Eventually, Someone's Got to Learn to Cook

Welcome to Hope for the Caregiver.

This is Peter Rosberg and this is the program for you as a family caregiver. Healthy caregivers make better caregivers. Healthy caregivers make better caregivers. Do you feel healthy today? I didn't ask if you felt happy. Happiness is when things are happening in a way you want them to to make you feel better and for family caregivers that usually is not the case.

We may swerve into happiness at times but if we chase it, it's going to be elusive. But we can start being healthy right now. Right this moment, in fact you're doing something that's healthy right this moment, you're listening to a veteran caregiver share things learned along the way so that you can glean from that and that is healthy. You can make a healthy decision right now. Today is a great day to start being a healthy caregiver because they make better ones and the goal is not to feel better.

The goal is to be better and that's what this program is all about and I'm so glad that you're with us. Hope for the caregiver dot-com. Hope for the caregiver dot-com and we've got by the way a lot of stuff out at our website. I hope you'll take a look at it.

Check it out and see the things that are available to you. I've got a new feature I put it there called caregiver 9-1-1. If you are just feeling overwhelmed, if you are just inundated with this, go out there and just click on the blinking tab that says caregiver 9-1-1.

I've got some a place to start right there for you of some things that's going to help you today. Okay I love doing this program and I'm zealous about it every time I get behind the microphone because I know the plight of so many caregivers who are desperate to hear somebody recognize them, point them to safety, tell them it's going to be okay. Say that there's some path to this that God hasn't abandoned them.

All of the above. I know what it's like to be so isolated and so lonely and you wonder does anybody even see? Does God even see? You know what is what is going on? How am I going to live like this?

How am I going to endure? I understand that. I've had that conversation many times. Lots and lots and lots of conversations with the ceiling fan.

And you know what? I'm still here. Four decades later, I'm still here. And I'm more committed than ever to the principles that we discuss on this program that equip family caregivers to endure. And I'm more committed to speaking to the need which is so great.

65 million Americans right now, and the number is probably much higher, are putting themselves between a vulnerable loved one and even worse disaster. And this program is designed to strengthen that person, to help them endure, to stay strong and healthy as they take care of someone who is not. And I get letters, I get things sent through our website, all kinds of stuff that people respond to me and they tell me how much they appreciate this program. And I save every one of those. Those are important to me. I can't always answer everything. I try to.

Still a full-time caregiver, so I try to. But please know how grateful I am. And I get funny things. I get people, I never know kind of what's going to, you know, strike somebody's fancy when they hear it. Last week I talked about the music that I did and somebody really appreciated that, you know, because I kind of swerved off into music. But that's a passion of mine, is music. And I want to talk about those things because I want to hopefully encourage you to talk about your passions.

What do you like? What ignites your passions of living life? You know, you don't have to go out and compose a symphony or anything like that. You can do whatever is for you as far as art, gardening, music, woodworking, welding, whatever it is that just lifts your soul.

Do it. I got a friend of mine who is absolutely consumed with doing bonsai trees, which I think is fascinating. It's incredibly detailed work. It requires an enormous amount of patience and concentration and focus. And I'm always impressed that he could pull this off because I know the journey he's had. But he does it and he does it well and it does it beautifully. So anyway, so that's kind of what goes on here in my mind when I share some of these things that are, you know, I'm not doing this program to give you caregiving tips, how to give a better injection or how to do this or this better.

You know, that's not the point. I can't tell you how to care give better for your loved one any more than you could tell me how to take care of Gracie. But what I can tell you are things I've learned along the way that sustained me. And not only that, enhance my life, build me up, strengthen me, provide fortitude, and help me better understand the things of God. That I can tell you. And that's what I plan on telling you each and every time I'm on this program. And I want to intercept as many family caregivers as I possibly can. By the way, if you go out to my website, there are a lot of things out there.

You can see the caregiver 911 that I've put out there. We've talked about that. And I have music. I have the blog post that we have.

We have resources. I have a whole resource page of things I recommend that I think would be beneficial to family caregivers. Very specific things. I talk about how I've lost weight, which by the way, I'm maintaining. I got down to 41. I was at 36 and now I'm 41. I'm on my way to 50. It's a little bit of work, but I'm doing it. And I've had family in and out over the last several weeks and it makes it kind of hard when family's there.

