Awake My Soul

 When I woke up this morning, the song "Awake My Soul" was running through my mind. Over and over the phrase, awake my soul - sing His praise out loud was playing. Even though caregiving can be hectic and we have to remain flexible, it's easy for our souls to be lulled to sleep. We are on high alert emotionally pretty much all the time, and it's normal to seek refuge for our souls. That can end up with a lot of anxiety, or it can turn out that we just feel kind of numb. We might even land somewhere in the middle. 

We find ourselves carrying so much. It's not easy to take care of another person on any level, and our emotions can wear out. We get soul tired. It's not easy to get out of that mode either. Sometimes, it would be nice to have a day off. But for many that just doesn't happen. I'm thankful to get a couple hours of respite each week, but guess how I spend it? Running errands. Ikr. Over time, we can wear down. It's not your fault. It's part of the package that comes with the life you live.

I realized this morning that I am in a soul-tired spot. Maybe the song running through my heart and mind was God encouraging me. So, I took a minute to look up the verse in Psalm 57. I had forgotten it was in that psalm as it contains one of the scriptures that's been an anchor for my soul. David started the psalm out by declaring his trust in God. The subtitle says that David wrote this psalm while he was in the cave hiding from Saul. He was in a difficult spot, even though he'd already been anointed by God to be king.

He was hiding in the back of the cave waiting on God when he penned, "Awake my soul!" In verse 7, he declared, I will sing and give praise! Right there in his dark, dank circumstances, he reminded himself to praise God. To sing praise. Maybe it's because he realized that the cave didn't change God and it didn't change what He'd said. I think we can do that too.

The caregiver's cave is all too familiar, but it doesn't change a single thing God ever said. Our circumstances don't change one promise God has made, and they don't change a single verse in the Bible. God will never say, you can just erase that one - it no longer applies. Lol. 

Today, I'll remind myself of the steadfastness of God. I will choose to praise Him for His faithfulness, for His willing presence, and for His patience with me - because that's a lot! I'll remind myself that I'm not sitting in the back of the cave alone, God is with me and He's not going anywhere. And even if my soul feels all numbed out right now - I can wake it up by praising the things about God that don't ever change. That's when peace will come and I will be able to trust Him for one more day. Will you join me?

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31 Days in Psalm 31. I found myself returning to that Psalm over and over. It brought so much encouragement and I found so many scriptures that were meditation-worthy, I decided it was a good topic. David wrote this psalm while in a cave hiding from Saul. Since much of my caregiving life feels like it's lived in a cave (we talk about the caregiver's cave a lot!), it seemed appropriate. You can get a Kindle or print version in my Amazon bookstore. Or you can download an eBook from my DFM bookstore.