Believing caregivers, how do I reconcile that scripture says to put others before me whereas the secular world says put me first?

Bible scripture memorization is a successful method to rid of a stubborn crutch. Best of luck to Smeshque's cousin and the Lord will allow victory in his life!

Smeshque,

Fantastic news about your job! Yay! We were all praying and believing for a positive outcome. I could not be happier for you. 😊

Thank you, Jesus! 💗

Keep the faith about your cousin.

smeshque: Praise be to God on your job. Congratulations!

Smeshque,

Congratulations on getting the new job:) Praying that God paves the way for you and DH to get your cousin to rehab!😊


May the Lord be with you!

Smeshque, as we all know when we are moving forward in the will of God the enemy will try any trick to hinder us.

So I am saying get thee behind satan, this precious brother will be in rehab tomorrow and he will have the victory, in The Name of Jesus we claim this soul for the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour!

Tell your cousin to hold on and claim the victory, no matter what he feels or what he sees, faith!

Congrats! On the job. Clear roads tomorrow! 🤗

Thank you all for your prayers.
Especially, LLama, Isthisreal and NHWM
I truly appreciate you all.

So good news, I got the job I wanted thanks be to God our Father, and his tender mercies and love. I am very blessed in this matter.

Lord willing tomorrow is set up to get cousin to the rehab. We have a small window of time to do this or we have to wait until Monday, and well we just can't afford to wait until Monday. So I am praying it all goes as planned. We are expecting snow, so the roads may be a slight hindrance. But I believe this is the Lords will and he is paving our way and it will get done. So tomorrow evening I hope to have wonderful news for you all, and I hope to be feeling much relief.

I am blessed to have my aging care family, and prayer warriors. I love you all.



“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you...”
Philippians 1:3

Smeshque,

I am continuing to pray for your cousin. People overcome obstacles everyday. Not easy by any means but they do it. He can too.

Best wishes for the upcoming job. Have that on my prayer list too. Good thing God doesn’t get sick of me taking to him! Hahaha.

Sometimes, I start off a prayer saying, “It’s me again! You know what’s in my heart and you know what is best so I will trust you.”

It took me awhile before I could trust completely. I guess that was either pride, thinking that I knew what was best or selfishness. Hate to admit that because that isn’t a very nice characteristic but it’s the truth.

I suppose that’s what surrendering is all about. A good friend told me awhile back that if I left something on His alter for Him to help with that I couldn’t take it back. She is right, of course. The human part of us finds it hard to let go at times. The flesh always fights our spirit. It can be a battle.

I feel the same thing happens with addiction. Your cousin is in a spiritual warfare. It is more than a physical or mental warfare. I personally feel it’s also a spiritual warfare.

As long as your cousin leaves this on the alter for God to help him, I have faith it will happen. It’s a tough battle for sure but anything worth having is certainly worth fighting for.

I do feel that we are responsible for doing our part in life. It’s proving to God that we are ready to make a commitment.

That lesson was taught to me very early in life when my teacher told our class that we should pray and ask God to help us get good grades but that did not mean that we did not have to do our part by studying very hard to prepare for the tests.

I find our prayers change as we grew older or become more mature. We widen our scope of things. When someone asks me to pray for someone who is having surgery, I do pray for them but I also pray for God to aid the surgeon and guide his hands. So I will also pray for the program that is helping your cousin to be able to communicate with him in a way that he can resonate with and respond.

As you know, I always pray for people who suffer with addiction. I do it in memory of the brother that I lost to addiction.

🤗🤗🤗 Praying with you for Saturday.

May God grant you your hearts desire for the job.

Smeshque: You're very welcome.

thank you Isthisreal and LLama for your kind words


Visited cousin this evening. he was in a better mood and even had some smiles and laughter with him. He is acknowledging all that we are doing on his behalf and he is thankful. We keep telling him to thank the Lord.
Lord willing if all goes well we can take him from detox Saturday to the rehab place. If not it will be Monday. But I am so hoping and praying it can be done Saturday.
Praying.
He is really wanting this and he is going to give it his all. I believe that because otherwise he would have walked out of detox by now with all that he has been going through.
I will be glad to get him to the rehab place so that he can get some fresh air and exercise and work. He needs to be doing something other than sitting and waiting, that is super tough, so I am very proud of him for hanging in there. So again I am praying for Saturday.
Lord willing tomorrow, I will be getting all the things necessary to go with him to the rehab place.
I will be so happy to get him there.
I had a good interview this morning. I really would like the position I interviewed for, and it has great benefits.
I will see if it is the Lords will. And I hope to know by the end of next week. But I really would like it. The people were people I could work with.The hours and days are great for me. We shall see.

I hope all of you are doing well. This life is tough that is for sure. But is only a test. And it is only temporary, we are just camping towards Canaans Happy Land.

I just want to be on the Ark.


“I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Acts 20:35

Smeshque: That is such wonderful news about your cousin. All signs thus far lead to success. Yay! I will pray that he continues on his path to recovery. I will pray that your job is truly a Godsend. God bless you and DH for staying the course for cousin, of course as you always do.

Psalm 1:1 "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly ........."

Oh I am so happy to hear that he is making positive, life altering choices.

It tells me that The Lord is working on his heart, Hallelujah!

May he continue to seek The Lord and may God open his eyes and heart to understand. May HE give him victory in this battle.

God bless you all exceeding abundantly!

