Lift Up Your Eyes

I remember how easy it was for me as a caregiver for my husband to get bogged down with the challenges instead of focusing on the blessings still remaining in my life and instead of focusing on the Lord for my help.  Whether it be care-giving or some other challenge in life we need to set our eyes on the Lord and on our blessings. It will do much to lift our spirits.

Recently I ran across Psalm 123 in the Old Testament of the Bible in my morning devotions.  Here are some of the words from that beautiful Psalm with comments I found in the margins of my Bible in between in parenthesis:

"I lift up my eyes to You, to You  whose throne is in heaven. (I look to God and off myself and my circumstances.)---As the eyes of a maid looks to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God. (Be looking to the Lord with not an occasional glance but with an intense looking. Wait on the Lord.)  Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us, for we have endured much---"
( I can't take it anymore, Lord.  Help me.)

Care-giving and life in general can sometimes overwhelm us, but God is stronger than any of our circumstances.  As we look to Him for strength, He will help us and bless us.  The last verse of Psalm 124 says, "Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth."  You have been given a noble but sometimes challenging race to run, dear caregiver.  Hebrews 12:1b in the New Testament of the Bible tells us to "run with perseverance the race marked out for us."  Whether it be family care-giving or some other challenge, that can be difficult to do.  But the secret to that according to Hebrews 12:2 is to "fix our eyes on Jesus."  Don't look back to past mistakes.  Don't look ahead to the future in fear, but look up to the Lord.