Daily Devotions for Caregivers

  I've been told that I "wear caregiving well." I'm pretty sure it was meant as a compliment and, of course, pointed to God's sustaining power. I'm still the silly, fun-loving person I always was, even though life changed forever. It can certainly feel like our soul is eclipsed by the cares of life. And there are very few people who will look past the moon (caregiving) to see the true light in the soul behind it. That's okay. I still love a good joke and tasteful pranks. Who doesn't love a good laugh? It's good for the soul, and sometimes I watch funny movies just for the soul's benefit. But it seems that there is always a soul eclipse as caregiving can cast a shadow on everything since it infiltrates literally every aspect of our lives. There's no getting around it. People see the bright and cheery part - but they don't see the nights I lay awake trying to figure out how to make ends meet. They don't see the times I'm so overwh...

  As caregivers, we didn't exactly initiate the battle life threw our way. Most of us did choose to take on the fight, though, right? We didn't choose for our loved ones to have a disability, be in mental or physical decline, or have an accident. Our choice was to take care of our loved ones while acknowledging the battle it was going to thrust us into. And that's okay. Here we are! In 1 Chronicles 5:18-20, it tells us of the armies of Rueben, Gad, and Manasseh. Since they were skilled warriors and heavily armed for the day, they launched an attack on the "ites" in the land. For caregivers, the battle chose us, but these tribes chose the battle. We don't know what happened or what was going down, but we know from verse 20 that they cried out to God during  the battle. While that is important, it's the next part that got me. After they cried out to God from an intense battle, it says  He answered their prayer because they trusted in Him. I love that part. H...

 We know that His mercies are new every morning, and that's simply for our benefit since God has no "mornings." When we wake up each new day, we can rest assured that He's already planned to cover us for the day. I was thinking about all of this when I got up early this morning. The trouble is, though, that I woke up with all of yesterday still hanging over my head.  Maybe you know. There are all those things that I didn't get to, mostly because of caregiving responsibilities, because those cannot be ignored or put off. That often means that I don't get this blog done as regularly as I'd like. It usually means I am running behind on the work I do to make my living. Sigh. That's a big one! Lol... Even though I get up and remind myself that His mercies are enough for today, there's a lot left over to clean up from several yesterdays. What does God do with that, I wonder? The first thing that comes to mind is that He is consistent. He is faithful. He ...

 Do you ever look back and wonder just how you made it through the day? Maybe one day comes to mind, or a series of days. But sometimes, I look back and wonder how all of this unfolded so slowly and quickly at the same time. Early on, I remember thinking about how I couldn't envision what the future held. I had no idea how quickly or slowly my son was going to recover, if at all. I didn't have a place to call home, nowhere to go, and I couldn't come up with a picture for the future no matter how hard I tried.  Each day just unfolded in front of me little by little. Then, for this little 3-year window, I cared for my son and my aging aunt. It was both a joy and a challenge to be sandwiched between two generations as a caregiver. Again, I had no idea how it would unfold.  I learned to just take a day little by little, one step, one action, one thing at a time. Any more than that and I'm on immediate overwhelm and ready to sit in the recliner, sip my coffee, and stare at t...

  One thing that I absolutely love about God is that He has big shoulders. He can handle anything I need to give to Him to carry. God's not afraid of our emotions, feelings, or situations. One of the things that I have learned from the Psalms is that it is okay to say just about anything to God. He won't get mad. He won't walk away. He won't tell me to come back when I am in a better mood. He has big shoulders. Big enough to carry my struggles, problems, emotions, and me too! One psalm that helped me find this out is Psalm 13. David poured it all out before God. He turned the emotions loose and told God exactly what he was thinking and feeling.  O Lord, how long will You forget me? Forever? How long will You look the other way? How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day? How long will my enemy have the upper hand? (NLT) When I realized God not only didn't strike David down to the ground, He let it be put in the Bible, I reali...

  This morning, I was reading about Benaiah in 2 Samuel 23. He was one of David's mighty men, and these three or so verses are all we know about him. He accomplished some mighty feats, but the one that stands out is that he chased a lion into a pit on a snowy day and killed it. Why would you chase a lion? I shared on my FaceBook Live devotions, Peace Out, this morning how we have to chase down the things that are trying to destroy us. For example, so many things try to steal the peace we know  He gave us. We remind ourselves that God is present. He won't leave us. We also choose favorite scriptures we can use as weapons when we feel things like doubt, fear, anxiety, and any other emotion or thought trying to overtake us and drag us down. I'll post the video below. After I finished editing the video and uploading it across social media channels, I started thinking about it a bit more. As a caregiver, sometimes I'm just tired. Other times, I am too tired. And other days, ...

 In 2 Samuel 22 verse 49, David says, God held me safe beyond the reach of my enemies; you save me from violent opponents.  (NLT) This verse grabbed my attention this morning, and I've been thinking about it. Now, fortunately, we don't often fight physical enemies like David did. But today, we don't have to be up against physical people to be valiant warriors. I dare say that any caregiver is  a warrior. We may not fight physically, but our enemies and opponents can definitely launch violent attacks against our souls! Maybe we aren't facing a man holding a sword, but we do face many enemies on many fronts daily as caregivers. For some, it's a financial enemy. Perhaps for others is it physical illness or weakness in their own bodies. Sometimes, it is pure old doubt or fear that tries to wreak havoc in our minds and hearts. There's no doubt that there is a battle, many battles, and they are daily. The good news is that God keeps us just out of the reach of their d...