Daily Devotions for Caregivers

 As one year comes to an end and another begins, it's customary to look back over the last year and assess all of its ins and outs. We also tend to look forward and set new goals for the upcoming year. I've been doing some reflecting on 2023 the last few days, and it's not all bad. Every year, every month, every week, and every day can present various challenges for caregivers; there's no doubt about that. But I found us in Isaiah 25 during my personal devotions this morning. It's a prophecy being given by Isaiah, the prophet. I'm honestly not sure what it was pertaining to at the time, but I found some interesting nuggets in the reading. Isaiah starts out praising God for all He's done and for being faithful and true. That's always a good place to start because it's solid. We can continue to count on God to be there for us no matter what twists and turns our journies take.  In verse 4, Isaiah says that God has been a strength for the poor. I'd s...

 I really don't know how to dance. What I do, though, is probably not called "dancing." Lol. Lately, I've learned that moving to a good-sounding song from the 60s or 70s can provide a lot of stress release. Probably because I laugh so hard at my silly self - or the way Chris looks at me while I'm trying to dance. Lol. It's still fun. It's still a great way to naturally release energy and stress, so pull the blinds, crank up the stereo or Bluetooth speakers, and go for it! You're welcome!  Being able to express our stress is important for our physical and mental stress, and dancing is just one option. The good thing about it is I don't have to find a sitter, pay a sitter, or go anywhere in inclement weather. I can enjoy a good time and a great laugh right here in my living room where no one can see me. As I was thinking about my dance therapy discoveries of late, I thought about the dance of caregiving. No one really officially invited us to the dan...

 I just want to say that trusting God is not a new thing. This morning, I was reading in Galatians 2:20 about how the life we now live, we live by faith  in Christ. On the same page, in my Bible is Galatians 3:11, which says the just shall live by faith.   What I found interesting about that verse is that it is a quote out of the Old Testament. (Habakkuk 2:4) That sparked a long line of thoughts. Living by faith is not a new thing, then. I took a few minutes to consider some of my favorite Bible heroes. Turns out, they all  lived by faith. Each of them trusted God in the middle of their circumstances.  I thought about Abraham first. After all, he's considered the "father of our faith." He believed what God told him, and we are still reaping the spiritual benefits of his actions. I thought about Moses who trusted God enough to go get His people out of bondage in Egypt. Back further than both of these guys sits Noah. I often admire how he heard God so clearly...

 Solace is a funny word; it's a bit antiquated, as we don't hear it or use it much anymore. But this morning, in my studies, it just made sense. I was reading in 2 Thessalonians. In chapter 2, verse 16, Paul says that God has given us "everlasting consolation." I looked "consolation" up in the Strong's thinking that it may mean peace. I was going to use it for my FaceBook Live devotions, "Peace Out." I was a bit surprised that it didn't mean peace at all.  Consolation actually means solace. Well, I had to look that word up in the dictionary as I have heard it before but didn't have a good grasp of its actual meaning. It does mean comfort, which is what my initial thoughts were. But solace means a specific type of comfort - during grief. That's where I could connect with it as a caregiver. We face so many different facets and levels of grief as a caregiver. Many times, there is nowhere to put them. It took me a long time to realize I...

 This morning, I went back and reread Proverbs 18:10. What a great reminder to run to God! It says, "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe." I began to learn at an early age that I could run to God. My first lesson came when I was just 8 years old. My mom had to go to the laundry mat to dry our clothes. She couldn't use the clothesline (yes, I'm that old!) because it had been pouring rain for hours. My baby brother was in his crib sleeping, and Mama left me there with him (the '60s were great, weren't they? Lol)  She probably was only gone long enough to dry a load of clothes, but while she was gone, water got in the floor furnace and caused the flame to grow much larger than normal. To my 8-year-old eyes, it looked like the flames were going to leap out and consume us all! Lol. I was terrified and had no clue what to do. So, I gathered my little brother up in my arms. He was a tiny baby, and I took him to the living room...

 I was reading Isaiah this morning, and a verse in chapter 45 stumped me. It also pulled my attention right in. I love it when scriptures stand out, especially ones we don't quite understand! It's easy for us to read around the ones we don't understand to grab hold of what we need at the moment, isn't it? I've read verse 7 before, where Isaiah, God's prophet and spokesperson, is saying, I make peace and create calamity.  Usually, I ignore it because the thought of God creating calamity doesn't sit well with me. I know He does not make us sick. He does not send calamity on us. God doesn't pour out His wrath on His children, so I just skip that part of the verse, until today. Once I paused and thought about it - it started to make some sense to me! God does NOT make calamity for us - but He can make it for our enemies, which are not people, btw. Some examples came to mind immediately. I thought of Moses and the Children of Israel standing on the edge of th...

