Caregivers and the Silence Between Old and New Testaments

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Call 866-WINASIA or to see chickens and other animals to donate, go to crittercampaign.org. Live on American Family Radio, this is Hope for the Caregiver. I am Peter Rosenberger. This is the nation's number one show for you as a family caregiver. How are you doing? How are you feeling? How are you holding up? What's going on with you?

888-589-8840, 888-589-8840. If you want to be a part of the show, there's nothing like this show. We are out leading the pack on addressing the core needs of the family caregiver. We start from the inside out, from the heart out. We don't talk about caregiving task as a rule.

I mean, we do sometimes delve into that. But our primary focus is on the core needs of the caregiver. You know, if you're in a situation where your money is all over the map, your body is messed up, your relationships are messed up, all these things going on, there's going to be a core need and Scripture is going to speak to that. This is what I've learned now. I'm in my 35th year as a caregiver.

And I've learned that it's not about just getting some kind of reprieve from the stress of caregiver. It's so much deeper than that. And that's why I'm so grateful to American Family Radio, the Truth Network, his radio. This show is carried now on more than 200 stations.

200. We are the largest platform of it and we are bringing biblical truths into this situation that nobody's ever done before. Now, there's so many social issues that have been co-opted by the world.

Name it. But not this one. This one is being led and we're speaking into the hearts of people from a biblical worldview, a biblical truth centered message. And when I shared this vision originally with American Family Radio and what I wanted to do, they got on board with it.

I really give them an enormous amount of gratitude and thanks for seeing the value in this. Because the family caregiver is an often overlooked person. You know this. If you're a caregiver, you know this.

But we're not overlooking. We understand the importance that if the caregiver goes down, then you lose more than just one individual. And if the caregiver is not equipped to deal with the stress and the strain and the heartache that comes from watching a loved one, an impaired loved one suffer or struggle, then we are not doing our job as believers and speaking the gospel with clarity into that in a way that caregivers understand. I speak fluent caregiver. And I want to make sure you are at least hearing a path to safety. You may not take it. There are a lot of caregivers that don't.

But I want to at least be able to point to that path to safety in a way that you understand. And if you want to be a part of this show, 888-589-8840, 888-589-8840, I want to start off with a trivia question. There is a general consensus that after the book of Malachi, or as my brother says, it's the only Italian book in the Bible. He calls it Malachi. That's just for him. But after the book of Malachi, there was a period of time where God was silent, apparently.

There's no prophetic voice of God coming between the book of Malachi and then when you get to the birth of Christ. What's that period of time? How long was that?

That's the question this morning. 888-589-8840. And once you answer that, then we're going to show why that applies to us as a family caregiver.

888-589-8840. How long a period of time was that? There was another period of time in scripture that was comparable to that where it was the same thing. And this is an important concept for us to understand as caregivers on where's God in these things.

And I'll explain to you. And the answer really lies in Matthew 1 and in Luke 3. Of where is God? Not the number, but where is God?

So 888-589-8840. If you know how long a period of time that was, approximately, between the Old Testament and the New Testament, Malachi spoke at the end of Malachi. And he said, in fact, I think the last word in the book of Malachi was curse. And there's a great hymn that we sing, Joy to the World, where we say, far as the curse is found. And, by the way, if you notice that Joy to the World is based on, basically, the major scale. And if you wanted to know the gospel, it goes something a little bit like this. I'm going over to my keyboard. That's the melody for Joy to the World.

But I'm playing it in the key of C, so it's just a C scale. All right, let's go to, we got a lot of calls on here, so we'll go to some that say they know the answer. But the question is very, there's a reason I'm asking this.

I'm not just asking this just because I want you to know these little things of trivia. I want you to understand the concept and the principle behind it, because I think as a caregiver, this will affect you. Now, if you're not a caregiver and you're a seminary student and you have all kinds of knowledge and you're a pastor and you just want to show off your knowledge, give the caregivers a shot. Because the point is that we as caregivers learn this, that it gets into our spirit, not just so that we can spout off stuff from a head place, but we understand the core principle from our heart. You know, it is a, sometimes the longest distance for us is between our brains and our hearts and understanding how this applies to you as a caregiver.

