Daily Devotions for Caregivers

This morning during my devotions, my readings and thoughts were all over the place as usual. I read for a while in Isaiah and meditated on some of the verses in chapter 54. I may not be barren in the natural sense, but sometimes it feels like I live a fruitless and barren life. My heart argues with that and says I bear fruit - but my eyes just don't see it most of the time. The prophet Isaiah is encouraging the barren to sing and shout for joy. I'm like, why?   The Lord promised enlargement and spreading out to resettle desolate lands. Verse 4 says fear not for you will not be put to shame, and do not feel humiliated for you will not be disgraced, but you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. Sometimes it feels like life has disgraced us - stripped us of walking gracefully through. Life can be humiliating. Caregiving can be daunting and downright ugly at times. But it always  yields fruit. We are not barre...

Have you ever felt forgotten? I have. We can easily get sucked into the caregiver's fog and the rest of the world goes on without us. Today is my son's 35th birthday. These days are difficult. I opened up his facebook to read him his greetings only to be flooded with his friend's who have "gone on" with their lives, and they should. They stopped visiting and calling long ago when he couldn't answer them. I don't blame them, they were all so young when he was injured. But it still hurts my heart that he is forgotten and left to just deal. Then some caregivers have to deal with another side of being forgotten. It can yield a host of emotions from a totally different angle. That is when we care for loved ones with dementia or Alzheimer's. They forget us. My mom hasn't quite forgotten me yet, but most of the time it takes her a few minutes to figure out I'm not just someone who works there. Mid-conversation she'll look up and go, "OH...

I'm not sure what I'm dealing with more today - aloneness or grief. Some days I can shuck my emotions down to one or the other. Other days it just seems to suck me into a downward spiral that can be difficult to recover from. This week is Chris' birthday. He'll be 35. I get stuck wondering where he might have gone, what he'd be doing IF.  The if's are a time and emotion sucker because they really are meaningless. I can't change what could have or would have happened. I can only deal with what is on my plate today. Jesus mentioned that in Matthew 6:34. He said, do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.  Caregivers can get sucked into the downward spiral by measuring and comparing everyone else's life with their own. The caregiver's fog can overtake us when we don't stay focused on the present. Or even if we get too lost in the present. Taking a good look in His word or spending ...

This morning I was reading in Ephesians 6 about the armor of God. In verse 11, Paul tells the believers to put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm.  As I read through his brief descriptions of the armor and the benefits, I thought how applicable it is to us as believers and caregivers. I think it's safe to say we live in the thick of the battle - furnace walkers. The fire is always reaching toward us. Every day can be a battle. Sometimes, every second of the day is spent trying to catch our breath. Breathe. As I read over the familiar pieces I realized how relevant each piece is to our struggles. Also, at the front of my mind was the truth that we are not disqualified from wearing the armor just because we are caregivers. As a matter of truth, we were not stripped of any of our promises when caregiving came along. We are still just as much of a believer and still covered by His righteousness and filled up with Him as we ever were. Actually, sometime...

Come let us worship and bow down... let us kneel before the Lord our God our maker. For He is our God.  I think it's always time to worship. Job is of course, our great example. In the last part of chapter 1, a then a fourth messenger arrived with yet more bad news. You know the saying, just when you think it couldn't get any worse.  No matter how difficult the days of the caregiver can be - it really can get worse. (God forbid!!) Job's response to bad news getting worse was to shave his head as a sign of mourning and fell to the ground and worshipped.  The heading in one of my Bibles says, Job's Testing.  Well, our friend Job who endured much hardship passed his test - his response was perfect. Verse 22 of chapter 1 says in all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God.  I wish I could say that in my trial I didn't sin by blaming God. I cannot. I've often wondered why. What did I do wrong? Where did I not trust Him? etc. In those midnight hours when Chris w...

After a couple of weeks, I was comfortable in the ICU waiting room. There was a certain sense of community there as we were all there for our loved ones. It was a horrible place really. I wouldn't leave because a doctor might bring word out about Chris at any time. Whoever had been there the longest sort of ruled their roost and I was the designated sleeper in a particular recliner. I recall sleeping and waking up hoping it was all a dream. But it wasn't. Somehow I kept thinking God was going to come riding through on His white horse and rescue me. But He didn't. And thus, began my walk of redefining faith. God never promised He'd rescue us out of life's fiery trials, but He did promise He'd walk through them with us. He said He'd never abandon us, never leave us. In Isaiah 43, God tells the prophet I have called you by name, you are mine.  I like that I am His and not one thing life can throw at me changes that. Think about that for a second. My kids ca...

In the natural, I'm a runner. I started running way back when Chris was first in the hospital. I am slower and fatter - but I still love it. It's a large part of how I manage my health both mentally and physically. Usually, a good run clears my mind and gets me back on track. One of my favorite songs to listen to while I'm running is "I'm running - running after You - You've  become my heart's desire." I think about running to Him both of us with arms open wide - and I can run for miles. Proverbs 18:10 reminds us that we can run to Him, and I use "run" loosely. The name of the Lord is a strong fortress, the godly run to Him and are safe. As I thought on this scripture this morning and how often I have to run to Him for safety, I thought of an old hymn: A Mighty Fortress is Our God. So I looked up the lyrics. It's old English so it's a bit hard to understand. So, I'll focus on just the last verse since it's the one that sto...