, I'm pretty sure I blushed. As I gathered my thoughts, I came to the conclusion that this term pretty much covered it.

It covers all the icky, yucky, unmentionable parts of caregiving, including all those things we don't want to come past our lips - not even in prayer. He brings us through the waters that are too hard, too deep, can't be mentioned, and no one sees (thankfully) or understands but us and God. God has us covered in the beautiful moments, teary-eyed moments, and nitty-gritty down-and-dirty moments of caregiving.

Today, I am thankful that God never closes His eyes. He sees us. He hears our hearts break. He doesn't close His eyes...He knows. God isn't put off by our circumstances; instead, He chooses to walk through them with us, even when they get dirty. I'll turn my thoughts to His loving, watching care of my heart in all the nitty-gritty of caregiving, and I'll be grateful that He sees and knows and still chooses to hang out with me! Today - I'll focus on His desire to be near me in all things, and I'll trust Him for one more day - will you join me?

Comments

  1. Thank you for your posts. I am facing the loss of my father as he slowly begins to make his departure from this world to the next. He knows where he is going and so do I, but nonetheless, it's hard to shed the emotions from this matter of faith. I feel like God is with me through all of these steps and helping me care for both my parents in the later years. Your posts have been a companion of immense comfort during some very hard times. Your honesty and compassion are inspirational and help me accept the role that I am blessed to have taken on at this stage in my life. Thank you and God bless!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jay. I'm so sorry you're dealing with all this, but so thankful that you know God is with you through all the steps. Emotions are our natural responses and God "gets" us! Thank you for sharing a portion of your journey with us. I'm glad you've found the devotions helpful in some small way! Thank you for reading - my prayers for you and your family.

      Delete

Post a Comment

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

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

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