Daily Devotions for Caregivers

My habit for years has been to arise early in the morning to have personal devotions long before the day gets started. For a brief time the habit was interrupted as I adjusted to the new normals of caregiving. Over the last year or so I've been able to reestablish this routine. Recently, I've been reading through Proverbs and this morning I finished it. I took my time to read it slowly and hopefully absorb some of the vast wisdom that is shared. As I was reading chapter 30 this morning out of nowhere came this psalm-like verse. Proverbs 30:5 says He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. I'm not sure exactly why it grabbed my attention so forcefully but I took a few minutes to meditate on it. I know there are several times throughout the Psalms where God is mentioned as being a shield; but what stood out to me this morning was the other part of the verse: to those who take refuge in Him. He provides the protection but it does us no good if we don't take ac...

I've been spending some time trying to get myself back together. As if the caregiver doesn't already have enough on their plate - life goes on and sometimes it can feel like it's throwing repeated blows. Enough to knock many people out - but not the fearless caregiver! *smile* One thing I've found many caregivers deal with is depression. Hey, caregiving is not an easy life and it can get you down. We can't say anything about it - can't always admit it - and don't always have to deal with it; but it can be a struggle for some. For many it is a constant struggle - that includes me. When you are fighting depression, everything is heavier and it can be very difficult to get a positive perspective on anything. But this morning as I was finishing up my devotions I had something happen and I just started thanking God for the good stuff. At times, it can even be difficult to figure out where the good stuff  went. But if you look long and hard - and if you have...

I don't know what David was going through when he penned Psalm 55, but this morning I can relate to many of the sentiments he shared. He uses words like pressure, trouble, anguish, terror, fear, trembling and horror to describe what he was going through. I certainly would not say that caregiving is all that! Actually, caregiving isn't always the worst  part of what we deal with - it's the rest of life. There have been many times I have had thoughts like David's Oh that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away ant be at rest. Behold, I would wander far away, I would lodge in the wilderness. We must admit that caregiving can take a lot out of you. It's not a burden as such, but dealing with all the issues that are involved can really wear you down. Then add life to the equation. For instance, my mom is in early stages of dementia and we are dealing with that. For me that means lots of talks with my daddy and siblings. And just about the time you feel you've...

One thing I enjoy is a good book. I miss having the time for reading that I had prior to being thrust into my present situation. But I feel like our lives are enriched by reading so I've tried to make more time for it over the last few months. No Easy Day has been on my reading list for a long time and I finally broke the book open and began reading it not long ago. It's written by a Seal Team Six member and talks a lot about training and missions. One of their mantras is "the only easy day was yesterday." For many caregivers there are no days off  or anything too much to make one day easier than another. There are multiple tasks that have to be done everyday when caring for another person. I had this brief day dream that for my birthday someone would come and tell me to take the day off and go do whatever I wanted to do and they would care for Chris. But it remained a dream - mostly because caregiving really  is difficult and there are no easy days. We are not ...

Colossians 4:2 says to devote yourself to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.  (NLT) It can be far too easy to allow the responsibilities and daily grind of caregiving to lull us into a spiritual sleep. Taking care of another person takes a lot out of us emotionally, physically and even spiritually. Over time we can tend to relax spiritually if we do not guard our hearts. Personally, I am a very structured person. I set my schedule and just keep it. Well, that's how it was BC (before caregiving) anyway. I got up early enough when I was teaching school to have my coffee, Bible study and prayer time long before the day got out of hand. When I first brought my son home, I tried to do that again. Honestly, I was worn out all the time and soon it went out the window. Recently, I've been able to come back to some type of schedule but of course remain flexible for caregiving's sake. It's so important to keep our spiritual guard up. We have to maintain our spi...

Do you ever feel cheated  out of life? For me caregiving interrupted some really good plans that I had laid out. I was heading to Africa as fast as I could get there- one of my life-long dreams. But when my son had his wreck that and my future were jerked right out from under me. I have to admit that I've dealt with some anger over that. Caregiving makes it hard to dream. I'm aging along with the rest of you, and these are supposed to be the years I've looked forward to. It's time for me to start planning retirement. Of course, I wanted to relax, travel, spend the golden years fulfilling all the dreams I still had. Instead I'm trying to figure out how to put back and prepare for taking care of my son once I am gone. No retirement in sight - ever. Anger is just one of the things Paul instructed Christians to put off in Colossians 3. Actually, he gave a whole list of things to put away from us.In verse 8 he lists things like anger,rage, malicious behavior, sland...

Following Paul's advice in Colossians 3:2 can be difficult for the caregiver; beneficial, but difficult. He told us to set your mind on things above - Our days are filled with tons of caregiving tasks to do and when life itself is blaring in your face it can be difficult to set our minds on things above . Any given day our minds can be full and busy getting tasks associated with caregiving lined up and done. Take my week for example. It's the last week of the month and it seems like all the health professionals wait until the very last second to do their visits. Then they expect m to jump through hoops rearranging things to make room for them in an already tight schedule. Fortunately and unfortunately they are all doing them today. A new aide, the doctor and the case manager are all coming today. I don't see getting anything done today. These kinds of busy days it can be difficult to get your mind on anything other than just surviving. How am I supposed to be able to ...