Sunday, March 30, 2014

Fix Your Eyes on the Lord

Do you ever feel discouraged, dear caregiver?  Do you ever feel like everything is falling apart, and you do not know where to turn next?  That is actually a good place to be, because it is then that the Lord can begin to do His work in you.  The Lord is your great strength giver.  He has called you to be His servant, dear caregiver.  He has called you to the very important role of family caregiver, and He will give you the strength to live for Him day by day and moment by moment!  He will give you the strength to be all you can be for your loved one for whom you are caring.

As Christians we need never become discouraged; because the Lord in His mercy has redeemed us from sin, chosen us to be His child and servant, and is busy about the task of transforming us into His likeness!  We need to be eternally thankful to the Lord for choosing us as His children and for being our Lord and Savior.

The Lord makes His light shine in our hearts (II Corinthians 4:6b).  What a priceless treasure!  What a priceless treasure we have in our salvation!  What a priceless treasure we have in belonging to the Lord!  What a priceless treasure we have in the Lord Jesus Christ living in our heart and lives!  Praise His name!

We have the Lord's treasure in us who are unworthy and frail humans, however, so His glory will be shown in us (II Corinthians 4:7)  Through our insufficiency the Lord chooses to reveal His all-sufficiency, power, and greatness!  We are nothing in ourselves, but He chooses to fill us with His all-surpassing power!  The more we realize that we are nothing in ourselves, the more the Lord can infuse us with His power.  That is the power that He can infuse in you too, dear caregiver, as you go about the overwhelming challenges of family care-giving.

In the trials and troubles of family care-giving caregivers often feel "hard pressed on every side" and "perplexed."  As God's children, however, we are never "crushed;" because the Lord is with us all the way.  We will never be abandoned by Him (II Corinthians 4:8-9)!  The frailty of our humanness make us more dependent on His strength, and thus reveals His life in us in a greater way!  We can believe with absolute certainty that the Lord will lead us through this life and through death and to eternity!

Any difficulties you or I may experience in this life are nothing compared to the glories that we will experience with the Lord in His presence.  Family care-giving is one of life's deepest trials.  This is especially true for those caregivers who are caring for loved ones with terminal illnesses.  II Corinthians 4:18 in the Bible reminds us, however, that we must NOT fix our eyes on the things we see, namely life's difficulties or material things; but we must fix our eyes on the Lord Jesus and on eternal realities.

Dear caregiver, I understand the heartaches and challenges of family caregivers.  I was a family caregiver myself.  The secret to surviving and even thriving as a family caregiver is to NOT focus on the overwhelming difficulties, but to fix one's eyes on the Lord.  Fix you eyes on eternal realities both for you and your loved one, dear caregiver.  The trials of this life can not begin to compare to the glory that awaits us all as believers.

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