Power and Weakness

Treasured friend,

My apologies for the brevity of my recent devotional thoughts. I'm knee-deep in writing my new book, on one of the shortest deadlines I've ever agreed to. In fact, though, I am on schedule--this week both passing the halfway point of creating the first draft and reaching the halfway point of the contract term. I'm feeling a little like I'm using up my word allottment for each week on book chapters, though. Like I have nothing left when I'm done with work for the day.

But I never want you to feel like I'm giving you second best. So, I want to share with you one of the Scriptures I've been studying for today's chapter. I do believe this one has direct meaning to each of us in our caregiving roles, as well as to both our ailing loved ones and our personal physical challenges.

It comes from the apostle Paul, and it is an oft-quoted passage--too often, though, quoted at us in our suffering, to chide us rather than encourage us. First, here it is:

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this [Paul's thorn in the flesh], that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me (2 Corinthians 12:8-9, ESV).

First, I observe Paul's emotional pleading to God to remove this debilitating pain from him. Second I observe that God does indeed answer. I guess I'd like to know if God answered Paul when he first prayed, or if He seemed silent until after Paul had pleaded three times. But Scripture doesn't tell us that. It only indicates that Paul got an answer he didn't want, at least initially. God said no to His servant. Here's my paraphrase of what God told Paul:

 

No, I won't take away this sharp pain that seems to be hindering your ministry. Instead, I'll give you the grace to stand it--and the power to accomplish My purposes in it. Now that you know for sure that you're weak, you'll have the opportunity to see how strong I am.

 

I love Paul's response--although I'm too often hard pressed to respond in kind. He not only accepts God's answer as sufficient, but he also is grateful for the power of Christ that shows itself so clearly in his pain.

 

Please don't think I'm one of those quoting this Scripture at you. No, I'm sharing it with you, because I've had more than my share of opportunities to live out how true it really is. Even today, I'm feeling painfully aware of my own weakness, yet even so I'm experiencing His inexplicable power to continue my work--in strength that is not my own. And so, I pray for you today, my friend, that you will experience this same assurance--that even when God chooses not to change your painful circumstances, He is gracious enough to sustain you and powerful enough to shine through you in them.

I can say this to you only because I know it to be true. And what He did for Paul, what He's doing for me, He's willing to do for you, too.

Blessings and prayers, Julie

© 2012, Julie-Allyson Ieron. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, email: orders@joymediaservices.com

A Year with My Compassionate Lord

Treasured Friend,

Each new year, I seek from the Lord a verse of promise, encouragement, even challenge. I reread and review that verse, along with its related passage, throughout the coming year--and it provides a growth point for my relationship with Christ. One year, the passage was John 17--my study of which eventually became my book and Bible study: Praying Like Jesus.  Other years, the word has been to return to my first love (last year's) or to simply stand firm when all is falling apart around me. It's a tradition I've kept since college--and one I am continuing this year.

Also, for many years, I've kept a Bible open in various locations (something I learned from reading that Billy Graham does it!) throughout my home and office. Each time I pass the open Bible, I read a verse or a passage. I have one that I read when I'm brushing my teeth, for example. Another on the printer beside my computer. Another on a display table in my bedroom.

It was that third one whose pages got blown around when I was vacuuming my room the other day. So, when I looked down at it last evening, it was open to a passage I hadn't read in a long time ... Isaiah 54.

The entire passage blew me away, as it related to some of the unique pains and sadnesses on my heart. Then I got to verse 10, and realized it was the answer to my prayer for a 2012 annual verse. I share it with you from the HCSB, because it's so vibrant and personal in that translation:

Though the mountains move and the hills shake, My love will not be removed from you and My covenant of peace will not be shaken,” says your compassionate LORD (Isaiah 54:10).

So much richness is there. So much promise. I love the adjective He chooses to describe Himself: compassionate! A word from my compassionate Lord is one I cannot ignore. One that comforts me in a way none other could.

 

And that promise is so vital in our topsy-turvy days. Though this world may quake and shake and all its foundations crumble, my peace with God through Jesus Christ and my position as beloved in His eyes are secure. Absolutely incredible. Only the Almighty could make that promise and keep it. And He does, and He will.

