Do you ever freak out as a caregiver?

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Call 866-WIN-ASIA or to see chickens and other animals to donate, go to crittercampaign.org. Live on American Family Radio, this is Hope for the Caregiver. This is the nation's number one show for you as a family caregiver. How are you holding up?

How are you doing? These are challenging times we live in. And for the family caregiver, we understand that.

We live with that fear and uncertainty lurking around us all the time. And that's why this show is on the air, to speak to that with clarity, with purpose, with the conviction that God himself is working in all the things that are going on around us. And we want to offer this time for you to be stronger and be more encouraged and have more practical help as you care for someone who is dealing with some type of chronic impairment.

888-589-8840. If you want to be a part of the show, we'd love to have you. You can follow along with us on Facebook and we stream the show through our Facebook page at Hope for the Caregiver and also our Facebook group. And that's also called Hope for the Caregiver. They have to sign up for that one.

And then, of course, there's more stuff at Hopeforthecaregiver.com. I want to do a couple things here today. First off, I want to start off with a trivia question that is related to what our subject matter is going to be about today. And I figured, you know, we'll just do a little trivia question.

It's one of actually, well, I'll explain it after whoever gets it right. But who was it, who was the, and I'll go ahead and narrow it down to the Old Testament. Who was it that the angel of the Lord came to and called him a mighty man of valor, a mighty warrior? And he said, hail, a mighty man of valor, hail, mighty warrior. The angel of God came down and sat under a tree. There's an oak tree.

And the angel of the Lord came and sat under the tree and said this to this guy. Anybody know who that is? If you know who it is, give me a call.

888-589-8840. And we'll see how we do on that one. I want to talk a little bit about what's going on with the president and the coronavirus and all these things.

And as soon as the president was diagnosed with this, I immediately started seeing, played out in the media, what we as caregivers wrestle with on a pretty regular basis. What are we going to do about this? What are we going to do about that? What are we going to do about this? How are we going to do this? What's going to happen here? What's going to happen here?

And the scenarios were bleak and grim and all these things that played out. And the man, you know, just got diagnosed and he's, you know, he's under treatment and so forth. Now I've tested positive for the coronavirus, so much so that I've got the antibodies and I've donated plasma, convalescent plasma, they call it. And they called me again.

They want more. Which you know what that means, don't you? That means that there are going to be people out there getting my plasma as treatment and they're going to receive a goofy sense of humor and world-class TV quality hair. That's what that means.

And so I just, but I've done this. My wife had a severe case of this and she was pretty sick, but she punched through it. I've got four family members that all tested positive, but that were able to do pretty well and get through this thing, minimal difficulties.

And they're all in their eighties, late seventies and eighties. So it's not an automatic death sentence. Yes, it is serious.

I got a buddy of mine who is very, very heavy and older and he's got a lot of underlying health issues. He punched through it, but people are freaking out. And that brings me to my scripture for today, which is Psalm 105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

We all know this. And this verse, we've heard it. It was a great song by that Amy Grant did way back in the eighties and Michael W. Smith wrote it. And we've all known the song for years.

We've sung it in church and so forth. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Now what are the applications of that as we deal with the coronavirus? You know, it's a...

I'll try to reach over and play that real quick. Thy word is a lamp unto my... All right. So what are the applications for this? Well, first off, it doesn't say it's a searchlight. It's a lamp.

It's a light. We only get sometimes the next step, the next step. And God does this with us. We are provided with enough information to take one step at a time. And it's one of those things where we are so busy living in the wreckage of our future. What are we going to do about here? Well, we're not even there yet.

We're already struggling with that. You know, my wife's a double amputee, both of her legs. You've heard of phantom limb pain, right? Phantom limb pain. And that's when an amputee will still feel their limb years after the leg is gone.

And Gracie will tell you this. She can still feel the sensation of her foot or ankle. And she's been double amputee for over 25 years. And sometimes that's just the way it works. It's the way our bodies are wired and the nerve endings and so forth. And they're experiencing pain of something that is long gone, not even there. But as caregivers and now collectively as a nation, I think we're wired at this as people, we will live in pain that hasn't even happened. We will live in pain that hasn't even happened to us yet. And it's living in that wreckage of our future. It's living in that, oh my gosh, what are we going to do about this? What are we going to do about that?

