This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Hope for the Caregiver. This is Peter Rosenberger. This is the program for you as a family caregiver. Very glad to be with you here on American Family Radio and all of the affiliates that carry this program.
Great to be with you. Helpy caregivers make better caregivers and that's why we do the program. How are you feeling as a caregiver? Do you feel healthy? Do you feel...
Up to the task. If not, you're in the right place. If you do, you're still in the right place because it's an ongoing challenge for those of us who. Get up and put ourselves between a chronically impaired loved one and an even worse disaster. And we do it every day.
And this program exists. to help you stay strong as a family caregiver. as you take care of someone. Who is not? It's quite that simple.
And healthy caregivers do indeed. Make better caregivers. Hopeforthecaregiver.com. Hopeforthecaregiver.com. Well, I've started something.
Well, I've actually returned to it. I've relaunched. the caregiver support group that I started out here At a little church where I served as a music minister for five years.
Some six years ago, I. Launched this group as a way of just being able to help family caregivers. I didn't have anything like this. Still don't. I started it.
You know, there is nothing like what I do. And I created that which I needed. And I, the first three weeks, I put out a sign out in front of the church. and told the pastors that this is something I'd like to to to do and see let's see what happens and put a sign out there and I sat there on Thursday mornings, 10 o'clock. And the first three weeks Nobody showed up.
Every Thursday I was there. with a cup of coffee and just sitting there being still. Nobody showed up. And then Someone showed up. and then another one.
And then another one. and pretty soon we had quite a group coming. and they would trickle in. They felt kind of embarrassed sometimes or shy. And you know, is this the right place kind of thing?
And, you know, I mean, how how we feel as caregivers, anytime we go, you know, anywhere, is this okay for us to be here? And we would sit around the table and just unpack. the daily challenges that we deal with as caregivers. But the difference was that they were understood. I speak fluent caregiver.
No, no, why is that important?
Well, how many of you all have felt Understood. and you understood what other people were telling you, as a caregiver throughout this journey. you would run into people at the store or even at church, work, whatever. And they would ask you how things are going, because they knew that you were carrying something. but it was difficult to communicate with them the reality of your life.
Well, that's us as caregivers. And I was determined for that not to happen, and so I started this group. And I'm stunned by what's happened. I had to suspend it for a while because Gracie's needs just became so. challenging that I couldn't do much of anything.
But that's changed now and she's Planed out a little bit more. And plus, I have a lady that comes up and spends time with her on Thursday, so I can go down and do this group. I'm very grateful. The group had been following me all the way to Denver. They were calling and checking on me and so forth.
It's just a great group of people, literally from all over this county, and it's a big county. where we live. And they they come in, some of them drive uh 30 45 minutes to get here. It it it's a it's an extraordinary group of people. who are carrying very, very difficult things.
And we don't try to solve it, we don't try to fix it, any more than I try to solve it or fix it on this program. This program is me doing what I do across the airwaves, but in this group it's me doing it across the table. Same message, same motivation. same desire to see Myself and fellow caregivers. get a little stronger, get a little healthier.
A little calmer. And dare I say it, a little more joyful, even as we serve as caregivers. And we laugh around this table, we cry. One time we had a chili cook-off between a couple of the members, and we all had to evaluate each other's chili, and that was a. That was a lot of fun.
One of them brought in some elk chili of an elk that she had shot, and it was quite tasty, I must say. And not that the other ones was not. It was all good. I'd eat chili all day long, but we have fun, and we've had several that have had funerals during this journey, but they keep coming to the group because I maintain that caregiving doesn't stop at a cemetery. The impact of what we do as caregivers can extend on for the rest of our lives for some of us.
I mean, think about it. I'm doing this forty years now. What do you think I'll go back to what I was forty years ago if something happens to Gracie today? No. I mean, this has forever changed me.
Now if you do this for about Six months to a year? Yeah maybe not so much. it'll change you, but maybe, you know maybe not have that that kind of impact. But for most of us who've been doing this for years and decades, This is this is going to affect everything for the rest of our life. That's not a bad thing, that's just a reality.
But it helps to be able to have somebody to talk to about it, don't you think? And that's what we do. And I I've developed a whole plan for this. of what I envision for this. what I wished I'd had.