But I've gained a little bit, moved back and lost it again. And so I'm working on that. If you want to know how I've done it, then go out to the website and you can just click on the resources there. And for a short season, the website, when you go to HopeForTheCaregiver.com, it will forward to PeterRosenberger.com simply because we're making a lot and a lot of changes. So bear with us on that, but it's the same website.

I just had to park it somewhere different while we update some things, but same thing. And you could see a resource page there and tell me what you think and look at all the things that are available. And I'm going to have more of those things that I put out there of things that I think would help a family caregiver. Things that I use, things that I participate in, people that I've worked with, people that I know and trust with my journey and with yours.

So those are, those are ways that I can help right now today tangibly to offer you assistance. I want to give you a quote before we end this segment. Many years ago, a friend of mine came to me and said, our Sunday school class is looking at adopting this family in our community that we've found. She's been coming to church. I don't know exactly how they found them, but she is a teacher, has two small children.

Her husband has had some type of chronic illness for five years of some kind of neuro brain kind of thing going on. And he said, we're going to take them on and start bringing them meals and clean their house. And I said, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Put on the brakes, ding, ding, ding, just stop. And he was rather puzzled by them. He said, what do you mean? I said, look, how long has this been going on? He said, well, five years. I said, are you prepared for that level of commitment? And he said, well, I hadn't really thought about that. He said, well, you might want to take a moment. He said, well, she's, you know, the only breadwinner and she has two children and then she has to come home and cook and so forth. And I said, yeah, I, I get that. I've done that.

That's my life. And he started laughing cause he's known us a long time. And he said, well, what do we do? And I said, well, I tell you what, why don't you look at buying groceries or picking them up, whatever she needs on that regards, and then letting her cook the meal so that way she's not dependent on you guys bringing, you know, the meals every week. She's not dependent on you guys showing up on time to feed her kids. The first couple of meals are going to be great.

Three weeks later, it's going to be Domino's pizza. And as far as cleaning the house, don't get up in her business. If you want to do that, that would be a great gift.

Hire a service that comes in maybe once a week to do some heavy cleaning. And I said, you're equipping her to endure. You're not trying to do it for her. So here's the quote, bringing meals is great for a short season, but eventually someone has to learn to buy groceries, plan meals, and cook while also making a living. Helping someone learn life skills as they serve as a caregiver equips them to endure and even thrive while caregiving. Galatians 6, four through five, but let each one test his own work.

And then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor for each will have to bear his own load. That's how you help a caregiver. Teach them how to cook. Teach them how to do this.

And then you equip them to endure. This is Peter Rosenberger. This is Hope for the Caregiver.

We'll be right back. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver. This is Peter Rosenberger. This is the program for you as a family caregiver. Healthy caregivers make better caregivers.

Healthy caregivers make better caregivers. By the way, that's Gracie. And I wanted to also let you all know, and you can go out and do this on our website, sign up for our e-letter that goes out every month. And she's starting a new thing. I mean, Gracie has not been well for some time, and you all know that as regular listeners to the program, but she's trying to reinsert herself back into life slowly.

It's been a haul, and she still has one more tough surgery ahead of her, at least. But for right now, she is taking on something that she's been stewing on for a while, and that is to write more. Several friends have recently read her book that came out almost 15 years ago, and a lot has happened since then. And they wanted to know, are you going to write anything else? And they've loved the book, and it's a good book.

I've gone back and looked at it a couple of times. I helped her write it, so I say that with... It's a good book, all right? It's just a good book. But you could go get it at Gracie's Standing with Hope.

Wherever books are sold, you can download an e-version of it. She thought about doing an audio version. She kind of wanted to. She did some of it, but it was making me work really hard for the edits of it.

I mean, I was working at it. Because she'll go off on a tangent. Every time she reads something, she'll say, oh yeah, that reminds me of this and this.

I was like, oh, Gracie. Because the audio book will be 40 hours long by the time we're done with it. So I said, let's just go with the print version for now. And she begrudgingly agreed. But there's a lot that has happened in her life, and she wants to talk about this. And I said, well, what do you want to talk about? What do you want to write about? And she said, I'd like to write about dealing with chronic pain.

