Give Thanks

Live on American Family Radio, this is Hope for the Caregiver.

This is Peter Rosenberger. This is the nation's number one show for you as a family caregiver. More than 65 million Americans right now are taking care of a vulnerable loved one, somebody with a chronic impairment, somebody who is dealing with Alzheimer's or somebody who's dealing with autism.

It doesn't matter. Whatever their situation is, there's always a caregiver. How are you feeling? How are you doing? What's going on with you?

888-589-8840, 888-589-8840. If you want to be a part of the show, whatever's on your heart to share. We do have a topic that we introduce every week and we talk about it usually with the song that connects to that topic. But I always want to stop in case you're dealing with something that is just, you know, if it's off, it's never off topic if you're a caregiver. Whatever's going on with you, that's what we want to talk about as it relates to the caregiving world for those of us who are doing this. I'm in my 35th year as a caregiver through a medical nightmare, still going on, still doing it.

I am right here in the trenches with it. But these are things that I've learned over a lifetime and I want to offer a lifeline to fellow caregivers. You don't have to go through some of the quagmires that I did. And this is how we strengthen one another. This is how we build each other up. We get stronger. We pull together. We learn from each other. I lead a caregiver support group out here where we live in the Rockies out in Montana, the little church where I serve as a music minister down in the valley. And we sit around the table and we just, over a cup of coffee, throw out ideas and strengthen one another.

We don't have this crazy agenda where we got to just make sure we plow through something. Whatever's on our hearts, whatever's on our mind, I speak fluent caregiver and we want to extend that to you all here. This is a place where you can come and speak in your language as a caregiver and be heard in your language as a caregiver. And that's the whole purpose of this show as we do this to strengthen one another and point each other to Christ. All right, I'm going to step over to the caregiver keyboard, the caregiver keyboard for those of you new to the show.

And there are people always joining the show each week. I like to go to the keyboard and just play a song that is going to connect to the topic that I want to discuss today. And hopefully, if nothing else, you can remember the tune and it'll go through your mind throughout the day and help anchor you as you face whatever you're going to be facing today.

And we still of course start the show early in the morning. A lot of caregivers are up, but their loved ones are not necessarily up. Excuse me, that's not COVID, that's hay fever.

I was out mowing yesterday. So don't be alarmed and don't put a mask over your radio. All right, going over to the caregiver keyboard. All right, here's their song for today. If you know this song, you feel free to call in 888-589-8840. Now I'm just going to play the chorus. This is almost too easy.

It's almost too easy, but that's okay because it's a great song. All right, that is our caregiver song of the day, and it's going to play into what we are going to talk about today. Now, I also want to give you this scripture. We'll tie all these things in together. Again, if you have something that is a bit off this topic, that's okay.

We'll talk about it to the best of our abilities here. Psalm 127, 1 through 2. Now you know this scripture, at least the first half, but I wonder if you know the back half of it. Psalm 127, 1 through 2.

I'm going to read in the New American Standard version first. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain.

You're familiar with that one. Now, look at verse 2. It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors, for he gives to his beloved even in his sleep. I don't know if you've connected those two thoughts together, but let's go back up and listen to it in the message.

Sometimes I go and read the message. I read it in several different translations to make sure I'm really grasping the nuances of this. If God doesn't build the house, the builders only build shacks. If God doesn't guard the city, the night watchman might as well nap. It is useless to rise up early, to rise early and go to bed late and work your fingers to the bone. Don't you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?

All right. Now, what does that have to do with being a caregiver? When I think about what we do every day, and my question is to you, are you building this? Are you working yourself, as the scripture says, work your worried fingers to the bone? Unless God is doing this, the builders only build shacks. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. If God doesn't guard the city, the night watchman might as well nap. Or, as the New American Standard said, unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors, for he gives to his beloved even in his sleep. It is useless to rise early, go to bed late and work your worried fingers to the bone.