What I still wish I had. And and I I gotta tell you, I really enjoy The conversations. And I'm hoping, I'm really hoping that I can get back to doing this show live where we can take calls. We hadn't been able to do that for some time, mostly because I was in and out so much with the hospital, and it was hard to work that out for a live schedule with the producers for early Saturday mornings and that kind of thing. It was just very difficult to pull that off logistically, and I was missing so many of those live things.
I'm hoping that'll change. Would you like that, by the way? If we went to a live show, would you like that? Pray with me on it that the Lord will open that up because where he guides, he provides.
Okay, so I would personally like that. I love QA, I love the live interaction. This is where caregivers live. And we don't need to be lectured to. I don't want to lecture to you all.
And you don't want to be lectured to. We just want to have a conversation. What do you think about this? What are your thoughts? You know, that kind of thing.
When I go out and speak, and I don't get to do it as much as I used to, I really enjoy doing it. But I love doing Q and A with the audience. and I'll I'll walk out there with the audience. And Well, there's nothing off the table. If you want to talk about it, let's talk about it.
That kind of thing just thrills me to no end. Because it gives an opportunity for caregivers to express themselves. and be understood. And and again, I didn't have that. I remember sitting through Sermons and lectures and teachings and so forth, and they were talking about things that I had so many questions.
But it wasn't an opportunity to be able to do that. I I didn't know what you meant by that. What do you what do you mean by that? What does that look like? And I want fellow caregivers to be able to ask that question: what does this look like?
And then let's talk about it and let's... see what Scripture has to say about it. Let's kick some ideas around and and along the way we learn that we can laugh together as well as cry together.
So, I enjoy the group. I really do enjoy it a lot. And I think you would too. And I'm sorry. That you're not able to come to it if you don't live in this area.
I'm working on that. I'm working on developing a way to export this. in in churches across the country. Would you like to help with that?
Well Let me know. Let me know if that's something you think is important and that or as they say today, important. I'm sorry, every time I hear that, I always just want to just. Roberts import Button, but if you think that's important, if you think that's something that needs to be done, let me know. And you know, we're putting some planning together right now, and maybe you can weigh in on that.
Okay, you can be a part of helping me. Put all this together or talking about it with your pastor, or whatever. There's a lot of different things we're looking at.
So the bottom line is that there's no. Good reason. why the church should allow caregivers to be alone. There's no good reason for that. We are mandated by Scripture to go out to the highways and the byways.
We're mandated by Scripture to comfort one another with the same comfort that we ourselves have received from the God of all comfort, and that's all I'm doing through this program, through my writings, and through this group. And I'm very grateful to be able to do it.
So I just wanted to share that with you all. Would you pray for us through this group? A lot of the people that come are not churched. And for many reasons.
Some of them is because the church didn't know what to say to them. and they didn't feel welcome there.
So, keep us in prayer as we move forward on this, and we're going to be right back. This is Peter Rosenberger. This is Hope for the Caregiver. Don't go away, we'll be right back. Uh But I'm still here walking with you right here, right now.
That's all we can do in this moment. I live my life with you. I know there will be sorrow, we'll face that somehow. But my hands can't hold tomorrow, they can only hold you now. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver.
This is Peter Rosenberg, and that is. Is my wife, and I love that song. I wrote it with a friend of mine back in Nashville. Uh his name is Buddy. And Buddy Munlock and I remember coming up with that little piano hook.
Da da da da da da. And um I knew I had something real special there, and I truly do love this song. I love it, listening to Gracie sing it. I love to play it, and Johnny Erickson Tata cut it on her record as well. And she fell in love with it.
She called me up just crying. She said, I just love this song. And so I I I It's Valentine's Day, okay? You know, it's Valentine's Day. And I know that comes with a lot of mixed feelings.
for so many caregivers. This time last year for Valentine's Day we were in the hospital. Not our first one. And I decorated Gracie's bed. She had an orthopedic bar above it so she could have a trapeze bar so she could pull herself up.
And I had I started off with Valentine's. On it and hearts and so forth. And then I thought, okay, we'll be done with this. You know, we'll get out of here pretty soon.