And I thought, well, very few people can appreciate that journey more than you. Gracie's lived with severe pain for 40 years. I mean, bad pain. And just as a piece of historical context, she had a severe car accident back in 1983 that they stopped counting according to one report from a resident surgeon who was there, a surgery resident.

He said to her prosthetist many years later, we stopped counting at 200 breaks. So she's had a pretty rough go of it. And how does she deal with this? How does she handle it?

The emotional side of it, the physical side of it, the spiritual side of it? And so she's just writing little tiny blurbs that are going to go into our e-letter every month. And each one is going to contain a principle that she lives by. And if that's something that you find meaningful that you want to receive, please take advantage of it and go out to the website and sign up for it. And it's very easy to do.

It's free. And then we put in usually a song every month that we send out that you can listen to. Uh, I put a note out there and it's going to be something I think that, well, obviously we're getting a lot of feedback on it and people want to hear from her.

And I'm glad that she's able to do it. This is all from our ministry Standing with Hope, which is the sponsor of this whole program. Everything we do, we have two program areas, the prosthetic limb outreach that Gracie envisioned after losing her legs and the caregiver outreach that I do here as part of this program. And we feature a patient every month that is receiving a limb through this program.

It's extraordinary to see the pictures. And so I would encourage you to do that, but I think you'll find this series that Gracie's going to do. And I don't know how long it'll go.

She may, I'll just let that be up to her however long she wants to do this and to process out things that she learns to live by. But if chronic pain has been a part of your life, and don't try to compare it to Gracie's. That's not fair to your pain.

The most pain you ever felt is the most pain you ever felt. But do try to compare the principles. Okay, if Gracie has found God to be faithful in this, then maybe I could trust him too. Okay? That's the kind of thing we're looking for with people who read this. We want them to be fortified to endure.

That's the whole point. On that note, I also wanted to tell you about an article that's going to be in there. It's also going to be on my Substack page. I have a Substack page. It's called caregiver.substack.com. And Substack's like an online newsletter. And every Monday I put out a blurb from my book, A Minute for Caregivers, When Every Day Feels Like Monday. And this is a free subscription. There's a paywall behind it for some other things if you want to subscribe to that.

I would encourage you to do so. But you can get this for free every week. I put one out to just again strengthen my fellow caregivers. They're one minute chapters from my book. I literally timed every one of them.

You can read them all in one minute. And I thought this one today might be particularly meaningful to you all. I just get the sense from the letters I get and the feedback I get from listeners to this program that this is a topic that may address some things in your heart. So it's called, this chapter was called The Box of Things Requiring Redemption. The Box of Things Requiring Redemption.

And if you'll indulge me as I just read this little blurb to you. A demoralizing point for many family caregivers lies in unmet expectations, hopes, and dreams. We often visualize what could be, but things beyond our control are roadblocks. Ashamedly, I admit to attempting control and trying to force things on more than one occasion, only to frustrate myself, Gracie, and many others. Letting go of those hopes and expectations, however, can be painful.

Over the last few years, I've tried a different approach. In my mind, I envision a rather large container I call the box of things that God will have to redeem. Offloading those items, losses, heartaches, and disappointment to God reduces my angst and the potential for resentment. For me, the box is genuine and reflects my faith that God will indeed redeem each of these things.

He's better at carrying them than me. Now, when I say that God will have to redeem does not demand the Almighty to act. It simply recognizes that He alone has the power to do so.

I do not. I cannot redeem any of these things, but He can. Of course, of course, the temptation to retrieve items and stew on them often grips me, yet I can affirm each time I place them in the box, I grow less tempted to dwell on them.

After decades of trying to carry the impossible, and you all know what I mean by that, many of you are trying to carry the impossible. Well, after decades of trying that, I find that I breathe easier and live more peacefully when trusting God with all the broken pieces. Remembering Jesus was a carpenter further bolsters my faith, knowing He doesn't even waste the sawdust. And I put a scripture, at the end of these are a quote.

In this one, I put a scripture, Revelation 21 4, and I use the King James Version on this. It's one we know, but when you say it in this, it just brings such a level of comfort to our weary souls. And listen to this scripture, And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. Doesn't that verse just wrap around you?