But it's not even here yet. And so we go back and anchor ourselves in scripture. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. And by the way, I've got the entire board is lit up. Everybody wants to weigh in on who the angel of the Lord said, God is with you, almighty warrior.

Hail mighty man of valor. So I'm going to do this and I got texts and everybody else. Everybody seems to know who this is, but I will start off with Kate and Raleigh. Kate, good morning. How are you feeling?

I'm great. Oh, that's Nate. That's Nate. I'm sorry.

The screen cut off there. It's Nate in Raleigh. That's okay. I take no offense.

Yep. How are you doing, buddy? What's going on with you this morning? Oh, I'm actually traveling from Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, up to Winchester, Virginia to visit my son who is a freshman in college up there. We're going to go camping and fishing for the weekend. Well, that sounds like a marvelous time. All right.

Did you call with the caregiver issue or did you call because you know the answer to the trivia question? Well, to say that I know it would be probably a stretch, but I know that God does not work the same way we work. And I recall reading that Gideon was the one that the angel said that to, and Gideon was as stunned as me to hear it. Jim, do we have any bells that we can clang off that Nate is indeed the winner of this? This was not a hard one.

Unfortunately, no. This was not a hard one. But this was important.

I've read about this a lot. And for those of you on the line that want to weigh into this, you're welcome to stay on. We'll still have you on the show. We talk about it.

But Nate and Raleigh won this one right off the bat. I do got to give a shout out to my friend Betsy, who texted me with that. She and her husband Tommy are listed. And she texted me with that. She didn't call in. So way to go Betsy.

You could have called, but that's OK. She texted me with it. And then I got folks weighing in on Facebook saying they know it. So everybody was paying attention this morning to Old Testament information.

But one of the things I like about this story, Nate, and from what I've understood from commentators and doing some research on it. That Gideon was not exactly functioning in that regard. In fact, if you go back and read it in The Message, the angel of the Lord appeared to him and he said, God is with you, Almighty Warrior. And he was threshing out of sight of the Midianites. And some people say he was down kind of in a pit kind of thing where he's doing it so he couldn't be seen from the Midianites. And Gideon's like, who me? You know, it's one of the few times in scripture that it seems like God was being a little bit sarcastic. Hey, almighty man of valor and the guys down here hiding behind the thing. And then later on in the couple of verses later, God says, you know, go in the strength that is yours. Save Israel from Midian.

Haven't I just sent you? And Gideon's like, you know, me? Who me? You know, and I think that there's a funny that you'd say that. Well, does it not strike you as being a tad bit sarcastic from God saying, you know, hey, almighty man of valor and the guys down here hiding?

Not actually. You know, I contend that we especially as believers only go astray when number one, we forget who God is. Or number two, we forget who we are, who God says we are. And I believe that God was just speaking to Gideon who he actually was. Gideon, of course, didn't believe it because like the rest of us humans, we see our circumstances. Just as you were saying a moment ago about his word being a lamp into our feet, right into our path. He only gives us so much to see and the rest is faith. And Gideon saw his circumstances like the rest of us often do. God was saying, look pal, you're mighty, but not in your own power, you're mighty when you walk with me.

Well, it's almost like we want to start that song. If you're mighty and you know it and you don't know it, clap your hands. We don't, we don't understand just what it means to be walking in the strength of the Lord.

And the strength of the Lord takes us into some very dark places. And even as a nation we can do this, certainly as caregivers we can do this. But Nate, you won the challenge this morning. How far out are you from your son? Oh, I am only an hour and a half into the VIT trip. So I got about three hours left to listen to you and to just enjoy the wonderful, beautiful morning we have here on the East Coast. Well, it is a beautiful day, I'm sure, over there. And I bet the trees are lovely, aren't they? They're turning pretty good.

The red leaf maple in my front yard is about half red. Oh, that's lovely. Well, thank you so much for calling. Thanks for listening to AFR. Thanks for listening to the show this morning. We're glad to have you with us. We've got about two minutes here.

We're going to punch into some calls here. Solomon in Mississippi. Solomon, good morning. How are you feeling? Good morning. How are you? Oh, I'm lovely. What's going on with you? Not much. I didn't answer your question, but I have a little bit of insight to put in on that real quick.