Well, then I had St. Patrick's Day, then I had Spring, then I had Easter, and then I had Memorial Day. We were there a long time, but Valentine's Day we spent in the hospital last year, and that's challenging for Anybody. I've got an article that hit this week. I write weekly for Blaze Media.
And then you can see it a couple days later on my substack, which is caregiver.substack.com. And then I'll put it out on my blog as well at peterrosenberger.com. I have it everywhere. If you want to see it, it's out there, but Substack's probably the easiest. Caregiver dot substack.
And it's about when one person carries the load for Valentine's Day. And it's not an easy thing. I have personally maintained that Valentine's Day is kind of a made-up holiday. You know what I feel about. Um, holidays, the only one that's really has any legitimacy to me is Arbor Day.
The rest of them, not so much. Because Arbor Day, you just plant a tree, you water it. Say a prayer. And say, Lord, you know, thank you for the tree, and walk away. Nobody gets hurt.
There's no drama, there's no parade, there's no meal that you got to prepare. You ain't got to do anything.
So it's just, it's a very low-key holiday. All the others involve drama. Valentine's Day. I I've kind of always thought it was a little bit more commercialized and and some kind of uh unholy alliance between the the greeting card company, chocolates and everything else. And But It's been commercialized, and a lot of men, including myself over the years, have approached it with, you know.
somewhat well intentions, but usually ham fisted earnestness of what we're gonna do for that. And there's a lot of stereotypes and cliches. But Beyond all that, it's become A pause for many couples. A moment, however, imperfectly executed. that we can tend the fire of intimacy.
And over time, lasting loves tend to look at it less as a performance, you know, we got to do this special dinner to do this, and more of as a reminder, a deliberate effort to say, You matter to me. Even if the words come out kind of crooked. But for caregivers Valentine's Day can carry a different weight altogether, and I'm talking about couples where one person is carrying more than their share of the relationship, not because of indifference or neglect, but because the other, though still alive, cannot. You know, dementia, disability, illness, injury, unrelenting pain has shifted the balance, and the love is there, but it's no longer. evenly borne.
And last year there was no way that Gracie could do anything for me on Valentine's Day. She was flat on her back after two surgeries by that point. We had nine more to go that we didn't know about. But Caregiving um It it it requires reframing at times. Not not denial.
Um not pretending, but and not just putting on a happy face. But stepping back far enough to see The relationship writ large. I mean not just through the narrow lens of the present limitations. Recognizing that the ache itself that we as caregivers deal with testifies to something rare. And I'm specifically talking to those of us here in this audience.
who are in a caregiving relationship with our spouse.
Okay, that's everybody else, you're going to get something out of this. But can I just take a moment for that group of people today? Just spousal caregivers. Hey, boy. common things.
are seldom viewed as precious. And only an uncommon love produces. this kind of sorrow. Only a deep bud. leaves one person to Um willingly accept But the other cannot.
that they're going to shoulder this. And over the years I've offered a suggestion for Fellow caregivers on Valentine's Day kind of catches people off guard. And I say it's okay to buy your own Valentine's Day card. Pick the one that your husband or wife would have picked for you if they could. At this point in your life together you already know the words.
You know what they would say to you. You've learned them through years of shared history, private humor, you know, regular sacrifice, and and the fidelity of a lifetime together. And find the card that says what they would have said, and mail it to yourself. Not as You know, self-pity or anything like that, but as a tribute to the love you share. And I remember the first time I mentioned this on the air many, many, many, many years ago when I started this program.
And I looked through the studio glass and saw My producer's eyes were filled with tears and he was he was In a tough place, married to someone struggling with addiction. It's a chronic impairment, one that quietly turns a spouse into a caregiver. I don't think many people think to call it that, but I do. And he understood immediately. what I meant.
Not the card itself, but the recognition of love that's still present when a reciprocity has gone missing. If you fix your favorite meal. Even if you have to help them eat it. Set the table. Even if there's only one place setting.
that feels fully occupied. Play the song you dance to. Or hummed together through the years. Look, you and I know that pining over what is no longer possible can undo us as caregivers. But we can instead rest in the magnitude of a love that inspires such devotion.
and that steadies us. And the choice doesn't eliminate the tears. I mean, nothing in this life is going to do that. But tears don't mean defeat. Are you hearing me?