Have you ever heard the phrase, "ants in their pants"? It's an older term that I heard a lot, especially when I was a fidgety, squirmy kid. My teachers and parents often asked me if I had ants in my pants because I just could not sit still. It didn't matter if I was watching a movie, reading a book, or eating a meal. I wriggled and moved almost constantly. Now, we understand this to be a symptom of anxiety, but those types of issues weren't dealt with much back then. (Boy, I sound old, don't I? lol) My family still laughs about the "night I lost a good hamburger" because I couldn't sit still at the dinner table. I was about 6 years old, and none of my siblings had arrived on the family scene yet. Mama, Daddy, and I were eating hamburgers at the table in the kitchen. As usual, I was leaning back in my chair and rocking it back and forth on the back legs when all of a sudden, I leaned too far and the chair went out from under me. The chair went in ...

 This morning, I found myself stopping and meditating on a single phrase that I read in Hebrews. In chapter 12, verse 28, the writer says, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken... My short experience as an English teacher kicked in, and I thought, are receiving is present continuous. That would mean that it is right now,  and it continues to be.  The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy. (Romans 14:17) That would mean that we have a constant supply of the Kingdom of God. It's continuously feeding into our souls. That steady stream of righteousness, peace, joy, grace, mercy, etc. just keeps coming constantly. It literally never lets up. For me, that means that God is in my now no matter what my "now" looks like. He's got it covered before I get there, while I am in it, and as I'm stepping from one now moment to the next. He is in our now! God has already provided what we need for this moment and all the moments to follow. He's alrea...

 In all my devotions, here and on Facebook Live, I've talked a lot about declarations. We find them throughout the Psalms, in particular. They made declarations like, I will praise the Lord. My soul will boast in God. I will sing to the Lord. I think that is one way that David encouraged himself in the Lord. He made a declaration of what role he was going to play in his situation. That meant trusting God, praising God, and waiting on Him. But this morning, I found a different type of declaration in Psalm 66. In verse 16, the psalmist said, I will declare what He has done for my soul. This is on the heels of the psalmist listing things God had done for him. He said God has brought him through the fire and through the flood. The psalmist also said that God had tested him and refined them like silver. I was thinking maybe they were a caregiver, too. Lol. I took some time to read and reread this psalm early this morning. I think it helped me pause and look back on all the things God ha...

 Sometimes, it can seem like the silliest things affect our days. As caregivers, we carry a lot, I mean a LOT! We're providing some level of care for at least one other whole human being, and it can be taxing. It's easy for us to be tired through and through because caregiving doesn't just involve physical activity; it involves the entire person. Being physically tired is one thing. Emotionally tired is a totally different thing. When we become frazzled, the smallest things can run us down and tip us over.  As a caregiver, we kind of live on the edge all the time. Our emotional cup is full. We can feel drained physically. Anxieties can run very high. When we live in overload mode, the smallest things can be the final straw. Suddenly, just when we thought we were getting a handle on it all - it can feel like life is just slipping through our fingers, but we continue on in this foggy state. Why? We have to. The good thing is that God is always right there to pick us up, resto...

 This morning, I was thinking about what I really need. I'm sure we all have our own personalized list. Most probably include things like more money, health, friends, getting out more, or plain ole help! Our lists probably change from day to day - perhaps even moment by moment, depending on what the day throws at us, right? But ultimately, I just need to know  that God is with me.  I need to know that He's not going to bail if things get tough. See, people are actually pretty good at the time something changes. Whether that is a traumatic event, a scary diagnosis, or anything else. They offer support, which may take the form of encouragement, money, gifts, helping out, or just being with you. But once it becomes the "norm," they are long gone. Then what? We're still sitting here in the aftermath, trying to sort out what just happened and planning how to move forward...alone most times. Being alone just adds to the emotional mix.  That's why I get stuck on need...

  This morning, I found myself reading a familiar passage. Isaiah 26:3 was my mom's life verse if she had one. She had suffered a total nervous breakdown when I was born. She was immediately placed in a mental institution and told she'd never leave. I don't even know how many tranquilizers she was put on, and she was given the maximum number of shock treatments, which is what they did in 1960. God completely healed her and brought her out, and this verse became her anchor. She trusted God that she'd never have to go through that again - and she didn't! I read these verses often. Verse three reminds us that God will keep us in perfect peace  when we keep our minds on Him. The next part of the verse, which we often don't quote, says because he trusts in You. We get the benefit of God's complete, perfect, whole, and healthy peace when we keep our minds on him and trust Him with our hearts. Verse four tells us that In the Lord, we have everlasting strength. We h...

