Caregiver Identity Theft

I'm Peter Rosenberger and this is your Caregiver Minute. According to numerous credit companies, identity theft continues as a major headache for individuals and businesses alike. With America's vast and aging baby boomer population, the issue of identity theft weighs heavy on seniors and their caregivers.

Individuals and family members show great wisdom when subscribing to various products and safeguards that protect against data breaches. Yet an overlooked identity theft exists for family caregivers. Virtually all caregivers find themselves struggling to speak in their own voice. Ask any family caregiver about how they feel and one can expect to hear replies using we, our, he, she, and us. Using the first person singular of I remains one of the greatest challenges for caregivers. Due to a variety of reasons, our own identity can easily become lost in someone else's story. On my radio program, we discuss caregivers more than caregiving. I ask every caller, how do you feel? Once caregivers learn to speak in their own voice, a real conversation can occur and the path to healthiness begins.

Identity theft isn't limited to finances. For family caregivers, it often involves the heart. And I love this quote, be yourself.

Everyone else is taken. This has been your caregiver minute with Peter Rosenberger brought to you by Standing with Hope, a ministry for the wounded and those who care for them. There's more information at standingwithhope.com. 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 Core Civic 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, 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. 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 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 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 somebody who outgrew them, you've donated some of your own for them to do. How do they do that? Where do they fund it? Oh, please go to standingwithhope.com slash recycle, standingwithhope.com slash recycle. Thanks, Gracie. Say, what would you do if you were a new Christian and you didn't have a Bible? It's Michael Woolworth, by the way, from Bible League International. And you'd probably say, well, I'd hop in my car. I'd go to a Christian bookstore or have one shipped to me.

What if those weren't options? You'd say, well, I'm new to the faith. I mean, I need to know what it means to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus.

You know, you would pray that someone, anyone would bring you a Bible. And that's exactly the way it is for literally millions of Christians around the world. They're part of our spiritual family. They're new to the faith.

They want to know what it means to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. But God has them planning where it's very difficult to access a Bible. And that's why the Truth Network and Bible League have teamed up to send God's word to 3500 Bible believers around the globe. Our campaign is called The World Needs the Word. Five dollars sends a Bible. One hundred dollars sends twenty every gift matched. Make your most generous gift by calling 800 Yes Word, 800 Y E S W O R D 800 YES WORD OR GIVE AT TRUTHNETWORK.COM