Some things are heart breaking because they're too beautiful for our hearts to contain on this side of heaven. Sadness is just too small a word for that kind of ache. Did you ever read The Voyage of the Dawn Treader? The Chronicles of Narnia C.S. Lewis, the character Lucy gets a moment of this.
Language defying clarity when When she catches a glimpse of Aslan's countries, basically heaven. And and later, when people would ask her about it, she would struggle to try to Describe it as she said it would break your heart. And they said, Well, do you mean that's sad? and she said, No. It wasn't sad.
It would break your heart, but it's not sad. There are some things that are just too glorious for our heart to hold.
Some of you understand that, don't you? That you have in love with someone that is so big that is so precious but your your heart can't hold it. And this is where we go to Scripture because Scripture promises that God. We'll make all things new, not all new things. But all things new, The love you live, the faithfulness you show, the care you gave, none of it is wasted.
Redemption does not erase love, it completes it.
So, you know, this Valentine's Day, if you're in a hospital, We were last year. If you're an assisted living facility, a nursing home, Or where you're sitting at the kitchen table, But it feels like you're alone. Allow the tears to come. Read the card they would have sent, if they could. Eat the meal that you would have shared.
Listen to the music. That you lived together. And set another card on the table, the one you would choose for the person who changed your life so profoundly. that you're now carrying the love entrusted to you because they can no longer do so. And remember this as well.
There is one. Who loves you both? more fiercely than our hearts can understand. He sees every tear. He keeps account of every sacrifice.
And he will indeed make all things new. This is our promise. This is our hope. This is our conviction. This is where we stand.
It's really okay to buy your own Valentine's Day card. Too late to mail it to yourself, but you can go buy it. and have it there with ye. And sing the song. Then I'll go back to Scripture again.
wonderful verse in Ecclesiastes. Chapter four, verse twelve My father used to give this verse to every couple that he married. And he married a lot of them. He kept a record of all the weddings he performed, the baptisms, and so forth. But there's there's quite a number over uh the years that he served as a minister.
But you'd always read this scripture. Ecclesiastes 4.12 it said A chord of three strands is not easily broken. A chord of three strands is not easily broken. And that's what you celebrate to day. on Valentine's Day.
for those of you who are caring for someone who can't reciprocate. And I know there's a whole different category for those of you whose loved one has gone on. And I I I grieve. For all of us like that, but today I just wanted to take a moment for those of you who are in the throes of caregiving. and your loved one cannot respond.
in in in a way that would you would like. in a way they would like. But here we are. And it's okay. to get your own Valentine's Day card.
Celebrate the love. This is Hope for the Caregiver. This is Peter Rosenberger, Hopeforthearegiver.com. We'll be right back. And if by chance I found a diamond so beautiful and so rare and held to your love, it could not compare.
It's even more than one can measure, even longer than forever. It's like the fire in me inspiring me to love you. Welcome back to Hope for the Care Giver. This is Peter Rosenberger. Hey, look, when your wife sings like that, you can't blame me for playing her stuff.
Okay. I get to hear that voice and pretty soon you guys are going to be able to hear some more of it as well. We just got to get it a little bit stronger. And she's on her way, but... I mean I love listening to that voice.
I really do. And that is Gracie singing even more. Last week, I did something a little different. I took my book, A Caregiver's Companion: Scriptures, Hymns, and 40 Years of Insights for Life's Toughest Role, and I just. Gave you a couple of the excerpts from it.
All it is is a quote. It's just a quote. And on the opposite page, there's a scripture or a hymn that gives a punctuation, if you will, a foundation for that quote. Why do I say that? Why do I believe that?
And when I write I write for people who are stressed, and so they don't have time to read all kinds of stuff.
So I'll make it real simple. Like, here's one of the quotes. My wife loves snow. And living in Montana, we see plenty. Except this year, by the way, it's been very sparse this year.
Now, that's going to change. I know we're going to get it. We've had snow, we've had. 18 inches of snow here in the middle of June. We've had eight inches of snow on Labor Day.
