Live on American Family Radio, this is Hope for the Caregiver.
This is Peter Rosenberger. This is the show for you as a family caregiver. More than 65 million Americans right now are struggling as they care for a vulnerable loved one or you one of them. If you are, you're in the right place. This is the nation's number one show for this and we are here to equip you to stay healthy and strong as you take care of someone who is not. And we're glad that you're with us.
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You can go out there right now. We've got well over 500 episodes and plenty of information to help you in the loneliness and the isolation that is caregiving. And we understand that I'm bringing 35 years of experience, wisdom that has been learned the hard way, things that I've had ample opportunity to make so many mistakes. And yet it is in those mistakes is when we learn and when we see and when we experience God's provision. And I'm offering what Paul says in Corinthians, the same comfort that I depend upon from the God of all comfort to comfort one another in our afflictions. And that is, people have done that for me and now I'm doing it here on this program and we are so glad that you're with us. I'd like to start off with a hymn, a song, and we're going to talk about what this text means in this hymn to us as family caregivers.
And this is a simple course. If you know this 888-589-8840, and I'm going to step over here to the caregiver keyboard. And this is, this may be too easy for y'all, but that's okay. The message is poignant. So here you go. Ready? Do you know this hymn?
Yeah. Do you know that hymn, it's a classic, it's very simple, but we need simple as caregivers. Simple helps guide us back to the path when we get lost and when we get disoriented, 888-589-8840 if you know that and I'd like for you to tell me why it's important to you, what memory you attach with that, 888-589-8840. When I was in college years ago in Nashville, I worked for a very famous singer and out at their farm and they had this really long driveway and this huge plantation style house on the farm, I mean it was gorgeous and along the driveway they had all these trees, big beautiful trees and this singer contracted with a tree company to come out and do some work on the trees and trim them up and clean them up a little bit and so this man came out there with the crew and I saw all this was going on and he came out with his crew and she was off on tour or doing something, whatever, but she comes back and he had cut these trees back pretty significantly and it looked pretty severe actually, it looked pretty harsh and she had a meltdown, I mean she really was upset about this and called the tree guy and really kind of lit into him and made him stop and all that kind of stuff and here's this guy, this veteran guy who knows his business and he listened to this woman, very famous woman, lot of money, all this kind of stuff and he listened to her, you know, berate him about his business and all that kind of stuff and she was emotional, hysterical and all the things involved and then he quietly said, you don't understand, you don't understand what this is going to look like next year and how this is going to affect these trees for their life and they parted ways and I don't know what ever happened if there was ever any kind of reconnection, but the next year those trees looked spectacular, I mean it was stunning what they looked like and the old man knew what he was doing, he simply knew his business and he knew what he was doing and it just, I don't know for whatever reason, I could still see those trees, they were cut back so sharply and severely and they did look bad, they did look bad, oh but you should have seen them the next spring and the springs after that, the transformation was just extraordinary and I think about that a lot when I think about us as caregivers and when we sometimes catch a glimpse of ourselves in the midst of the challenges and I would imagine that many of us feel like those trees that were just cut so severely and we look so pitiful and permanently damaged, are we able to trust that God knows what he's doing like that tree surgeon did, like that guy has been doing this his whole life and he knew this and he calmly listened to the histrionics of this very famous person and said you don't understand, just wait, just wait. I don't know, I never found out like I said what she did and how she responded when she saw it, I don't know, I moved on with my life and I never went back and had that conversation again and next time I see her maybe I will but I know this that I saw them and I was stunned and I think that as caregivers we are so locked into what we're seeing at the moment and it looks so bleak, I was talking to a friend yesterday and looking at with situations with her parents and she's like my life is over and I was able to just listen and quietly respond, no it's not and any more than any of us as caregivers, this is our life as we care for someone, it's not necessarily an easy life and it's not something that we love doing but it's not necessarily bad life either and just like those trees, it may look bleak but wait till spring comes and it will and it does. This is Hope for the caregiver, this is Peter Rosenberg, this is the show for you as a family caregiver, 888-589-8840, 888-589-8840, we'll be right back. Welcome back to Hope for the caregiver here on American Family Radio, this is Peter Rosenberg, this is the show for you as a family caregiver and we're so glad that you're with us, 888-589-8840, 888-589-8840 if you want to be a part of the show and we're glad to have you with us.