 

I challenge you some time in this first week of a new year to read this passage for yourself, perhaps even the whole chapter, and see whether our Lord has a word for you from its riches.

 

A blessed, safe, joyful, and God-filled new year to you and your loved ones!

Blessings and prayers,

Julie

© 2012, Julie-Allyson Ieron. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, email: orders@joymediaservices.com

Christmas Prayer

Treasured Friend,

Caregiving is never easy. And in this Christmas season with all the celebration going on around us (perhaps even without us) and with its added responsiblities and the added reminder that normalcy for us may be a thing of the past, we may be tempted to be discouraged.

In those moments when I'm watching courage drain out of me faster than my bathroom sink empties, the temptation is great to give up on expecting anything from God, to give up on even asking Him for my daily supply. Despair oozes up as courage drains down. And instead of running TO God in those moments, I'm tragically tempted to push Him away.

In case that sounds familiar to you on this Christmas week, I want to encourage you not to give up on prayer. We may not get the answers we want, just when we want them. (I got a poignant reminder of that this week.) But the blessing and the beauty of prayer is that it isn't about us at all. It isn't about getting our answers. It isn't even about giving God our want-lists. Not one bit.

No, prayer is all about the one-on-one relationship Christmas made possible -- the one-on-one relationship between our Creator God and us. He is at once supreme over the universe and intimately concerned with the intricate happenings of your life and mine. He longs to hear from us and to talk to us. He gave us the unique gift of prayer just so that could happen. He wrapped it up in love, and His Son offered it to each of us when we accepted Him as our Savior. Prayer was His idea. And in the end, it truly is all about Him.

Here's what I wrote in my book, Praying Like Jesus:

[T]he nature of gifts [is this:] They do not just please the recipient, but they also express the personality and the joyful spirit of the giver. It is as much fun to choose a gift for a loved one as it is to see her joy in receiving it.

God's gifts are no exception. James writes, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights" (James 1:17). ... The gifts God gives to us are many. Salvation, of course, is the pinnacle of these. But He also gives us abundant life; enjoyment of beauty; love, joy, and peace. Sometimes He gives us items from our wish lists. Other times He gives gifts we didn't know we wanted. And some of His gifts come wrapped in the tissue of sorrow, pain, or disappointment. The child with Down's Syndrome who becomes a sweet blessing. The parent whose funeral celebrates a God-filled life. The loss of a job that challenges a believer to attend seminary.

Hear Jesus' words in His masterpiece of oratory, the Sermon on the Mount: "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:11). God's gifts, like His character, are always good. They flow out of His loving heart. But they flow the most when we humble ourselves and ask of Him. Jesus invites His followers to "keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened" (Matthew 7:7 nlt).

So as you're opening a gift or two with your name on it this Christmas, remember the gift of prayer God offers to you with open hands. In this season of celebrating the coming of His Son as the Child Who would grow to be our Savior--remember to use and consider precious the gift He provided to each of us--the gift of anytime/anywhere access into His presence where we can keep on asking and know He will hear and answer.

That being said, my Christmas prayer for you this year is that you will be courageous and tenacious in lifting your heart's Christmas prayer to heaven's throneroom -- where it will be received personally and answered by Our Father Who is in heaven.

Blessings and prayers -- and Christmas Joy!

Julie

© 2011, Julie-Allyson Ieron. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, email: orders@joymediaservices.com

Christ(mas) Love

Treasured friend,

It’s Christmas. Or nearly so. The season of getting, right? The season of accumulating the biggest stack of cards and the tallest pyramid of presents, right? The season of making our lists and handing them off to someone else to fill. Oh, wait. That makes it sound a lot more like standing in line at the pharmacy with our list of prescriptions (which I did for an hour the other day to try to get Dad’s new meds filled).

Well, of course that’s not it. No, we all can rattle off the real reason for Christmas—giving, right? Well, sort of. The Christmas story in one verse pretty much boils down to: GodsolovedtheworldthatHe GAVE …

 
The way that reads gets close to my usual understanding of the verse—to me it's always been all about celebrating the giving of Jesus Christ as the sacrifice for my sin, the Savior of my soul, the initiator of my new life as a reborn-in-spirit person destined now for eternity in heaven.

