Hey, do you know a caregiver in your life who is struggling with something and you don't really know what to say?
Well, guess what? I do. So get them this book. It's called A Minute for Caregivers. When every day feels like Monday.
They're one minute chapters. And I'd love for you to put that in the hands of somebody who is struggling as they care for a chronically impaired loved one. And it could be somebody dealing with an aging parent or special needs child. Somebody that has an alcoholic or an addict in their family. Somebody who has a loved one who has had a traumatic experience, mental illness.
There's so many different kinds of impairments. There's always a caregiver. How do you help a caregiver?
How do you help somebody who helps somebody? That's where I come in. That's where this book comes in. And that's what I think you're going to find will be incredibly meaningful to them. And if you're going through that right now, they get a copy for you.
Friends don't let friends care give alone. I speak fluent caregiver for decades of this. This will help. I promise you it'll pull you back away from the cliff a little bit, point you to safety, give you something solid to stand on so that you or that caregiver you know can be a little healthier as they take care of somebody who is not healthy. Caregivers make better caregivers. It's called a minute for caregivers when every day feels like Monday wherever books are sold.
And for more information, go to PeterRosenberger.com. If you'd like to pass to episodes like this, head over to caregiver.substack.com and join us. Now let's get to today's episode. I want to ask you something. Genesis 3 17. Do you know what that says? Then to Adam he said, he being God, because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you saying you shall not eat from it, cursed is the ground because of you.
With hard labor you shall eat from it all the days of your life. Now why am I reading this to you? We know this story, don't we? Does everybody know this story? Let me see your hands.
Everybody knows this story? Okay. So, why am I reading this today and what does this have to do with caregivers? Well, I'm going to ask you a question. We're going to reasonably deduce something from scripture, okay? If the very ground was cursed because of sin, what do you think it did to our thought processes? What at stand to reason could we not reasonably deduce from everything we know from scripture that our thoughts are kind of messed up? The way we think, the way we process information. Bottom line is we don't think right, y'all. We just don't. And it's hard because we don't have any frame of reference because this is the only way we know how to think.
Because our minds are just what they are. But scripture tells us that there's something more. Back to Genesis 6, 5. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now, David understood this when you skip way ahead to Psalm 139, verse 23 and 24. Search me, O God, and know my heart.
Try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any grievous ways in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Now, he's not saying, hey, I don't have any. So, see, look, I'm innocent.
He's saying, no, no, no. I know it's there. Messed up thoughts are in the fabric of my being. And this is the dilemma we have. But we won't know that because, you know, at the end of the book of Judges, you'll see, for example, every man did what was right in his own eyes.
You know, it made sense to me that it's going to be right and I'm going to do it. This is where this, I think, despicable thought process we have in our culture says, well, speak your truth. Well, that's his truth. Well, this is your truth.
No, no. Speak the truth, not your truth. Truth is not subjective to our own understanding.
Jesus said, I am the truth. And I can't get past this concept of if the ground is cursed, how much more so are minds? And I think this is why, I heard a great teaching on this, why Jesus astonished the leaders when he was just a boy. And it was the way he processed. The sermon I heard of this is that Jesus' mind was unencumbered by sin. So, therefore, he could process thoughts in ways that are just alien to us.
His reasoning process, his ability to see and understand was not hampered by sin. Now, we can have some of the greatest intellects in this world, but sin will always be the contaminant that disrupts our thinking. And so what does scripture say about that? And you see scripture after scripture where we're advised not to trust our own thoughts, but to trust his. Isaiah 55, 8 through 9, for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Again, this identifying that God's thoughts are going to be different.
Job 38, 36, who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind? Where does our understanding come from? We have an IQ. We have IQ and intellect.
But would it not be reasonable, I mean, would you agree with me on this? Tell me if I'm wrong, but that IQ and understanding are two different things. Wisdom and intelligence can be vastly different. I know some very intelligent people who are not wise. They have the ability to grasp complex circumstances, problems, mathematics, and so forth, but they don't have wisdom. And I know a friend of mine has a son with Down syndrome who's in his forties, wonderful young man, and he's a very wise soul. When you talk to him, you can see wisdom in him, and he has Down syndrome.
Now, what's the difference? Well, one of them is spirit-led, and the other one is intellect-led. And I can tell you this, this young man, I mean, he spends an enormous amount of time praying and thinking on the things of God and studying.
And it shows, and he has this ability to express wisdom, and yet he has Down syndrome. And I can go through more and more scriptures. Paul, Romans 12, 2, Do not be conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the what? Renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God and what is good and acceptable and perfect. Philippians 4, 7, And the peace of God, which surpasses... How much understanding? All understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus, guarding your minds. Colossians 3, 2, Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. And there are many more, and I'll probably reference them as we go into the program today, but I wanted to start with the premise that the very ground is cursed because of sin. How much so are abilities to reason?
And once we agree on that, and if you don't agree, that's okay. Well, we can have that conversation too, but if you don't agree, I think we can reasonably deduce that if the very ground is cursed, making it hard to farm, how much so are minds? How much so is our ability to think properly, clearly, with understanding? Now, why do I say that to you as a caregiver on a show for family caregivers?
Because we deal with high stress situations, and our thinking is encumbered enough already by sin, and you throw us into the pressure cooker of caregiving, and we're not going to think clearly at times. I can't be the only one who hasn't thought clearly at times. I can't be the only one who has allowed my thinking to create more stinking. I heard that the other day. That was funny. I can't be the only one.
And if I am, well, then turn off the show and let's go home. But I would imagine, and from what I've heard, many of you are in the same position where our minds just become besmirched. We're already starting with a faulty thinking process because of our sin nature. And then you throw us into high pressure situations where we're dealing with crisis after crisis after crisis. What do you think it does to our minds? And what is the antidote for this? How do we solve this problem?
What does that look like? How do we change the way we think? I'm going to write a song on the caregiver keyboard. How do we solve a problem like our thinking? No, can we? Can we? Can our thinking be changed?
And if so, how? What does that look like? And this is what we're going to get into in the next segment. I don't want to leave you on a cliffhanger, but it's only for just a moment on the break. This is Peter Rosenberg and this is Hope for the Caregiver. We'll be right back.