It feels like a warm blanket, doesn't it? This is what our hope is in. This is what we cling to, knowing that God will redeem for His people. He will. Don't know how, don't know what this is going to look like. That's His business. He just assures us that He's going to do it.

He assures us He is engaged and present in our distress. That's why the Holy Spirit was sent here. Jesus said, I will send you another Helper.

It's the second Paraclete. Jesus was the first. He was the first Helper. Go back and look it up. The second one was the Holy Spirit.

I'll send you another Helper. That He's going to stay with us and safely see His home. Now that doesn't mean we're not going to incur very uncomfortable things in this world. Every one of His disciples did. And there are people that are struggling with very serious realities right now. Diseases, afflictions, and so forth. And we've got to do better than to name it and claim it with these people or prophesy about this or all that kind of stuff.

That stuff is so tedious. And have you noticed, by the way, that the further away people are from suffering, whether it's their own or someone else's, the more detached they are from suffering, the weaker the theology becomes? Have you noticed that?

I see that kind of everywhere. Anytime I hear people talking about things that are weak, theologically speaking, I notice that they're not dealing with affliction or the afflicted. I think it was Lauren Cunningham who was the founder of Youth With a Mission.

I think this is it. Don't hold me to this because I may get it wrong, but the quote, I believe, is from him when he said his mission was to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. I love that quote because I think that in our affliction we realize our great need and in our great need we cry out. But see, it's hard to cry out to a savior that we don't think we need.

And as long as we have full barns and full bellies, we don't spend a lot of time on our knees, do we? But when distress hits us, when sorrows like sea billows roll, that is when our attention is squarely on the things of God. Whether or not we agree with it or not, we just simply say, well, where's God in this? We start asking, where's God in this? We start asking those kinds of questions. Why is God allowing this?

What's going on? We turn to theological matters. And if the affliction persists only for a short season, we tend to go back.

We tend to be like short attention spans, squirrel, squirrel, you know, kind of thing. But if the affliction persists over lengthy periods of time, we must wrestle with those things. And I have found in my four decades of this, that the box of things that require redemption for me has been very real, recognizing that He alone has the power to do so. And I take Him at His word that He will. In the meantime, I endure.

And how do I do that? By placing my trust in what He has said. I take Him at His word. Abraham did so when it was accounted to him as righteousness.

Genesis 15. How about you and me? This is Peter Rosenberger. This is Hope for the Caregiver. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver.

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

Healthy caregivers make better caregivers. I forgot to tell you, though, I've got something out there at the website, hopeforthecaregiver.com, and you can get involved with Standing with Hope as a sponsor. And it's not too late to get these 2025 calendars that I've made. And you can go out and take a look at that and see if you want to be a part of this, a gift we're giving away. I took pictures of where we live here in Montana. People seem to love the pictures I post on social media and so forth. So I took pictures, made it into a calendar, and I have a quote on each of the pictures that I felt would be meaningful.

There's only one month that I did not put a quote on and it'll be self-explanatory when you see it. If you want to do that, go out to hopeforthecaregiver.com and you'll see how you can get that calendar. I've made a tumbler as well that will give away just as a thank you from Standing with Hope. And it says, healthy caregivers make better caregivers on this tumbler. So I'm trying to do things that I think are very meaningful. You think I ought to do the caregiver key chain?

Just kidding. I'm not going to do the caregiver key chain. But what I may do is step over to the caregiver keyboard. I get a lot of emails from folks who like it when I go over to the caregiver keyboard.

So I shall step over to the caregiver keyboard. This is an oldie but a goodie that I think you will all like. It's one of the 25 hymns every Christian ought to know. And I'm just throwing a few diminished chords there because it's fun.

I'm learning to play like that a little bit better. But anyway, that's a great hymn. You all know that. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

I dare not trust the sweetest frame. But wholly lean on Jesus' name. Now you know who wrote that song? How many of you all know that? A guy named Edward Mote. And he wrote this 190 years ago. He was walking to work and he had about, I don't know, four stanzas written out. I don't know for sure that he wrote it down. I think he had it in his mind just memorizing on the way to work. Either way, he eventually wrote it down and he shared it with some friends of his and the wife of the friend was an invalid. She was bedridden sick.

And he read the lyrics that he had written to her. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame. But wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand.