But what if the real meaning isn’t about the giving any more than it is about the getting? What if the real motivation is hidden in that quickly glossed-over section of John 3:16:

For GOD so LOVED …

I suspect that the essence of the true story of the birth and death of the Son of God is wrapped up in those two words: God loved. The all-sufficient Creator of the vast expanses of universe and the tiniest quark and everything in between needed nothing. He wanted for nothing. And if He had wanted anything, He could merely breathe or speak it into existence. That, in fact, is exactly what He did when He wanted to express His vast store of creativity.

And yet, because His heart beats with kindness, with compassion, with unmerited mercy, with amazing grace, with longing, with love for the helpless beings He created in His own image—because of all that, He did something about our condition—He gave Himself away to be subjected to unspeakable torture. But again, the giving away isn’t the big story here—it’s all about that amazing God-love that was behind the scenes of the giving. Fueling and motivating and underwriting it.

In the same way, the story of holding Christmas in our hearts and expressing it year round to the people in our lives who need it daily, is equally less about the giving we do and more about the motivation for that giving. As caregivers, we do give. It’s in the job description, if you’ll recall an earlier entry in this blog. In fact, so pivotal is giving to our calling that it’s in our title!

But the motivation of the giving means everything. Do we give our time and energies to our ailing, aging loved ones out of duty. (God said to honor our parents, so I’m going to do it if it kills me?) Is it out of guilt? Is it out of a desire for others to hold us up on pedestals (what a sweet daughter you have!)? Is it out of anger or frustration? Is it out of sheer grit and determination?

Some days, our caring may be tinged with these—on our less-than-good days. But I love the truth that as believers in Christ, as recipients of the God-love that reached down to us in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, we gain the potential of reflecting and exhibiting that God-love in the real world where we live. I suppose that’s why God made such a big deal in my life earlier this year (in February, as you’ll recall) about returning to my first love in Him. Because in my growing cold of heart, my calling was running even colder yet. And He wanted something better for me, better for my parents … He wanted it all to be done in love.

Getting up before dawn to make breakfast and shuttle Dad off to his blood test--done in love. Spending the day in the waiting room with Mom preparing for her surgery—all about love. Advocating for them both--because of love. Interpreting confusing documents—even that's with love. Giving shots. Ordering meds. Just sitting and listening to whatever is most important to them—maybe the most love-gesture of all.

So my Christmas challenge—to myself first, and you’re free to take it up for yourself if you’d like—comes from 1 John 4:

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 1 John 4:7-12

Let’s ask for our heavenly Christmas gift this year to be all about expanding our capacity to love God and love each other as God loves us. Let’s ask for the ability to live out this love in such a way that anyone who does not know God and has never seen Him—will see Him unmistakably in us as we care lovingly for our aging parents. Maybe then we’ll all get a healthier perspective on the real meaning of Christmas:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

A blessed Christmas to you and your loved ones – from our house to yours!

Julie

© 2011, Julie-Allyson Ieron. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, email: orders@joymediaservices.com. Scriptures quoted from ESV unless otherwise indicated.

Help in Choosing Levels of Care

Treasured friend,

As you know, I seldom do much here in this blog to promote other websites. But today I'm making an exception ... I was contacted by the editor of a great website that I know you will find useful whenever you need to make difficult choices about living arrangements for your aging loved ones. The site is: http://assistedlivingtoday.com. There you'll find guides to five levels of care: assisted living, memory care, nursing homes, home care, and independent living. If you don't need this today, keep it on file--you may need it tomorrow.

Blessings and prayers,

Julie

Thanks for Caregivers!

You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. 2 Corinthians 1:11

Treasured Friend

Here in the U.S., we're getting ready to celebrate the national holiday, Thanksgiving. As every chef and one-day-a-year cook knows, it's coming up tomorrow. (I realize and cherish the fact that we have regular readers of this blog in dozens of countries on at least 5 continents--but please do allow me the privilege today of commenting on my culture--I promise if you read on, you'll find something useful for your journey, as well.)

