This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Hope for the Caregiver. This is Peter Rosenberger here on American Family Radio. This is the program for you as a family caregiver. Glad to be with you.
Hope for the caregiver. Dot com. Um This is the most widely listened to and the longest running broadcast for family caregivers. Who to Thunk, a show for family caregivers. But think about it, there's 65 million of us out there right now, just in this country alone, and if you love somebody, you're most likely going to be a caregiver if you live long enough you're going to need one.
So, how do you stay strong and healthy while taking care of someone who is not? And that's what this program is all about because healthy caregivers. Make better caregivers, and I am thrilled to bring a lifetime of experience to offer a lifeline to my fellow caregivers.
So you can live a calmer, healthier, and dare I say it. Even more joyful life while serving as a caregiver. Hopeforthecaregiver.com. How are you doing? A lot of people ask that question.
They ask it without thinking, though. They ask it without really expecting a response. It's almost kind of like a reflex. How are you doing? How you doing?
How you doing? When somebody asks you, how you doing? What do you say?
Well, for many of us, it comes out kind of automatically fine. Are you fine? As a caregiver, are you fine? Do you say I'm busy or can't complain? Or Dave Ramsey says better than I deserve.
You know, we often have these these answers that will just glibly throw out there. But they're not indicative of what's really going on with us. And for caregivers, when somebody asks how we're doing, sometimes we pause. Have you noticed that? Do you pause when somebody asks you how you're doing?
Do you mentally think, do they really want to know? Should I really say this? You know, when your life revolves around the fragile stability of someone you love. Answering honestly can feel like trying to summarize a hurricane in one sentence. How do you think I'm doing?
Why would you even ask such a question? I mean, those are things I've had to suppress. And that, by the way, is evidence of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. Just in case you needed a little bit more reminders today, there is sanctification going on. Because I have suppressed many times things that I've.
wanted just to erupt with. but I've had to use some restraint.
Sometimes we overshear. You ever oversheared? You ever just told too much and you caught yourself and it was just tumbling out and you couldn't stop it. You were just like, you know, and it's just falling out. And a kind person will ask you how things are going, and suddenly.
They're getting the full medical briefing. Surgery details or insurance battles or medication changes. I've had that a lot of times when I talk to caregivers and they'll just go through the whole litany of stuff. I used to do that myself. And it's an easy trap to fall into.
But you can see it in their eyes as you're as it's coming out of your mouth. You can see it in their eyes. They're like, holy, I didn't ask for this. But you know, they ask us what time it is, and we tell them how to build a clock. You ever found yourself in that situation?
where you're just giving way too much information. And then other times, of course, we will undershare and we'll say things like. Fine. But then we walk away if we just say something, you know. Try it like, you know, find.
We'll walk away. And we'll feel frustrated because we're not fine. Or we feel guilty for not having the wherewithal to speak up. And we Well Berate ourselves. And say, we should have said something real.
You ever been in that situation? I mean, I've been there many, many, many times. And it just. You know, it just kind of gnaws at you a little bit. But here's something I've learned, and this may be helpful to you today.
I think it will be. Not every question. that people ask you requires a full answer.
Okay. You want me say that again? How many of you want me to say that again? Raise your hands.
Okay, I see it. Not every question. Yeah. is asked to you. About your status as a caregiver, the person you're taking care of.
requires a full answer.
Some people truly want to know. And they're the ones that are going to pull up a chair. They listen and they remember details and they show up when things fall apart. But others, they mean well. But their question is simply a moment of kindness in passing.
It can kind of a Polite checkpoint. They're not asking to step into the middle of the storm. And you know what? That's okay.
So, as we kick off the program, I want to give you a tip I learned a long time ago. It's okay to have what I call stock answers. Stock answers. You know, and you have to use some judgment on who needs to know what's really going on. And who doesn't?
Who needs to hear something that's just going to... Uh give them A bit of access. But not really. Full access here. Because you have to have some boundaries.
You don't have to share everything that's going on. They don't need to know these things. Let me put it in a different term. All of you all know that listen to this program regularly, that Gracie is missing both of her legs below the knee.
Now The many people around the country and overseas know this. I mean, she's been on national television, all these kinds of things. She wears her legs real robotic and all that kind of stuff. But that doesn't mean they get to see your scars. That doesn't mean they get to see the amputated limbs.