So it could be weird out here in Montana. But so far, we haven't had a big winter. But Gracie does love it. She grew up in northwest Florida, born in Tennessee, but she grew up in northwest Florida. And she hated Christmas time down there.
She said they were all in shorts. And, you know, it was just warm and hot. This Christmas Eve down in South Carolina, my family got together down there. And my brother said he went out to my sister's house on the lake and got a sunburn on Christmas Day. You know, Gracie said, that's not Christmas.
Christmas needs to have snow. It needs to look like Narnia before Aslan showed up, you know, and and she loves snow. And sometimes she even fusses at me if I shovel it off because she wants to see it all pristine, but it reminds her. after each snowfall, how It's a beautiful picture of God's grace. pristinely covering even the most unseemly things.
And that's a quote that I put in there, and I actually put that on the caregiver calendar for 2025. For December But Great M Gracie loves snow. And here's the quote. for us as caregivers because it's she says it reminds her Of the beautiful picture of God's grace pristinely covering even the most unseemly things. And the scripture I put with that is Isaiah 118.
Come now, let us reason together, ' says the Lord, 'though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. And every time we see snowfall, it's almost like it's a A glimpse of what is to come for us when all of this is, like I said in the last block. Made new. Not all new things, made new.
And that he is redeeming all this. I don't understand how it works. There's plenty of very smart theologians that could tell you. all about that kind of stuff. But as a caregiver, I can tell you this.
I feel things so deeply. Because of the poignancy of What grace did I live with? It's excavated a lot more of my heart than I expected it to. And so whereas I can feel sorrow more deeply than I thought I would, you know, certainly forty years ago. I also Feel wonderful.
And Marvel at the beauty of things in ways that I wouldn't have done 40 years ago either. Sadness is Too small a word. to contain what we as caregivers feel. But hopefully And the English version is also too small a word. to contain what we as caregivers know, because of the redemptive work of God through Christ.
And so that's the quote about snow with this. And and I've just got so many of these Different things in here that I would. Here's one that you might get a hoot out of. Be careful of financial planners who teach end time prophecy on the side. Yeah.
Yeah. Uh Just I just love that. Be careful of financial planners who teach end times prophecy on the side. If your financial planner is doing a class on Revelation at Sunday school or at a Bible study at your church, I'm not saying that they're wrong.
Okay, I'm not. I'm just not. I'm just saying, just. Kind of raise an eyebrow at that because, you know, these. Don't let your financial planner be your eschatologist.
That's all I'm saying.
Okay. Just, just. Write that down a little bit. But Matthew 24:36 is the scripture I use with it. But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
And you get these guys that out there every so often they'll You know, haul somebody out in front of the cameras to say that Jesus is going to return on this day or that day or whatever. Yeah. Look, we're caregivers. All right. We've got enough to do to keep us busy, to keep us focused on the moment.
I have no idea when the Lord's going to come back. People ask me all the time: how are you doing?
Well, nothing so bad that the return of Christ wouldn't make it better immediately.
Okay, that's a good response to have. And I. Pray often, L Lord. How about today? Why not today?
Come on, Lord. Today will be a great day. Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly. I think the word is Maranatha. But he's going to come when he's going to come.
The question is what's he going to find us doing? And are we going to be pining away? Are we going to be furthering the kingdom and sh and working to show ourselves approved? to be diligent at what he has put in our hand to do, and for us as caregivers that's what he's put in our hand to do. is to take care of someone else.
He has entrusted that person to us. not not to do this on our own strength. But still to show up for work. and to be focused on doing What is at our hand to do? and to be diligent with this.
And knowing that he's going to come when he's going to come. How about we all just anchor ourselves in the fact that he's coming back. And that's the great news. Here's another one. Faith healers don't spend time volunteering at the hospital for the same reason psychics don't win the lottery.
Yeah. Okay. You can do with that with what you want, but Tell me I'm wrong. How many faith healers do you see? going to the hospital.