While we may seem to have turned it into the national celebration of gluttony (I just pulled the pumpkin pies out of the oven, as evidence!), the deeper meaning hasn't gotten lost on most of us--that of treasuring and honoring God for His abundant provision on our behalf.

It may not always seem abundant -- but it is. It may show itself in the abundance of love in our households -- or in our greater households of faith. It may show itself in the abundance of strength He provides in His grace and mercy as we work diligently to fulfill our challenging callings.

I'm most thankful this season for the abundant number of people He provides to surround us on the caregiving journey. People who encourage, who uplift, who send messages of comfort and peace, and most importantly who carry this ministry and our little family to God's throne room in prayer regularly.

Just yesterday I received a FB message from a dear friend and colleague who regularly holds us up in prayer. I was hard at work writing my new book, and a little message appeared in the lower corner of my screen -- a lovingly worded reminder that she was praying, right then. Oh, what a blessing that message is--one to keep and cherish and re-read any day I feel alone on the journey. And what a powerful reminder it gave me of the close connection we can establish with each other (even across long distances and many miles) through the power of prayer.

That's what caused me to choose as my Scripture of Thanksgiving this year, the one from 2 Corinthians 1 that you read above. It talks about the help prayer provides to the recipient, and the blessing it reflects back on the pray-ers. All of this because of the One to Whom the prayers are directed--our loving God and Father, in the name of His Son Jesus Christ.

So, whether you're the caregivee or the caregiver -- or someone on the margins, holding up those doing the hard work of caring for aging loved ones, I challenge you to take Paul's strong request to heart. Choose at least one caregiver whom you know and hold her regularly -- early and often (like we're said to vote here in Chicago) -- before God's throne in meaningful prayer. She won't be the only one sharing in the blessings as God sees fit to answer your prayer. You'll be the recipient of more blessings than you could even imagine.

Oh, and if you're looking for other ways to support and encourage your favorite caregiver, check out my practical article, Priceless Gifts for Caregivers: http://issuu.com/julie-allysonieron/docs/priceless_gifts_for_caregivers.

A blessed and happy Thanksgiving to all. I thank my God every time I pray for you.


Blessings and prayers, Julie

© 2011, Julie-Allyson Ieron. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, email: orders@joymediaservices.com

Sources of Respite

Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! Psalm 90:17 (ESV)

Treasured friend,

Occasionally, I pass along to you information about sites and resources where you can find continued encouragement and refreshment in the caregiving journey. Recently, I received a message on my Facebook caregivers page (http://www.facebook.com/#!/OverwhelmedCaregivers) from a fellow FB page on a similar topic. After checking out their offerings, I commend their site to you: http://www.caregivervillage.com.

Here's what their executive vp Sharon K. Brothers, who has worked in senior care for three decades, has to say about the site:

The work of a caregiver is hard. It’s exhausting much of the time. You don’t earn a medal for doing it – you should, by the way – but you’re also doing something that’s an even greater achievement than completing a marathon. You’re giving of yourself: your time, your energy, your work. And you’re doing it selflessly.


In Caregiver Village (www.caregivervillage.com), a virtual community that is filled with family caregivers caring for people with all kinds of problems, the hard work of family caregivers is celebrated. Tips, suggestions and tools to reduce the stress of caregiving abound in the Village. Even more importantly, caregivers share their stories through journaling and in group discussions, giving each other help with problems, support and encouragement.


There’s even a game to give caregivers a break while they follow the travails of Cara and her friends, learning along with them how to better manage some of the tasks and stress they encounter along the way.

So, then, as always I encourage you first to go to God's Word and to Him personally in prayer--for courage and strength equal to your task; next go to real people in your life (loved ones, church family, fellow caregivers) for nurture and support; and finally use resources like my caregiving handbook (http://www.joymediaservices.com/jms2011golive_004.htm), our blog and Brothers' Caregiver Village to help equip you for this journey into honoring your elders in a way that honors your Lord.

Blessings and prayers, Julie

2011, Julie-Allyson Ieron