Showing posts with label abraham. Show all posts
Showing posts with label abraham. Show all posts

Bible Caregivers

 

Aunt Polly and me in the car

As the year draws to an end and I start setting new goals for the upcoming year, I spent time this morning praying and thinking about this blog in particular. I feel like I have failed you, my fellow caregivers, by not being more consistent in posting. That's one thing on my list - to post consistently! I'm working on a time each week where I can set down with coffee or tea in hand and write a week's worth at a time. I prefer writing them every morning, but logistically that doesn't always work out. :-) 

So, I was thinking about taking topics and expanding them out. That led me down a series of thoughts about the caregivers in the Bible. While I've just started compiling a list I came up with these few off the top of my head:

  • Abraham and Isaac
  • David and Mephibosheth
  • Hagar and Ishmael
  • Joseph and his dad and brothers
I thought, man, those are some great ones to start with! These are some of our favorite Bible heroes, but we don't often think of them as "caregivers," do we? Yet each of them cared for another person in one way or another. Maybe their situations were very different than ours. But then, each of our situations is very different anyway! Some of us care for aging parents, but I have many caregiver friends who care for special needs children and special needs adults.

Any way you slice it, caregiving isn't an easy task. There are so many emotions involved from any angle. When we care for parents or other elderly family members there's a role reversal that takes an emotional toll. Caring for adult children who are "supposed" to grow up and move out has a totally different weight. And caring for a child with disabilities has emotional challenges of a totally different nature. So we can look at each of the caregivers in the Bible and glean something from their experiences, right?

Abraham laid his son (promise, future, hope) on the altar. That'll preach. Hagar was distraught worrying about Ishmael's survival. We have likely each faced this emotional challenge on one level or another as we've advocated on their behalf. Joseph sent for his dad and family and provided for them during a difficult famine. And David had Mephibosheth, Jonathan's son who has disabled, come to his palace so he could care for him. I'm sure he provided staff to take care of Mephibosheth, but nonetheless, Mephibosheth lived in the palace under David's protective hand.

Each of these characters shows us a picture of strength, faith, courage, hope, and trust in God. Those are things we can hold on to and use to encourage ourselves as we face difficult and not-quite-as-difficult days. One thing we can be sure of is that God is the caregiver for us all. That's foundational - and worth building on.

Today, I will meditate on God's care for my soul. I will think about these caregivers (and others) from the Bible and consider how they each leaned on God for their soul's survival. I'll lean my heart a little closer to His today as I trust Him for direction for myself and my caregivee. Will you join me?

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Shattered Dreams


 Did you have dreams before caregiving? For many of you who are caring for elderly parents, maybe you had high hopes for retirement. For those who provide care for special needs adults, the dreams may have looked a bit different, but they existed. When my son was injured in the accident, I was headed to the mission field to fulfill my life-long dream. Broken and shattered dreams can be difficult to deal with. You can move on, but you can't always pick up those pieces without always wondering, what if.

I'm like - what are we supposed to do with those unfulfilled dreams? I question if they were my own - or if God orchestrated them. Either way - there's only one thing to do with them. Give them to Him.

My mind goes to some of our popular Bible heroes. I think of Joseph who had the dreams about his family bowing down to him. Maybe he didn't quite understand them. But I'm certain that they didn't seem to be panning out as he spent years sitting in a dungeon-like cell. I also thought about Daniel. Surely as a young man before the captivity, he had some dreams. They may have been washed away in the siege - but perhaps he dreamt of a life with a family and vocation of some sort. 

And of course, there's Abraham. He carried the dream up to the altar to sacrifice it to God in obedience. Paul mentions in the NT that Abraham was so convinced of the dream - the promise, that he knew if Isaac died, God would raise him back up to fulfill the promise.

I also thought about David. He was anointed king by the prophet Samuel while he was a lad in his father's house. Did he think about that and how God was going to fulfill the promise while he was running or hiding from evil King Saul?

No matter what our dreams are or what He's promised us - we can just trust Him like these heroes of faith. If He said it - He will do it. Next comes the hard part - waiting on Him!

Today, I will trust Him for all He's ever said to me or about me, both written and spoken. I will rest in the truth that He still has it all under control. He is still working out good things for me - no matter what I see. So, today - I won't focus on the promise - I'll focus on Him. On His faithfulness. On His character. And I will trust Him for one more day! Will you join me?


Three Altars



This year one thing I’ve purposed to do is read the entire Bible through again. I have done this many times in years gone by. But life happens and things change and I although I’ve read, I haven’t read it through in a year in a long time. As always, different things stand out. I’m three days in, three altars have been built each day I’ve read. I noted the first two, but when there was one in today’s passage, it caused me to pause and think.

The first altar mentioned in the Bible is right after the flood. When Noah and his family exited the ark, he built an altar. God’s response to this act of worship was to make a covenant with Noah and promise to never destroy the earth again with floods.

The second altar mentioned was built by Abraham in Geneses 12:7. The Lord had spoken to him to leave his family and he headed for Canaan. Once Abraham reached the Oak of Moreh, God appeared to him and promised him that his descendants would inherit the land of Canaan. Abraham built an altar in response. He then continued to travel on to camp between Bethel and Ai. This time he built an altar with no purpose attached except to call on the name of the Lord.