This show is designed specifically to help individuals who are in the midst of the craziness of their life and they are as caregivers and they are trying to see anything positive that is going on. What does it look like to stay healthy and strong while you're a caregiver and part of that is a leap of faith on your part as a caregiver to recognize there's more going on than you can possibly realize and that the promises of God are true and faithful and He's not going to abandon you, He's not going to leave you hanging in this. What He says He will do. If you are in Christ, this is what He says and this is what He'll do. If you're not in Christ, this is what He says, this is what He'll do.
Jeremiah 30 17, for I will restore health to you and your wounds I will heal declares the Lord because they have called you an outcast, it is Zion for whom no one cares and He's talking about the captivity that was going on but that principle of God, I will restore health to you, your wounds I will heal. First Peter 5 10, after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you and to go back to that tree surgeon at that home I was talking about in Nashville of this star and he cut those trees back so severely that the person who hired him, this star said you're crazy, look at what you've done and we're just crying and everything else and he said wait till next spring now I'm saying to you as a caregiver are we are you in that place where we're just thrashing about saying oh my gosh what look at what you've done because I would say to you scripture says hang tight and that's what this song is all about that we did today. Donna in Ohio, Donna, hey Donna there you are sorry we had a little bit of connectivity problem here I don't know what was going on with that but Donna do you know the song? I think I do, sounded like One Day When Jesus Comes.
No ma'am, that was not it, no no that was not it, this is something a little different it was. And that's Bill Gaither but it was not that one, not One Day When Jesus Will Come but you know what that's a good one too so I do appreciate you calling on that one Donna. Let me go my call screen software is a little bit wonky this morning not sure what's going on with that we'll see if we can't get that fixed but yeah that's this song that Bill Gaither did is such an anthem for where we are as believers to recognize that there's something going on that we can't see and Steve in Illinois, Steve good morning how are you feeling? Good morning, how are you? Well I'm just lovely, tell me how you're doing? I'm doing great, the name of that song is Something Beautiful by Bill and Gloria Gaither.
Something Beautiful by Bill and Gloria, I think she was, I'm not sure one of them was an English teacher, I don't know who that was. I think she was, she was, but there's a key word in that song and by the way if you still know the song and you want to tell about this song and why it's important to you, why it's special to you, please do so because we're going to talk about that throughout the whole show so even if somebody else has already got the song like Steve, I want to talk about this as caregivers because the text of this song is where I wanted to land, all my confusion he understood, all I had to offer him was brokenness and strife and if you go back and look at a lot of Gaither's songs, they wrote words with brokenness, strife, shackles and things such as that because he recognized the bondage and the disorder that we have and what we bring to Christ is basically a mess and so tell me Steve, why is this song important to you? I came to the Lord going through many years of deep depression, it was one evening very late and I was contemplating ending my life and I tried everything for treating this depression and medication and I'd had people witness to me about the Lord because in a time of desperation I had found in my office one evening I found a gospel tract that somebody had put there many, many years ago that I say now, I don't know why I kept it, usually when I saw those things and playing around I'd pick them up and throw them away, but I'd kept that and I'd place it in the door and I'm so desperate I'm just grasping for anything and I went to the door and there it is and I still remember the name of the gospel tract, it says God said it, I believe it, that settles it and it had a salvation prayer in it and I read that prayer and I gave my life to the Lord and that's the beginning, it was a kind of a long road out, that was kind of the beginning of a long road out of that deep depression I'd been in for many, many years and as the song goes, he made something beautiful in my life.