All other ground is sinking sand. Now, remember she's bedridden, okay? And this husband is taking care of his wife who's bedridden. Now does that resonate with any of you all? Certainly did with me. And Edward Mote read these words to her. When darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace in every high and stormy gale. My anchor holds within the veil. How many of you all know what it's like to be in a high and stormy gale? Does your anchor hold? What is your anchor in? What stabilizes you? And we've seen this text, On Christ the solid rock I stand.

Well, what does that look like as a caregiver? And he's reading this to this woman who is bedridden. And as he read it to her, her faith was bolstered. She was strengthened.

She was encouraged. Then he read verse three. His oath, his covenant, his blood, support me in the whelming flood, when all around my soul gives way. He then is all my hope and stay. How many of you all know what it's like to have all around me to have all around my soul gives way? When everything around you is giving way and your soul is just, you feel like you're on a little tiny island and everything is giving away.

He then is all my hope and stay. And then look at the last verse. When he shall come with trumpet sound, oh may I then in him be found dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne. It's a great hymn. It's a great hymn. It's a great hymn for us as caregivers. When all around my soul gives way. Some of you really get that picture of the 360 view.

It seems like your whole world is just crashing in. He then is all my hope and stay. Is he for you? What does that look like? If he's not, why not?

If he is, what does it look like? Describe it and help someone else understand that as well. You see, the reason I do this program is not to sit there and just have a little caregiver club where we meet in a room and we don't really tell anybody what's going on. We just kind of figure it all out. We get better. No, no, no. I implore and expect every one of you who get anything out of what we're talking about here on this program to go out and say it to someone else.

Go out and strengthen one another. Just like somebody's done this for me. So this is my opportunity to do it for you. And who are you going to share this with? But you can't share it if you don't process it and own it and spend time thinking about it.

What does that look like? And I will tell you, I have said these words to a bedridden woman who is an invalid. I have said these words. And so what I love in the first verse is my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. We talk a lot about this in our evangelical culture of, you know, Jesus died for our sins. Yeah, okay, I get that. And you get to go to heaven because he paid the price. Is that all that happened? See, there's a word we don't really talk about too much.

Imputation. When Adam sinned, what did scripture say? All sin in Adam. His unrighteousness was imputed to mankind. For in Adam all sinned.

That's what it says. When Jesus came to this earth, he took on the penalty for the sins. It was imputed to him for his people. He bore the sins and iniquity of his people. And it was put on him. Did it stop there?

No, there's a third imputation. So Adam's sin was imputed to mankind. The sins of iniquities of the people of God were imputed to Christ. And then what did Christ do? He imputed his righteousness to his people. Dressed in his righteousness.

Alone. Thoughtless to stand before the throne. Do you see the strong theological mooring that you have with this hymn? That's why they call it compact theology.

Hymns are because they take very, very difficult concepts and put it into this amazing prose that we can remember and refresh ourselves. So when you are struggling with whatever, and you go back to this text, when darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace. Don't you want to take a moment and be thankful that his grace is unchanging in this for you and me?

That we don't have the daisy as our flower to represent our Christian walk? He loves me. He loves me not. He loves me. He loves me not. He loves me. He loves me not.

We don't have that. It's not our faithfulness. It's his. It's his covenant. It's his blood. It says, his oath, his covenant, his blood. Support me in the whelming flood. It's his sure foundation, not us.

What is it? I can't remember who said this. It's either John MacArthur.

I think it's John MacArthur, but it may have been somebody else. I can't remember. I'm going to have to start writing these things down. You know, this getting old is not good for your memory, is it? He said, if you could lose your salvation, you would.

Sounds like MacArthur, doesn't it? If you could lose your salvation, you would. And I categorically reject people who somehow think differently on this because then you're putting it, somehow this is implying that you had something to do with it. Our sanctification is different. Our salvation, our justification is on Christ alone.

That's the whole point of the Reformation. The word alone in Christ alone. Sola Fide. Sola Gracia. Sola Christus. Sola Deo. Sola Scriptura. All the five solas mean alone.

Sola. Alone. And Christ alone. Faith alone. Scripture alone. God alone.

Not us. And it's really important we get that in our heads. Because as long as we keep thinking we're bringing something to the equation other than the sin that required our salvation, then we're going to give ourselves a little attaboy that we don't deserve. And we, if we add one iota to the work of Christ, it invalidates all of it.

