Daily Devotions for Caregivers

 I love reading the Bible. There's no doubt about that. It's been my habit since I was about 13, and I decided I needed to know what I believed. I had started going to a denomination different from the one I was raised in, and I didn't want to spend my time saying this person or that person, or my mama says this or that. I needed to know what God said for myself. So, at the tender age of 13, I began reading on my own. What a journey of discovery it's been! One thing I love about reading the Word is how things I know I had to have read before jump off the page and become a brand-new discovery. That happened to me this morning. I was reading Psalm 119, and when I got to verse 73, it grabbed my attention and almost took my breath away. I did my Facebook Live devotion (Peace Out!) on the second part of the verse. But I want to talk about the first part right now. In the New Living Translation, verse 73 states You made me; You created me. Now give me the sense to follow your...

  One of these days, I'm going to make a list of all the tasks that have to be done every single day. Caregivers have so many responsibilities. We understand it's not simple or easy to take care of another whole person. Even our general daily tasks like laundry, cooking, and cleaning are expanded versions of what others have to do. Nothing is simple, really. Lol. On any given day, we may add to the normal craziness of things like mobile X-rays, nurse visits, and sundry other things that we have to work around. Even our easiest days are not easy, right? In the middle of all our responsibilities, chores, work, and everything else, it's easy to be distracted. Rightly so. I've been thinking about this a lot. Yesterday, I needed to pick up my grandson after school and shuttle him home, and then rush back to my apartment to meet the mobile x-ray tech. It made for a crazy afternoon, but I watched people as I was driving. It's like no one pays attention anymore. We are so b...

 Has your day ever been so busy that you just wanted to take a time out? Who am I talking to? Lol. I think every caregiver has felt that way at one time or a hundred. :-) The day can become so busy as it unravels around us. Sometimes, we just need to call a time out.  I wonder if that's what the psalmist was doing when he penned Psalm 46. He reminded himself of numerous truths, beginning with God being a very present help in times of trouble. He reminded himself to not fear in the second verse because God is still present. In verse 7 and the closing verse of this powerful psalm, he says, the God of Jakob is with us. Perhaps he was whispering it to his broken soul. Maybe he was grasping at peace. Maybe he was just taking a time out from his hectic, fearful surroundings to remind himself that God was indeed with him. One of the coolest things about Psalm 46, though, is that it changes from third person: God is here, God is with us, He is near, to first person, seemingly randomly...

 As I was reading the passage in Ephesians 6 about the armor of God this morning, a couple of phrases stood out to me. In verse 13, Paul explains the armor is needed so that after the battle,  we'll still be standing strong. The second phrase is in verse 16. Paul reminds the Christians that they will need faith in every battle. These two phrases let us know that battles (plural) are promised. Paul didn't say if we have faith, we can avoid the battle. He didn't even indicate in any way that having faith made the battles easier, faster, or smoother. As caregivers, every day can be a series of battles. Sometimes, it feels like we are simply fighting for our sanity or trying to keep ourselves together emotionally, physically, spiritually... But let me point out the obvious. We are  still standing. We are still seeking God. We are  still looking for guidance, comfort, and help in the scriptures. Are we not?  That's a win. The fact that we have not yet just given up o...

 In Exodus 20, right before God begins to give the 10 commandments, He reminds the Children of Israel that He was the God who rescued them from Egypt's slavery. They are not far into what is going to be a very long journey, but He's reminding them that they were worth the rescue. He's reminding them that He's their God, and He's going to remain with them. They have no idea about the journey ahead. Of course, they had to have some idea of how difficult it was going to be to move a mass of people across the wilderness to the Promised Land, but they didn't know what all it would entail. We know now that caregiving is hard, and maybe some of us had some sort of idea about it when we first started on our caregiving journeys. But we didn't know all those little details, did we? We could only imagine there'd be some sleepless nights, long hard days, and crazy situations we'd find ourselves in over and over again. Now that we are years into our caregiving jo...

