Hoarding the Right Things
Have you ever seen the TV show, Hoarders? I can't watch much of it, as it breaks my heart for those involved. The storyline is pretty much the same for each episode. It centers around a person who suffered a great loss or setback of some sort. Because they are overcome with sorrow or pain, they start hoarding things. Their homes are stuffed full of things that they cannot even use or access if they wanted to. Crews and counselors come in and help them find a way to live again. It's truly heartbreaking, but each episode has a good ending!
As caregivers, we often deal with a great sense of loss. Many of us deal with living grief. That's the loss of a loved one who is still here. There was no funeral. No closure. But the person we knew is no longer with us. I can't speak for anyone else, but I can speak for myself. Living grief is a daily struggle. At one point in my caregiving journey, I had charged up all my credit cards, really for nothing.
But one day, I realized I was buying anything I liked or thought I might like to try to fill the void. A caregiver's sense of loss can't be described adequately. It's deep. It's painful. There are no words, just sighs and tears. We may find ourselves trying to “medicate” in many ways. No judgement. We have to cope!
God's word is always there waiting to be discovered and applied! Last week, I was working on my next Command Your Morning devotional. It will focus just on Psalm 119. I read verse 11 and decided to look up the Hebrew for “hide.” Verse 11 says, I hide your word in my heart so that I don't sin against You.
Hide had a few meanings, but the one that stood out was “to hoard.” I thought about it quite a bit and how we can hoard (or hide) His Word in our hearts. But instead of making a mess, it helps us get through the mess!
How do we “hoard the Word?” Read it. Read it again. Meditate on it. Write it down. Think about it. Read it again and again until it becomes part of our thought processes! Then, when we need comfort, we know which verse to grab. When we need peace, we remind ourselves of how Jesus said, “My peace I leave with YOU!” (John 14:27)
Today, I will remind myself it's okay to hoard, if it's the right stuff! My thoughts and meditations will be on how I can hide (hoard) His word in my heart so that it won't fail in the fight. I'll make it my meditation. My declaration. And my sole determination to hide, re-hide, and hoard His word in my heart each day. That's how I want to live out my life knowing and trusting Him. Will you join me?
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Would you consider joining my latest online Bible study group? The study of James goes 6 weeks and is $25 for the classes, and I'll mail the book to you! (You always have the option of the ebook if you prefer!)
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