Daily Devotions for Caregivers

  Yesterday, I was shopping for some items for me and my son on Amazon. I was looking at some different clothing items and I got this message under the sizing chart. It said something like, "This is your recommended size based on millions of customer orders and reviews." It was rather puzzling. Why would they suggest a size for me based on all the other Amazon shoppers? What if they all ordered small? I'd certainly not get what I needed lol. Immediately, I thought about how God doesn't base "grace to help in time of need" on millions of other users. He bases it on my need in the moment!  My mind began to run through numerous Bible stories. Moses crossing the Red Sea. David taking down Goliath. Daniel in the lion's den. Each situation was different and God provided the need for it. God parted the Red Sea for Moses and those following him because that's where they were and that's what was needed. He didn't tell David while he was standing in fr...

 I'm starting to think that there are few things as emotionally scattering as caregiving. I'm into the middle of year 15, but I'm still picking up pieces of my fractured heart. Living grief is no joke!  In John 10, Jesus tells His listeners (Pharisees, disciples, and the undecided) two times that He is the Good Shepherd. (verses 11 and 14) He begins explaining that when  the wolf attacks, the one who is hired to watch the sheep will run away leaving the sheep vulnerable to attack. In verse 12 it says the hireling leaves because the sheep are not his. He's not invested in the sheep emotionally, financially, or even physically. But the good shepherd  stays to fight off the attacker because the sheep are His. I love that. God doesn't pack up and leave us when things get crazy. He doesn't distance Himself from our pain (like most people do). And He will not leave us to be scattered by our enemies. Even though we can feel scattered emotionally, mentally, and physical...

 Sometimes, things don't turn out like we thought they would. Life doesn't look like we expected. Caregiving can be one of those unexpected turns we never saw coming. No one grows up planning on being a caregiver, right? It is one of the stops in life's journey. I certainly didn't think I'd enter my retirement years caring for an adult child. I had already raised my kids. But accidents and the unexpected happen.  I wondered this morning about some of my Bible heroes. I thought about David, sitting in the back of the cave hiding from Saul. He had already been anointed as king by the prophet Samuel. But he's sitting in the back of a dark, dank cave just to save his life. I'm pretty sure that wasn't the picture of how his life was going to turn out. David envisioned sitting on the throne wearing a crown on his head. Instead, he's crouched and hiding. Definitely unexpected. God gave Joseph some prophetic dreams as a young man. His own dad interpreted the...

 I am not sure I ever saw the movie, "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly," but I likely did since my daddy loved watching cowboy movies. And I loved watching them with him. The title came to mind this morning as I was sorting through some of my caregiver emotions. I kind of chuckled and thought - boy, if that's not the good, the bad, the ugly then I don't know what is! Each day is made up of a series of events. From morning to evening, we are dealing with so many different things - and we never know when something might change. But things will change.  We may find new things put on our plates. Friends may appear and disappear. We may get stares if we take our loved ones out. Or we may be totally ignored - until we get stuck in a door others want to go in or out of. That might be a little ugly. Lol.  Often, we deal with a lot of "ugly" things. A lot of unmentionables. We know not to check if it's pudding. (IYKYK!) It's not. :-) But there are beautiful th...

  I was up late last night - and it wasn't to study my Bible. Lol. I was watching a dumb show. But each episode ended with things up in the air concerning the main character. I couldn't just go to sleep wondering how his situation was going to work out. I kept thinking, just turn this off and find out tomorrow. But I discovered something about myself. I just simply couldn't walk away leaving the character (yes, I know he's fictional) emotionally stranded. There had to be a "happy ending," some sort of resolution or I wasn't going to sleep well. It took me some time this morning to come to that conclusion - that I don't like leaving people emotionally stranded. In fact, it led me down a road of self-reflection and I realized I've landed myself in some sticky relationships and situations because I didn't want to emotionally strand others. The irony is that these types of relationships have left me emotionally stranded. Caregiving also leaves us e...

 Do you ever wonder why some stories are in the Bible? There are stories about those who won great battles and lost the little ones. People who killed giants walked through the fire or slept in a lion's den. Then there's Gideon (Judges 6) who led the Children of Israel into battles and won. He beat an "innumerable" army with just 300 men. It's an amazing story, but if you read his whole story you'll see that in the end, Gideon led the people right back into idolatry. Smh. How could Gideon follow God so closely, win the battle, and then fall from grace? I don't know - but it kinda sounds like a typical caregiving day to me. One minute I'm declaring the Word of God and the next I'm crumpled in the floor trying to catch my breath. And the cause of the sudden "down" like this might just be an old picture or a post on Facebook.  Maybe that's why we have stories of failures like Gideon. Right there with his victory was a failure. I'm so...

Jonah was quite the OT character, wasn't he? I mean, really. When God told Him to go to Ninevah, Jonah purposefully went in the opposite direction. He deliberately disobeyed God. What a rebel! It's easy to say that Jonah found himself in the belly of the great fish by his own doings. Of course, in chapter 1 verse 17, it says that God prepared a fish just for Jonah. It baffles me as to why God would chase down a rebel. But I am so glad He did - because I know He'll chase me down too. I can be quite the mess from time to time. Okay, so maybe all the time. Lol. Why does the story of a rebellious backslider encourage me so much? Because if God can meet the runaway prophet in the belly of a whale, He can meet me in my circumstances too! In verse 4, Jonah says, I will look again to Your holy temple. I love that! Here Jonah sits in the dark, damp, smelly whale's belly, yet he's choosing to look at God. And God chooses to meet him there! If God can meet Jonah in the darkest...