And I want you to think about, now here's what a caregiver looks like. It looks like anybody who is taking care of an impaired loved one, whether they be dealing with disease, affliction, mental illness, older age, trauma. In my case, my wife had a traumatic event that has led to 80 surgeries.

Both of her legs are gone now and lives with a life with chronic pain and all kinds of challenges. What about an alcoholic or an addict? That's a chronic impairment. They're going to struggle with that for the rest of their life, even if they're in recovery.

Some people say, oh, I got delivered of it. Well, you may have, and I'm grateful for it, but the behavioral impact on you as an alcoholic or an addict affects your loved ones. And every loved one of an alcoholic or an addict knows this. And so that's a caregiver.

I'm the only one that I know of that has any kind of significant platform in the country that addresses the caregiving needs of family members of alcoholics or addicts. So this is what a caregiver looks like. We're up late at night doing laundry, we're cleaning, we're cooking, we're back and forth to the doctor's office. I had a guy write me last night and he said, look, I'm taking care of my mother and she's just mean.

What do I do? And I told him, I said, well, listen to the show tomorrow morning, call in, let's talk about it. And so these are things that are going on with the family caregiver. And sometimes we put our heads down in great weariness and despair or fear.

And sometimes we get, our fists are clenched with the resentment, our teeth are grinding. This is the caregiver. And the question today really addresses that need, that issue of a caregiver, of understanding where God is. And I'm going to show you that as we do this.

So it's a, when I do these trivia questions, I really am not trying to test your Bible knowledge. I want to test, I want to explain something in a way that makes sense to you because a lot of times people spoke things to me throughout my 35 years of these things. And it didn't make sense to me.

I mean, I understood it on a head level, you know, a knowledge base. But when I looked at the practical application of dealing with this day in and day out as a caregiver, a hundred plus doctors have treated my wife. She's going to have a surgical procedure right after Christmas.

You're looking at, to the best of my knowledge, that'll be 81. And she's had 150 other smaller procedures that I can count to the best of my knowledge. And so you look at this, this ongoing thing that doesn't, doesn't seem to stop. But where is God? And that's part of our trivia question.

How long was it said to be quiet, that God was quiet between Malachi and the New Testament? This is Peter Rosenberger, Hope for the Caregiver. Hopeforthecaregiver.com, 888-589-8840.

We'll be right back. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver. This is Peter Rosenberger. That is my wife, Gracie, with Russ Taft, The Joy of the Lord, written by Twyla Paris. It's on her CD, Resilient. You can get a copy of that if you go out to our web page, Hopeforthecaregiver.com.

Just click on that button that says donate. We'll send you a copy of that CD for whatever amount you want to do to help us do this show more. If you like what you're hearing on the show, if you feel like it has value to you, and you want to hear a fabulous CD of Gracie, who is a world-class singer, she's got a couple duets on there, one with Russ, of course, and then a couple of them with Johnny Erickson-Tada that you'll really find very meaningful. It's a great CD. You can get a copy of that.

I want to make sure, I want to circle back to this before we get to our trivia stuff. I live in a hymn book often. I'm a music minister of a little church out here in Montana where we live, but I've been steeped in hymns.

I've been playing the piano since I was five years old, and I learned how to play from the hymnal. So when I reference a hymn, sometimes I assume that everybody's tracking with me, and I want to make sure you understood what I said. Far as the curse is found, that's from the hymn Joy to the World, and on the third verse it says, No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground. He comes to make his blessings flow, far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found. He comes to make his blessings flow. Well, when you have the last verse of the Bible in the Old Testament ends on the word curse, and then the next thing we see as far as the word of God is the birth of Christ. So think about the connection of those two.

