Caller Says "God is Her Doctor."

Alright, Rose in Indiana. How are you feeling? I'm fine. Thank you Peter for taking my call.

Well, thank you for your patience in waiting. What's going on with you? Well, I'm married to a Christian man.

We've been married, it'll be three years on February 14th, our home time stay. And when we first met, he was a homeless veteran with cancer. And my grandson had died in 13 by a hit-and-run driver. And for two years, you know, I was grieving for my grandson, and I prayed to the Lord, Lord, I need somebody in my life to take care of. Because if my grandson would have lived, I would have taken care of him. And God brought Mark to my life, and God has cured him of cancer through the VA, you know, and his name is... Let me ask you a question, Rose. I just want to treat my husband like I would Jesus. Rose, can you hear me?

Yes. Who takes care of you? Hang on, hang on Peter.

There you go, go ahead. Who takes care of you? The Lord does.

And what does that look like? Many times I say, Lord, give me strength. And I don't ever want to think like Job's wife, you know, Lord, just take them. But the Lord has given me strength, and I just thank him so much for putting us together, you know.

Mark, he prayed for a good woman in his life. Do you go see your doctor regularly? Yes, he does. No, you. Do you see your doctor regularly?

No, no. I don't go to doctors. I take care of them. Rose, let me ask you a couple quick questions. Okay, because if you go down, your husband's in a pretty rough place. What's your blood pressure like, do you know?

My blood pressure? Yes, ma'am. It's good. It's good.

Is it good or is it appropriate? That I don't know. I haven't been to a doctor in about 40 years.

Well, Rose, don't you think it's about time for you to go to a doctor? Well, he is my doctor. Who is your doctor? The Lord. Does the Lord check your cholesterol?

Yes. How does God check your cholesterol? Well, if the whites of your eyes are tinged like a yellow, that means your cholesterol is getting up there. So I don't need a lot of that. How about your weight? My weight's good. Yeah, it's good.

How good? Well, I could probably lose 20 pounds, but he don't want me to. God doesn't want you to lose 20 pounds?

God doesn't want you to lose 20 pounds? Well, my husband doesn't want me to. Your husband doesn't get a vote. Your husband doesn't get a vote. See, the thing is, Rose, here's what's concerning to me. You got a husband, you really want to take care of somebody.

You got a husband who's very, very needy and has a lot of physical problems, and you haven't been to the doctor in 40 years, and I appreciate the fact that you trust the Lord with it, but the Lord gave us common sense. Do you put your seat belt on when you drive the car? Uh-huh.

Okay. That's common sense. Now, you can trust the Lord to protect you if you have a wreck, but you have a seat belt, and going to the doctor is kind of like putting on your seat belt.

Go in and check it out, your cholesterol, making sure that everything's top-notch with you, watching your diet, lose that weight, keep your cardiovascular up, because you know what? If something happens to you, what happens to your husband? Yeah, he feels like you do. He feels like I should be checked out soon. Well, okay, so you got two people now saying the same thing to you, and one of them's been a caregiver for 34 years. Do you think that's pretty good advice? Maybe go get some...

Yes, I do. I believe this is of the Lord for you to tell me that, because he wants me to be checked out too. Well, I think so too, and I think that you've got to be a good steward of your own body and your own heart, and I appreciate how much faith you have in your trust in God, and you're looking at the whites of your eyes.

All those kinds of things are important. However, maybe it's time to get somebody that's got some medical training to look at you, give you the once over twice, and make sure that you're healthy and staying healthy. Watch what you're eating and lose the 20 pounds, and it's probably a little bit more than 20 pounds. Wouldn't you say? I think so.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it is. I'm 5'8 and about 220, and I'm ashamed of it, but... Okay, well, see, that's not 20 pounds, Rose.

That's not 20 pounds, okay? Yeah. Excessive weight gain is one of the landmines of caregivers in my book, Seven Caregiver Landmines, okay? And I would highly recommend you getting that book. In fact, you know what? I'll put you on hold, and I'm going to send you a copy of this book, okay?

Okay. It's called Seven Caregiver Landmines. It's so easy you can read it in the bathroom. I know that's where I wrote it, and I put it in this little field manual for caregivers to be able to have just to remind them of these things. And, Rose, go to your doctor, okay?

No more if, ands, or buts about it. I know you're trusting God to be your doctor and check your cholesterol, but guess what? He's got a lot of doctors out there who are wonderful believers who will check your cholesterol, check your weight, and put you on a better program, okay? Don't go away. We're going to get your information here. And I'm sorry I didn't get to all the calls. Keep calling. I'll do it next week. I'll try to do my best to do that. But thank you for calling. This is Hope for the Caregiver. This is Peter Rosenberg. Go to hopeforthecaregiver.com. Caregivers make better caregivers. Okay? Today's a great day to start. We'll see you next week.