Daily Devotions for Caregivers

  Philippians is an interesting New Testament book. Paul wrote it to the new believers while he was sitting in a jail cell. His future was uncertain on this earth, but his heart was grounded in the truth of God's word. He made some very strong statements to the church at Philippi. In fact, he started in the first chapter. In verse 6, Paul says, He who began a good work in you will complete it.  That's a pretty bold statement for someone spending his days and nights in a prison cell awaiting his fate. What a great representation of how faith works, though, right? But he gets more extreme in chapter 2, because he reminds Christians to do all things without complaining. Really, Paul? Do you know my circumstances? Do you know my struggle? Of course, he does not - but he knew his own. He also knew how his own heart longed to be out traveling, establishing churches, and encouraging believers. Yet, here he was spending his time locked up. So he chose to write...and not complain. See,...

In the Old Testament, Gentiles were outcasts. There was a "Court of the Gentiles" in the temple plans, but they could never go into the inner courts. Just because they were not Jewish - they were Gentile. It could be easy to think that we are the outcasts and rejected based on something we cannot control, right? Seems like prejudice at its best. Lol. Of course, Paul mentioned in Galatians 3 that we are all in Christ,  and there is no more separation of the Jew and the Gentile - we now belong to the same class - we are HIS! But in the Old Testament, the dividing wall (Ephesians 2:14-19) had not been torn down and the Gentiles were separated. However, I notice this interesting trend. Every so often, maybe God forgot or something, but He included us in the promise. I've got two examples. Isaiah 60:1-3. God is prophesying through Isaiah, the prophet. He is really talking about the coming of the Messiah, Jesus. The light has come! Even in the midst of the earth's darkness,...

 I'm trying to stay off social media for the most part, except for the posts that I need to make. It's volatile and toxic, to say the least, and there's no such thing as a reasonable discussion. So, I'm mostly taking a break. But this morning, I had to post the link to this blog and a couple of other things, so I scrolled my FaceBook feed for just a minute.  There was a story of a police officer who had been in his patrol car during the recent tornado outbreak across the eastern US. The twister picked the police car up with him inside. Twisted it around and spit it out a way down the road. Scary ordeal, by any measure. The posting party stated that the officer suffered some very significant injuries and that he had quite the road to recovery. Then they said, " God was with him." I know they meant this in a grateful way and that the man was spared because God was with him.   But it kinda set off a bunch of questions for me. Firstly, if God was with him (and of ...

 Stress for caregivers can't be measured, leveraged, or turned off. I don't think anyone will argue that caregivers live stressful lives. In fact, my own stress was the reason I started this blog 15 years ago. I started out just writing what I needed to hear. And here we are!  Caregiver stress can lead to burnout if we don't manage it. But that's no small task.  As believers, we know how to soothe our spirit. I have my go-to verses that I lean on and put at the forefront of my mind every single day. I may sit at the piano and sing the verses to make sure they are tucked into my heart. Or I might use them to write a new tune while I strum my guitar. I memorize scriptures and meditate on them. The word has definitely been what has gotten me through some of the roughest passages and darkest nights. Here are a few that I find myself running to over and over again. Psalm 46:1 - God is our refuge and strength, a very present help  in times of trouble. Isaiah 43: 1-3 - God ...

 During my personal devotions this morning, I continued reading in Nehemiah. I am always amazed at how blatantly evil some people can be. Nehemiah has a heart to rebuild Jerusalem. As he is working, evil people begin to say things to him solely for the purpose of discouraging him from continuing the work.  In Nehemiah 2:10, Sanballat and Tobiah were deeply disturbed  when they heard someone had come wanting to do good. How messed up is that? In the first verse of chapter 4, Sanballat and Tobiah become furious and indignant just because Nehemiah was rebuilding the wall. They started mocking the workers and making fun of their work. They laughed at them. In verse 8 of chapter 4, it says they tried to create confusion.  How crazy is all that? And basically, all for nothing except to create fear, confusion, doubt, and discouragement.  Doesn't that sound a LOT like the enemy of our souls? I don't know about you, but I know me - and I have tons, thousands of questions...

 One of the things caregivers have to deal with is feeling separated. We can feel separated from family and friends, our job, and just a "normal" lifestyle since ours is so different than the norm. Our lives don't revolve around regular things like our jobs, hobbies, or family. Instead, everything, literally everything,  revolves around our loved ones and what is best for them! It's "okay" since it's our choice. But we can feel so separated from life in general that it wears on our souls. Separated. That's the term I thought of as I was reading Nehemiah this morning. He was the cupbearer for King in Persia during the time that the Jews were in exile. In Chapter 1, he asks how the Jews who had escaped captivity and survived were doing. He also asked how the holy city, his beloved Jerusalem, was faring. When the messenger stated that the wall around Jerusalem had been broken down and its gates burned, Nehemiah was overcome with grief. In verse 4, Nehem...