Don't you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves? Now, how many of you all are working your worried fingers to the bone? How many of you all are pushing yourself to inhuman levels to do this? That's what we want to discuss today on how to push back against that. Now, you may think it's one thing, well, we just stop worrying. We just kind of get our heads on straight and stop worrying and whatever. No, it's a little bit more involved in that.

It's a little bit more intentional than that. And I want to spend some time on that today because I get that. I've done that. I would push myself till late in the night, get up early in the morning. I mean, even before coming on the show today, I'm doing laundry and all kinds of things.

I get the feeling as a caregiver laundry is still probably one of the most time consuming things that we do. But it is useless to do that, scripture says, and work your worried fingers to the bone. Now take a moment and look down at your worried fingers. Okay. Do they look worried?

Do your hands look worried? It's useless to do this. Don't you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves. And that's the message that is going to permeate throughout this show today and really through all of our shows, because unless the Lord is doing this and building this in your life, in my life, all this work that we're doing is vain. All of this is for naught.

It said it's useless for the night watchman. He might as well just take a nap. So what do we do about this? How do we counteract that feeling that pushes us? How do we speak to ourselves in the middle of the night when we're having a late night conversation with the ceiling fan?

What does that look like? 888-589-8840, 888-589-8840. If you know the song, if you want to weigh in on this topic, this is Peter Rosenberger. This is Hope for the Caregiver. We'll be right back. Hey, this is Peter Rosenberger and my three and a half decades as a caregiver, I have spent my share of nights in a hospital, sleeping in waiting rooms, on fold-out cots, chairs, even the floor, sometimes on sofas and a few times in the doghouse, but let's don't talk about that. As caregivers, we have to sleep at uncomfortable places, but we don't have to be miserable. We use pillows for MyPillow.com.

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That's MyPillow.com promo code CAREGIVER. Welcome back and hope for the caregiver here on American Family Radio. This is the show for you as a family caregiver. We are glad to have you with us.

I am Peter Rosenberger and I love that song with Gracie and Russ Taft singing that from her CD Resilient. And the joy of the Lord is our strength. You know, a lot of things that we do as caregivers, it's counterintuitive for us to lean on these principles of scripture when we're in the throes of caregiving. We're thinking, how does the joy of the Lord give me strength to do what I'm doing?

How does that work? And that's what this show is all about is digging deep into that so that we too, as caregivers, can plug into that great strength, that unfathomable, unquenchable, inexhaustible love of God that allows us to do what we do. If God doesn't build the house, the builder only builds shacks.

Psalm 127 2 says. All right, let's go to the phone lines and see who knows the song and who is engaged with this song. I just played the chorus.

It was embarrassingly easy. So I know you're going to get this song. But all right, Jeff in Memphis. Hello? Sorry about that.

A little connection problem there, Jeff. Go ahead. I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your program and your love for the Lord and your wife. And God has blessed me with a wonderful wife too. And I know the name of that song. All right.

What is the name of this song? It's Give Thanks. Give Thanks. What are you thankful for today, Jeff? I am so thankful for the sovereignty of God over creation, providence and salvation.

Well, that's a great, great thing to be thankful for. And I'm glad you knew that song. And I appreciate very much you listening and the encouragement you give to me as I continue doing this show. I love that song.

And I know it's been a favorite to millions upon millions and millions of people. But it's one that is particularly meaningful to me and Give Thanks with a grateful heart. So thank you for that, Jeff.

Thank you very much for getting that. Let me go to Margie in Texas. Margie, good morning. How are you feeling? Good morning, Dr. Hosey. We are blessed. I've talked to you before. My mom is 107 May 6th.

She loves the Lord with all her heart as well as her family. And I just want to say keep on keeping on, Dr. Hosey, because we need you. I'm not a doctor. I have stayed in Holiday Inn Express, but I'm not a doctor. Many times in the hospital with Gracie, I've been called Dr. Rosenberg and I tell him I'm a cranial proctologist.