Indeed, and that's a great story and I think that hopefully will be an encouragement to folks who have deposited the Word of God into people's lives and you never know what he's going to use or what he's going to recall to mind with someone and our job is to be faithful and just to share it and that story of you, Steve, because I know that a lot of people right now are indeed listening to this show, they're struggling with depression, they're so beaten down and there are people listening to this show that have considered taking their life and making very dark choices and one of the things I say about family caregivers is that the isolation we're in leads to very dark thoughts and this is why, one of the reasons I do the show is because this network is able to get into places that maybe others can't and there are people who are listening right now in prison and so forth and so we wanted to be able to provide a way that people could hear this great gospel and in a way they could understand in that isolation, in those dark thoughts, so thank you for reminding us of that Steve and I do appreciate very much the call and for you getting that. Linda in Virginia, good morning Linda, how are you feeling? I'm doing okay today. Are you sure? Well it comes and goes, yeah, yeah.
Anything you want to talk about on that? Well I mean, it sounds like it's pretty heavy on your mind. Well it is because my husband is toward the end of Alzheimer's and the song hits home because he helped God make something beautiful of my life. It was through him who, I mean, he helped God redeem what was taken away from me. Let's rephrase that, God redeemed what was taken away through you through your husband.
Yes, yes, absolutely. And your husband submitted himself to the Lord and was used mightily, evidently by God to help redeem and restore things in your life, but it was God all along. Oh yes, I believe that, and he's the one who sustains us today, even as we go through this valley of shadow of death, yeah, yeah, it was God. And so that song, yes, I didn't believe that there was anything beautiful in my life even though I was married and had a family because of abuse when I was young, and God has restored all that and made something beautiful of our lives, even as we're now 70 and spent the last 12 years dealing with Alzheimer's, he's still making something beautiful. He is, and like those trees that were cut back so severely, it looks harsh, Alzheimer's is harsh, and it looks this way, and we don't understand it, and we certainly don't like it, and we trust him to wait until spring.
And I haven't always been beautiful as I've dealt with it either, but. Well, I join you in that sentiment, I really do, and you know what, Linda, we've got to go to a break, we're up against a hard time, and can you hang on to the break? Sure.
Would you hang with us a little bit? Yeah. Oh, yeah.
All right. Don't go away. This is Peter Rosenberg, and this is Hope for the Caregiver. This is the show for you as a family caregiver, that you know that he can take all that confusion, all that brokenness, all that strife, and make something beautiful of your life. That's our song today, that's our message every day. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver here on American Family Radio.
This is Peter Rosenberg. This is the show for you as a family caregiver, and understand that he does put this love in our heart. It's green, and we are able to do these things because of the inexhaustible love of God. Not because of our own abilities, because we fizzle out.
Some of us can stand on our heads for three months, but when you start doing this thing for years, decades, you're going to run out. You're going to run out, and we need to understand that our source comes from God in this, and I love that song. We are talking with Linda in Virginia, and Linda, thank you very much for hanging on through the break. Those of you just now joining us, Linda has been taking care of her husband with Alzheimer's, and her husband was such a wonderful person of support and love and acceptance with her, and she did not feel beautiful, and she did not feel that she was doing much of anything other than struggling in dark places, and now she's been taking care of him these 12 years with Alzheimer's. This is a painful place, Linda. It just is, and I think that I speak for all that are listening is that we recognize that, and we see the magnitude of what you have to look at and deal with, and we hurt with you. Those of us who know what it's like to care for someone who is struggling mildly and we're losing them, it is a very painful thing, and so I would say that we mourn with those who mourn and we grieve with those who grieve, and our hope is not that somehow that we're going to get happy, happy, happy all the time, time, time, that we're going to get our blessing breakthrough and all this stuff as you hear somebody say from the TV pulpits and so forth. We've already got our breakthrough, and our breakthrough came at the cross, and that puts all of this in perspective, and that's what gives us the courage to trust him that we can wait, as I said about that tree surgeon who told that lady, said, look, wait till spring, and I don't know if she had the patience to do it or not.