Bring it. Gideon was actually, he was threshing wheat in a wine press, the Bible says, to hide it from the Midianites. But just to add to something y'all were saying, I believe the angel of the Lord, the reason why God used Gideon, one of the reasons why, is because God is in the business of using, quote, unquote, nobodies.

You know what I'm saying? Because if you read on, when he had 32,000 Israelites backing him, God said, that's too many. And God said, I can't use that many because if I do and y'all defeat the Midianites, then y'all will take the glory against me. And that's what the Bible says. So I just wanted to add that in there. Well, it reflects that whole scripture, not by might, not by power, but by my, finish it for me.

That's how it's done. And that applies to what we're dealing with as a family caregiver, as we look at the brutal challenges waiting us every day. And now we look at these things as a nation we're dealing with. Again, it's the principle of God doing this and we're trusting him in it. We're going to trust him with the president, with his diagnosis of coronavirus. We're going to trust him with our loved one who has a diagnosis of Alzheimer's or Parkinson's or whatever. We were trusted with a loved one who is dealing with an alcohol or addiction issue. And it's not by might, not by power.

We cannot squint our eyes real tight and, you know, grasp things with clenched fist and make it happen. We're going to have to trust him in it. And, uh, you brought, you brought that this morning, Solomon. So thank you for that great word. Let me go to the next call. Thank you so much, Solomon, for calling and thanks for listening to the show.

Roger in Arkansas. Good morning. How are you feeling?

I'm here. How are you feeling Roger? Uh, I assume, I assume you got the answer to this thing too.

I'm going to be honest with you. I had the wrong answer, but. Well, but now you know the right one.

Right. And I was going to give you a little thing on caregiving. Well, are you a caregiver?

No, my mother was, my father was blind and she took it and she took care of him all of his life. But he wasn't a, uh, a disabled person. He built a house. I set him up on the roof of the house, nailing down rafters. Uh, he worked on cars. He was a certified electrician for TVA valley authorities. Uh, he played music.

He could play a harp and a guitar at the same time. So he was in the end, but, uh, I'm going to tell you a real funny story. No, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

Roger, take a break for just a second. He played the harp. What type of harp? The French harp, uh, harmonica. The harmonica. Yes.

I was going to say, because I was a music major and I had to write out pieces and stuff for harp and playing a harp and a guitar at the same time would be a little bit challenging. And, uh, so I'm glad you clarified that. So, uh, listen, uh, well, and I applaud that, but tell me your quick, funny story that we got to, we got to jump real quick. So tell me your story. Okay.

Okay. He was taking a bath and all at once he hollered into mom, mom, come in here, come in here. And he held out this bottle and he had a shelf in the bathroom that was his, all the stuff that he used was on that shelf. And he held out the bottle and he said, what is this? She said, that's snowy bowl.

He said, oh my gosh, I just washed my hair with it. Well, I, um, I'm just going to leave that bathroom story right where it is. And we're going to walk away from that and nobody's going to get hurt. And, uh, Roger, thank you so much for giving me a call. I appreciate that. And thanks for listening to the show. Thanks for listening to AFR.

We're talking about fear, living in the wreckage of our future. And as I watched, uh, Jim, I did something I don't normally, I don't recommend that anybody do when the president had his diagnosis. I actually checked on Twitter at some of the comments that I decided to get off of that really quick because Twitter is basically a sewer of dysfunction and, uh, the hatred that was coming out for the president and all this kind of stuff. I just said, I'm just, I'm not, there's no need to even swim in that particular pond.

No, that's true because they, it was awful. It really is. And, and, uh, but the, here's the, here's the one takeaway I've gotten from this as I've watched people, uh, respond to this, you know, Oh my goodness, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? What are we going to do?

What are we going to do? Now as believers, this is our time to anchor ourselves in what scripture has clearly told us to do and affirm this over and over. You know, the most, uh, repeated commandment throughout scripture is fear not, fear not. It's peppered throughout all of scripture because God knows we're fearful people. And, and as long as we feel that we've got control of our health and our money and everything else and our safety, then we don't cry out to our savior because we think we're doing it ourselves. We feel pretty good about things.

Our, our mortgage is paid or, you know, we've got a full refrigerator and money in the bank and so forth. But in reality, we are all one diagnosis away from very, very difficult things. And as the president himself now has wrestled with this, and I was thinking about this last night. I know he's got an oval.

