Prisms Caregiving: Inspirations and Resources
Prisms Caregiving is a place to celebrate caregiving in living color. We'll share joys, sorrows, news, resources, and hopes for the future. Join us for fun and fellowship in the days ahead as we step out from the shadows together and into God's glorious light.
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Thank a Family Caregiver this November!
Saturday, November 9, 2024
Are You Hurting Today?
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When Pain Is a Good Thing
God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.
– C.S. Lewis
It’s deep into football season.
Some players have been sidelined with season-ending injuries, while others limp through the games. In a 2016 ESPN article entitled “How NFL Players Play through the Pain,” staff writer and veteran football player Matt Bowen asserted that nobody on the field after October is truly healthy. The players maximize their ability to play through careful management of their injuries during the week and an injection of Toradol, jokingly referred to as “Vitamin T,” on game day. They know that the pain will come back with a vengeance afterward. The next day may be more brutal, in fact, than when the injury first happened.
For the players, it’s about managing the pain and making it through the important days. For them, the goal is to earn a win for their team and a healthy paycheck for themselves.
For those of us who are not athletes, it may be hard to understand those willing to put their bodies through all that just for a game. It feels wrong to purposely play through a sensation that keeps warning you to stop.
Physical pain, after all, is the body’s messenger, informing us that something is wrong. In that respect, it’s also our friend, because if we didn’t have pain, we would be constantly injuring ourselves. Pain tells us to stop what we’re doing and make an assessment. Sometimes it’s the wake-up call that inspires us to totally change our lifestyles.
Emotional pain may have different causes, but it, too, is God’s shout to us. It’s jarring and perhaps harder to bear than physical pain. It can’t be managed with something as simple as “Vitamin T.”
This kind of pain drives us to ask the questions God wants to answer.
It takes us down and makes us look up. Suffering is the taskmaster that drives us to the Deliverer. In the same way physical pain sends us the urgent message to look for the source of injury or illness, emotional pain sends us an unmistakable message that it’s time to search out our Comforter and Healer.
Pain is a good thing when it awakens us to a new understanding of who we are and what we need to do to find healing. Life is more precious than any game. The stakes are higher, the victory sweeter.
If you're hurting today, God is near, whether it feels like it or not. He'd love to hear from you. He's waiting, and He cares. Talk to Him about what you're feeling, and listen to His Word for you. It will come. There is a reason for the pain and a source for the healing.
You're going to get through this.
After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.
– 1 Peter 5:10
Today's devotional is shared from the treasury of Slightly Obsessed at cmaddict.com. Whether you're slightly obsessed about living for Jesus, totally possessed with hunger for His presence, or just want to learn more about who He is, we invite you to discover new courage for the day in one of the over 260 inspirational articles by longtime caregiver and author Pam Thorson.
Credits:
Thursday, June 13, 2024
The Gift
It may have been my birthday.
Or Christmas morning. I can't recall the occasion, but the moment is forever etched in the six-year-old recesses of my mind. For a family of modest means, receiving a brand-new anything was momentous. Receiving a new bike, earthshaking.
This particular day, as it turns out, was especially momentous in retrospect, for I received three life-changing gifts in one fell swoop:
- My very own first bicycle.
- The ability to ride it by myself.
- A life lesson from my dad that would forever steer the course of my life.
My first failure
Then Dad sauntered out the door.
My father accomplished what I couldn't do alone.
Today's dads have a hard row to hoe.
Happy Father's Day, Dads. You're the best. God bless you.
Monday, April 22, 2024
Where is Your Safe Place in a World Falling Apart?
When the Thief Comes to Steal
In his book The Holy Spirit, Billy Graham tells the story of an
English missionary who died in India during the early 1900’s.
Immediately his former neighbors broke into his home and pillaged it,
stealing the man’s possessions. The English Consul was notified, and
the official went to the missionary’s home.
Since there was no knock on the door, the official simply pasted a piece
of paper across it and affixed the seal of England on it. No one
dared to break the seal, because at that time, that seal represented the
world’s most powerful nation. The power of England stood behind a
piece of paper on the door.
In the same way, when we are saved, the Holy Spirit takes up
official residence within us – effectively “sealing” us for Himself by
His power and authority.
The Greek word for “seal” means “to confirm” or “to impress,” and it is
used three times in the New Testament in connection with believers.
This sealing represents two important concepts: security and
ownership.
An Irrevocable Decree
Sealing in the sense of security is illustrated in the sealing of Daniel
in the lion’s den (Daniel 6:17), and in the irrevocable seal of the king
in spoken of in Esther 3:12 and 8:8. The Greek word is used in Matthew
27:65-66 to describe the Roman seal on Jesus’ tomb and is the same word used
in other New Testament scriptures to speak of the seal of the
Holy Spirit. It meant that whatever was under that seal was not to
be opened except by order of the king.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered
This seal also signifies ownership. In Jeremiah 32:10 we read that
the prophet bought a piece of property, paid for it in front of witnesses,
and sealed the purchase in accordance with the law and custom, making him
the legal owner.
History tells us ancient Ephesus was a port city, carrying on an
extensive trade in lumber. A merchant looking for lumber would walk
through the timber, select what he wanted, and stamp it with his own
signet, or sign of ownership. When he was ready for the lumber, he
would send an agent with the signet to locate all the timber carrying
his seal. His agent would then claim and take all the lumber with
the master’s mark on it back to the man who bought it.
In the East, a seal on a document was more important than the
signature. The signet used to imprint a seal usually sat in a ring and was inscribed with words or symbols. It often reflected an
office of importance. It was commonly pressed into clay, because
of its resulting permanence, although wax was used, too. Wax was not
as desirable because it was prone to melt in the hot sun. Clay
hardened over time, so that the clay itself would actually have to break
in order to break the seal.
We are the clay. God is the master, and Jesus has bought us.
The imprint of God has been impressed into our hearts, sealing us by
the authority of the Lord on High. We are now His, under His
protection. The power of all heaven stands behind His mark. He
is sealed in us. He can’t leave without breaking the clay and His
promise to never leave or forsake us. He is with us every step of
the way as we walk through this world.
With this understanding, we can better appreciate the words of the Apostle Paul:
Not forsaken. Never alone. Under His guard.
Living as we are in a world falling apart moment by moment, God's power and love are the vault guarding us. In Him, and in Him alone, we can live in peace, secure in the safest place on Earth.
Do not fear, Beloved.