Being a HopeKeepers Facilitator I found out quickly that caregivers don’t receive enough praise and thanks for all they do and have to go through. I know! I have one of the best, and I am so very thankful for the husband God has given me!

I would like to share with you a story of a very young caregiver who has blessed so many as we are privileged to watch her each Sunday. She is about six or seven years old, and goes to our church with her Mommy, Daddy, and little sister. I will call her Amy. (not her actual name)

Her Mommy has Muscular Dystrophy, her Daddy is blind. A friend went to the same college as these two special people, and would watch them as they filled each others needs. He, pushing her in her wheelchair to classes. She, being the eyes he doesn’t have. They later married, and now have two beautiful little girls.

It is such a blessing to see him lift her from the drivers seat of their van built to accommodate her special needs, set her in her wheelchair, and then Amy basically takes over.

She takes her Daddy’s hand and guides him to the church door while Mommy holds the hand of little sister, and wheels herself to the church door, also. Usually an usher opens the door for all of them, but if one is not around, Amy tugs on the door, with a little help from Mommy, and they all proceed from there.

As Amy’s parents visit with people in the Narthex, Amy watches her little sister who loves to slip away any time she can. Amy is never very far from her, and brings her back where she can be seen by Mommy. Amy is usually close by when a family member needs a drink of water, or help with getting a cup of coffee, choosing the sweetener, creamer, stir stick, etc. She sees that they have Kleenex when needed. I could go on and on with all the ways little Amy helps care for her family.

When it’s time to enter the sanctuary, a lump grows in many people’s throats as we watch Amy hold her Daddy’s hand, and guide him to a seat in the front. She makes sure her Mommy has a place to sit on the aisle, and then sees that the lock is on the wheelchair – just in case her Mommy forgets. She and her little sister sit between Mommy and Daddy, and when it’s time for praise and worship, I can’t tell you what a feeling comes over me as I see little Amy stand with hands raised to the Lord, singing her heart out! And, when you get to know Amy, you know she is really praising in earnest. She has been taught about Jesus, and she lets you know she belongs to Him.

She does go to children’s church, as she feels her parents will have help by other church members if they should need it while she is gone. She leads her little sister out with her and sees that she gets to her class….and back to the family after class is over.

I haven’t been to this couple’s home, but I’ve been told by those who have, that Amy does even more to help when they are at home. She has done all these things from the time they started coming to our church, and Amy wouldn’t have been more than four years old at that time.

Of course, all care isn’t on Amy’s little shoulders. Others help, too. But, I just felt the need to share a beautiful story of a special caregiver. They are all “very special” in their own way, and what would some of us do without them?

I hope you will join me as I give kudos to all the hard-working, willing, helpful caregivers. There is no way we can ever thank you enough! But, God knows, and is keeping a record. Someday you will hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Thank You, Father for giving we who live with chronic illness such special helpers. May their “cups run over” with Your blessings!

Alice Ervin lives each day with several chronic illnesses, but still feels so blessed to be able to do some of the things that are important to her, even though she does have to pace herself. She is thankful for a loving God Who “makes good come from all things.”

I am going to share with you about my mom, she has recently been diagnosed with a brain disease. It is a long name in the medical field, but basically it is hardening of the arteries in the brain. Part of her brain is already dead on the left side so she doesn’t feel anything; she has had several strokes over a long period of time in her life and her brain did not make her aware of them.

She now is taking medicine to try and help her to have some normalcy. I try and spend as much time with her as possible, because the doctor told us that she could have another stroke and she would be gone. She still lives her life like she always has, and she drives and goes to auctions with Dad, and she is still doing for herself. She is still able, nut she has moments when she seems to be somewhere else when I am with her.

This is very difficult to deal with. I love her so much and hate that this is happening to her. She is just getting to enjoy her life. She was born in 1940 in Montgomery, LA and her family was very poor. She is the sibling of five children. One of her siblings has Alzhemier’s Disease now and she does not know who anybody is and asks every few seconds who you are. She is in a good home Where they take care of her.

I worry about my mom–she told me she is afraid of what is happening and she is not ready to go yet. She is a Christian, but she does not want to go. And she does not want to be put in a home, which will never happen because Dad will take care of her at home.

Daddy loves Momma so much, and I know it is breaking his heart about what Mom is going through. I love them so much, I am their oldest daughter. My Dad is the best father a girl could ever have.

In 1995 he stood 78 hours and won a contest called “Hands On A Hard Body” in Longview, TX at Jack Long Nissan and when he won, he looked at Mom, and said, “Honey, here’s your truck! Aren’t you going to sit in the seat?” Dad won that truck to prove to her how much he loves her.