I don't know what she thought when those things came back the next spring, but I know what I saw when I drove by there and I saw them, and it was like, wow, and so Linda, I would say to you, if a tree surgeon, if a tree guy in Nashville, Tennessee gets that concept, how much more does our Heavenly Father when he looks at you, Linda, and as you go through this. What's another song that means something to you as you go through this journey with your husband? I love these songs every Saturday, and I really hadn't heard the one about the treasure until you played it a couple weeks ago, and that has become one that I play when I go see him, when I'm sitting with him and play his music.
I play that one, and I now play I'm Resting. That's become a good one, but all the old hymns, Blessed Assurance and the faithfulness of God, and Jesus is mine. I love these hymns, and as I thought about this over and over, when you think about live radio shows and so forth, so many of the programs out there are meant to be so fast-paced and frenetic, and you got to just hit people with the fire hose, and I decided something different on this program because I know my audience, I know my fellow caregivers, I know me, and I don't need the fire hose. I need to hear these hymns played in a way that makes sense to me as I watch somebody suffer, and so you are just such a dear for enjoying that and remembering these things, and I do appreciate it very much. These things mean something.
They were written by people who walk through painful things and live to sing about it, live to play about it, live to write about it, and so that's why I do it. And if you have a request of one that you want me to do, I'll be glad to do it. This week or today, if I can figure it out today, I'll do it today for you, but if you got something you want me to do for a following show, Linda, all you have to do is ask.
And in fact, what I'd like to do, if it's all right with you, I'd like to put you on hold and have Rick get your information, and I'll send you a copy of my CD Songs for the caregiver, and I put a lot of these hymns on there. I have them already. You have it? Okay, well- I have it downloaded.
I've already downloaded them. Yeah. Well, then- I have those- Then you're okay. And I have the books.
Yeah. They've been very helpful. Well, thank you. I would love to be able to play for you, and I've been into nursing homes and played for a lot of folks who are dealing with Alzheimer's and their families and so forth, and what I'm stunned by every time is that even though somebody is looking out the window listlessly and there's just a vacant look on their face, they remember the text of these hymns. My uncle recently passed away, my mother's brother, and he was dealing with dementia and Alzheimer's, and they sent a video over to the family, and it showed him there, and there was somebody with a guitar, and they were playing Amazing Grace, and he barely knew who my mother was.
His only sister, his treasured sister, they were very close, and I don't think he really even knew who she was, but when they were playing Amazing Grace, he was singing the lyrics. And I've interviewed Kim Campbell, Glen Campbell's wife, in his later years of Alzheimer's that she was taking care of, and they said that music was really about the last thing to go. And there's something about the power of music that kind of embeds itself in our soul, and that's why I play these hymns and these songs, because I want people to have this when it gets very brutal for us, when the going is so tough, that the simplicity of this song, something beautiful, something good, all my confusion, he understood. All I had to offer him was brokenness and strife, and it's like you admitted there were times when I wasn't very beautiful during this, and let me tell you something, Linda, I am, whew, when you are the crash test dummy of caregivers like I am, I cringe over so much of my journey with this.
But even that, the cringe moments, he restores that. He was a carpenter, and he doesn't even waste the sawdust. And as a friend once told me, our God is the greatest junk collector in the universe.
And he restores things that we think there's no possible way it can ever be redeemed or ever be restored or ever be anything beautiful, and that is why I do the show, to pass on that message that people have deposited in my life, and now in my 35th year of this, I see these principles, and you go back in scripture, and you realize these promises he made are true, and he is doing that. So Linda, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
And any hymn that you want, you call in. I'll figure it out. If I have to learn it on air, make a few mistakes, that's okay, I'll figure it out.
But you call it any time you want, Linda, okay? I will. Thank you. All right. Yes, ma'am.
All right. This is Lindsay in Arkansas. Good morning, Lindsay. How are you feeling?