Far as the curse is found, he's going to reverse this. And next time you hear Joy to the World, just understand that the entire gospel message can be done on a major scale. It's... that's just a C major scale. So anyway, just something to remind you of that that is the entire gospel. Joy to the World, the Lord has come, right there on a major scale. All right, let's go to... now if somebody else gets the answer, okay, and you still want to... you still know it and you have something going on, because I see a lot of the calls listed up and some of them are saying that they know the answer, but they also have a caregiving related issue. Please, please just stick around with us, okay, because it's important. Your call is important. Your voice is important as a caregiver. That's one of the whole points of this show is to give caregivers a place where they can share in their voice. And the question is, from the moment of the... from the end of the Old Testament, and it's the book of Malachi, then most people... there's a consensus that God is silent.

There's no scriptures, no prophets speaking until we get to the New Testament, and how long a period of time is that? And let's go to Micah in Texas. Micah, good morning. How are you feeling?

I'm doing wonderful. How are you, Mr. Rosenberg? Well, first off, it's Peter. You know, we don't stand on ceremony here, Micah. Peter, I'm sorry. Micah, it's all right. Thank you for your call this morning.

You're quite welcome. How are things in Texas today? A little wet this morning, but it's probably warmer in a lot of places. Well, it's colder where I am. I live in Southwest Montana, and we've got snow. We always have a white Christmas up here. Oh, well, bless the Lord.

It's wonderful up here. Well, tell me the answer. How long a period of time was it? Well, I believe it was right at about 400 years of silence. It was. Now, I want to, while you're on the phone with me, that's a great job.

And those of you who know the answer and you want to weigh in on it, please feel free. But I want to, while you're on the phone, also, you're a caregiver, right? It says you're a caregiver.

Yes, sir. Who are you taking care of? My wife has struggled with mental depression for years and years and years, and then she's recently been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, and that's kind of taken a toll on her. What kind of toll has it taken on you? It hasn't taken a negative toll.

I think that's a bad word to use. It actually goes along with your trivia question. Through her suffering, we have both grown closer to Christ and learned so much about our journeys that he's put before us. So I wouldn't describe it as a toll. I think in the past I may have, but she has helped me understand more of what God has in store for the both of us through what she's dealing with. Well, one of the reasons I wanted to have that particular question is, is that most people think God is silent for 400 years. Do you know the other place where God was apparently silent for 400 years? Was it the Israelites' time in the wilderness, was it? No, that was 40 years.

What was that 40 years? Well, we'll let somebody else weigh in on that, but if you look at Luke chapter 3 and if you look at Matthew chapter 1, there is this lengthy list of genealogy, and whereas most people say God was silent, I look at those two passages and see that God was working in preserving all these families that led to the birth of Christ through Joseph and through Mary. Basically the consensus is that Matthew is Joseph's genealogy and Luke is Mary's genealogy. And it was important for all of those families to be preserved and protected during what we consider a period of silence. And one of the reasons that you have, I heard a great sermon on this from my pastor back in Nashville.

We lived in Nashville for many, many, many, many years until we moved out here. And my pastor back there, Jim Bachman, he's a great guy, and he said the only time where the host of angels came out and sang like they did was at the birth of Christ. They didn't do it at the resurrection, they did it at the birth of Christ.

And why is that? He said because God did what he said he was going to do. He put on flesh and came. He sent his son to do it. And so I look at that as a caregiver, and I think whereas the surface would say that's silence. God's not doing anything. And yet God is preserving all these families for 400 years to bring about what he said he was going to do. And so in the silence that we seem to think that God has in our own suffering, in our own challenges as a caregiver, he is preserving, protecting, and accomplishing what he said he was going to do.

If he says he's going to do it, he's doing it, whether or not there's a lot of fanfare around it. And what does Paul say? He said, he who began a good work is faithful to what?

Do you know that? He who began a good work is faithful to complete it. So if he began a good work, he's faithful to complete it.

And I would say the same thing to you, Micah, in your situation with your wife. And as both of you are looking, if he began a good work, he's faithful to complete it. And he's begun a good work in both of you. Both of you know who he is, and more importantly, he knows who you are, and he's going to complete it. So even in the apparent silence when you're sitting there staring at the ceiling and having a conversation with the ceiling fan, have you ever done that, Micah? Oh, absolutely. And even in those moments, he's still working.