Now that'll get some people angry, but prove it wrong. What does scripture say? No one comes to the Father unless he draws him. No one seeks after God. There's no one righteous, no not one.

So I don't even have the ability to seek after him unless he gives me that ability. These are things that sustain me because I've had to wrestle with these principles while looking at a woman who is bedridden and an invalid. What do I say to her? What do I say to strengthen her? What do I say to strengthen myself?

And there's no way I can strengthen Gracie if I'm not first wrestling with this myself. How about you? What do you say to your loved one? What do you say to yourself? What strengthens you? What fortifies you?

What equips you? What causes you to endure, to not despair in the midst of all this? Some of you are taking care of somebody and it is a brutal set of circumstances. I know I get the letters and you're struggling with this.

I get it. What do you say? What strengthens you? For me, it is this principle that I've just shared with you.

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust. I dare not trust. You know why I can say that with conviction? Because I have trusted something else and it was a horrendous mistake.

I trusted my own judgment, my own judgment, my own understanding. What does scripture say about that? Do not do that. That's bad. You see, I'm not a there, there kind of guy. I'm a don't go down there. That's a bad place. I've been down there. And I'm going to say instead, go here, go to Christ, because that is, he is hope for the caregiver.

This is Peter Rosenberger, PeterRosenberger.com. We'll be right back. Have you ever had to change sheets in the middle of the night? You ever had to deal with a spill or mishap in bed, wound care issues? We've been dealing with that lately with Gracie's legs. She's got a wound that just does not want to heal up. Sometimes that wound just oozes, makes a terrible mess. It's got to change the sheets.

I've been looking around for a product to help with this because, you know, nobody ever told me when I was a caregiver that it involves so much laundry. But it does. Guess what? There's a company called PELAWAYS.

P-E-E-L-A-W-A-Y-S. PELAWAYS, just like it sounds. They're fitted sheets with built-in layers of chucks, you know, like liners they put in beds in hospitals. But they're built in.

They're perforated on either side, not at the bottom, not at the top. So in case there's a mishap, you just peel it away, throw it away. You don't have to change the bed. It's that easy. It's that simple. I've tried it myself. I slept on them.

They're very comfortable. And you think, this is just too easy. Caregiving is hard enough.

So let's go with too easy. All right. PELAWAYS.COM. Subscribe and save. They'll send you one every month.

You mentioned my name, Peter. Put it in the coupon code. You get a special discount. PELAWAYS.COM. Life is hard enough as a caregiver. Here's something that's going to make your life a lot simpler.

It did mine. PELAWAYS.COM. Welcome back to Hopefully Caregiver. This is Peter Rosenberger. This is the program for you as a family caregiver.

PeterRosenberger.com. I wonder what Edward Mote would think of the lyrics of his song being used with this. He'd probably like it, you know. It's a great lyric.

And this is I Am They with a great song and a great interpretation of the theme of what that was about. I thought I'd just bring that in. But listen, it's Labor Day weekend. You know what that means, don't you? I mean, it's the last holiday of the summer, and it's the last weekend you can wear white shoes until next spring. All right. So get them out, wear them proud, and then put them away.

You're not allowed to do that anymore. It also means that this is the kind of the unofficial beginning of the intense political season, even though it seems like it's been interminable for us now. And I want to depart from just a bit, if you don't mind, from the Hope for the Caregiver concept for a moment, and talk about what we need to do as a country. I'm going to be saying this repeatedly until the election's over and maybe even after that. If I said to you the chapter Jeremiah 29, what is the verse that you would say right after that?

Eleven. Most people do. Which is, I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. A lot of people claim that verse and use it as their life verse and talk about how God is going to do things for them and so forth. On that note, we really have got to stop taking scripture out of context, and we've got to stop saying these trite things. Remember the thing of, you know, God has a wonderful plan for your life?

That is not really something you want to hang your hat on, because not everyone is going to fit in that. I mean, would you say that to Judas Iscariot? Hey, Judas, God has a wonderful plan.

No, fine. It's better that that man should not be born, is what Jesus said. So let's be a little more precise on this, and particularly with this verse, Jeremiah 29, 11, for I know the thoughts I have for you, the plans I have for you.