That just means they know that this is a condition. But they don't get to go into those places. With her. That requires a special level of friendship and trust.
Now, she's not all that worked up about it sometimes. But but still, there's there's just a place of boundaries. You know, I I do remember one time we were on television and She was trying to make a point and she was, she took off her leg. She had a liner and a sock on it. You know, that's what you wear on amputated limbs.
And when it goes into the socket. And we were on Life Today with James Robinson. This is, gosh, this is almost 30 years ago. And she was fumbling with it, and we were stalling. And James was looking at what's going on.
And she was going to make a point that she will boast all the more gladly at her weakness. And she was going to hold her leg up. But I was holding her leg. She took it off and she was going to put it on the table. And there was a big Bible there.
And I had it right there on the Bible. And I said, look, James, she's standing on the promises. And, but, you know, that was a moment. But anyway, that. But it's okay to have stock answers.
You don't have to share everything that's going on. It says something when you say something like, well, we're doing better. but not where we'd like to be yet.
Okay, well we've said something, but not everything. Because the truth is, I can't explain Greasy's medical chart to someone I meet in the grocery store. I mean, I can't have a. passerby just come up and I'll just give details of surgeries and setbacks and why she's dealing with all these things while I got the refrigerator door holding up and back in the produce section or whatever. I mean, those conversations belong elsewhere.
They belong with close friends. They belong with pastors. And the rare people, counselors, people who have earned the trust to hear the deeper story. We do need to talk. But we don't need to talk about everything.
If we bottle everything up, eventually we'll run out of emotional oxygen. But wisdom. Is us learning to share those burdens with people who could actually help carry them, and if nothing else, help us carry them better to the cross. Nobody's going to help me carry this stuff with Gracie, but they can help me. better understand the gospel in it.
And I've found, interestingly enough, that the people who qualify for those kinds of roles rarely have to ask. They see it. They notice the tired eyes. They remember the surgery date. They show up with a meal, a prayer, or simply just a place to sit down.
They're not checking a box. they're sharing the load and if you're a caregiver listening today let me say something real plainly You're not obligated to explain everything to everyone. A simple answer is not dishonesty, it's just wisdom. Boundaries are good. and boundaries for caregivers.
are imperative. It's okay to have a stock answer. Say, you know what? We're hanging in there today. We're looking forward to some things next week.
Thank you for checking in. Boom. They're done. That's it. And you save those deep personal things for people that you know you can trust.
Okay, that's the healthy way to deal with this. And you know that healthy caregivers. Do indeed make better caregivers. This is Peter Rosenberger, and this is Hope for the Caregiver. Glad you're with us.
We've got more to go. Don't go away. HopefortheCaregiver.com. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver.
This is Peter Rosenberger. Glad to be with you today here on American Family Radio. Hope for the Caregiver. In the last block, we talked about stock answers. Why am I telling you that?
because I understand The need that we as caregivers have to overshare, to say things that we shouldn't say to certain people. It's not that we don't need to say things, we do. But they've got to be in a trusted environment. And the need for us as caregivers is so up in our face sometimes. That it just comes tumbling out with people who aren't prepared to handle it, people who aren't safe to listen to it.
and don't quite frankly need to know. And it's not just your loved one's medical stuff. It's your own personal stuff. Maybe you are just really torqued. Maybe you are just upset.
And you're bitter, you're angry, you're sad, you're depressed, you're lonely, all those kinds of things.
Well, that's going to come tumbling out if you don't put up some guardrails. And save that. For clergy. Trusted friends, mental health professionals, that kind of thing. That's why I started a support group out here in our little community, and I'm prototyping this to take it nationwide, by the way.
I just thought I'd let you guys know that. I really want to do this for my fellow caregivers because there's not been something like this. And The things that are out there now tend to be very disease-specific or not gospel-centric. And I want it to be gospel-centric. I want people to understand what it looks like to trust God in this situation.
What does the scripture say?
So, I'm working on that.
So, keep that in your prayers for me as I develop that. I've got the curriculum done, but I've been doing it for over five years here in our little community, and we love it. We have a great group, and that is a trusted place to be able to share these things. And that's what I'm trying to help fellow caregivers understand. Many of you don't have access to people around you that can handle this.