And that's the message this morning I wanted my fellow caregivers to hang on to, that even in those dark, silent moments, in those hospital corridors, when you're the only one standing there and the gurney has taken a sharp turn to go into surgery and you're standing there left in a hospital corridor, I know what that feels like in ways that I hope none of you ever do. And he's still working in those places where it seems mighty silent. And the silence is almost deafening. One of the beauties about living out here, I live 10 miles from the paved road, Micah, and that's a long ways from civilization. When we started social distancing as a country, I was thinking, Montana's been social distancing since 1889.

I think the state motto is y'all go on back home. But I went out one time outside and there was no sound. Now, you've had that inside before, but I went outside. There were no cars, there was no planes, there was no bugs, there was no birds. It was in the middle of winter.

There was no wind. There was nothing that was complete silence. And I was outside and I was looking at this vast landscape, but I was outside and there was no sound that my ears could pick up. It was the most uncanny experience. And I think for us as caregivers, sometimes we have that where there's just no sound and it's unnerving.

But then you look around and you see the majesty of creation because, wait a minute, I'm only relying on one sense. God is doing so much more than I could possibly imagine. And I think that's the message I want as we go into the Christmas week with fellow caregivers, I want people to understand that and hold on to that. And Micah, I want you to know how much I appreciate you taking the time to call and just listening to the show. Well, Mr. Peter, thank you very much. I needed that this morning, and I want to tell you that from the bottom of my wife and my heart, for the last couple of years of listening to you, bless you and your wife, Ms. Gracie. Thank you all very much. You all have given us strength and given us a good example of a young man and a young wife to look up to. So thank you very, very much and bless you all.

Merry Christmas. Well, look to Christ. And I thank you for that because anything you're hearing from me has come from me laying in the fetal position hanging on to Jesus.

So it's look to Christ. And Micah, it is a privilege and a pleasure. I didn't have a radio show like this when I was a young man doing this.

I didn't have anybody to really speak fluent caregiver into my life. And it is such a privilege to be that person for others. And Micah, I want you and your wife to have a Merry Christmas and know that, go, go look at that scripture. He who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it to the day of Christ. And that is a, that's a powerful verse. Philippians 1.6. And remember when Paul wrote that, he was in jail, chained up to basically a Roman linebacker. Philippians 1.6.

He who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it to the day of Christ Jesus. Micah, thank you so much. I kept calling you Michael. I'm sorry about that. Micah, thank you so much for calling.

And I do appreciate it. Amanda in Georgia. Amanda, good morning. How are you feeling? Good morning. How are you?

I'm just lovely. How are you? I am hanging in there. Hanging in there. What are you hanging in there about? You know, just knowing that God is sovereign and he's in the middle of it.

Even when I don't hear from him, I know he hears me. Well, he does. That's the whole point of our question this morning. And you had the answer right, didn't you? I think I did.

Four hundred years. And it seemed like he was silent, but he was working the whole time. Sometimes it says that you've got a daughter who's an addict. And I would imagine there are times when you feel like God is silent, don't you? I do, but I know he's fair. And I know he hears me. Hey, you know what? Would you do me a favor, Amanda? Would you hang on through the break? I'd like to hear a little bit more from you. Would that be okay? Absolutely. All right. Well, hang on. I'm going to just put you on hold for a second. We're going to go to a break. We'll come right back. Don't go away, okay?

This is Peter Rosenberger. This is Hope for the Caregiver. This is the show for you as a family caregiver. Healthy caregivers make better caregivers.

Today's a great day to start being healthy. What do you think? Don't go away.

We'll be right back. Hey, this is John Butler, producer of Hope for the Caregiver, and I have learned something that you probably all know, that Gracie, his wife, lost her legs many, many years ago and started a prosthetic limb outreach ministry called Standing with Hope. And recently, they ended up with a rather unique and unexpected partner. Peter had a conversation with Gracie, and take a listen. Gracie, when you envisioned doing a prosthetic limb outreach, did you ever think that inmates would help you do that?