 Some days feel so long like they are never going to end. The only short days are those rare occasions when I used to get out for a hike (been about a year now...). Those days fly by. Most days feel rather long, and I can easily feel like I come up short at the end of the day. Many nights, I fall into bed and fight thoughts of failure over all I did not  get done during the day. The good thing is that I have learned to turn those negative thoughts around. When they start trying to creep into my thought processes, I run through a quick list of what I did  get done that day. The battlefield is truly in the mind, and we are standing alone as the front line of defense. I try to think of scriptures as an available arsenal for when the enemy attacks. Over the years, I've learned to grab scriptures to stand on from time to time, and there are a few that I find myself going back to over and over again. You see them float through the pages of this blog from time to time. Scripture...

 This morning, I woke up with Psalm 23 on my mind. Last week, I was very sick and still had to take care of my son! Who knows about that? Lol. Who takes care of the caregiver when they are down? No one. I really think the few days I've been sick are the worst. However, now my son has what I had, and I would trade with him in an instant. I don't know which is worse, actually. At least I know that Tylenol covers a multitude of sins and symptoms. Lol.  This was all running through my mind early this morning as I was praying for him to be better and not take on anything secondary, which is the primary concern for those who are vulnerable. I continued to turn my thoughts into prayers when verse 4 of the 23rd psalm kept running through my head. Even though I walk through the valley of death (or the darkest valleys), I will not be afraid, for You are with me.  I began to attempt to comfort myself with these words, for You are with me. I'm so glad that God doesn't measure our v...

 I don't know any caregivers who would disagree with me if I said we live on the edge. Maybe the first question would be, on the edge of what ? I'm sure we could come up with some very interesting answers to that question! Personally, my thoughts can run along a treacherous edge, needing to always be pulled back to safer zones. And emotions can run high along a jagged edge. It doesn't take much to spill emotions out of our already, always full cup. Here's the good news, though: God is with us on all of our edges. He makes sure we can find Him. He wants to be sure we can see Him no matter what edge our lives are running on today. In Exodus 13, God has just rescued the Children of Israel from Egypt's evil clutch. He's brought them out, and they have set up camp. I'm sure their senses and emotions were all on high alert as they had just left all they were used to and headed into the unknown. But in Exodus 13:20-22, it tells us that God guided them with a pillar...

 I've heard people talk about prepping most of my adult life. Lately, it seems as though there's a lot more talk about it. There are people who also focus on trying to live "off the grid" as much as possible. Some try to live as natural of a lifestyle as they can. Me? I'm just trying to survive caregiving.  This morning, as I was planning the preparations for a huge Arctic front coming through my region, prepping was on my mind. I thought about all the effort I was taking to "prep" my apartment for the coming four frigid days, and then a scripture came to mind. In Psalm 119:11, David said that he hid God's word in his heart so he wouldn't sin against God. But I would like to expand that verse a bit. We hide His word in our hearts so that we can survive our days, right? We store up verses in our hearts on our best days so that on those tougher days, we have something to draw from, something to remind ourselves of His all-sufficient grace and new m...

Why do things happen? In some situations, we are the sum of our decisions up to that point. Other situations are thrust upon us, and we have played no role in them. And sometimes, we find ourselves in tight spots while fully walking in faith. Some would say that if we get ourselves in a tight spot, we did something  wrong. Others say that if we have faith, we can either avoid the trials and struggles or get out of them quickly. I do not find this to line up with what I see in the Bible at all. I've said before that our Bible heroes are our heroes because they faced difficult situations and circumstances through faith, not because they avoided them. There is no,  and they lived happily ever after in the Bible. Moses followed God's instructions to a T and still ended up facing the Red Sea with Pharaoh's army pressing in from behind. Daniel pleased God and still faced a den of hungry lions. For that matter, he was taken into slavery at an early age, but that did not mean he h...

 In Song of Solomon ( or Song of Songs) 2:15, the speaker says, Quick! Catch all the little foxes before they ruin the vineyard...  (NLT) The old KJV says that it is the little foxes that "spoil the vine." I'm sure this is applicable to our attitudes, thoughts, sins, and things of that nature. But as a caregiver, I've been thinking about how it can be the seemingly tiniest thing that sets the day off on a wrong course.  Our days are full of all sorts of tasks, like ordering supplies, meal planning and preparing, transfers, therapies, and the list could go on and on for most of us.  Our days are cram packed full of tasks, chores, thoughts, prayers, worries, cares, prayers, and meditations. It doesn't take much to throw a huge wrench in the mix and turn everything topsy turvy, including our emotions and thought processes. Managing the thoughts and emotions that come from a small hiccup in our day can feel enormous, even though our brain even acknowledges that it was...

