Showing posts with label hopeless. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hopeless. Show all posts

Good Morning!

Jeremiah is sometimes called the weeping prophet. To many he seems to be a very big whiner. But he carried such a passionate burden for the people of God that he wept much of the time. If you briefly turn through the pages of Jeremiah you will find some very harsh things God had to say to his people. And besides obeying God and having to speak to His people in such a manner, he was imprisoned and persecuted.

Lamentations gives us a closer look into the tender heart of this prophet. (Yes, a prophet does have a tender side!) He wept over the disobedience of his own people and he did not understand why they didn't just obey God. I am sure when he was mercilessly thrown into the mucky pit he wondered if his life was over. He was left to sink in the muddy mess and basically left for dead. Do you think he ever questioned God's call on his life? As a caregiver and the huge life changes that role brought I have found myself questioning God about many things.

But in Lamentations 3:19-24 Jeremiah turns his thoughts to the Lord once again. In verse 19 he says that he remembers his afflictions. He did not ignore them. As caregivers there is absolutely nothing about our situations that can be ignored! Jeremiah speaks of all the emotions he has had - bitterness, wandering, and afflictions. In the next verse he says his soul is bowed down. Have you ever felt that way under the load? I am sure we all have from time to time.

Jeremiah then goes on to encourage himself in the Lord. He reminds himself of why he still has hope. God's unfailing lovingkindnesses and His compassion are enough strength to make another day on. He says that they are new every morning... sufficient to carry me through each day I must face. And then he speaks of God's faithfulness...through the storm, through the furnace, throughout this life - He remains faithful!

Therefore  - we have hope in Him!

Praise in Adversity

Most of the time when we live in such a stressful state we do not think about praising God. We ask Him to help us get out, but praise is not always on our lips. The prophet Jonah found himself in a very deep, dark place - the belly of a whale. The difference, of course is that Jonah had disobeyed God and this was his punishment.

Personally, I wrestled with whether I was going through this deep trial as punishment for some sin I had committed; or something I had omitted. We have all probably had those moments where we questioned why adversity had to happen in the first place, most of us at least thought we had our religious t's crossed and i's dotted. Unlike Jonah, our circumstances are not punishment for something we did wrong. We are not off course - and we must learn to rest in His peace and embrace His love for us once again.

But Jonah had run the opposite direction to avoid what God had told him to do. He found himself in the deepest, darkest parts of the earth...the belly of the whale. Now no matter how he got there - it was dark, smelly and scarey. Yet from this place - a place that had to appear hopeless; a place Jonah though would be his end - Jonah cried out to God.

Jonah 2:9 is the last part of Jonah's prayer of repentance. He makes a strong declaration as he says: but I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving... He was determined even in the hopeless darkness to have a heart of thanksgiving. As dark as our lives may be, whether we understand why these things happened or not; no matter how hopeless we think our situation is - we must determine to have a thankful heart...a heart of praise. Today take a moment to praise God for who He is, for our circumstances do not change God. Our thoughts and ideas about God may be thoroughly challenged in our adversity - but He is still God!  Let us lift our voice to Him today and honor Him because He is still our God. 

Call to Intimacy

By the time you actually become a caregiver there's already been some sort of big ordeal in your life. You're not going to wake up in the morning and say, "I'm a caregiver now." Some series of events had to have happened that placed you in the position to chose it. Something, sometime had to of broken your heart...for each of us although the journey is similar - they are all uniquely different at the same time.

No matter what catapulted us to the place of caregiving, it had to hurt. And many times caregiving bears with it a hurt that does not go away...it's a living pain so deep it cannot be explained. No one can really understand it. No one can fix it. No one can make it go away...it's just there underneath the surface. The pain of being a caregiver is many faceted...because somewhere in the mix we lost our own lives in the shuffle.

Psalm 34:18 says this to us today The Lord is near the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Today, lay aside all the questions and the whys - you know - why didn't He fix this? type questions... and let your heart hear His heart for you. He is near - allow Him to be near you today. Don't move away...I see this scripture as a distinct call to intimacy with Him once again. Take a few minutes and think about what this already terrible journey would have been like if we didn't know Him. There would be absolutely no hope - anywhere - not even with the end of life - without Him...

Take some time to be near Him today - to allow Him to touch the damaged recesses of your heart - let Him heal the pains that no one has ever had any idea about. Let Him carry you today..He is near.

God of Hope

Yesterday I participated in (and finished) a half marathon. After about 9 miles my body was hurting and by 11 miles my feet and toes and back and...pretty much everything was hurting so badly I really wanted to quit. Since it was raining I didn't wear my mp3 player so I had lots of time to think.

The pain was pretty intense and I wanted to stop because of it. This made me think of the caregiver quite a lot. Our entire situation can be filled with intense emotional pain. We have pretty much lost the life we knew to take care of a person we love. Emotions run in many directions from being saddened by our loved one's condition, to the loss of their mobility and independence and the loss of our own to all sorts of painful decisions that must be made almost daily. But like the marathon runner we just cannot stop for the pain.

I think the difference is that there is no finish line  to run towards. It's never really settled, it just goes on. But we keep running anyway. Every day we get up and take care of our loved ones while many (or most) times not meeting our own needs...it's just part of the caregiving race. It can feel hopeless... but it's not.

God is the God of hope. We can gain peace from the truth that He has not left us to run this race alone, He is running it with us. I've always told my son I can't walk it for you but I can walk it with you.  And somehow I feel God does the same for and with us.

This God of peace, comfort and joy is our God and He is traveling this painful road along with us. Romans 15:13 says May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  That's my prayer for the caregiver today - that He will fill us with hope to continue the race life has set before us...and I know He will! Rejoice in His hope today!

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...