Not in a million years. When you go to the facility run by CoreCivic over in Nashville, 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.

Everything. When you see all this, what does that do to you? It makes me cry, because I see the smiles on their faces, and I know what it is to be like 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.

And so, these men are so glad that they get to be doing, as one band 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 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. As you watch these inmates participate in something like this, knowing that they're helping other people now walk, they're providing the means for these supplies to get over there, what does that do to you, just on a heart level? I wish I could explain to the world what I see in there, and I wish that I could be able to go and say, this guy right here, he needs to go to Africa with us. I never not feel that way.

Every time, you know, you always make me have to leave, I don't want to leave them. I feel like I'm at home with them, and I feel like that we have a common bond that I would have never expected that only God could put together. Now that you've had an experience with it, what do you think of the faith-based programs that CoreCivic offers? I think they're just absolutely awesome, and I think every prison out there should have faith-based programs like this, because the 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.

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. If people want to donate a used prosthetic limbs, whether from a loved one who passed away, or somebody who outgrew them, you've donated some of your own for them to do. How do they do that? Where do they find it? Oh, please go to standingwithhope.com slash recycle. Standingwithhope.com slash recycle. Thanks, Grace. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver.

This is Peter Rosenberg. This is the nation's number one show for you as a family caregiver. Hopeforthecaregiver.com. How are you feeling? And that's the question we ask on a regular basis. Amanda in Georgia was talking just before we went to the break.

She has a daughter who is an addict. And Amanda, let me ask you a question. Yes, sir. You said that the Lord is sovereign. And that is a powerful statement. And a lot of people say that. But when you say that in the context of what you're going through, it takes on a different meaning. And my pastor friend that I referenced earlier, Jim Botman, another thing he used to say to me was, if he's Lord at all, that he's Lord of all. A lot of people get a little unsettled when you hear things like the sovereignty of God.

And they kind of look at it as fatalistic. What does that mean to you? When you say the Lord is sovereign, does that comfort you? Does that strengthen you?

What does that do for you? Well, you know, it's kind of a hard pill to swallow when I have to say I have no control and I have no power over this situation. And I have to give it back to him often on a daily basis.

And it's very difficult. But I don't really have a choice. I mean, I have to trust him that he knows the end. He's already got a plan.

And if I can just get out of the way, that plan will be revealed. You know, that's a powerful statement from a mother of an addict, because that's the place we get to really in everything. And there is a point, let me say, I'm going to throw out a phrase here and see if it resonates with you. There is a point where we have to get to where we say they have a savior and I'm not that savior. How does that resonate with you when I say that?

Absolutely. As my daughter and she's grown, she's 34, I like to think that I know best and I have control. But you know what? She just was loaned to me for a little while by our Father in Heaven. And her salvation is hers and not mine.

You know, I can't make that decision for her or make that choice for her. So I'm concerned, of course, and nervous about it and we are very fearful for her two-year-old daughter who is going through this with her. But I just have to let it go.

And when I let it go is when I get peace. I want you to know, Amanda, that what you've said here on this show is going to echo around the country and around the world to people who are going through that sort of thing, who understand that. And some of them right now probably have hot tears in their eyes because they're going through the same thing. And that's why I started on this show to really reach out to family members of alcoholics and addicts because this is such a difficult set of circumstances that it's not having a cohesive message to it. You are a caregiver.

You have somebody who has a chronic impairment and it just absolutely breaks your heart and you're watching your granddaughter, like you said, you're fearful and all these things. And it is very difficult to understand God working in this. But that's why I said this trivia question that he seemed like he was silent for 400 years, but was he?

No. He was protecting, preserving these families all leading up to the birth of Christ because he said way back in Genesis that he was going to do it. And I would say the same thing to you and to myself and to all my fellow caregivers who are dealing with this, that he is working in ways that we can't understand. And not every part of this is going to have the happy ending that we want it to. You're absolutely right. And I have to accept that. And it is a hard pill to swallow sometimes.

