This is My Father's World

Welcome to Hope for the Caregiver.

I am Peter Rosberger. Glad to have you here on the program here on American Family Radio and all our affiliates across the country. This is the program for you as a family caregiver for those of you who are willingly knowingly voluntarily putting yourself between a vulnerable loved one.

An even worse disaster. How are you holding up? How are you doing? What's going on with you?

This program is designed to help you stay strong and healthy as you care for someone who is not. And we're glad you're with us. We'd love to have you a part of that. You can post whatever thoughts you have. We keep it all there in the group.

I don't allow anybody to get weird in there. And we'd love to have you be a part of that. Or you can go out to our website, hopeforthecaregiver.com. There's a form you can fill out.

Send me a comment. Whatever you want to talk about, whatever's on your heart, if you want, we'll be glad to talk about it on the program. If you want, we'll be glad to call you from the program, if that's something you feel that's important to you. If it's important to you, chances are it's probably important to a lot of other caregivers as well. And that's why we're here. And that's how we push back against this isolation that cripples us as caregivers is we talk to each other. We talk about these things. We get it out there. If I'm feeling it, I bet you there's a whole bunch of other caregivers that are feeling it too. And we get stronger listening to other people share how they've wrestled with this and what we can do to incorporate those strategies, those tips, those thoughts, those insights into our life.

Hopeforthecaregiver.com. And we'd love to hear from you. Thank you for joining me on this amazing program. And I wanted to talk about fathers for a bit. I am greatly blessed. My father is still with me. I talk to him multiple times during the week.

We talk about everything from world events to theology to all kinds of things and just crazy stuff and laughing at our family. I have a very large family. And I have a loving father who I don't have to look over my shoulder and wonder if he approves of me, wonder if he loves me.

That's a great gift. And I am deeply appreciative of what God has done for me in this regards because I don't think I could have done what I've done had I not had that. With that said, I know that a lot of people don't have that in their life. Their father may be gone or maybe their father wasn't that source of encouragement to them. And it's very difficult on Father's Day. And I recognize that some are taking care of a father who has impairments but treated them poorly. I recognize that too. And we've talked about this on the program a lot.

And it's hard to do that. I remember my father was counseling of God. My dad's a minister. He was a counseling guy and this was young into his ministry and he said, you know, God is our father.

And he said, well, if it is anything like my father, I don't want anything to do with it. And this is the critical place we find ourselves as a society where fathers have dropped the ball. And we're all sinners. We're all broken people.

We're going to fall. We're going to make mistakes. But fatherhood is something that is modeled for us in Scripture. And we see it through God's modeling of it. We also see pictures of wonderful fathers. And then we also see pictures of fathers who really messed up in Scripture. Scripture doesn't gloss over these things.

But what can we learn from this? And this was designed by God. It was instilled by God.

It is who He is. Jesus, when He taught us to pray, our Father who art in heaven, our Father. Psalm 103, 13. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him. And there's Scripture after Scripture after Scripture identifying God as Father. But that's painful for a lot of people because they associate their own father.

I know that for many caregivers who are seeing their fathers decline and diminish, it is painful to watch. The implications of this broken, fallen world we live in are far and wide. But the redemptive work of Christ that was done on the cross penetrates into that and helps us be at peace with all of this. Whether we've had good and loving fathers or we've had fathers that abandoned us or we've had fathers that have failed us, regardless of which, none of them are going to measure up to the perfect love of the Father in heaven, which we don't always see and understand clearly.

But we trust Him because of the redemptive work of Christ. And I'd like to talk about a hymn today in this opening block. I've done it before with Father's Day and I love this hymn.

It's one of my all-time favorite hymns. This is my Father's world. And to my listening ears all nature sings and round me rings the music of the spheres. This is my Father's world. I rest me in the thought of rocks and trees, of skies and seas, His hand the wonders wrought.

I live in Montana and so I see this displayed so vividly around me and I can't help but sing this hymn. This is my Father's world, the birds their carols raise, the morning light the lily white declare their Maker's praise. This is my Father's world. He shines in all that's fair, in the rustling grass I hear Him pass.

He speaks to me everywhere. And let me take a moment to go over to the caregiver keyboard because this third verse is what I want to zero in on. This is my Father's world. Oh let me never forget. Now listen to this right here. That though the rod seems all so strong, God is the ruler yet.

Now listen right here. This is my Father's world. The battle is not done.

Here it is right here. Jesus who died shall be satisfied and earth and heaven be one. If you're struggling about some of the things that we've talked about today, particularly at Father's day, I would ask that you hang on to this third verse.

This is my Father's world. Oh let me never forget that though the rod seems all so strong, listen to this, God is the ruler yet. This is my Father's world and the battle is not done. Jesus who died shall be satisfied and earth and heaven be one. I hope that hymn will be meaningful to you today and throughout this weekend and throughout every day. I'd like to end with a special gift from my Father. I played this over Memorial Day but I'm going to play it again because Dad was a Navy chaplain for many years and this is the Navy hymn. Eternal Father Strong to Save.

This is Peter Rosenberger. This is Hope for the Caregiver. We'll be back after this break but I wanted to play this special Father's Day gift to my Father. Happy Father's Day Dad. I love you. Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Oh, hear us when we cry to thee, O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? Amen.