But don't don't don't repeat that. I told that to a nurse one time and she said, are you a doctor? And I said cranial proctology. And she just looked at me kind of funny.

And then she started writing on her notepad. And I was like, I just let it fly. I didn't care.

So but no, I think it's about cranial. She's a good girl. I just do the best I can with what I got. But Margie, I appreciate you calling.

What are you grateful for today? A hundred and seven year old mom who's a Christian from her toes to her head. She's fighting health now. But the good Lord knows where she's going. And so does she. Her name is Mary. That's her to you before.

Yes, ma'am. One hundred and seven. That's quite astonishing. You look at what's happening in her life since since she was alive on this earth back in 1914. And gosh, I don't even know who was president by then.

Garfield was president or who was president back then. I know what she said, but don't tell her that it's not a god. Don't tell her there's not a Jesus. You better find your way out. And that's the only way I know how to explain that hurt to you.

You never had a whoop until one hundred seven seven year old woman tears into you. Yes. Is that what you tell me? That's what I'm telling you.

I want to say this. God bless you because I know there'll be other callers coming in. But she listens to you as much as she can. She's frightened right now.

But the Lord's fighting with her. So you just have a blessed day, sir. Thank you. I will. And you do as well.

And thank you so much for listening to the show and for calling. Give thanks. That is our song today. And you know it. And now let the weak say I am strong.

Let the poor say I am rich because of what the Lord has done for me, for us. But now the second part of that chorus, we repeat, most people repeat that. But a long time ago, now y'all don't say this to anybody, OK? Y'all keep this just here in the family, just real quiet like. But Mylon Lefebvre recorded that and he added a couple of verses, I mean a couple of lines to that.

And I think he got a little bit of trouble. Don't say this. Don't repeat this at all, OK? Just keep this to excess.

And because the writer of the song didn't like that, but that may be just an urban legend. But he put it, and now, let the sick say I am whole. Let the bound say I am free because of what the Lord has done for me.

And I love that. Let the sick say I am whole. Let the bound say I am free. Let the bound say I am free because of what the Lord has done for me. Give thanks. Give thanks. And I love that because that is how we as caregivers push back on all these things. You know, it is hard to be miserable when you're being grateful. Did you know that? Try it sometime.

Try to be miserable and then start being intentionally grateful and see what happens to you. Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders only build shacks. If God doesn't guard the city, the night watchman might as well nap. It is useless to rise early and go to bed late and work your worried fingers to the bone. Don't you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves? Now, as a caregiver, have you ever had trouble going to sleep? Have you ever stayed up late, as I said in the early segment, and just had a conversation with the ceiling fan? Well, your mind just will not shut off. How would you like a sure fired tested proven 100% way to push back against that and be able to go to sleep?

How did you like that? We're going to talk about that in the next segment. But if that song, if you know that song, and I think most of you do, but would you call in and tell me why that's important to you?

888-589-8840. And tell me what that means to you. Why is that important to you? What does it mean to you? And how does it help you as a caregiver?

Because I think this is where our battle is for caregivers. It's not in all the crazy things that we have to do, and we do. But it's learning to retrain our heart, to stay in a place of gratitude, to stay in a place of giving thanks, even in the midst of these things, especially in the midst of these things, that we can give thanks for it. Is there something you're grateful for? And I have learned that in our life, you know, even in the countless hospital stays and countless rooms in the hospital, when songs like this would permeate through that, through the pain, through the anguish and the fear and all those kinds of things. And now, let the weak say, I am strong.

Let the poor say, I am rich. Why? Why are we saying this?

Because of what he's done. And if we can retrain our eyes to see the bigger picture, if we can retrain our eyes to see beyond this and to anchor ourselves in something far more substantive than the immediate heartache that we're dealing with, it settles our souls and gives us the wherewithal to go to the next step, or even to lay down and rest. See, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.

And what does that mean to us as caregivers? Well, unless he is doing this through us, we labor in vain to do it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. Might as well take a nap because the enemy is going to come on. It is vain to rise up early. It's useless to rise up early.