But you know what? It's not my decision. No, but it is your decision to trust him.

It is your decision to trust him. And that's why I'm so glad that you called because there are so many people out there right now who are wrestling with that decision. And you look back at that hymn, that wonderful hymn that we sing, and you'll hear me reference hymns a lot. Well, I'll play it for you. You know the song.

You know this one? When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll. And as a mother of an addict with a two-year-old granddaughter, I would say to you, Amanda, that you truly understand sorrows like sea billows rolling. Whatever my lot, say it with me, whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say what? Peace. It is well with my soul. It is well. It is well with my soul. It is well with my soul. And so as we sing these things, it gets down way down in our spirit to hold on when we're looking at things that seem such devastation. And I want you to do something for me, man.

I want you to stay on hold because I'm going to get Adam to get your information. And if it's okay with you, I'd like to send you a copy of my CD. It's called Songs for the Caregiver. And I put it on there specifically to help settle down the spirit of a caregiver. And it's just a lot of instrumental stuff.

Gracie sings a few songs. And the leadoff song on this hymn is, there is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God, a place where sin cannot molest near to the heart of God. And would it be okay if I sent that to you for a Christmas gift? Absolutely. That would be wonderful. Thank you so much. And I just want you to know I really just called because I would ask prayer for Erica and Darla from your staff because I know intercessory prayer is powerful. Well, I'm going to ask this entire network, everybody that's listening right now, and there are a lot of people listening, Erica and Darla, I want you to write it down. And as the Lord brings it to your mind, I want you to intercede for this family, Amanda, Erica, and Darla, three generations of women, even though I would imagine Darla is your granddaughter, right?

Yes, sir. She's just a little girl, that she be protected in this. And Father God, we do lift up Amanda, Erica, and Darla. They are created in your image, and you know them. And your heart is tender towards them.

And these are painful things that this family is going through. And I would ask, Father, that you comfort and strengthen Amanda even now so that when she is engaged with her daughter and her granddaughter, that the gospel just flows out of her. It just oozes out of her, Father, that they see Jesus. And Amanda may be the only Jesus that Erica could ever encounter or see in a way that she could understand. And so I would ask that Amanda be that light that shines, that reflects from you.

In Jesus' name, we ask that. Don't go away, Amanda. We're going to get your information. I'm going to send you the CD, and when it gets a little bit gnarly, just put this on, and I think it'll speak to your spirit, okay? And I do appreciate you.

Thank you so much. And it's available to stream. For those of you who want to get it, it's available to stream through all the streaming networks, iTunes, Apple, I mean, Amazon, all that kind of stuff. But I'm going to send the hard copy CD of it to Amanda, and Adam's going to get your information there, because I did this specifically for caregivers who are just in so much torque that they can't function very well. And so that's why I did this CD, and I listen to it myself.

I play it myself. And so I appreciate that, Amanda, for the call. Bill in Alabama. Bill, good morning. How are you feeling?

Hey, Peter. I'm doing well. I'm feeling tremendously grateful for you, for your influence.

Thank you. My wife is a caregiver, and I was just sitting here listening to you and Amanda, and I was thinking, if we're honest with ourselves, so many of us have been caregivers at one time or another, and we still have those things in our hearts, in our minds that need attention. And hymns and singing is so therapeutic. I've found for me that, yes, I love to listen to preaching, but singing hymns can be so healing and so therapeutic. Martin Luther said that next to the Word of God, music is the thing that exalts the human soul, and Bach echoed that. Bach is considered the father of church music, and all of his music was designed to give God the glory. In fact, he would sign it, SDG, Sola Dei Gloria, for God alone gets the glory of his music. And his music is considered so powerfully constructed based on his theology, and that it's perfect, it's the standard. And it was done because he understood the theology of God's lordship and his sovereignty and his grace and his mercy based on his great theology.

So I would concur with you wholeheartedly. I think that we have done a disservice to a lot of churches out there by taking hymn books out of it, because these hymns of the faith are—that's why I did this CD, Songs for the Caregiver, I put a lot of hymns on there—because these great hymns of the faith are what sustain us and have sustained people for centuries through hardship. So what's a favorite hymn of yours?

