Praise the Lord

(This is a chapter from my book, Dear Caregiver Reflections for Family Caregivers.)

Family caregivers often face overwhelming physical and emotional struggles, as they care for their loved ones. This is especially true if their loved ones have a terminal disease and are deteriorating in their health month by month and sometimes day by day. In many cases, caregivers' dreams for a beautiful future with their loved ones have been shattered. They also often feel weighed down with fears about the future.

Dear Christian caregiver, do not let Satan discourage you by his schemes at times like this. Satan is a liar, and he wants you to forget that you are a child of God with the power of God on your side. Satan wants you to forget that you have Christ's resurrection power in you to live for God and carry out your difficult care-giving role. Trust in the Lord. Rest in Him, dear caregiver.

One way  caregivers (or anyone for that matter) can fight Satan's schemes to discourage us is to praise the Lord in the midst of difficulties. It seems to go so against our instincts to praise the Lord during difficult times, but thankfulness takes the sting out of trials and adversity. The chains of discouragement and despair drop behind us when we praise the Lord. I read somewhere recently that if we give thanks to God in spite of our feelings, He in turn gives us joy in spite of our circumstances. We sense God's presence when we are praising Him in a way that we can not do in any other way. It is said thanksgiving and praise in our hearts squeezes difficult circumstances until joy oozes out of it. Praise for the Lord gives us glimpses of Heaven, which in turn gives us further reasons to be thankful.

I still remember very vividly those care-giving days taking care of my husband with a rapidly deteriorating neurological disease. Those days were very difficult. This was especially true the last months of his life. It is hard to feel thankful and full of praise in such moments. God asks us to make a SACRIFICE of praise, however, even in those difficult moments. If we do this, we will find peace and joy as we are resting in Him. We may not always understand God's ways, but He does have everything under His control.

Praise the Lord in the midst of all the challenges and difficulties, dear caregiver. It will lift your load.



(I have a link posted below. It is a song from the Imperials and it is called Praise the Lord. I hope you will find it a blessing, dear caregiver.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q-NVHP32L8&feature=share