 I have to say that I have not experienced "unwavering faith." Actually, it was quite the opposite in the face of trauma. When my son was injured in the wreck, I had a lot of questions. Some days, now 15 years later, I still do. Caregiving can be a life-changer, making us question our faith and sometimes everything we believe about God. I confess I have wavered in my faith - or what I had called faith. Maybe you have felt that way, too. But aren't we all still chasing God? Isn't that the root of faith? It took a few years, but I came to realize that I hadn't lost  faith. It had just been redefined. I'm okay with that. I always thought having faith would keep bad things from happening. I am not sure why since we don't find that anywhere in the Bible. I was even quick to condemn myself because life took a bad, rough, wrong, or some other kind of turn on my watch. Then, I learned that avoiding hardships didn't have anything to do with faith. Enduring hard...

Most of us have no doubt that God is with us, although our minds can come up with lots of questions sometimes. We discussed Psalm 23 yesterday, where David mentioned his realization that God was with him. We've also talked about Isaiah 43 quite a bit, where God reminds us that no matter what we go through - He is with us. And a favorite caregiver life-giving verse, one I've held onto for life, is Psalm 46, that reminds us that God is very present  in the middle of our struggles. Actually, later in Psalm 46, the psalmist states two times that God is with them. I think we can reach a general consensus that God is indeed with us. Thinking about these verses, though, brought to mind Gideon. His people were being oppressed by the Midianites, who kept stealing their livelihood. Before they could reap and process their wheat it was being stolen out from under them. Gideon, on this night in chapter 6 of Judges, is hiding and threshing out the wheat. Many think he was hiding because he ...

We've all taken something personal at one time or another. There are times when maybe something was aimed at us personally, and other times when they were not - but we still took it personally. Dealing with offense as a believer is another whole topic. Lol. But we've all done it, right? I was thinking this morning that maybe some things, at least a few things, should be taken personally. Mostly, I'm referring to passages in the Bible. Take the 23rd Psalm, for example. David starts out talking about God in the second person. The Lord is my shepherd. He makes me... He leads me... He restores me.. Even though David is acknowledging God's work in his life, he is speaking of God distantly. But when he gets to verse four, something changes. In Psalm 23:4, David makes it personal. He says, even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You  are with me; Your rod and Your staff comfort me. Now, he has shifted to speaking to God, not just abou...

Any given day can have hiccups. As caregivers, we have to learn to go with the flow, as the old saying goes. We never know what a day will bring. There are days like today when it's the seemingly smallest things that upset my apple cart. (another old saying!) I woke up behind, and I'm struggling to find some sense of order in my morning.  I'm a bit behind on a project, so I started out feeling like I am way behind schedule. That's when the juggling starts. I think, do I work on this project, or do I read my Bible? It worked out so that I could do both! But the project isn't complete. :-) Then my son wakes up, and I decide to bolus him just a bit early; maybe I can get ahead, right? Nope. Something I added to his tube feeding made it extremely thick, and before you know it, I'm cleaning up a mess. Smh. Just add water, Jeanie, just add water. His CBD tube was empty, so I had to get a new one that was wrapped so it could survive the apocalypse. (They really need to...

 Well, I woke up this morning in the same house with all the same stuff and the same vehicle sitting outside. My chores and tasks for the day look a whole lot like yesterday. I am guessing that when the clock struck midnight, nothing much changed except the date. A new year at least feels like a fresh start. Our minds and hearts get a little bit of a reset. Sometimes, we set new goals or use the new year to assess what things we may be able to change moving forward. I like a new year, even if nothing really changes initially. But the best thing about New Year's is that God didn't change a bit either. His mercies were brand new for me and you this morning, just like every other morning. Not one letter in His Word changed with the ringing in of a new year. His grace is still sufficient, and His strength is still made perfect in our weaknesses.  God is still the Good Shepherd and continues to watch over our souls without blinking! He won't sleep. He still won't grow weary ...