Well, I think you hit it with, It Is Well With My Soul. It's so calming and reassuring, and it's such a blessing. I try to take pictures every Sunday of the pictures of the hymnal where a song specifically seems like something that I need to record, have a memory of or record of so that I can go back to it.

That's a great idea. I had no idea you were a music minister. We have a wonderful music minister ourselves, and our pastor is wonderful. Well, what's a favorite hymn of your wife's as a caregiver?

Peter, I should know that. Yes, you should. Why don't you ask her what her favorite hymn is, and after Christmas, call back, and I'll play it for her. Live on the air if you want me to. I will do it.

Thank you, friend. Well, listen, Bill, it means a lot that you're calling in. I'm coming to Alabama next week. My grandchildren live in Alabama.

I'm looking forward to seeing them. I've got a granddaughter I haven't met yet, and I'm looking forward to meeting her. I want you to ask your wife what's your favorite hymn. After the Christmas break, I will play it for her.

If I don't know how to play it very well, I'll practice it. How about that, Bill? Okay.

Good deal. Thank you for calling. I do appreciate it very much. This is Peter Rosenberg, and this is hoping the caregiver will be right back. Don't go away.

889-8840. Welcome back to Hoping the Caregiver. This is Peter Rosenberg, and this is the nation's number one show for you as a family caregiver, and he does know the plans he has for you.

That's Gracie from her CD Resilient, and you can get a copy of that at Hopeforthecaregiver.com. You'll see the donate button. Whatever's on your heart, you can help support this radio show or the prosthetic limb ministry. We've got some patients we're trying to sponsor right now in Ghana. Even though we can't travel there right now because of the virus, the work is going on.

Patients are getting treated every day. We're sending supplies. We'd welcome the help for you to send that over. We'll send her CD. And speaking of her music, on our podcast, which is free, go to Hopeforthecaregiver.com.

You'll see it. And it is next week, or probably on Monday or so, we'll put out just a brief thing of her with the Christmas story and then her singing Silent Night. She's got a great version of that.

It's available to stream down. You can get it from all the streaming services, but we'll put it out on the podcast for you as well because I love it when she sings Silent Night. And I'll play a little bit of that for you. I love this hymn. It's called Silent Night. I love this hymn. I love Christmas music. I just love Christmas music in general.

It's a little early in the morning, so my fingers are still a little bit stiff, but y'all just be family. But I do love playing these hymns, and I love playing for caregivers particularly who are just in distress, who are hurting, and I don't try to play things that are raucous or whatever because that doesn't speak to my spirit, my soul. When I look at the things that I have to look at and when I watch my wife struggle and suffering, I just don't feel like playing a bunch of rock and roll tunes and everything else, just raucous sounds. My spirit gets unsettled, and I need to speak to it and settle it down. And that's what I do with music, and I think that Last Caller was right, how much music plays a part in our life. And the people that I want to play for, the people I want to speak to, don't need me to get up there and do all kinds of musical acrobatics.

They need to have their hearts settled. And that's why I did my CD. But pretty much everything I do is geared towards that. So that's just a little side note. Lynn in Arkansas. Lynn, good morning, Lynn. How are you feeling?

Good morning. Good. I was just going to say something that I learned from past Caregiving My Mom. You mentioned at the start of the show the caller who called in, I guess it was last week, and said his mom was mean. Well, no, he just wrote me last night.

I said, well, give me a call today on the show, but he didn't call in. But he just said, my mom is mean. Well, I wanted to just say that my mom was the sweetest person, and she didn't become mean. In fact, that was one blessing from taking care of her, that she really withstood things well. But there was a prescription prescribed to her by hospice, and we read the side effects. Our family really was not in agreement over many things, but one good thing was that with this medicine, when we read the side effects, three of us said no, and got a different medication. One of the side effects was agitation, but there were other ones that just did not sound good, and I know that doesn't mean that the patient gets every side effect, but that was really, and one of the family members was an RN, but she was a pretty immature person, but to have her even agree to that, it was a good thing. So we got her on something different, and we didn't have to experience that, but in being a caregiver, I talked to another person I knew that said their mom became mean, and they didn't want to be around her, and so that's just something out there. Well, that is food for thought, that sometimes the medication will do it, and Lynn, I do appreciate very much you calling and giving that insight. Thank you.