I am feeling great. Peter, I am not a caregiver at the present time. My mom had Alzheimer's years ago, and I was a long-distance caregiver because my parents choose to leave the town I was living in and moved to North Carolina. But something beautiful really, really resonates with me because the time when my mom had Alzheimer's was obviously a difficult time, but it was a beautiful time in some ways because she responded to music, and mom was not a believer.
Well, I'm not going to say that. I think at the end she was, but she and my dad met in musical theater, and we loved songs from The King and I, I Love You, Will Bush, or Lynne Peck, a lot of those songs, but we would call every, or I would call her every day, and I'd say, well, mom, sing your favorite song, and it was Getting to Know You from The King and I. And we would always close with I Love You, Will Bush, Lynne Peck, and she was a Georgian, and she loved Georgia on my mind. And at her memorial service, we played that, and my sister doesn't know the Lord, and she didn't want any of that Jesus stuff at her memorial, but Sally said to me, she said, you know, I've heard this song on the radio, Amazing Grace. I really like it.
I'm thinking well, you know, you may not know who that refers to, but yeah, we'll do it. But I just really wanted to thank you, because I've been listening to your shows for years. I'm not a caregiver, I'm a senior with challenges of my own, I have a lot of friends of mine that are caregivers, but I've been really, really blessed by your using a hymn every week. And this morning I woke up, and at first I couldn't put it together, and then all of a sudden I was singing it, so I just wanted to call in and thank you.
Well, thank you very much for saying that. That is the legacy of these great hymns and these songs, and this is why we do them, because you can't recall, all of a sudden you find yourself singing it, but then as you sing it, as you go through the day, and as you are caring for someone with Alzheimer's, as you are caring for someone who is struggling, as you're dressing a wound, or as you're looking at somebody who is hurting, and all of a sudden you can say, all I had to offer him was brokenness and strife. That's all I got, but he made me something beautiful of my life, and Lindsay, thank you for your words, those are very meaningful words, and I appreciate your insights on that. This is Peter Rosenberger, this is Hope for the Caregiver, this is the show for you as a family caregiver.
We'll be right back. Hey this is Peter Rosenberger, have you ever helped somebody walk for the first time? I've had that privilege many times through our organization, Standing with Hope, when my wife Gracie gave up both of her legs following this horrible wreck that she had as a teenager, and she tried to save them for years, and it just wouldn't work out, and finally she relinquished them and thought, wow, this is it, I don't have any legs anymore, what can God do with that? And then she had this vision for using prosthetic limbs as a means of sharing the gospel, to put legs on her fellow amputees, and that's what we've been doing now since 2005 with Standing with Hope.
We work in the West African country of Ghana, and you can be a part of that through supplies, through supporting team members, through supporting the work that we're doing over there, you can designate a limb, there's all kinds of ways that you can be a part of giving the gift that keeps on walking at standingwithhope.com, would you take a moment and go out to standingwithhope.com and see how you can give, and they go walking and leaping and praising God, you can be a part of that at standingwithhope.com. I'm Peter Rosenberger, and this is your Caregiver Minute. In the caregiving journey, we daily encounter high-drama moments, and they can really wear on us.
Some of those drama moments may be from our loved one, others might be from friends and family or the medical community, and sometimes those high-drama moments come internally as we mentally slap ourselves around over things we wish we had done better or wish we'd not done at all. You know, we're not going to eliminate all of those moments, but we can reduce them by asking one simple question. How important is this? See, that's the question. When we ask how important is this, it gives us and others an opportunity to prioritize and even detach from the circumstances so we can determine, is this really a crisis? Or maybe this is something we can just let go. How important is it for us to be calmer caregivers?
And we can answer that one right now together. It's vitally important. This has been your Caregiver Minute with Peter Rosenberger, brought to you by Standing with Hope. There's more information at standingwithhope.com. Do you see, do you see, all the people sinking down? Don't you care, don't you care, are you going to let them drown? How can you be so numb not to care if they come? You close your eyes and pretend the job's done. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver. This is Peter Rosenberger.