I'm just reading back and forth from these different versions and translations. It's useless to rise up early and go to bed late and work your worried fingers to the bone. It's useless to do it. Now think about you as a caregiver. How many times are you working yourself to the bone?

And it's useless to do it unless God is doing it in you and is doing this through you. You're fighting a battle you cannot win. You might as well be making sand castles on the beach. It's going to overtake you.

Is there something more going on? And this song says that there is. And now, let the weak say I am strong. Let the poor say I am rich. And now, let the sick say I am whole. And now, let the bound say I am free. This is how we strengthen ourselves and take on the next challenge that waits for us as caregivers. But it's retraining our mind. What does Paul say? Do not be conformed with this world. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. This is how we do it.

And it starts sometimes with a very simple song. If this song is meaningful to you, tell me why. 888-589-8840. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver here on American Family Radio.

This is the show for you as a family caregiver. How are you feeling? How are you doing?

How are you holding up? I'm Peter Rosenberger. 888-589-8840.

888-589-8840. If you want to be a part of the show, we're talking about Psalm 127, 1 through 2. If God doesn't build the house, the builder only builds shack. If God doesn't guard the city, the night watchman might as well take a nap.

It's useless to rise early and go to bed late and work your worried fingers to the bone. Once you know how He enjoys giving rest to those He loves. Do you need rest? I did a friend of mine who's a Messianic rabbi and he was on my show. We did a whole thing on grieving that a lot of people just really responded to.

And I hope you heard it here on this show. And we're going to do another talk on this on Sabbath rest and what that looks like from a Jewish mindset. What does that look like? Because this is a uniquely Jewish thing that God did. A Sabbath. Keep the Sabbath holy.

Well what does that mean? What does the Sabbath rest mean? But as caregivers, do we rest? Do we understand the concept of rest? I know I struggle with this. But if God doesn't do this, all the work that we're doing and we sometimes push ourselves without even taking a rest, without doing anything and we spend sleepless nights fretting and worrying over things that are pointless. We're not going to be able to change it.

Unless God is involved with this. This is what the text says. And I gave you a teaser in the last section there of what would we be, what's a good way to fight back against the insomnia in the middle of the night. And I gave this tip to a friend of mine who wakes up every night in pain in the middle of the night and spends a lot of time in prayer. And I said try this when you do this as well. And she just thought it was a marvelous idea and so she was going to try it. So I'll follow back and see how she did.

But a friend of mine told me about this and it's a great technique. He said start with the alphabet and go through the alphabet, every letter of that alphabet and give thanks for something that starts with that letter. So you start with A and go all the way through Z. And so it can get a little gnarly with Q, X and Z but there's scriptures that can apply to that.

If you get to Z and you're stuck and you don't have anything that starts with a Z to be grateful for, then go to Zephaniah 3.17 which says the Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. My mom quotes that to me a lot. And it's one of those things that it anchors us but try it sometimes and see it. And if you get all the way through and you're still awake, guess what, go back and do it again. And do it again until you drift off. And let me tell you something, there's something about drifting off to sleep, being grateful that will change your life. And this costs no money, you don't have to go anywhere, you don't have to go see anybody, there's nothing involved other than you just laying there and being grateful. And you'll be amazed all the things that you can find in your life to be grateful.

You know it's hard to be miserable when you're grateful. And I'm not discounting the pain that you're in and the sorrow that you carry. We carry it too, we get it. Grace and I both get it, we understand it.

And that's why I love it when she sings this song. And she sings it so beautifully, give thanks with a grateful heart. Give thanks for the Holy One who's given Jesus Christ His Son and now let the weak say I am strong. But it's hard for the weak to start saying they're strong until they learn to give thanks and see what God has done to help transcend these things knowing that this broken world we live in is being redeemed even as we speak.

And we may not see all the things in this lifetime that we want to see, but it doesn't mean it's not happening and it doesn't mean it's not going to happen. And so in the meantime we give thanks. Patricia in Jacksonville, try that by the way with the alphabet, gratitude alphabet. Patricia in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Patricia, good morning, how are you feeling?

