Daily Devotions for Caregivers

Today is Saturday, and tomorrow is when most of our culture celebrates the Resurrection. I say it needs to be something we celebrate daily in our lives, but corporately, tomorrow is the day. If we think about it, today is the only whole day Jesus spent in the tomb. He was crucified and buried on Friday - and rose on Sunday. It's the only 24-hour day the earth was silent. Imagine how the disciples were feeling on this day. Jesus had been their hope, they had pictured Him setting up a physical kingdom and now their dreams and all they had invested in for the last three years was gone. They were scared. Most likely, they were silent. Sometimes as a caregiver, I've experienced pain beyond words. There just isn't always a good way to articulate feelings or emotions, especially when they are so deep in our souls. Silence isn't always bad. I go back to Psalm 46:10 where God encourages the psalmist to be still and know I am God. Sounds simple, huh? But being still and qui

So many things are supposed to be happening right now. It's the height of racing season and I'm supposed to be lining our races for myself and a few to push Chris in. It's Easter weekend and many families are supposed to be planning huge family gatherings, early Sunday morning church services, and Easter egg hunts. But none of that is happening as the world is still on hold. For many of us caregivers, it doesn't really look all that much different. But the atmosphere is different. The world is a different place right now  - nothing is as it is supposed to be.  I've kept my thoughts in Psalm 46 a lot this week. I'm meditated on verse 1 and I'm still chewing on it. It says God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. But then the next verse says this: Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and the mountains be carried into the heart of the sea.... While our earth may not have physically moved, it's cert

I'm still walking through Psalm 46:1 in my morning devotions. Yesterday, we talked about how God is our refuge- we run to Him and hide in Him. But the psalmist goes on to say that He is our peace.  I have a  lot of favorite scriptures about peace! But I want to focus on one in Psalm 29:11. This verse says   The Lord will give  strength to His people, the Lord will bless His people with peace. I love this verse! When we put it all together, He is our refuge - as long as we run to  Him, as we talked about yesterday. We must run to Him and hide. But now, He is also our strength. Again - we must run to Him and let  Him be our strength rather than trying to do it all on our own. This scripture in Psalm 29 says He gives us strength - and He gives us peace. But it's up to us to accept it - hold it - submit to it - and walk in it. He can pour it on us all day long but we still won't have peace or strength if we don't yield our hearts and ways to Him. Even though He pour

It's funny (not haha) to watch the world adjust to living in a cave during this pandemic. As caregivers, most of us are used to it on some level or another. Sadly, we are used to being treated like we have the plague, at least in some circles. There is so much uncertainty and insecurity as well as lots of adjustments to make. It reminds me of when I first brought my son home to care for him. I was so afraid. Every time I needed to transfer him, I'd get sick to my stomach from fear I'd drop him or hurt him in some way. Of course, he's better and I've adjusted. We always do - but sometimes after dealing with much shock! lol. And the world will figure it out too. Eventually. My go-to scripture in difficult times is PSalm 46:1. It says it all. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. I'm camping out in this verse this week and sharing it in live devotions on Facebook. This morning, I just looked at the very first phrase - God is our refuge

On one hand, many caregiver's lives have not changed much over the last couple of weeks. We are used to being locked in. Caregivers often suffer from social isolation because we don't have much of a social life anyway, if any at all. Personally, I didn't anticipate having any problems with stay-at-home orders as they were broadcast. But the climate change surprised me. Most of us as caregivers are used to advocating for our loved ones. But this feels different. It's more intentional, more constant, more personal. And it could have dire ramifications if we let up for just one second - or at least it feels that way to me. When times seem to be even more trying and each day is uncertain - never knowing what news will unfold - I have to go back. When my son was first injured and my caregiving journey was beginning even though I wasn't aware of it at that point, I started grabbing for sanity. In that moment, I had to go back, back to what I knew. I found much of wh

Yesterday was a rather rough day. We are pretty much quarantined in light of the recent developments surrounding the Coronavirus. We’ll avoid crowds and the only place we might go would be the trails where there is not much chance of exposure. This meant that yesterday when I went to see my mom in a healthcare facility, I was turned away. It was so surreal, like something out of a movie. I totally understand, but it still stung for it to become so real. It was also Chris’s 36 th birthday and I take his birthdays hard. He got one phone call and one card. How can he just be forgotten? He’s still here. It’s just an emotionally rough day. Add to that the declaring of a state of emergency across the country and it was just a heavy day. I didn’t even realize how bundled up my emotions were. Then, late last night Nicole C. Mullen popped up on Periscope. She was supposed to be traveling to a scheduled meeting, but it was canceled in light of the Coronavirus. She just started singi

My mom has a form of dementia. Right now, she does remember us, but she doesn’t remember life events. Many caregivers I meet are caring for parents with Alzheimer’s or dementia of some kind. It’s so hard on the emotions and heart because they still look like mom and dad, but they are not fully there. My mom has no memories of the ministry we did together for all those years. We traveled some and she’d speak at women’s meetings and I’d usually take my guitar and do some music. One year, we planned a whole women’s retreat. Our good friend Johnnie H. came and spoke, and I did all the music with our friend Linda P. Such good memories – but she doesn’t recall them at all. Of course, my mom isn’t the one “suffering” so to speak. She’s chipper, friendly, and still loves everyone. She just doesn’t remember her life and all the people she impacted through her years of serving as a nurse and a minister. It’s sad for us – but she seems fine with it. She’s not troubled over it – becaus