It seems to me that every time these heroes of faith moved or went through, they built an altar in worship. What can we as common caregivers take away from that? First off, I’m not suggesting going out in your backyard and building an altar! Lol. But I believe an altar represents to us on this side of the New Covenant a dedicated place of worship. As caregivers, every day we “go through.” Each day we face often seemingly insurmountable odds. But we are still in the game. We are still pushing forward, still pursuing Him. That’s monumental enough to merit an altar – in our hearts.

Today, I purpose to build an altar in my heart, a dedicated place of worship to thank God for His continuing promises to me, those ones that didn’t expire when I became a caregiver. I’ll turn my thoughts and my heart toward worship today in a new way as I let my heart become the altar and my life become the sacrifice, even in the midst of the mess. I’ll be thankful I can still worship in spirit, in purity, and in truth and rejoice that life’s circumstances cannot take that away. My heart will bow before Him today as I thank Him for one more day to serve and trust Him. Will you join me?


Where do you put it?

Some days it seems we can have it all together. Everything is going along good, emotions are intact, and the day overall just isn't bad. And then outta nowhere....someone says something about faith that makes it sound like you don't have any since you are in adverse circumstances. Is it just me, or does it happen to you too? I'm beginning to think that faith is a little like courage; if there isn't some challenge to address it doesn't really count.  

When the statement occurred I was flooded with questions and hopelessness tried to swallow me up. Because if it all relies on me - what I believe - what I say - what I can change with my attitude - then what is my faith in: myself. True faith believes period. The fact that we are still clinging on to Him even when everything around us does not seem to make any sense at all, or doesn't seem to be changing at all is the deepest faith - not the lack of faith. I must say that I do not have any confidence in myself - I cannot change my circumstances. I can only change my attitude in them.

Joseph could have confessed and recited his dreams all he wanted in that unjust prison cell...but until it was God's time...nothing was going to happen. What Joseph did have to guard was his heart. He had to keep his heart and trust in God in the midst of the circumstance. Job could have quoted every healing scripture there was...but until it was God's time...nothing changed. Abraham could not make Isaac (the promise) arrive any sooner - he tried, remember? He ended up with an Ishmael.

These are some of our faith heroes...faith did not change their circumstances nor was it measured by them! Do no measure your faith by your circumstances!!! Are you still clinging to Him? Do you still trust Him? Are you still waiting on Him? ...that's faith.

Keeping Faith

Think about all the things you have done before you found the time to read this short devotion. Personally, I have been up every two hours through the night to turn, change and check on my loved one. Then when I scraped myself off the sheets to get up a little bit ago I had to check his temperature, O2 levels and do a tube feeding. And now I am at the computer writing a devotion! And the day has barely started...do you relate?

Our daily lives are full of taking care of our loved ones, making plans and appointments for them, fighting with doctor's offices and waiting to see if aides will show up today or not! It can be crazy and it can all chip away at our emotions and our faith. Sometimes we can sort of numb up and suck it all up to make it through a day. And you know what - it's okay! Each of us has our own unique situation to deal with and we have to do it the best way we can...putting one foot in front of the other and moving ourselves forward through the next 24 hours.

Sometimes we tend to try to ignore our situation and keep walking. That's really not the way to deal with it...Look at this scripture about Abraham. Hebrews 4:19 says that Abraham without becoming weak in faith contemplated his own body. When I saw that this morning it really hit me - in a good way. Faith-ers teach that we ignore the situations we are in, our bodies, our pain, our circumstances - and that then we can walk it out in faith. But Abraham - our faith hero - looked the situation right in the face and continued in faith.

He knew his body and Sarah's body were too old to be able to fulfill God's promise - he even thought about it. But he remained in faith. As we walk through the caregiver's chores today just deal with today...keep putting one foot in front of the other. And continue in faith knowing that God is walking through this furnace with us. He did not send us into the trial alone - keep the faith - it will keep you!

What About the Dreams?

None of us were born caregivers. For many it was a traumatic experience of some sort that thrust us into it. Others a slow decline in a loved one gradually led us into caregiving. But we really do have a past. Each of us has experiences and lives that were lived hopefully to the fullest before we began to take care of another. We had plans, hopes and dreams of more things we wanted to do with our lives. Caregiving puts a hold on at least most of that - if not all. Where do the dreams go from here?

This is something I find myself sorting through. I wanted to travel and see the world and be a missionary of sorts. I'd love to go to Africa and many other places. Teaching is my thing and I could see myself traveling the US and the world just loving people and caring...and sharing His love. But that's all gone for now.

What does God do with all those aspirations we had before? Were they from Him? Were they only fabrications of our imagination? (an imagination that is of course God-inspired)...is there still hope of a life?

I wonder if Abraham ever wondered just when God would fulfil His promise. He waited something like 25 years for Isaac. And then God wanted him to put that seed on the altar! ...and he did...we must do the same before the Lord. No matter what dreams or visions He gave us before caregiving...they must be put back into His hands. He will restore. But we must trust Him to bring about all the things He promised. IF we make it happen it just won't be the same and it won't be restoration. Today my meditation will be on how faithful He is to His promises. I will encourage myself in the truth that He won't change His mind, and He cannot lie. And I will wait for Him...will you wait with me?

The Stare

  Do you ever just find yourself sitting and staring at the wall? It doesn't really happen too often because, quite frankly, who has tim...