I mean, not an oval off. He's got an office there at Walter Reed. They've set up kind of a presidential thing for him, uh, but he's still in the hospital and he's, he's, you know, quarantined under this. Even with all the trappings of the presidential office, he's still in the hospital. He's still dealing with this.

All of you all that are any, have any kind of skit in the game as a caregiver, understand how lonely it could be and how disoriented it could be at the hospital. So he's there right now. His family's struggling with this.

There are, there's all kinds of uncertainty. The whole first family is dealing with things that you and I know very well. So the first thing we know to do is to pray.

And we pray that God speaks to him in this. And this is not the first leader of a nation that has gone through something like this. And we can look back at the time, but some of you remember when, when Reagan was shot.

And what that was like for our country and so forth. And, and, and everybody again, through all these things into, into play of what are we going to do? How are we going to function? How are we going to live?

What, you know, all these kinds of things. But as believers, this is our time to step up. And as caregivers, we understand this. We've had to trust God with uncertainty for, it's a part of our life now. And doesn't mean we get it right every time. It just means that this is the, the crux of our battle is are we going to trust him in this? Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

What does that mean? When you don't know what else to do, you look at the word of God, what does it say do? We trust him.

How do we know we can trust him? Because he stretched out his arms and he gave his life for the cross. You know, Gracie Scar, I've said this often on the show. Gracie Scars, and she has plenty of them from her wreck.

It was a horrific wreck she had 37 years ago next month. And she's got a lot of scars on her body. A lot of scars. But every one of those scars are temporary.

One day she won't have them. But his scars, his scars, the scars in his hands and his feet and his side, those scars are permanent. They mean something for all of eternity. Remember when he showed them to, to his disciples and Thomas wasn't there that night. He said, I'm not going to, I'm not going to believe it until I touch those scars. That's after he's been raised from the dead. And Jesus said, here, here you go, touch him.

And those scars mean something. And that's what anchors us in the reality that we can trust him in these very, very difficult circumstances and times. And as the world flounders around trying to find any kind of solid ground of stability or anything, we as believers now have an opportunity to stand up with clarity, not with sentiment and not with, you know, gushy Hallmark card kind of bumper sticker theology, which I really don't like at all. But with the, with the conviction and the clarity of the gospel in the midst of whatever's coming our way. So that we too can, like the song says, when peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say, it is well with my soul. Is it well with your soul this morning? Is it well with your soul this morning? If not, why not? And we could talk about that.

888-589-8840, 888-589-8840. The whole point of this show, the whole point of this network is to communicate these truths and this conviction to you in the midst of whatever you're dealing with. So many of you are isolated. So many of you are feeling incredibly lonely.

As if caregiving wasn't isolating enough, then you throw in a global pandemic and it just becomes unbearable. And yet you could turn on the radio, you could stream it through your phone, you can download the podcast, whatever, because this is 24-7 that this network is pushing out to you into that isolation with the message of the gospel. You remember in World War II, some of you don't remember that, and I certainly don't, I wasn't there.

I just look like I'm old enough to be in World War II. But no, you remember when the radio went out there and there were troops scattered all around and they could log into the BBC or whatever to be able to hear these things and let them know what was going on because the communication was so poor and people trapped behind enemy lines, the whole thing. That's a great picture of what we're dealing with here and what this entire network is about. People really are trapped behind enemy lines and they need to know that there is a war going on that is being waged on their behalf and they are part of that.

They are not fighting alone in this. And so we want to make sure you know as a caregiver that those lonely moments when you feel so discouraged, you feel so despondent and so fearful, that God also extends the invitation to you. And he says, just like he did to Gideon, hey almighty, man of evil. I like what, I think it was Solomon that said that. He said, you know, he sees us the way he designed us. We don't see it, but he sees all the way to the core of who we are in him.

I still think there was a tinge of humor and sarcasm when he says that, hey almighty, man of valor, because I think God has a sense of humor. I'm counting on it because I look at me every day. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Does that comfort you?

Does that strengthen you? What does that mean to you as a caregiver when you're looking at the things you have to look at? I talked to a friend of mine last night. Her father's on a ventilator. It's a very tough situation. Her husband's also in the hospital, both of them with COVID.

Her brother has COVID and she's all alone. It's just that word is a light to our path. We're going to talk about that a little bit more in the next segment. Hope for TheCaregiver.com. We'll be right back.