This is the show for you as a family caregiver, 888-589-8840. How many of you all are familiar with acrylic resin and the catalyst that is used to turn this into a hard substance? It's a liquid acrylic resin.
And what does this mean? Well, you've heard our story and you've heard Gracie share her journey with prosthetic legs and so forth. And part of what we do with the work in Ghana that we've done for many, many years with amputees is you build prosthetic legs and you use acrylic resin to make a socket. And you make a mold of the amputated limb out of plaster and so forth, casting material. And then you pour the resin over the mold and it allows you to, and it hardens up with this catalyst and it makes a hard shell. And that's carved out and that's what the limb fits into.
That's the way Gracie's are made. Gracie has the very same thing and we wrap it with a carbon fiber and make strong sockets that are lightweight and durable for patients. And with one gallon, depending on the size of the patient, you can make sometimes four to six limbs with one gallon. And we need that right now.
And if you want to be a part of that, go out to Standing with Hope, Standing with Hope is the presenting sponsor of this show, and standingwithhope.com slash giving. And I know it's not a very, you know, hip and cool thing to buy resin, but one gallon and you can buy, you can help make four to six legs. You know, with children, we can make more because they're smaller.
But if it's an above knee leg, of course it takes more, but it's average it out. And so it's, it's this extraordinary gift, resin, who'd have thunk, but it makes a big difference. And then they go walking and leaping and praising God, and you can go out to standingwithhope.com slash giving, and you can either support, just click on the prosthetic limb outreach tab or the radio show for that we're doing here and, and, um, just whatever's on your heart and mind, uh, go and give the gift that keeps on walking and it is, it's a, it's a wonderful ministry. You look at the pictures there, you see Gracie and what she's done, what she's envisioned and we're shipping over regular supplies. We're purchasing things and sending it and sponsoring limbs.
We can't send teams right now just because of COVID it's just not really a good situation, but hopefully that will change, but you can be a part of that today. Um, Homer in Oklahoma, Homer. Good morning. How are you feeling, Homer?
You with me? Oh, there you go. Hi Peter.
Uh, it was cut off briefly. Well, you're striking a symptomatic tone to me this morning is always your music is always a blessing. Well, thank you very much, Homer. I do appreciate that.
And it's, uh, you know, you and I've had a conversation over, over the many years about these sorts of things and why these things are important. And it's Saturday morning. It's when the show air lives and it's kind of quiet for a lot of caregivers. Hopefully we're, you know, kind of getting used to the day and having a cup of coffee. And I thought instead of making my fellow caregivers and myself drink from the fire hose, we'd sit around the piano and we strengthen each other to go and face the day.
And of course there are folks that are listening to this now that, you know, maybe in the afternoon or at night on the podcast or whatever, but it's still the same concept. Our lives are frenetic enough as caregivers. We don't need to be bombasted into activity.
We need to catch our breath. And, um, and that's why I love these hymns, Homer, and I know you do too. So true. Very much. Um, touching upon the, uh, the orchard tender and the trees and the pruning, uh, you bring to mind Amos, um, that great prophet who having a low esteem in academia was strengthened and very strong in his skillset, being able to apply truth through mirror orchard tending. So that combined with the music this morning definitely resonates much needed in this time of so much death and problems. It is. And there's so much unsettledness in this world.
And I didn't really go into that because you can look at cable news and hear 24 hours commentary on that. And, and I have, I've been living with harsh realities for a very long time. Um, we have a, a, uh, a surgery date now scheduled for Gracie for this next surgery. And it is going to be a very big one. It's going to take us a while to get all the things together and, uh, we have to start on that immediately.