And Volunteering over there. Faith healers don't spend time volunteering at the hospital for the same reasons psychics don't win the lottery. 2 Corinthians 11, 13 through 15 is a stern warning. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ, and no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
Something to be vigilant about. Because those of us who live in the suffering world perpetually regularly encounter people like this. And they want to come and somehow think, okay, everybody has failed up to now except them, but they've got the new thing, and they're going to tell us what's going on. And if we do this and this and this, then God will do this and this and this and this. Just by a show of hands, how many of you all have had that experience where somebody's come up to you and and said these kinds of things.
and somehow put the burden on you. and it and it has to be on you.
Okay. They they in order for them to justify what they do, the burden has to be on somebody else.
So if you're not being healed, then it's your fault, or somebody's lack of faith, or some sin is blocking it. But is that what Scripture teaches? Who sinned that this man should be born blind? the disciples asked Jesus in the Gospel of John. And Jesus said, Boys, you got it all wrong.
Now, that's not the exact translation. Um But he said, boys, you got it all wrong. This was done.
So that God would be glorified. And so we got to be careful. It's time for us to be wise. Those of us who live. With chronic suffering, we need to be wise about this.
And if nobody else'll say it, I'll say it. 'Cause I'm I'm tired of these people. They they annoy me, they bother me. They irritate me. And I would see my fellow caregivers and the ones that they're caring for be protected better.
from this kind of stuff. And these people, they get all emotional and and demonstrative and flail around and everything else. Is is that what Scripture teaches? That you got to have some kind of Just outburst of something. and start hollering and thrashing around.
And the Holy Spirit fall on you and you just act. Like a whack job? Jesus didn't. Holy Spirit fell on him. Coming out of the River Jordan.
You don't see any count of him doing all that stuff. And it's really important that we start using some critical thinking here. and not dissect or cherry pick scriptures and then just bludgeon each other with them or allow ourselves to be bludgeoned with them. but to look at Scripture as the whole. And what does Scripture say about God?
Always go back to Scripture. And the reason why we get into these problems is because a lot of people don't know their scriptures. Thy word have I hid in my heart That I may not what? Sin against thee how many are hiding His word in our heart. Think about all the ministers out there that have big T V presence.
And I'll just give you a handful of them, the big ones, okay? Just the big ones. I'm not going to mention any names. Let you figure it out. But think of the ones who have the biggest high profile, the biggest production, and all that kind of stuff.
Have you ever heard them preach from Psalm one nineteen seventy one, where it says It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. You don't hear that one very often, do you? Yeah. Should we just disregard that scripture? Or is it The very word of God.
Breathed, Superintendent. Inerrant. It's a good question, isn't it? particularly when you look at suffering every day. like you and I do.
When you look at impairment every day, like you and I do, And so I want to help my fellow caregivers. Number one, I want to stop having us be prisoners of vacuums, of isolation.
So by me even saying this, it's introducing a whole new concept. into the to the conversation with caregivers. that maybe God's doing something else that we can't even really wrap our minds around. Maybe there's something else going on. And so it's very important that we protect ourselves, our loved ones, and those of you who are not caregivers to help protect caregivers from a lot of this really bad, bad doctrine that's out there.
Been out there for a long time, that somehow you've got to stick your left foot in, stick your right foot out, you do the hokey-pokey and you shake it all about. That that is not. what scripture teaches, to do all that kind of stuff. That word have I hid in my heart. That I may not sit against thee.
The Lord is near to the brokenheart. A contrite heart. And brokenheart, the Lord will not despise. These are things that we hold dear. And these are things that anchor us.
And that is what gives this caregiver hope. This is Peter Rosenberger and this Hope for the Caregiver. We'll be right back. You must be. Leave alone.
Love and trust, it's on its way. Just as the sleeping rose awaits the kiss. Of a man So, in a world of snow, of things that come and go. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver. This is Peter Rosenberg for this very special Valentine's Day episode.
That is a song that my wife sang. There's only two, three other artists. that I've ever recorded that song. Barbara Streisand, Tony Bennett. Actually, I think it's just Barbara Streison and Tony Bennett and Gracie.
And it is um My mother loves when Gracie sings jazz and things like that in this kind of style, in this vein. And that is my piano professor from Belmont. Accompanying Gracie with that. It's on her CD, Resilient, and it's called You Must Believe in Spring. And uh we were just talking about snow in the last block, how much she loves snow.