There was a context to this. And if you go back and look at Jeremiah 29, 7, just four verses up, but seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. If you go and read it in the message, it says, make yourself at home there and work for the country's welfare. Pray for Babylon's well-being. If things go well for Babylon, things will go well for you. I mean, that is, that is a rather strong statement.

And yet there it is in black and white. And what is the principle we can gather from that in our life today as Americans? It is apparent that America has all but thumbed its nose at God, at least many of our elected leaders and the media and others. And when you have the kind of culture rot that we have, where at a political party's convention, they show up with a mobile abortion vehicle.

I mean, I want you to think about the planning, the thought process that said, this is a good idea. And all the people that were involved and signed off on this that are promulgating this level of debauchery. I mean, you remember that scene when the Israelites started just going hog wild in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments and Moses was up on the mountain and he hears this, it sounds like they're, you know, having a war going on and no, and Moses knew, no, this is worse. And it was just a horrific scene of licentiousness and debauchery. Those are words we don't use a lot in our culture anymore.

And he threw the Ten Commandments at them. We're kind of there, aren't we? We're kind of there. And we dress it up a lot nicer, but it's really, it's no different.

In fact, it would appear that we as a society sin far more extensively and far more expressly than anything that was listed in the Old Testament. We just sanitize it, clean it up and wear nice suits. But how is what we've done with 60 million babies in this country different than what they did with Moloch? What's the difference? And there's no difference.

In fact, it's worse. So this is the culture we're in and yet scripture is also saying that this is where God has us. We are in exile. We are the people of God. We're in exile here. Okay?

We know this. This is not our home, but we are to pray for the peace of this place and the welfare of it so that it may go well with us. So let's do that. Let's commit to doing that. And let's be responsible citizens here. We are still called to be salt and light to a world that desperately needs salt and light.

And we have to answer for the salt and light we are. So are we participating in the process as responsible citizens? Are you registered to vote? Make sure that you do and make sure that you vote. Are you contacting any of your elected leaders and officials and letting them know what you think? We have a responsibility.

We have access to do this. They may not listen, but are we absolved from reaching out and calling them? Are we absolved from participating in the process?

I don't think we are. And I think scripture is clear on this issue that we are to participate and look very carefully at the candidate's record. You're not voting for a pastor.

You're not voting for a Sunday school teacher. This is a chess move of what kind of culture we're going to live in. This is what Franklin Graham said the other day. And we need to vote accordingly. And we need to be a source of wisdom to this culture.

Remember that the hearts and minds of the people that we're seeing plastered on the news, who are spewing all kinds of things, are not going to be changed by arguing. They're only changed by the Holy Spirit. And there is a point where God gives people over to a depraved mind. And that's a terrible thing. That's a terrible thing that people who are so hell-bent, literally, on holding their fist at God, that He removes Himself from their life and allows them to do that. And that is going to come more and more.

You're going to see this. But it doesn't absolve us. It does not absolve us, or in any way take away the mandate from our Savior to be salt and light. And so let's go into the world, preach the gospel, and make disciples. This is what He said do.

This is what I'm doing on this program. And I'm asking you to do the same in your life. I'm speaking to caregivers who are in acute distress over very painful things. But as I've gotten many, many letters from you all and calls, the words that I'm saying are strengthening you and equipping you and helping you endure. To what end? Just to be a better caregiver?

No. To see the principles of God, to see the things of God and understand them better so that we can communicate them to others. Paul was very clear in this in Corinthians when he said, comfort one another with the same comfort that you yourself have received from the God of all comfort. Do we have a responsibility?

Yes, we do. And so I'm asking you in whatever circle of influence you have to start looking for people to speak wisdom into their life. Help them understand the precepts of God. Help them see God's provision, His faithfulness, His grace, His mercy, His plan of redemption. They may reject you, but you are not let off the hook from your responsibility as a believer, because Jesus Himself said, this is what you do.

As you go, do this, and you will find more and more people. I mean, you're at the checkout line at the grocery store. And if you see somebody that you see on a regular basis checking you out at the grocery store and they look tired and really ask him, are you okay? How are you doing?

