Exemptions

 When I was in grade school and middle school we had "exemption" days at the end of the semesters. Students who had an A in the class (and maybe a B, I don't recall) didn't have to take the semester tests. They were exempt and got to stay home for the day. Now, I was a pretty smart kid, I didn't know it then, but looking back I wasn't too dumb. Lol. It seemed that I always was exempt for all but ONE class. This meant I had to go to school for the day just to take a single test. Sigh. My poor teachers.

I still liked exemption days since it meant I didn't have to do any work and I only had to take one test.

With this in mind, I want to take a flip-side look at a topic that comes up often. We are NOT exempt from God's grace, mercy, peace, fill-in-the-blank with anything God's given us due to our caregiver status. He doesn't make promises in the Word to everyone but caregivers. We continue to have access to everything God has provided for us. But what about that flip side thing? I'm so glad you asked! :-)

Being a caregiver doesn't exempt us from life's stuff either, unfortunately. You'd think with all that we go through, we would get to skip some of the more difficult things. But no. We still age. We still get sick. Our accounts still get hacked. Many of the caregivers I talk with had their loved one's SS# hacked a couple years back and it screwed up our taxes! We should be exempt from extra stuff - aren't we already carrying enough?!? But life does indeed "go on."

I'm so glad that the Bible does not exclude us from all of God's benefits. I'm also glad to be alive even though we are not excluded or exempt from life's struggles. 

We can take a lesson from 2 Corinthians 4. When Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, he was quite possibly going through some of the darkest, most difficult of all his days. He tells the believers that we have the treasure of God's light and power - that's good news. The "bad" news is that we contain all of who God is in a broken clay pot - an "earthen vessel." Immediately after he shares this wonderful truth - he says in verse 7, we are pressed on every side. If anyone gets that it is caregivers!

But wait, there's more. Then Paul says, we are perplexed...we are hunted down (NLT). Right after Paul explains the treasure, he describes the realness of the journey. I encourage you to read this entire chapter today!! In verse 16 he reminds the believers that there is no room to give up - not because of what we are going through, but because of what God is doing in us in the midst of what we are going through.

Today, I will remind myself to just keep going. I may not be exempt from life's other struggles - but I'm not exempt from God's mercy, presence, grace, salvation, righteousness and all that He is. He still wants to be with me even in the midst of caregiving. I will trust that He is with me today and I'll trust Him for just one more day. Will you join me?

Check out one of my best-selling books - 31 Days in Psalm 31. It's a devotional taken from Psalm 31 (obviously!) - a time when David was hiding in a cave from Saul - even though he'd been anointed the next king. The social isolation of caregiving can certainly make it feel like we live in a cave but God is there with us. And that's what this 31-day devotional is all about, exploring and discovering God in the caves of life. You can get the eBook from my shop at Buy Me A Coffee. Or the print and kindle versions are available in my Amazon Shop.