You need to be able to say these things. We all do. We've got to get this stuff out, but in a safe environment. That's one of the reasons I started this program because I wanted my fellow caregivers to understand: wait a minute, you're not alone in this. And that isolation that we have is what cripples us.
We didn't have anything like this program for the decades I was doing this thing. Actually, that's why I created the program. But uh CS Lewis Captured this in his book, The Four Loves. He said, Friendship is born at that moment when one man says to another, what? You too?
I thought that no one but myself How many times have you thought maybe no one else would understand how I feel? No one else is thinking this thing. Oh, I can't believe it. We've all been there. And sometimes you're feeling things that you haven't even given the vocabulary to.
And that's what this program is. That's what my books are about. That's what everything I do is about is helping my fellow caregivers have that vocabulary. to express what's going on down in your gut.
Well, you're just saying I I I'm just at the end of my rope. And to have somebody that says, Hey, you two? You know, I thought I was all in one. But you're not.
So, it's important to use those boundaries to keep you safe and healthy as you journey on this. Speaking of healthy, I not only. Serve as a caregiver for my wife, but I've got a horse out here that I've been dealing with. I thought I'd share this with you all because it's been top of my mind. This is not one of those things where I'm over-sharing, this is just ranch life.
My brother-in-law has several horses out here, and I ride them and look after them and feed them and so forth in the wintertime. But I noticed one of them was a little bit thin. His name is Hank. And let me tell you about Hank. Hank's a good horse, he's a little bit older.
And I share that with him. And I looked at Hank and I thought, he's not doing as well as I'd like him to do. And we've not had a hard winter. Um, so I've been, but I've been watching him, and he should have been putting up more weight because I've been feeding him hay. And I called the vet.
We looked at him, and his teeth are not that great. He's got some older teeth, and you know what I think about teeth. James Brown said, if you got your hair and you got your teeth, you got it all. And Hank has hair, but he ain't got his his teeth are a little bit. Um Yeah.
disarray, but so they sometimes they what they call float them. They grind him down a little bit so that he's able to chew up the protein better, the grass and the hay that I give him better, and then it digests better in his stomach. And so that he's able to get all the nutrients out of it. And yes, he could use a little bit of that, but the vet was listening to his stomach. And was able to determine he's got some sand in his in his colon.
And We don't have a lot of sand right here, and he's a newer horse. We got him a couple years ago. And this can accumulate over years and years. And the vet says, Well, here's what we're going to do. Before we start grinding his teeth down, let's see if we can get some of the sand out of him.
And I said, well, I looked at the vet, well, how do you propose to do that?
Well, funny, I should ask. And so the other day I picked up a 40-pound bucket of horse laxative.
Now, if you pick up a 40-pound bucket of horse laxative, You've got an idea. of where your day is heading at that point. Are you tracking with me? Because it's uh it's it's and I told Hank, and I looked at Hank, and I you know, Hank's a sweet horse. And the good news is, by the way, when we had snow, I noticed that he had snow on his back, and so did all the other horses.
So that's good. That means they're insulated. You want to see livestock, speaking of stock answers, this is a different kind of stock answer, but you want to see livestock. That have a good Insulated, you know, when the snow hits, that they're not, it's not just steaming off of them real quick because that means their body heat is getting out of it, that's not being kept in there. And so these horses are well fed.
I take good care of them, but Hank's got a little bit of a problem, so I have to feed him some of this laxative. And we're going to do this for about. I don't know. We're going to probably do about two months. We'll see at the end of April, 1st of May, see how he's doing.
Now, when the new grass comes, he'll be able to eat that a little bit better. Even with his teeth now, but we're probably not going to float his teeth until we get to the 1st of June. We'll see how this laxative works. But I told Hank, I said, Look, Hank, I'm going to stand beside you, but I'm not going to stand behind you. All right.
So, I mean, it's not a good idea to stand behind a horse anyway, but when you're administering laxative to a horse, That's just something you might want to keep in mind. I don't know if that's come across your particular day, but it's part of my day. And I have to feed him separately from the other horses, and I got him some senior food. It's got molasses in it and so forth. And he gobbles it up, but all the other, I have to separate them because all the other horses want to come and they want to be a part of this.
