Daily Devotions for Caregivers

 This morning, I found myself in Numbers 6. At the end of the chapter, God, seemingly out of the blue, just tells Moses to bless His people. He gave Moses exactly what the priests were to say to "put His name" on the Children of Israel. You've probably heard these few verses many times in various Christian gatherings. Many times, it's used by those in ministry to "bless" the people before they leave in a benedictory fashion. But when God gave the blessing to Moses, He didn't give him a specific time for Aaron and his sons to speak the blessing. He just told them to use it to put His name on His people and bless them. (v.27) You are probably familiar with it, but it goes like this: The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace. That's a lot if you stop and think about it. He blesses us and keeps us AND gives us peace!  As I thought about thi...

  I love algebra, maybe because I like a good challenge! As a matter of fact, I loved algebra so much, that I became a math teacher. This morning, I was thinking about how far behind I am with work and how demanding caregiving can be when it comes to organizing time. My mind wandered off to the bills I need to pay, dealing with Chris' health issues, and how to juggle my clients most effectively.  Then I thought about how our lives can be in a constant state of flux. We never know what a day will bring and how fast our circumstances can change. I say this after a week-long unexpected stay in the hospital with my son. What does that have to do with math? I am so glad you asked!!! Things change - that's the variable. An example of an algebraic equation might be 2x + 4 = 24. (Don't worry- I won't ask you to solve it!) The numbers are constants. That means they will not change, but that little "x"? He is a variable, meaning he could be anything. Variables change. T...

  We learned about cause and effect in elementary school. As life progressed, we learned it from life lessons. If I don't pay my electric bill - they will shut it off. You know? In scripture, there are lots of examples too. But I want to look at the other side of this coin.  When the king had Daniel thrown into the den of hungry lions, the effect was supposed to be his death. But God had other plans. He disrupted the cause-and-effect system of man with His own plan. In Jeremiah, God foretold the Babylonian captivity. Then He explained that He had thoughts of peace, and not evil, to give you a future and a hope. He explained that His cause and effect system works like this - you call on Me - I answer. Period. I like that. Sometimes we can get pushed so far back into the caregiver's cave that things like hope, a future, and peace are hardly discerned. The Enemy likes it that way. But God offers hope on top of hope. Life can throw us some curveballs and caregiving isn't for th...

I love the Psalms. I think one of the reasons I enjoy spending time in them so much is the frank honesty of the writers. When I was younger, I thought they were just whiny. But as I matured I realized a lot of what they express comes with the trials life you walk through. It didn't take me long to figure out that I could be transparent with God about my emotions and thoughts. The psalms are raw, open, and honest and God didn't fry any of them down to their toenails. That was how I was raised.  Indirectly, I was taught you didn't ask God questions. Who should you ask? You didn't express anger or any negative emotions in your prayer time. Where should they be expressed? One day I got so mad that I yelled at God. I waited for the lightning bolt to strike me dead. Then I realized God knew those thoughts before I spoke them. I hadn't surprised Him - I had actually let Him in. And He gladly walks right into our mess - just so He can be with us. David said in Psalm 31:22 (...

As caregivers, our emotions are often running on the edge. For me, it doesn't take much to tip me over into a huge downward spiral. For today I'm calling it the "big dipper." Just a single word, an honest question, a picture from the past - it doesn't take much to send me into the dip of depression. I have developed a few strategies that work for me and being able to identify it early on means I don't always dip as far or I can head it off at the pass. But not always. With so many things on our plate it doesn't take a lot, does it? This last week was full of dealing with a faulty internet provider which is enough frustration by itself when you work online and were without internet for two days! lol. Sometimes it's bigger things - but sometimes it's those little things that chip away at sanity and peace. How are we supposed to deal with this "big dipper?" It's going to come for us. Some day. Some time. We may feel broadsided by i...

Solomon was right when he penned, It's the little foxes that spoil the vine. As caregivers we have lots and lots of "big" things that make our days more difficult than "normal" people's. And honestly, most days I have finally learned how to have a handle on those. It took awhile to find a new "normal" and adjust to a lifestyle that is anything BUT normal. But we are caregivers - we assess, adjust, and advance - on a daily, hourly or minute by minute bases as needed. It's little things like this lady, who did have a handicap sticker by the way, who parked just a little bit too far in the loading area. It was just enough that I had to lift my son's chair up and over to get him on the lift. I may or may not have said a bad word or two while I was trying to decide what to do. I thought about waiting until she came back out so I could giver her a piece of my mind.  But I was afraid I might just punch her first. We were tired, ready to go h...