Daily Devotions for Caregivers

I'm sitting here crying for someone I do not know... Their story just came across my feed... An accident, an injury, a brain bleed... Terms I know too well on a path I've traveled too long.. My heart hurts and I don't even know their name... I'm crying with parents, loved ones and friends... Knowing that the pain and grief never ends... Now I'm praying for someone I don't even know... never knew before... My eyes turn loose of tears I'd held in from my own pain... As I remember the early parts of my own journey... I know what they can endure - what they may face... Those long days of hoping, praying, believing... Long nights just watching them keep breathing... Don't stop.... please don't stop... Then there's the waiting... Dark nights, warm tears, terrible coffee... Uncertainty abounds - so many ifs... If there's a future what does it look like now? If dreams are still valid... If there's life after this... If ...

Before I was officially a "caregiver" I lived in an ICU waiting room for three weeks and then in a hospital room with my son for another 3 1/2 months. I had flown in from another state and there was no "home" to return to. One thing I noticed was the instant connection all of the people hanging out in the waiting rooms had. We shared stories, food, laughter and tears; yet we had never met before whatever trauma had brought us in. We understood each other. One event had turned our lives upside down and even though we had never met we became instantly bonded with one another. I felt like this unique experience offered a picture of how the church should act. We shared our lives for the short time we were together and all of the normal boundaries like social status, economic status and our belief systems really didn't matter. We helped each other out in any way we could. When one was down- another would comfort knowing they may need the same thing within the next ...