But uh he accompanied Gracie forty-three years ago.
next month when she was auditioning at the School of Music there at Belmont in Nashville. And she brought her music with him and he played for her. And then He ended up becoming my teacher before I knew Gracie. I transferred in while she was recovering from her wreck. And then he ended up becoming just dear friends, and he and his wife came down and played at our wedding.
I just, in fact, I was just talking to her the other day. They were affected by that ice storm back in Nashville. He and his wife and Sally Mae, and they're just wonderful people, John Arne. And I just love that. I love the fact that.
After all those years That he was Coming back to play for her for that particular thing on her record. And so that's a beautiful song that I love for her singing. He could play that, by the way. I don't know that I could play that song. That's a very hard song.
I'd have to spend some time practicing on that. I want to read one more from my book, and I was doing this in the last block, and then I'm going to get to our hymn of the week. This may offend some people, but if it does, well, we'll have to deal with that. But here's the quote: The prosperity gospel, promulgated by all too many in evangelical circles, comes up painfully short. when faced with the reality of suffering, aging, and death.
The human condition often serves as a wake up call for bad doctrine. And this is again from my book, A Caregiver's Companion. scriptures, hymns, and forty years of insights for life's toughest roll. And this is the scripture I use with that, Ephesians 4:14, so that we may no longer be children. tossed to and fro by the waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine.
by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Let me read that again.
so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness, in deceitful schemes. Look, as caregivers, by definition, we're going to be confronted with impairments. And it's important that we grow up. That we anchor ourselves in something greater than just our feelings and the emotions and be at the. Beck and call or the mercy of whatever person comes along with whatever new thing they've come up with.
We don't need to do that. We don't need to get involved with that. We can train our minds. Paul says, Be ye not conformed to this world, be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. And part of that is we got to study, we got to learn, we got to dig into God's Word.
And anchor ourselves in these things so that when people come along with all this stuff that they want to pronounce over us, and oh, this is why God's doing this, or if you did this, God would do this. And if you, you know, all this other stuff that goes on, the prosperity gospel and all that, which is no gospel. I mean, I'm actually all for prosperity in the gospel, but it ain't the prosperity they're preaching. it's the prosperity of knowing that he has saved us from something far worse. And he is redeeming all of these things, and he will get the glory for all of this, and so we endure and we persevere.
And we do this knowing that he who began a good work in us is faithful to complete us to the day of Christ Jesus. In doctrinal circles, that's called the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. Bottom line is, folks, if he can save you, he can save you. He can keep you. And as the hymn writer said, that soul though all hell should endeavour to shake I never, no, never, no, never, no, never, no, never will forsake.
Okay, and that brings us up to our hymn this week. Last week I talked to you about Philip Bliss, an amazing story, young man whose life was cut tragically short at thirty eight. Uh they had a it was a train wreck, he and his wife. And he escaped. The bridge collapsed.
The train just plummeted down. He escaped. found out his wife had not, so we went back into the wreckage to try to get her, and he ended up dying. But in the wreckage They found his last hymn. And that's what we're going to do today.
Again, the whole purpose of everything I do is not to look at other ministries and say, okay, they're doing it wrong. No, to lift up our heads and see a higher view of God, to see. Like I just said, that he who began a good work is faithful to complete it, and there's the implication that there will be difficult times. He will not forsake forever. He is not interested in punishing you.
He did that at the cross with his own son. He is interested in a pure bride. He is interested in sanctifying us. And he is going to get the glory. And all of these things will work For that good.
for our good, for His glory, to those who love God and are and are called according to His purposes. And so we can rest in that. It is painful. At times it's excruciating. And that word, by the way, the the Romans invented the word excruciating to describe the pain of the cross.
He understands this. in ways that we cannot. And that's why we persevere, because he equips us to do so. And Philip Bliss knew this. And so this is the song that he did.
I will sing of my Redeemer.
So, in the midst of the terrible tragedy of him losing his life, his wife losing her life. His Last work. speaks Throughout the centuries to us, I will sing of my Redeemer and his wondrous love. To me, on the cruel cross he suffered, from the curse to set me free. Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer With His blood he purchased me On the cross he sealed my pardon, paid the debt.
and made me free. Do you see the difference of what that does to us when we concentrate on those things? We're not dismissing how painful life is for us as caregivers and those who we love and how they're suffering. All we're doing is simply saying. There is a higher view of God.