  This morning, I titled my Facebook Live devotion, "Be Still Because God is Still..." I'll share the video at the end so you can watch it. The point wasn't that God is still, as in motionless, quiet, or waiting. But we can be quiet and waiting on Him because He is still...  our peace, our refuge, our redeemer, our fill-in-the-blank! That's one thing I love about God - He doesn't change, yet He meets us where we are. That's good news for caregivers because we can be all over the place at any given time! Lol. I know that I was able to begin healing from the trauma when I realized that God had not changed and my status in the kingdom doesn't change just because our worlds get ripped out from under us, and everything seems to have fallen apart. He is still our refuge. On those days when we feel like we cannot possibly go on and it takes every ounce of strength and effort to keep putting one foot in front of the other - He is still our strength. How about ...

Sometimes, the battle in our minds is the hardest one we fight. Our thoughts can be our demise. Or, they can be "captured," reigned in, and used to equip us emotionally. Even though our lives are being lived out day-by-day in the natural and we are dealing all day long with stuff we can see, that's not our biggest battle. One stray thought can cripple me emotionally for the day and sometimes longer. But we can prepare ourselves and arm ourselves for the battlefield of our minds. Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that our battle isn't in the natural but in the spiritual realm. We can also hold on to verse 11 which indicates we can  defeat our enemies. 2 Corinthians 10:3 also reminds us that we don't war in the flesh. It also tells us that our weapons are mighty in God.  We have hope. We have victory. We are overcomers . But there is a fight, and it starts in our minds most of the time. How do we arm ourselves for this fight? The short answer is by embracing God's word....

  Have you ever just wanted to run away from all the caregiver responsibilities? I'm pretty sure most of us have wanted to at some point or another. Perhaps many have. Of course, there are times when adjustments have to be made, such as getting more help or working with outside resources to help us provide care for our loved ones. But there are those days when it is just overwhelming. I call those moments of supreme overwhelm - stare at the wall and drink coffee moments. For at least a few minutes, I don't have it in me to do anything else at all. It's in those moments of overwhelm when I want to run. The funny thing ( not haha funny either) is that I don't have the energy to run in those deep moments. But I think about it just the same. There is absolutely no condemnation for feeling that way at times. I think it's just part of the package. Our power comes from realizing we are in that state and reaching for help. My question is, which way do you run when you find ...

 I'm almost done reading the New Testament through as I started the book of Revelations this morning. I was reading in the second and third chapters about the churches. They were all promised something for overcoming their situations. Letters to each church end with the phrase, to him who overcomes. Each church was facing difficult circumstances, including persecution, temptation, false teachers, and all sorts of other things. Yet promises were made to those who would overcome their circumstances. As I was meditating on this and getting around this morning, I realized that as caregivers, we are overcoming, too. It may not always look or feel like it, right? But here we are in one of the most difficult seasons a person can face - still pursuing His heart. That, my friend, is overcoming.  Overcoming doesn't mean we never cry again, stress out again, or get all worked up with worry again. It really means that no matter how difficult, complex, confusing, or weird things get - we...

  A lot of things change in our lives when we become caregivers. Maybe you moved a loved one in with you or moved in with a parent to provide around-the-clock care. For some, the best choice is to place a loved one in a facility so they can get specialized, 24-7 care. Others may have become caregivers because of a tragic accident. Even if a caregiver gradually slides into the role, it will lead to lifestyle changes.  Plans get put on hold - or canceled. Lives get rearranged. Living arrangements adapt to current needs. You get the idea - you know first-hand! Caregiving requires different equipment, daily schedules, and many in-home changes.  In the middle of all the changes - some things are irreversible. This is a good thing. I recall standing in the Shreveport hospital lobby and realizing that God did not change even though my son had been med-flighted to their trauma unit and was lying in a bed in isolation on the 8th floor at the time. That was when something that look...

 Right before the pandemic, some stores had started delivery services. Instacart had just come on the scene, and I'd begun exploring it, mostly because of the convenience. During the pandemic, everyone shifted to include home deliveries. As a full-time caregiver, it was truly a blessing. I learned to love staying home and getting all my "stuff" delivered. It costs a small amount more, but the time it saves me is a huge benefit. I put in an order - someone brings it to my door! You can beat that kind of personalized service, right? God provides personalized delivery service, too, I found out. Don't we have different, even though similar, enemies that we need Him to deliver us from? I don't need Him to deliver me from fear if I don't have fear. Maybe I need Him to deliver me from doubt, oppression, shame, or some other emotion that is warring against my soul. The good thing is that He delivers us from them all. That means whatever it may be that you or I are dea...