I'm feeling great and I love hearing that wonderful song, Give Thanks. And you and I have spoken one other time and I related to you that I was married to a very intense man of God and we had four sons and then we got our only daughter, but she was born hydrocephalic and wasn't expected to live. David held her up to the Lord and said, Father, thank you for giving us a daughter. We understand you're taking her back very soon, but if you would have us raise her to your honor and glory, you could give her back.

And so he did. And I'm happy to report that Sheila is 41 years old. So I wanted to tell, oh, well, yes, what else could it have been? We had actually picked it out for number four son, but when he popped out to be a boy, I thought to myself, hmm, I'm just going to store that one away.

It's too good to miss. So anyway, do you happen to know when Give Thanks was first recorded? That I do not know. Well, in my mind I'm trying to remember when it came out and what my circumstances were, but Sheila was born in 1980 and I suspect that song must have come out a few years later when I was still very burdened with her care and she, it was just a touch and go thing for the first, oh, I don't know, seven or eight years of her life. We never knew when she would have a massive seizure and go to the Lord. So it was a very intense time for me. And David would always say to me, Daddy, let's just give thanks. We have a daughter, we have a daughter, and we have four wonderful sons.

And later at some point, I think it might have been like on her, oh, a significant birthday, well, they were all significant. But in any case, I can remember being in our congregation and we were first introduced to that song and it just became my theme song when I would get down and discouraged trying to manage the four boys and having to care for Sheila. It just became the theme of my life. Should I say more? You should say everything you want to say. I'm just going to play while you sing it, while you just speak from your heart.

Yeah, well, I really do. I mean, I remember the specific event, I mean, the time that I first was introduced to that song. And I remember just weeping, just weeping because it so spoke to my heart.

And that became my way out of that dark, heavy burden. Can I do this? I'm not a nurse. I can't do this. I have help. Sheila had intercessors that came five days or six days a week, actually, from one to four.

And that allowed me to get out of the house and do grocery shopping and errands and then pick up my boys at school or preschool or whatever. And those intercessors would just sit with her, turn her head, which was so large, it weighed like a gallon of milk and obviously she couldn't turn it. And she didn't get a shunt until she was two months old because the medical word was, this child can't possibly live. She's going to be blind. She will be deaf. At birth, they told us she wouldn't even be able to suck a bottle.

But all of that proved wrong. So she learned to entertain herself. By the time she was nine months old, she was always on her back on an earring. But she would throw her body up and grab the soft sculpture mobile and just laugh and carry on.

She was an amazing blessing. And of course, my other concerns were, what is this going to do to the boys? We had been encouraged not to bring her home when she was first born. Don't take her home. Your other children will suffer and your marriage will fall apart and your sons will go off the deep end and get involved in all kinds of horrible things.

You can't possibly do this to your family. And this was 40 years ago. You know, just let that be a reminder to you when people tell you to follow the science.

We have a culture right now that thinks they know what they're doing, medically speaking. But unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain and build it. And you guys followed your heart with Scripture sustaining you along the way. And 40 years later, what a testimony. What a story. And Patricia, I thank you for sharing this with us.

You're somebody who's been in the trenches for a very long time and you've done it. And thank you very much for this. Give thanks with a grateful heart. And we're grateful for you this morning, Patricia. This is Peter Rosenberger. Have you ever struggled to trust God when lousy things happen to you?

I'm Gracie Rosenberger. And in 1983, I experienced a horrific car accident leading to 80 surgeries and both legs amputated. I questioned why God allowed something so brutal to happen to me.

But over time, my questions changed and I discovered courage to trust God. That understanding, along with an appreciation for quality prosthetic limbs, led me to establish standing with hope. For more than a dozen years, we've been working with the government of Ghana and West Africa, equipping and training local workers to build and maintain quality prosthetic limbs for their own people. On a regular basis, we purchase and ship equipment and supplies.