Did you notice that "rest" is a four-letter word? I usually laugh when someone tells me I need to rest. And sleep! What is that? Rest can go a lot deeper than just sitting down for a couple of minutes or taking a nap. In Matthew 11:28-29, Jesus invited weary souls to come to Him and find rest. He first says in verse 28 that He gives  rest. Then in verse 29, He specifically says that in Him we will find rest for our souls.  Hebrews 4:9 reminds us that God's people are promised rest. Our real work is to figure out how to rest in Him. We know He is our hiding place, our refuge, our shield, and our rock. Not one of these are a "place" in the natural that we go to physically. So, there must be more!  There must be a place in Him where our souls can find rest, even if we don't physically rest. Jeremiah 31:25 gives us God's promise that He will satisfy the weary soul and He will replenish the sorrowful soul. (That's my new favorite scripture for today!)  I...

  I'm pretty sure most of us didn't grow up with aspirations of being caregivers. We certainly didn't know our life's journey would take so many twists and turns. But here we are. For each of us, our caregiving journey is different, but most of us started out at zero. We didn't know what to do or how to do it.  When I first brought my son home, I was so nervous and afraid I would hurt him. I'd literally get sick to my stomach each time I had to transfer him. I had seen people transfer him, and I finally had a bit of training when he was in therapy for a couple of weeks just before I brought him home. But I was still scared. It was the deep unknown for me!  It wasn't much easier when I first started transitioning him to a blenderized diet. I had only known formula, but I decided to give it a try. Fearfully. Cautiously. It was certainly the unknown. Our whole journey is about walking into the unknown. We probably do it a lot more than we realize at this point....

 Days run so short, and time runs out at the end of them. It is so easy to feel like there is not enough time in the day. Not enough resources. Not enough help. Not enough money. Not enough friends. That's just the beginning, sometimes. Maybe it's just me, but I have a feeling I'm not alone. It can feel like there's not enough of a lot of things. I've been thinking about this for the last few days and just feeling inadequate. Of course, I figure much of it is my own fault because I've taken on a few things, like opportunities to share God's word. How dare I take on something I can actually enjoy! (sarcasm alert) Even though I'm being a bit silly, the feelings are real. Over the last week or so, I've been working on reorganizing life. Chris has made some improvements, but that means more therapy, more time in the standing frame, and more adjustments to our already too-tight schedule. (What schedule! Lol)  As caregivers, we become good jugglers . Or ma...

What do you do on those days when it seems like everything starts at the bottom and goes downhill from there? Ever have those kinds of days? Maybe it's just me. After having one yesterday, I was hoping for today to be a bit less hectic. Sometimes, we know some things need to change, but when there's so much on our plates, where do we start? What do we do? How will we get our "it" all done? *shrug* That's kind of where I was this morning as I opened my Bible and tried to sound sensible when I prayed. Lol. I don't know if I succeeded, but I know He has answered. :-) It's so easy to feel stuck in circumstances that vary for all of us. Change is not easy in "normal" life, but can be much more complicated for caregivers. I was so overwhelmed, I wasn't even sure where to start reading in my Bible this morning. I ended up opening it to Lamentations 3 to remind myself that His mercies had refreshed for me this  morning, my right now  morning. Then I ...

  To say we are overwhelmed is such an understatement. The whole world is overwhelmed and inundated with information available 24/7. Living in the Age of Information has a lot of upsides. But it also has a lot of downsides. I think we can safely say that the vast majority of people are living on overload and overwhelm. Even if I am wrong - I know I am living in a state of overwhelm and overload.  This morning, I was reading Psalm 61.  David prayed,  When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I.   If David's heart could be overwhelmed back then without the internet, without the online social (sometimes toxic) interactions, without phones, etc, how much easier is it for us to be overwhelmed in a world that is always on?   But here's the thing. David knew where to go. He went straight for the heart of God and prayed for God to lead him right back to the Rock even in those moments of overwhelm, misunderstanding, overload, and anything...

 When I was a teacher, we were allowed PTO (personal time off). Many companies have this perk. It means you don't have to tell anyone why you want off for the day - you can take the day off and still get paid. I really didn't use it often because I'm a little bit of a workaholic, and I LOVED my job!  This weekend, I got hit with several things all at once. It seemed like overwhelm wanted to suck my soul into that dark vacuum of depression. Honestly, I just wanted to breathe a little bit. I wanted to get out for a day, an hour, a minute! So, I started thinking of how I used to have PTO. I kind of missed it for a little bit. :-) Sometimes, there isn't a break, right? Even if we have a sitter or make other accommodations, we are never really "off" because we have to be available. I was praying about all that and asking God to lead me to someone (or He could just bring them here and drop them off for me!) that I could trust leaving my son with. I don't mind pa...