I had a conversation with the docs, the surgeon's office this week, a lot of task. And when you've been doing this, as long as Gracie and I have the unsettledness, um, it's a familiar companion on this journey. And the only way that Gracie and I have been able to calm our hearts, steal ourselves, strengthen ourselves is to go back to the word of God, to go back to these principles that are established that, that, that go beyond unsettledness. So when I, when I, and of course, Bill and Gloria Gaither captured this, this song, something beautiful. And when we were able to play this, all I had to offer him was brokenness and strife. And I think Gracie and I have walked through this so many years with this, of recognizing that we really just are broken people, but he made something beautiful of our life and he's making it and he will continue to make it. And it will, it is, it is not a one and done issue. It's a constant, um, emerging of his graciousness, his glory, his redemption, his restoration through this. But it is not easy.
And we do have to wait, uh, just like that, uh, singer in Nashville had to wait. And we may have histrionics while looking at the carnage. Oh, and you know, if you ever had history on it, I can't even speak this morning.
Have you ever had histrionics while looking at the carnage Homer? Uh, it's a lesson imparted with some measure of pain. Well, you know, CS Lewis says that if you have, by the way, if y'all, if you, if you want a good book to read, I would recommend the problem of pain, uh, CS Lewis, but he, you know, that's what he says that pain is God's megaphone. Sure. And he gets, and he gets our attention with it.
Doesn't he? Oh, CS Lewis, a very good reference. I'm familiar with this book, a grief observed Peter, let me leave you with this.
Wow. One of my favorite hymns, be still my soul. The Lord is on my side. And this morning while sitting out, looking out at the beauty of God's creation, it dawned upon me that before the, uh, the tuning in four 40, uh, God imparted four 32, which is, uh, which is performed by the Isaacs.
They did a musical album, uh, God's telling four 32, and there's a resonance that God imparts. And by what you're sharing about the absolute truth that God is always with us, always time, always comes through pain, oftentimes in pain, uh, because the emptier the vessel, the sweeter the resonance. Indeed. I love this hymn too. Be still my soul.
Yes. That is a great, great text. Be still my soul. The Lord is on us, bear patiently the cross of grief or pain, leave to thy God to order and provide in every change he faithful will remain. Be still my soul. Thy best, thy heavenly friend through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
And that is a powerful message this morning, Homer. Thank you. As always, you, you, you bring a, a, a timely insight to this, and I do appreciate very much that you called. Okay.
Okay. This is why we do this. I'm not going to make you drink from the fire hose for this program. You get enough of that.
If you, if you flip through the channels on cable news or anything else, I know my fellow caregivers. I know the journey and I know that we are torqued on a good day and we're frantic on a lot of days. And so the purpose of this show is just to provide a safe place for you to come and just catch your breath.
Take a knee, listen to me, play a little melody on the keyboard that will hopefully stick with you until the next time we can hang out together. Because between now and then, you and I both are going to have tough moments. We're going to have dark times. We're going to have dark thoughts, but it's in those moments that we can recall to our mind these things. Jeremiah said this in Lamentations, I remember the wormwood in the gall.
I mean, he was just really, it was just so visceral and he said, but this I recall to mine and therefore I have hope. Great is that faithfulness and each morning there are new mercies. And so my, my question to you is, can you write this down on a, would you write this down?
I know you can. Would you write this down on a post note or something? I have on my office a post-it note that I've had for years and I put it right there on the door as I walked into the office from a hymn and it's the line is, ponder anew what the almighty can do is praise to the Lord. The almighty is the name of the hymn. Ponder a new with the almighty can do.
And then Gracie had that beautifully framed with some calligraphy or something like that and it hangs on my office wall. Ponder a new with the almighty can do. So when you look at the devastation in your life, understand that God is not freaked out by this. He knows what he's doing. He is skilled in these things.
He is God all by himself and he can indeed and will and is making something beautiful of your life and my life. This is Hope for the Caregiver, Hopeforthecaregiver.com, we'll see you next time. 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 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 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. 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 what it is to be locked some place 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. 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 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 limb, 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 them? Oh, please go to standingwithhope.com slash recycle, standingwithhope.com slash recycle. Thanks Gracie.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-09-12 13:01:01 / 2023-09-12 13:18:51 / 18