And with the help of inmates in a Tennessee prison, we also recycle parts from donated limbs. All of this is to point others to Christ, the source of my hope and strength. Please visit standingwithhope.com to learn more and participate in lifting others up. That's standingwithhope.com. I'm Gracie, and I am standing with hope. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver.

This is Peter Rosenberger. This is the show for you as a family caregiver, and we're grateful for you being a part of the show. 888-589-8840.

888-589-8840. And let's go to Cheryl in Ohio. Cheryl, good morning. How are you feeling? I'm not too bad today.

How are you? Well, I'm just precious. Do you have a radio on, Cheryl? No. I'm just hearing a little bit of an echo there. I took you off speakerphone. Is that better?

It's a little bit better, but I still hear an echo. But go ahead. Tell me what you got going on. Okay. Well, I called you about a year ago this time, and you were so encouraging, and you sent me the nice books and everything, which I really appreciated. My husband and I both appreciated. And I wrote you a nice thank you note, which I've never mailed.

So maybe someday it'll get to you. That's okay. I'm a caretaker of my four grandchildren, and my son is former soldier, so he's here too and struggling with a lot of issues.

He's the one I believe had PTSD, correct? Yeah, yeah. How is he doing? Not too much to come. And how are you doing? Well, you know, there's good and bad days. This has been a busy week.

We had BBS, and I played the piano for two funerals. So it has been a pretty tiring week. But he took the kids to the park for me last night and got them ice cream, so I had a little bit of time to myself. So that was nice. I have a friend of mine that told me there's nothing that ice cream can't help make feel better. That's true. That's absolutely true. It's very good medicine.

Not necessarily good for us, but it does taste pretty good. I've got a significant buzz on this phone. I'm going to try to put you on hold and see if I can come back to you here and see if we can clear the line. Is that okay? No, there it goes. No problem. No, it's still there.

I'm not sure what's going on with that, but there's a significant buzz. I can just let you go. I just want to say thank you and check in with you, and someday I'll get that mailed to you.

You know what? You've done your part. I'm just grateful that the stuff got there to you, and you keep taking care of your grandchildren and standing in the gap for your son.

I know that this is hard. Here's this young man who signed up and put on the uniform. A lot of the things that these young men and women come home with are lifetime issues of devastation. We are all well served to remember that families have to often step in the gap for these young men and women who put on the uniform just like they stood in the gap for us. Thank you for that, Cheryl, and thank you for his life and for these grandchildren that you're caring for as your son struggles with the journey that he does.

I do appreciate very much you sharing that with us. Take some time off today. It's been a stressful week, and if you need an ice cream cone, you need an ice cream cone, and it's all good.

Shirley in Mississippi. Shirley, good morning. How are you feeling?

I'm great. I'm very thankful for my pastor who is also my... We have a prayer thing together, but this man, and I'm not going to give you his name because he probably wouldn't want me to. He took care of his... As well as he's a hospice person, he took care of his wife who had cancer for seven... I've never seen a man do so much for one woman in my whole life, and she came through it, and we're so grateful for that, and so that's what I'm... I like that song. I've known that song because I'm old. I'm 85 years old, so I've probably heard any song you ever put on there.

Well, and that's okay because those songs that have a few years on them are the ones that stick with us, aren't they? That's true, but anyway, thank you, and good luck to keep up the good work. Thank you very much, Shirley. It's always a treat to hear your voice, and thank you so much for that.

I do love that song as well, and we have such a treasure trove in music that we have to pull on, and that's why I do this, and I know that getting up early in the morning on Saturday mornings and playing the keyboard for you guys may not be what a lot of people would do for radio, but this is what I do for myself, and this is what I do for my fellow caregivers as a way of just calming us down and settling our hearts down so that we can face the day in a healthier manner. Healthy caregivers make better caregivers, and if we're not healthy, then everything we're doing is for naught. We're just stressing ourselves out. This is what the scripture says, if God doesn't build the house, the builder ought to build shacks. They labor in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, it says, and to retire late and to eat the bread of painful labors. It's vain to do all this. If you're just pushing yourself and pushing yourself and pushing yourself, it's vain for you to do this.