There's something greater going on.
So let's go over here to the caregiver keyboard. And you're going to have to deal with me singing. Gracie's still not ready yet, but I'll do the best I can. I will sing of. My Redeemer.
This wondrous Love to me. On the crew. Cross he suffered. From the curse To sit. Me free.
Sing or sing. My Redeemer. With this blood. Mm. He purchased me.
Yeah. The cross. He sealed my pot. Pay the debt. And me.
Me free. Hotel Yeah. The wonder story. Am I lost? I lost a state to save And it's bound.
Unless Uh Love and mercy. He's the ransom. Freely gave Mm seem of sea. From our Redeemer. Oh, with his blood.
Yeah. Purchase me. On the cross. He sealed my poor death. Mm paid the debt.
Hmm. Oh and me. But sing or sing. Of my The redeemed. All with his blood.
Meet this world. He purchased me On the cross He sailed. My poor dance. Did he pay the debt? Let me.
Be free. He paid the dead. And made. Be free. Isn't that a great hymn?
What a legacy he left behind. And it doesn't mean that it wasn't horrific, that he and his wife both passed away. It doesn't. But he saw something else. You you don't write Songs like that.
You don't write hymns like that. unless you see something greater.
Something greater. And the reason I do these things, and I want you all to have a song. That you could sing throughout the day? Would it just becomes almost unbearable. and your heart is just breaking six ways to Sunday.
What do you do? Where do you go? And I want you to go sing or see. of my Redeemer. With his blood.
He purchased me and then it just stays with you throughout the day. It's something easy to remember. And that's why this made the cut for one of the hymns. that every caregiver ought to know. And I hope you enjoyed this series.
I love doing it, and we'll do more. We got more coming. We're out of time. We gotta go. This is Peter Rosenberger.
Hey, go out and see all that's going on at standingwithhope.com. Standingwithhope.com. Slash giving if you want to be a part of the program of what we're doing, all the things that we're doing, and we'd love to have you along with that. SteadywithHope.com. This is Peter Rosenberger.
We'll see you next time. Gracie, when you envisioned doing a prosthetic limb outreach, did you ever think? The inmates would help you do that. Not in a million years. What does it mean?
I would have ever thought about that. When you go to the facility run by Core Civic and you see the faces of these inmates that are working on prosthetic limbs that you have helped collect from all over the country that you put out the plea for. and they're disassembling. You see all these legs, like what you have, your own prosthetic legs. And arms, too.
And arms. When you see all this, what does that do to you? Makes me cry. I see the smiles on their faces and I know I know what it is to be locked someplace where you can't get out without somebody else allowing you to get out. Of course, being in the hospital so much and so long.
When I go in there, then I always get the same thing every time. These men are so glad that they get to be doing, as one man said, something good finally with my hands. Did you know before you became an amputee that? Parts of prosthetic limbs could be recycled? No, I had no idea.
I thought we were still in the. 1800s and 1700s. I mean, you know, I thought of peg leg, I thought of wooden legs. I never thought of. Titanium and carbon legs and flex feet and C legs and all that.
I never thought about that. I had no idea.
Now that you've had an experience with it, what do you think of the faith-based programs that Core Civic offers? I think they're just absolutely... Awesome. And I think every Prison out there should have faith-based programs like this because. Return rate.
of the men that are involved in this particular faith-based program. and the other ones like it, but I know about this one. Is just an amazingly low rate compared to those who don't have them. And I think that that says so much. But that's so much.
about Just that doesn't have anything to do with me. It just has something to do with God using somebody broken. to help other broken people be whole. If people want to donate a used prosthetic limbs, whether from a loved one who passed away, Yeah. You know, somebody who outgrew them, you've donated some of your own.
What's the best place for them to do? How do they do that? Where do they find it? Please go to standingwithhope.com/slash recycle, and that's all it takes. It'll give you all the information on there.
What's that website again? StanningwithHope.com/slash. Slash recycle. Thanks, Crazy. Take My hair.
Lean on. On me. We will stay.