And I'm not giving five horses laxative. I'm just telling you that right now. I mean, I'm going to draw that line in the sand today. But not saying that That Hank's going to eat. I'm just going to draw it in the dirt.
You know what I mean? But yeah, you don't want five horses with laxatives going on. And you might want to write that down. 'Cause that that can turn out to be a a tough day. But I also noticed something this this winter.
And we had at one point, we just have not had. A brutal winter like we normally have. I mean, sometimes, you know, it it's thirty below out here. And This year we've had just an incredibly mild winter, very little snow, which I'm kind of concerned about for fire season this summer. but I noticed that the horses were out grazing in the pasture.
And I usually start feeding around December. December 15th usually is my day I start feeding because they'll dig in the snow for a little bit. But this grass has been eaten down. pretty well in this where they are here by the house. And We don't put them at the upper part because there's too much snow up there and then they like to be by the barn where I feed them hay once we start getting bad weather.
But they were out there eating. But it's old drygrass. and they looked like they were eating. And they were actually having something going in their mouth, and they were consuming it, but it wasn't good for them. It wasn't nu nutritious for them.
It didn't have what they needed. And so even though we didn't have a lot of snow, And they could still get to grass. I was feeding them hay anyway. Normally, I would not have, but we had some cattle on this property this summer from a local rancher. Things that got eaten down pretty well.
And so all that was left was kind of old grass. And as I looked at that, I realized they're eating. They look like they're eating. They seem to have. you know, the the sensation of eating, but what they're eating is not good for 'em.
And I thought how many churches are like that. How many pastors are giving stuff that's not good for their people? That in harsh conditions It's not going to sustain them. It's not going to give them the nutrients they need to protect against a hard winter. We didn't have a hard winter this year, but most years we do.
And these horses cannot exist on Who Non-healthy grass.
Now when the new grass comes they'll be fine and they'll be fat and sassy. But Right now I have to tend to them. and make sure that I give them what they need. the hay they need, the nutrients they need, all those kinds of things. particularly in the harsh seasons of the winter.
And now that Hank is dealing with what he's dealing with, I want to make sure that you know, the the little bit of protein he's getting out of the hay. is is helping them. Because uh until we get this sand flushed out of him, And then we'll, you know, hopefully he'll be able to, but he, you know, he's older, but we'll put that on. And I got some senior food for him, and he's on his way. But do you see the corollary of the church?
So many metaphors in scripture are about farming and agriculture and livestock. And are we are we being fed properly? As Believers. Do you see people out there chewing on things? Things that have little or no nutritional value.
And it's the responsibility of the pastor to make sure that they're giving them solid, good food that will help them endure in harsh times. How many of you all felt like you were being given solid and good food that sustained you? in harsh times, and you were getting this from the pulpit or your Sunday school class. I hear this from caregivers all the time, that the pastor's up there just proclaiming you're going to get your breakthrough, you're going to get this, you're going to get that, you're going to get this, and nobody's equipping them to deal with the harsh times. And that's our responsibility as believers to equip ourselves and one another with the solid food.
The nutritious food that's going to help us keep that insulated in, the heat insulated in our bodies like the horses have, so that the snow is not melting off their backs. because the heat is escaping and they'll succumb to the winters. There are harsh times facing so many people. And if we don't show people how the Word of God sustains them specifically, And sometimes we may have to give Some you know, spiritual accidents to people. You know, a lot of a lot of people got sand in their belly.
And it maybe feels full. But what it's full of love is not helping them. I look over the church landscape and I ask that question to myself a lot and to other folks. What are you learning? What are you hearing?
What is being taught to you? Will it sustain you in the crucible of caregiving? And that's a very good question to ask. of your pastor, of your Sunday school teacher, of yourself. It's what you're putting into your mind and your heart and your spirit sustaining you.
We'll talk more about that when we come back. This is Peter Rosenberger. This is Hope for the Caregiver. Don't go away. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver.
This is Peter Rosenberger. Glad to be with you. HopefortheCaregiver.com. HopefortheCaregiver.com. And while I was on the subject of Hank, the horse out here, and I had to get that 40 pounds of horse laxative.