This is what the text says. It is useless to rise early and go to bed late and work your worried fingers to the bone. Don't you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves? I finished the scripture with me. Come unto me, all you who are weary and, and I will give you, okay, and I know that a lot of you are mouthing those words.

Sometimes you can't even say the words because the tears fill your eyes so much. I get that. I understand that, but still the text says, come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. And rest is different than sleep.

Okay? We can eventually get to sleep. We will fall over asleep, but rest is different. Rest is that confidence that this is not all up to you. Rest is that confidence of knowing that he who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it.

And guess what? He who began a good work in your loved one is faithful to complete it. That you can trust your loved one with him. You will be a good steward. You will do the best that you can as this, but you rest in the knowledge that know that as the caller calling in the beginning who is grateful for the sovereignty of God. And a lot of people get a little nervous start talking about the sovereignty of God and they want to pick it apart or dissect it or get into free choice of this or whatever free will.

Okay. Look, put all that aside. If you want to understand the sovereignty of God, as much as we can understand as human beings, a pastor friend of mine gave me this great, great sentence. If he's Lord at all, then he is Lord of all. And that's all I can process sometimes about the sovereignty of God, that he's Lord of all.

If he's Lord at all, he's Lord of all, even your loved one. And there's this wonderful woman called a minute ago from Jacksonville Beach over a daughter with hydrocephalic issues and seizure issues and everything else. And the medical community around her said, go home and I mean just leave the child here. Don't take this child home. It'll ruin your life.

Well, guess what? They were wrong. It didn't ruin her life. Nor did it ruin the life of her family. It was challenging.

It still is. There are heartaches that we endure and carry, but ruining our lives. Wow. That takes an awful lot of faith to believe that something temporary can ruin your eternal life. And that's why I did the song this morning.

Give thanks with a grateful heart because of what he's done for us. Now let the weak say I am strong. Now let the poor say I'm rich.

Now let the sick say I'm whole. Now let the bound say I'm free. This is what we do as believers to anchor ourselves in something eternal as we struggle with the temporary. And the temporary may last a lifetime. It certainly has for that caller. And it certainly has for Gracie and me.

38 years now, Gracie's been hurt. But she still sings this song. Why? Because there's a greater truth that anchors us. If God doesn't build the house, the builders only build shacks. If God doesn't guard the city, the night watchman might as well take a nap.

It's useless to rise early and go to bed late and work your worried fingers to the bone. Don't you know how he enjoys giving rest to those he loves? The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. Right there in the midst of those late nights where you are struggling and a lot of hot tears are filling your eyes. Don't you know how he enjoys giving rest to those he loves? And it takes a leap of faith to trust God is giving you rest in this, even though you are so discouraged.

This is why I do the show. Because I'm speaking to myself here. And I spent a lot of nights just in turmoil.

A lot of days too. Because nobody was speaking this to me in a way that I could understand. And I'm determined that I'm going to do that now for you and for me. That is hope for the caregiver. That conviction that we can live a calmer, healthier and dare I say it, a more joyful and restful life, even while serving as a caregiver. How do I know this?

Because I'm in my 35th year of doing it. Go to HopeForTheCaregiver.com. HopeForTheCaregiver.com. For more information, download our free podcast. Be a part of what we're doing.

We'll see you next week. This is John Butler and I produce Hope for the Caregiver with Peter Rosenberger. Some of you know the remarkable story of Peter's wife, Gracie. And recently Peter talked to Gracie about all the wonderful things that have emerged from her difficult journey. Take a listen. Gracie, when you envision 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 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.

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.

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. 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. 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, you know, 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? Please go to standingwithhope.com slash recycle. Standingwithhope.com slash recycle. Thanks, Gracie.