There have been several times in my life when I have found myself in a position to have to start over. In 1993, when I found myself in a divorce situation, I had to scrape things together and start over. I began with very little, but God always provided. As a single parent headed back to school, it was a scary place. But God did not fail me. He helped me take every step to true freedom and took care of me all along the way. Once my kids were grown, I retired from teaching and went into "full-time" ministry. It wasn't all I had hyped it up to be. Lol. A young couple asked me to stay with them as their way of supporting the ministry, while I began to work full-time as a volunteer at the church, managing many of the outreaches, writing, and publishing resources. But when the husband was deployed, the wife asked me to move out. I had nowhere to go. I ended up living upstairs in the church with very little substance. (I was a monk before it was cool.. lol jk) In a few months...

 Sometimes the days are a little bit crazy, and we can feel like our heads are spinning. Of course, there are better days where things go as planned (or real close to it). I like those smooth-running days. But lately, there have been so many more disruptions, including a not-so-quick run to the ER. Even our best days can be shrouded by grief.  I don't think I've ever heard anyone say they want to be a full-time caregiver to their loved ones when they grow up. Lol. Of course, we begin to realize with our parents that it's very likely going that way. But it's not our goal in our youth. It's something that life puts on our plates, and most of the time we accept it gracefully and try to do the best we can, with whoever we are taking care of. No one ever said caregiving was easy! Not anyone who's ever done it, anyway! lol. It's easy for our souls to become shrouded. Oswald Chambers (one of my favs!) called it the dark night of the soul. It's when the soul is ...

  Have you ever heard the saying, take one day at a time ? Me too! In fact, I've probably said it. I must say that it is good advice, in general. But as caregivers, there are some days that life hurls one thing after another like it's going for the kill shot. When we have those kinds of overwhelming days, we learn to take one breath at a time.  I don't have to explain to you how there can be so many things going on at one time. Sometimes, I feel like I am a master juggler! LOL. Put this thing off until tomorrow, so this other thing can get done today in this particular time slot. And so the chaos continues. Day after day. And of course, everything feels important - because it is. But we learn to juggle and jiggle and rearrange to get done what simply can't be missed. I'm worn out just thinking about it. Lol. Recently, the days have felt a little busier, and when that happens, it's easy to feel like we're getting sucked in and under. But our doom is NOT to be...

 Isn't it funny how sometimes we can have this mental image of God wringing His hands, just because we are? Somehow we tend to think that when something goes crazy in our days that God gets nervous. Maybe we think of Him as walking around to de-stress. Perhaps we think He has a wrinkled brow. But He doesn't. In fact, when something goes crazy in our day, He doesn't react at all. He remains calm, consistent, and present. When something goes wonky, I can have a barrage of questions, sighs, and thoughts go through my being in a matter of a couple of seconds. But God doesn't do that. He never thinks: What went wrong? What did I do now? I didn't see that coming. Boy, that was a dumb choice. Oh no! There are no sighs coming from God. No wringing of the hands. No wrinkled brow. He is calm, cool, and collected. All the time. Caregiving days can be hectic. They can be chaotic. Even our best days are on the edge of what "could" happen. We never know when one little ...

  Have you ever felt overlooked? Ignored? Unseen? I think we've all experienced on some level. One time, several years ago, my son and I visited a "church" close to our home. We were literally ignored. Not one person spoke to us, even though they walked right past us. I chose to laugh it off. But when I got a really nice form  letter from the pastor saying how nice it was for us to visit, I countered back. He wasn't there that morning, anyway. I explained that we wouldn't be coming back because we were ignored. I got some canned answer about their key people  being out of town on mission trips and such. I was actually relieved. Yep. I felt like I got to see the real heart of the church, not the mask they present. Needless to say, I was very disappointed and never have we gone back. But sometimes, rejection isn't so obvious.  Yesterday alone, we had two such circumstances. Both were very minor in nature, but went off like bombshells in my soul.  Firstly, the nu...

  Have you ever had one of those days it feels like life smashed you in the face? ( Who am I talking to - of course you have!) Things can go crazy so quickly that they leave our heads spinning.We live on the proverbial edge of "insanity" - and we might move in if it wasn't for God's grace! My thoughts started running down this lane when I read Psalm 118:11. David says, you pushed me violently  that I might fall, but the Lord  helped me. Life can push us hard sometimes. Many times, it can feel violent. Sometimes, becoming a caregiver or being thrust into it quickly with no advanced warning can be a violent shift in our lives. With my aunt, I saw it coming because of the relatively slow decline. My son, on the other hand, came out of nowhere on a perfectly normal day. A wreck. A phone call. A flight with no return. And here we are. Life can push violently, and we've all experienced it on one level or another. It brings a tiny bit of comfort to know David felt this, ...

 I've been working on part two of my Command Your Morning  devotional. This one is focused solely on Psalm 119. This psalm is a great read! It's long, but it's rich. I have worked through the first couple of sections, but then I hit verses 25 to 32. It seems to shift a bit, while still focused on the Word. This psalm is all about trusting the word, longing for the word, needing the word, following the word, and clinging to it. But it seems that in verse 25, the psalmist lets his emotions out a bit. He says, My soul clings to the dust. (NKJV) In the NLT, it is translated this way: I lie in the dust, completely discouraged. In verse 28, he says, I weep with grief. Well, that got my attention. Of course, David is baring his soul and seeking God's word for healing and direction. Why? Because David learned that when life gets harder, overwhelming, and difficult, it's time to lean in to the word for comfort, direction, and wholeness. He is totally vulnerable in his need f...