As caregivers, one of our greatest needs is self-care. Yes, it's important to take care of ourselves physically--rest, proper nutrition, exercise and the like. But it's at least equally important to take care of ourselves spiritually. It's easy to be lax with our devotional time as caregiving demands get more intense.
Recently, we released a 30-day caregiver devotional titled Pressed Into Care. Today, we share with you an excerpt from the first day of that devotional. We pray it encourages your heart and challenges you to spiritual fitness. And, if you like what you see, here's a link to three editions of that devotional: Kindle, paperback, and audio.
Now, on to the excerpt ...
Day One:
Treasured by God
The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and
sold all that he had and bought it (Matt. 13:45-46).
Within the last 24 hours, I had a phone
call from a friend whose father was being rushed to the emergency room (she called
as she was en route to the hospital). I also had an email from a colleague
whose mother was being resettled into a nursing facility after a fall. Then I attended
the memorial for one of my mother’s contemporaries whose children watched her die
in a long battle with cancer. While socializing there, I cried with an acquaintance
whose mother (living thousands of miles away) is tottering between life and death
after having a stroke, and stood with another whose sister-in-law is in a rehab
hospital. (To make matters worse, the patient’s husband is in the grips of advanced
dementia.)
I assured all of them that I would carry
them to the Father in prayer. And I will continue to do so. But, in one very human
sense, that seems so little for me to do.
As you each will attest, these crises
are all too common as we watch our loved ones age. And they take a toll on us as
we stand by helplessly, entrusting our precious loved ones into the care of medical
teams made up, by and large, of strangers. But do our prayers really do anything
for our fellow caregivers or care receivers in crisis?
So many times our lives are filled with
trauma, emergency, upheaval, guilt, and distress. Perhaps that’s why the Scripture
I want to share with you today jumps off the page for me.
The setting is when the Prophet Daniel
received a terribly unsettling revelation from the Lord. It troubled him so that
he could do absolutely nothing but pour his heart out to God. He didn’t eat. He
didn’t sleep. He didn’t tend to personal hygiene. (Does that sound at all like the
life of a caregiver in crisis?) For twenty-one days this went on. (It seemed interminable,
just like our heavy-duty caring times.) And then, in a moment, a messenger from
heaven showed up.
Did that messenger berate Daniel for his
tears? Did he tell the prophet to buck up? Did he bull right in with the discouraging
diagnosis? Did he tell Daniel to stop praying and do something more productive?
None of the above. Here’s the way Daniel recorded what happened:
No strength was left in me; my face grew
deathly pale, and I was powerless. … Suddenly, a hand touched me and raised me to
my hands and knees. He said to me, “Daniel, you are a man treasured ⌊by God⌋. Understand the words that I’m saying
to you. Stand on your feet, for I have now been sent to you.” After he said this
to me, I stood trembling. “Don’t be afraid, Daniel,” he said to me, “for from the
first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God,
your prayers were heard. I have come because of your prayers” (Daniel 10:8-12, hcsb).
Three phrases jump out at me, as if they
were ablaze in neon lights:
·
“you
are … treasured by God”
·
“don’t
be afraid”
·
“your
prayers were heard”
My friends whose parents are in crisis
this day (and those of us who are in breather moments between crises), take heart.
Not only does God see your exhaustion—not only does He feel your lack of strength
and your powerlessness in the face of crisis, but He sends an answer—a response
to your prayers.
Whatever you’re facing today, know this
for a fact:
·
You are
treasured by God.
·
You don’t
need to remain afraid. (Think of the words of David, in Psalm 23: “I will fear no
evil, for You are with me.”)
·
And,
most of all, God hears and is even now acting on your behalf.
Treasured one, be strong and stand on
your feet, for the Lord who loves you is beside you today. He was there with His
servants in days past, He is with each of us today, and He will be always and forever
with us.
May we find strength and encouragement
from the truths of God’s Word. Hearten us, Father, for today’s task.
Blessings and prayers,
Julie
© 2019, Julie-Allyson Ieron. All rights reserved. For reprint permission, email: orders@joymediaservices.com