Reminds me that I'm scheduling my colonoscopy this year. You should as well, if you haven't done so, let's stay on top of those things while we're on the subject of horse laxative. But, you know, not something you hear a lot on American Family Radio. I freely admit, but it's a program for caregivers, so we're going to have an honest conversation about it.
So I'm getting mine this year. A little bit overdue because of all these surgeries with Gracie. I got behind on that. And so I'm getting some things checked up and being brought up to speed. And I wanted to.
Touch on a few things based on what we've been talking about: stock answers, learning how to have proper things going into our heart. That we're feeding ourselves spiritually with or being fed with, make sure you seek out a church that is. Equipping you with an understanding of scripture on how to deal with what you're dealing with. There are things that you can do to... Test this out.
I wrote about this. In my new book, it's called A Caregiver's Companion: Scriptures, Hymns, and 40 Years of Insights for Life's Toughest Role. And there's a quote on one page of things I've said over the years, and then I marry it with a scripture or a hymn stanza. on the other page and then it allows you to put your notes there what your thoughts are. Very, very simple.
I mean, you don't have to read this in a straight line. and you can big up and go anywhere. But here's a quote that I've said over the years that that Punctuates what we've been discussing here on the program here today about learning how to guard our hearts. As caregivers, we owe it to ourselves to inventory the people around us who have access to our hearts. I I I said that A long time ago, and I kept all these.
This is kind of my journal for 40 years. And they're just quotes. As caregivers we owe it to ourselves to inventory the people around us who have access to our hearts. And the scripture I put with that is 1 Thessalonians 5:21, which says, But test everything, hold fast what is good. Test everything, hold fast what is good.
Let me give you a real-life example of something that is. happen right now. in the news. That you saw probably this week. You know, Jesse Jackson just recently passed away.
And He had struggled with Parkinson's disease.
Now, Jesse Jackson and I have very little in common as far as our. political and probably even our spiritual beliefs and biblical beliefs. Um but I respect the fact of what his family has endured. of caring for someone with Parkinson's. And it's been a tough journey for them.
and at the funeral his son had asked for the politics to be left aside, But sure enough, you got Three former presidents got up there and just decided they were going to turn it into their show. And Jesse Jackson Jr. came out like the next day or so. This just happened this week. and basically just excoriate for that.
They were given access to the family in their time of mourning. And yes, I know he was a public figure, well known, people knew him, and all that kind of stuff. But they were given access to this And instead of Comforting the family. Pointing them to a place of encouragement or stability, or you know, I don't know that I would expect any of them to point them to the cross, but that's you know, the man builds himself as a reverend. You would think that that would be part of it.
But it th these former presidents came out and just made it they inserted themselves into it. and made it about their own agenda and their thoughts. and not even caring. About this family who was exhausted after taking care of somebody with Parkinson's. Many in this audience have cared for someone with Parkinson's.
My father had Parkinson's.
So I have great compassion for what this family has endured. And instead of Being thoughtful and considerate and leaders and And Any of those things, they just made it about themselves. And Jesse Jackson Jr. had just enough of it. and he lambasted him said these guys spoke and they didn't even know my father.
And I thought, wow, that's. Rather telling, isn't it? And that's Learning the importance of boundaries. And the family had to pay a tough price for that. They they trusted people.
See, again, there are people you just can't trust. They come inside your suffering.
Some people will just insert themselves into your suffering. And just to be able to get attention. And you can't always trust people. They're people that you just simply cannot trust. To come into your challenges.
And we have to guard those places. We have to be vigilant about it. And discretion, and you know where that comes from? Scripture. I promise you this, you write this down.
And you can come back, and if I'm wrong on this, you can come back and publicly denounce me. But the more you fill your mind, your heart, your soul, everything about you. with the things of God. with scripture, anchoring yourself into this. the sharper your mind will become.
The clearer your thinking will become, and the more readily you'll be able to see that kind of stuff that could come in and harm you. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full at His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim. in the light of His glorious grace. That that is a a true axiom. You can bank on that.
That is bedrock. There is nothing under that that's going to crumble. And the best defense that you have of guarding your mind and your heart. It's through the Word of God. Thy word have I hid in my heart.
that I may not sit against thee. Have you noticed a shift? On the way we approach scripture in our culture today, do we push memorization of scripture? Do do you see that? Growing up in my family and and in my life, memorizing scripture.
was a part of daily life. Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I may not sin against thee. I remember the first scripture. That I ever learned, 1 Thessalonians 5:15, I was like. Maybe four?