They hugged each other and Mom said lets go home and they went home. Dad was the oldest contestant that day in that contest, and he was asked how he was able to stand there so long with his hands on that truck, and he said, “Endurance! If you want something, you have to put your hands on it!”

My father is such a good man, father, and husband to my mom. Mom has been there for my daddy when he got burned in Houston, in 1968, and now he is being there for her.

I am crying now, because you have no idea, how much I love them both, and they have relied on each other through the years and supported each other through thick and thin, and I don’t want to ever lose either one of them–ever.

It is very hard to be strong when you are having to deal with the idea that they may not be here anymore. I try not to think about it much, but I know it will happen. And I don’t want it to.

I am Virginia, my parents are J.D.Drew and Elaine Drew. I am married to a wonderful man, Gerald, we have two dogs and a cat. I have one daughter from my first marriage, she is a dance teacher, Carrie, she teaches high school Students. I have one grandchild. I am proud of who I am and of who I have become. I appreciate my life and Jesus for saving me so many times in my life. I talk to God every day now. It seems the older I get the closer I get to my Lord, and I thank Him more often now too. Thank you, Jesus, for being in my life and giving one more day to enjoy.

Virginia D.

In a sense, they are borrowing an attribute that belongs to a God they don’t know and exercising a representation of a spiritual truth they don’t believe. To be fair, there are people with good marriages who have detached the basic virtues that uphold their relationship from theology.

But if they do not understand the holy reason behind why their marriage works, neither can the fragmented family be expected to pull together apart from God’s paradigm of sacrificial love.

In “Then Comes Marriage?: A Cultural History of the American Family,” author Rebecca Price Janney names the distinction between secular and Christian marriages. Of the Christian couple she says,

Reading this book enlightened me with several insights as I approach tying the knot. First of all, I appreciate the focus of Janney’s message. Rather than condemning the culture, Janney turns this scenario on its head by placing the weight of responsibility on Christians to display “the most excellent way” and shine all the brighter.

Janney navigates through centuries of marital tradition, tracing both the progresses and the pitfalls along the way, to prove the timeless power of this most excellent way of love. And after intriguing tales of bride ships, Victorian modesty, and feminist activism, Janney brings her readers to the conclusion that the restoration of the American family is up to the saints.

This connects for me as I consider marriage as a metaphor for the relationship of Christ and the Church. This saving relationship does not keep to itself, but produces a natural outflow of love and service as the redeemed person reaches out to those around him. Likewise, the Christ-centered marriage is not intended for isolation, but extends the same care the couple has divinely received to the community.

Janney affirms this, “There’s a wholeness to the family that is intact that trickles down through all society as they experience the benefits of relationships as they were meant to be.” She cites the Schaeffers as one such family, who knew that marriage, as Edith Schaeffer said, “is meant to portray something within the family of the love of God for His family.”[2] The Schaeffers’ commitment to the family enabled them to open their doors to many others, a ministry that grew into the L’Abri legacy.

My own family has taught me the value of hospitality. When my parents and two sisters moved into our manor-like home built in 1852, we asked our pastor to lead us in a house dedication. My parents bought the house with the intention of sharing it, and twelve years later we have hosted a foreign exchange student from France, a pastor’s daughter from Brazil, a neighboring family who lived with us one summer, our nursing student friend, various missionaries on furlough, great uncles, college roommates, and a handful of other friends and folk.

My mother likes to say she has eight children, referring to her three girls and the five foster kids who have become part of the family.

Janney writes, “…there is a certain winsomeness about families who follow Jesus, especially as He calls people to love others as we love ourselves.”[3] She points out that families of faith should be easily identified by certain characteristics, such as selflessness, patience, and the fruit of the Spirit as listed in Galatians 5:22-23. Some of these characteristics will be counter cultural, but this only ensures that the Christian family will stand apart from the family struggles that surround it. These are the families, she observes, that serve on emergency response teams, volunteer in their neighborhoods, and pursue adoption.

It is a challenge I cannot help but take to heart. Zach and I may not have company china or the kind of house that can accommodate a church retreat, but we will get to know our neighbors. In August we plan to run a 5K together to support the local crisis pregnancy center, and once we find a church we plan to get involved. This is not because we think we have anything fantastic to offer, but because we feel that opening our lives to others is part of spiritual obedience and we want to start this habit now.

When Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize for her internationally renowned Christian charity, she was asked what people could do to promote world peace. Her response was simple: “Go home and love your family.” Likewise, starting small and praying big, we can be confident that God will shine through our relationships with His redeeming light.

