Caregiving

Part 1: The Beginning

My life changed in 2011. Mom had gone in for a minimally invasive heart surgery, and the day before she was due to be released from the...

Part 2: Desolate Prayers

Just as the the most challenging phase of caregiving for mom was coming to an end, I got a call at work. Dad had fallen, and had broken...

Part 3: The Mourning

In a caregiving situation, everyone involved enters a period of mourning. The caregiver mourns the life they put on hold. And the...

Part 4: Why Me?

Whenever we experience an unexpected turn of events, people tend to ask one thing. "Why me?" Perhaps it is human nature to want to know...

Part 5: The Mission Field

When I was a new Christian, I thought the Lord required believers to go out and serve people in countries like Africa. Out of a desire...

Part 6: The Locked Room

A friend of mine had an elderly mother who lived in a nursing home. One day, my friend showed me the screen on her cell phone listing...

Part 7: "Need Monsters"

My dad would sit up in bed in the middle of the night and shout out something he wanted. “I’m hungry!” he would cry out, or “I’m hot!” ...

Part 8: The New Normal

There is something that those who have never been caregivers don’t understand. When you become a caregiver, it is an immersive,...

Part 9: Song Enough

Take a look outside your window. Listen to the bird as it sings to heaven with its own God-crafted voice. See it fly just as God made...

Part 10: When Joy Fades

When my parents' health disintegrated, their physical challenges turned into emotional ones. Being the only unmarried daughter, it fell...

Part 11: The Unthinkable Thought

There comes a time in every caregiver’s life when you have a thought that brings terrible shame upon you. My life will be so much better...

Part 12: Look for Miracles

My father went into the hospital one day, because he had trouble breathing. He got better, and after a few days, he was well enough to...

Part 13: Rest

The most precious--and rarest--thing to a caregiver is a period of rest. A prolonged vacation may be unattainable, so we have to settle...

The “End”

As your loved one nears the end of their life—when hunger fades, systems shut down, joy escapes—there comes an indescribable feeling of...

Epilogue

The days after Dad’s death was a flurry of activity. Funeral plans, the burial, the receiving of family members at home. Then came the...

Be the Candle

Have you noticed how many superhero movies there are to watch? Hollywood continually produces films starring DC and Marvel lead...

Michelle Marcos