Thank you for that, and Merry Christmas to you. That is a good reminder that sometimes it's just medication that will have these adverse effects, and so it's important that we keep our eye on the ball when it comes to these sort of things, and other times, they're just having a bad day, or as, again, I like to quote my pastor, they're sitting there somewhere, and sometimes we're going to just have bad days. We're going to be agitated without medication. We're just going to be agitated because of the stress and the challenges. I want you to think about when you're in pain, or when you have the flu, when you get sick, and how agitated you become just with that, and then think about this on a chronic basis with some type of impairment cognitively, or whatever, and so we're human beings, and we're subject to all the foibles and frailty of being a human being.

That's the human condition, and I would also challenge that sometimes the case is they're not doing it to you, they're just doing it, and you just happen to be the closest one to it, so there's a lot of different things. River's going to come your way, again, go back to this hymn, when peace like a river attendeth my way. It's easy to be settled when peace is coming your way, but when sorrows, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, say it with me, it is well, it is well with my soul, sing it with me, it is well with my soul, it is well, it is well with my soul, and this is our journey as caregivers. Can we do that on our own? No, we cannot, but this is the message of the gospel, that we're not on our own, and so I started off the year... I mean, I started off the show here with that whole point of God seemed solid for 400 years, 400 years, but was he?

No, he wasn't. Real quick, is it Simon or Simeon in Pennsylvania? Simeon, good morning, how are you feeling? Yeah, I'm Simeon right here, I'm doing good, how about you, Peter? Well, for the shape I'm in, I'm in pretty good shape.

Yeah, same here, and I can tell you a lot of things that happened to me. Well, who are you caring for? Well, I have five children. Are you a kid, are any of them special needs, are you caring, are you a caregiver? I'm a caregiver to myself, that's all, that's it. Well, that's... Well, I appreciate that very much, but are you caring for somebody who has a chronic impairment?

No, I'm not. Well, that's the purpose of the show here, and I appreciate you calling in. It's a little hard to hear you, there's a lot of background noise, so it's a little hard to hear you, but the purpose of the show is for caregivers, and for people who care for somebody with a chronic impairment, and that's what we do here on the show, is speak to those needs.

Sorry, it was a little hard, I had a real bad connection or something with Simeon, so it was hard to hear him. But the point of it is, is this show is specifically designed for those who feel like that they're not being heard, that God is silent in their situation. And so for 400 years, between the Old Testament and New Testament, most people think God was silent, but I suggest to you, no, he wasn't. For 400 years, while the Israelites were in bondage in Egypt, it seemed like God was silent, and there was a lot of suffering going on, but was he? I suggest to you that he was not, and he preserved all of this. In fact, if you look at it, the genealogy in Luke 3 and in Matthew 1 goes way back, even through all of those things, you know, all the way back to Abraham, all the way back to Adam. So God is preserving all of these families, and in those families, if you look through the genealogy of these things, in those things, he weaves in familiar names of people who were not necessarily what we would call outstanding stellar people. Rahab, the harlot, and David, of course, was the king, but boy, he really did a lot of things that were heartbreaking.

Bathsheba is in the genealogy of Jesus. These are things that are important for us to remember, that as we face these things, as we struggle with these things, that he is working all around us in ways that we can't possibly understand. Do we trust him?

Yes. Why do we trust him? That's where the gospel comes in, because he stretched out his arms and gave his life for us at the cross, and the more we understand how vast the cross is, the more settled our spirits will be in the midst of this craziness. And remember this as you go into the Christmas season. His scarred hands hold your scared hands. His scarred hands hold your scared hands. This is Hope for the Caregiver. Hopeforthecaregiver.com. We'll see you next week.