[1] Rebecca Price Janney. Then Comes Marriage?: A Cultural History of the American Family (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2010), 223.
[2] Edith Schaeffer. The Hidden Art of Homemaking: Creative Ideas for Enriching Everyday Life (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1971), 58.
[3] Janney, 221.

Dr. Rebecca Price Janney is a theologically trained historian and the author of 18 books including Who Goes There: A Cultural History of Heaven and Hell, Great Women in American History, Great Stories in American History, and Harriet Tubman. A graduate of Lafayette College, and Princeton Seminary, Rebecca received her D. Min. from Biblical Seminary. She resides with her husband and son in suburban Philadelphia.

By Stephanie Duncan

With thirty-six days standing in between us and our vows, Zach and I are still trying to track down late RSVPs and figure out the difference between white, ivory, and champagne. But even with so many pressing details, we know that these are fringe matters compared to glory we will represent when we soon meet at the altar. The pastor, who is Zach’s father, will say a few words about how marriage is a picture of Christ’s love for the Church, we will all (pastor included) cry our way through the vows, and then in front of everyone we will be declared husband and wife.

In many ways, we have no idea what we’re getting ourselves into. If you’ve spent any time on a Christian campus (like the one where we met with courtyard foliage that incidentally spells out “I Do”) you know that it can double as a stage for relational drama.

Between the two of us, Zach and I know at least eight couples who have broken off their engagement. And while we have friends whose marriages we greatly admire, the tragedy remains that the divorce rate for Bible school graduates is no different than the world’s.

But what anchors us to a sanctified perspective is that in thirty-six days we will join ourselves together in the divine portrait of the Savior’s all-giving love for His Bride. How miraculous it is to reflect the Father’s naming attribute, as He is called Love, and extend this care to another.

It is this understanding that prompted Zach, during a surprise snowstorm one April, to tell me that he loved me. And from the conversation that followed until now, we have understood that because God is Love, to proclaim love is to invoke His very Name. To me this seems sacred, something I cannot afford to take lightly.

This is why we are delighted, anxious, excited and scared half to death of putting into practice this whole imitating-the-love-of-Christ-for-His-Church thing. How, I think, will this majesty translate into brushing our teeth at the same sink and doing our laundry together? How can my messy, trip-up self be entrusted with the high calling of reflecting redemption in our daily domestic life?

Paul answers me simply enough, “This mystery is profound” (Ephesians 5:32a). It is a mystery as much as it is a mercy, I think, that a husband and wife might rehearse the love they have divinely received in their conduct towards each other.

Yet our culture tells so many stories of relational wreckage. Instead of learning love from a Personal Being, a secular marriage too often practices love not as a sacred quality but a sentiment divorced from its very Creator.

Read Part 2 Tomorrow!

Nelvin C. Cepeda / UNION-TRIBUNE, Nurse Rod Salaysay serenades a patient, Harry W. Crocker, at Scripps Memorial Hospital

If you have spent time in the hospital you know just how quickly the thrill of being in charge of the remote control can dry up. If family members or friends visit, you feel torn between the feelings of gratefulness that someone cares, and yet being exhausted by a simple conversation.

Nurses, however, can hold so much influence however, in how our hospital stay really feels. When I was stuck in the hospital for 8 days with the flesh eating bacteria I didn’t have a whole lot of visitors. (Can’t imagine why, huh?) It was a nurse on her Sunday shift who sat and talked to me about her kids, the Fireproof movie, and other day to day stuff that made a couple hours quickly pass. Even nicer, when another nurse arrived for the next shift she said the previous nurse had said, “I don’t even feel like I am working today! I had such a nice conversation with that woman in room 20.”

So when I saw this story, Healing serenade; Nurse comforts patients and families with original songs published in the San Diego Union Tribune I wanted to share it with you. I can’t reprint the article here, but if you feel like reading an encouraging story I invite you to click on the link above and read more about Rod Salaysay.

Rod has been a nurse for over 24 years. He worked in the trauma unit at La Jolla’s Scripps Memorial Hospital caring for people who were on the brink of death. . . and he wanted to offer them something more than his average  nursing duties offered.  So he got out his guitar, and started write original songs for his patients. Sometimes the patients can  , Salaysay wanted to offer his patients something more. So, he puts his feelings of hope, love and support into original songs that he sings to them, even if they may not always hear him.

And if the patients can’t hear him? Well, their loved ones can, and sometimes that makes all the difference. . . to see someone still offering hope.

-Lisa

>Read more here

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• Nurses are key to good patient experience (actionforbetterhealthcare.com)

Here are 2 of they guys describing what Mom’s Day really is all about.

And here is another one about “Why Mom’s Get a Whole Day!”