In nursery school, there at the church in Atlanta where my dad was the pastor. See that no one repays any one evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to every one. That's the first scripture I ever learned. And do you know when you could start learning scripture? Right now?
Memorize it. Buries in your heart. hold on to it fast. and it will sharpen your mind. I've told you all that I've been studying theology now for about four years, and I've got a tutor who listens to this program, Michael, and retired professor.
He pushes me, grills me, smacks me around, gets a big red pen out and marks it down. He's very, very patient with me. But he told me this, he made a promise to me. He said, You go down this path. And it will bring precision to your thinking that you've never had before.
He said, 'I promise you, you watch and see' and he was right. The more we study the things of God, the clearer our mind and the sharper our mind is. Because the Word of God does what?
Well, Hebrews 4.12 says, For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword. piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow. and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Right. How about that?
The Word of God does this.
So you go back to this thing. With um at the funeral, for example, of Jesse Jackson and these guys horn in.
Well, those are three former presidents of the United States, and they got called out. publicly, all three of them from the same party basically. It's one of those things that they can't blame on Trump. He wasn't anywhere near that. And I think that these guys got this rebuke well deserved.
Jesse Jackson, Junior saw this. But it illustrates a bigger point. There are people that are going to do that, even former presidents of the United States who are going to insert themselves into your journey. They're going to come and they're going to tell you that they're going to pray for you, and then they're going to go share all your business with other people. And use you as a as a way of getting attention.
Don't think that that won't happen. For some of you, it's already happened. How do you guard against that sort of thing?
Well, I'll tell you the first thing you do. is you start memorizing Scripture. Jesus himself did not trust himself. to other people. John two, twenty four through twenty five.
But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people, and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. Jesus knew the hearts of people. And Scripture says the heart of man, and Jeremiah says, the heart of man is exceedingly wicked. When you hear a pastor say, trust your heart. Run.
Don't trust your heart. Trust his heart, he said. And certainly don't trust other people's. Trust his heart. Ronald Reagan said it best: trust but verify.
You know, when it comes to other people, trust but verify, but don't trust your heart. trust his heart. The heart that He's making in you has made in you. But it's his, not yours. Our heart is black with sin.
And we can't trust it, but we can trust his heart. And we can lean on His word. I trust the ever living One, His wounds for me doth plead, the hymn writer said. That's why I do all these hymns. These these hymn writers have wrestled with this.
You know, come thou found of every blessing. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the one I love. This is what we struggle with.
So the quote from the book today is. We owe ourselves as caregivers to take inventory of the people who have access to our hearts, and the scripture from Thessalonians is. Test every spirit. Test it. Put it up against Scripture.
What are they saying? Cause sometimes it sounds really good. Go back to what I said in the last block. The horses looked like they were eating. and they had food going into their mouth they had grass going there.
And they felt something in their bellies, but what they were eating was not good. I had to give them Better food. There was no way that those horses would be able to endure the winter. without it. And so it's really important that we look around this culture and see what people are consuming.
and what it's doing to their judgment. and how it affects us. I can't Change the world. I can't change either. I can just change me.
But I can walk in this world. And I can endure in these things without having to be hooked into other people's self-servingness.
Now. You know, if Jesse Jackson Jr. had asked my opinion before this thing, I would have told him you could expect this, but. They learned a hard lesson and I'm sorry for the family. Because that was a sacred time to be able to just build the family up.
And by the way, you can see it on the choir. Go look at some of the pictures. You can see the choir looking at Joe Biden and saying, What is he talking about? People will do that. People will take advantage of these things.
And we guard ourselves on this, and we focus on Him, and we consume ourselves with the Word of God. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. This is Peter Rosenberger. This is Hope for the Caregiver. We'll be right back.
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. because 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, and I always get the same thing every time, that 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 sea 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. have faith-based programs like this because return rate.
of the men that are involved in this particular faith-based program. and other ones like it, but I know about this one. Are just an amazingly low rate compared to those who don't have them. And I think that that says so much. But that test 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 limb, 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? What do they find? 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, Cracie. Take my hand.
Lean on me. We will stay