Be sincere about it. They may not be able to give you the whole life story right now, but don't be afraid to ask, how are you doing? Think about how much distress you've been in and what it meant to you when somebody asked you how you were doing. Are you willing to do the same for others now? At some point, you have to ask, what is this all about? So that we could just kind of get our own comfort?

No. So we can comfort one another. At a church dinner recently, a friend of mine was sitting alone and nobody sat with him because his wife has Alzheimer's and she makes a lot of noises and she's kind of unruly and he brings her to church and he looks after her, but it made people uncomfortable. And he was sharing this with me.

It broke my heart. At a church, nobody would come and sit with them and they said all by themselves, let's be the people that will go and sit with them. Let's be the people that will go into the misery and the heartache of others. That's how you change a culture. It's not going to be through arguing and having a better debate strategy and being able to just pummel people with scripture.

It's never going to be that way. It's going to be in ministry and to care for them the same way that you've been cared for. Okay? We've got a very tumultuous season ahead of us. You're going to hear a lot of lies. You're going to hear a lot of spin. You're going to hear a lot of vitriol and you're going to hear a lot of hyperbole. And it's going to be a very lot of hyperbole.

And it's going to get annoying. Ask God to give you wisdom to cut through all that so that you know how to speak. If you're called to go upon the news and give an account in front of national news, you'll be ready. But if you're not, you say, well, Peter, I'm not, I can't do that.

You still have somebody you're interacting with. And be prepared at a moment's notice. Have your feet shod with the gospel of peace to speak into the life of someone else.

And do yourself a favor. Go out and watch the series of Francis Schaeffer on how should we then live. It is a fascinating, fascinating work that he did way back in the seventies.

It's a bit dated on production, but you will find it alarming on how well he saw what was coming down the road. And it will prepare you to be able to talk with other people about this. How should we then live?

Francis Schaeffer. Watch it today. I think it's on Amazon, but you can watch a 10-part series on that, okay? Over the next several weeks and months, I'm going to talk about things we can do now to export what we've been hammering through here on this program for a long time, okay? This is Peter Roseberg, and this is Hope for the Caregiver. Would you go out and take a look at the site, hopeforthecaregiver.com. Scroll down on the front page to see the whole section on Standing with Hope.

Learn what we're doing, get involved, and we'll see you next time. out of Nashville called CoreCivic, and we met them over 11 years ago. And they stepped in to help us with this recycling program of taking prostheses and you disassemble them. You take the knee, the foot, the pylon, the tube clamps, the adapters, the screws, the liners, the prosthetic socks, all these things we can reuse, and inmates help us do it. Before CoreCivic came along, I was sitting on the floor at our house or out in the garage when we lived in Nashville, and I had tools everywhere, limbs everywhere, and feet, boxes of them and so forth. And I was doing all this myself, and I'd make the kids help me.

And it got to be too much for me. And so I was very grateful that CoreCivic stepped up and said, look, we are always looking for faith-based programs that are interesting and that give inmates a sense of satisfaction. And we'd love to be a part of this, and that's what they're doing. And you can see more about that at standingwithhope.com slash recycle. So please help us get the word out that we do recycle prosthetic limbs. We do arms as well, but the majority of amputations are lower limb.

And that's where the focus of Standing With Hope is. That's where Gracie's life is with her lower limb prostheses. And she's used some of her own limbs in this outreach that she's recycled. Obviously she's been an amputee for over 30 years.

So you go through a lot of legs and parts and other types of materials, and you can reuse prosthetic socks and liners if they're in good shape. All of this helps give the gift that keeps on walking. And it goes to this prison in Arizona, where it's such an extraordinary ministry. Think with that. Inmates volunteering for this, they want to do it.

And they've had amazing times with it. And I've had very moving conversation with the inmates that work in this program. And you can see again, all of that at standingwithhope.com slash recycle. They're putting together a big shipment right now for us to ship over. We do this pretty regularly throughout the year as inventory rises, and they need it badly in Ghana. So please go out to standingwithhope.com slash recycle and get the word out and help us do more. If you want to offset some of the shipping, you can always go to the giving page and be a part of what we're doing there.

We're purchasing material in Ghana that they have to use that can't be recycled. We're shipping over stuff that can be. And we're doing all of this to lift others up and to point them to Christ. And that's the whole purpose of everything that we do. And that is why Gracie and I continue to be standing with hope. Standingwithhope.com.