So cousin is still in detox. I was worried about him because they were giving him meds to help with withdraws and making him so not there and not himself. He couldn't even speak normal, slurring like he was drunk and tremendous cotton mouth.
Well after talking with his case worker, I learned he was kind of giving them trouble acting out so they were using it as means to keep him calm. I understand that.
So we told the case worker that we think they are giving him too much, she agreed.
So last night cousin calls. He was more himself and sounded better. Of course he is struggling, but DH had a good talk with him about controlling his emotions and not causing trouble because if he does act like that the rehab is not going to take him. Cousin agreed he would try better.
Then cousin calls later and says he was thinking about leaving detox because they do not want to give him any ibuprofen for a hurt leg. And DH told him if he left there, there would be no rehab and he would have no place to go. That if he left he would be saying he doesnt love us, and doesnt care what we have been going through to help him. So don't come here and do not call us.
Cousin says I am going to go pray about it and I will call you back.
He called back. He said the real problem is that the people at detox had told him he was free to leave at anytime. And cousin said he wished they wouldnt have told him that because all he has been thinking about is that he could leave and go to the liquor store.
But he said he weighed the pros and cons and he is in it for the duration and he wants help and to be better.
So a positive choice, yay!
Today cousin calls and tells DH that he chose to decline the meds they were giving him for withdraw, he did not like how they made him feel and he wants to feel sober. Positive choice, Yay!
Then he said he has been reading his bible(we took him his bible last visit) and on top of that he has gotten his roommate to read it with him. Yay!!
We are praying so hard for the healing of cousin from this stronghold. I have been so sick about it. But last night and tonight I got to see positive signs that if the Lord helps him he will get through this and beat it.
We will go visit him tomorrow, DH and I.
They are supposed to do the final bloodwork needed tomorrow. I pray they do, so we can get him to rehab.
That is all we are waiting on now is a TB test. so I am praying that Monday we will be taking him to rehab.

Lord willing I will be going back to work for a while to finance all these extra expenses. I have an interview tomorrow and I am hoping for this job it would be perfect hours and days for my responsibilities here. We shall see what the Lord has in store.

Mom and Ab are doing well. Better than me I think sometimes.

I hope all of you are hanging in there.
You are always in my prayers.

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:”
2 Timothy 4:7

Smeshque: That is truly beautiful.💞💞

Good Grace Hillsong UNITED -

People
Come together
Strange as neighbors
Our blood is one
Children
Of generations
Of every nation
Of kingdom come

Don't let your heart be troubled
Hold your head up high
Don't fear no evil
Fix your eyes on this one truth
God is madly in love with you

Take courage
Hold on
Be strong
Remember where our help comes from

Jesus
Our redemption
Our salvation
Is in His blood

Jesus
Light of heaven
Friend forever
His kingdom come

Swing wide
All you heavens
Let the praise go up
As the walls come down

All creation
Everything with breath
Repeat the sound
All His children
Clean hands
Pure hearts
Good grace
Good God
His Name is Jesus

Smeshque: You're very welcome, dear friend.

LLama- Thank you Dear Lady.

NHWM: You're welcome and again, I am so sorry. Your brother's life could have been spared if only he'd accepted help.

It is a wonderful story about that man, who needed help with his stronghold - because that is what an addiction is, a stronghold. What that man went through is truly the Power of God - how he overcame that stronghold.

Smeshque,

You are very welcome. My dad use to say, "This too shall pass." I am glad I could give you a fond memory.👏😊

Thanks, Llama.

Smeshque: I am glad that you got that set up for cousin. God bless you and DH! Please do not feel guilty about a dinner out. You're deserving of so much more .💞

I knew of a six-month program, but the 13-month program could be more successful. It all depends on the "student," how much he or she is willing to put in. Smeshque: pls do not feel guilty about dinner, lunch and college. Need: sorry about your brother.

And thank you Shell- my Dad always would say that. We do this or that and "Let the chips fall"
Your comment gave me a fond memory of him.
:) I remember the very last time I heard him say that.

NHWM- The power of God works amazing things in people. I like that story. I have seen that power work on me and DH. So I know and can testify to God's power. True and Real.So I am praying that God does a work in cousin too.

Shell- Thank you. Addiction is a horrible disease. Many people do not overcome it, sadly. Thank you for your prayers. We are hoping that He will be healed. Because we know if he is not we can do no more for him. We are trying to help him as we are all that he has left. And if he burns this bridge, I don't know what will become of him. So we pray.




I talked with the intake coordinator and he worked with me on lowering our monthly payments for this program. i am so grateful for that. We could have done what they were asking but it would have been a big struggle on us. But with this new arrangement it will be less struggle and more manageable. Thank the Lord.


“...I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.”
Psalms 9:1

Smeshque at least you can say you did everything in your power to help your cousin. Sometimes we just have to let the chips fall where they may and hope for the best. I know it is extremely hard to watch people we love go down a path that we know will do them no good, but we just can't keep trying to save them if they don't want to save themselves. And your right cousin needs healing in every area of his/her life.

But at least you have your boundaries in place and know what you can do and what you can't do. Sometimes it is in God's hands.

You all will be in my prayers. And I am hoping and praying that your cousin makes it through this storm.

I have lost more people to addiction than any other disease.

May God be with you and your family.🙏🙌

Smeshque,

Thanks. My brother died in 2013. So many addicts have died or ended up in jail. My brother spent 7 years in jail. It’s sad.

Let me tell you about this guy. It really made me realize the power of God. He didn’t go to church. He made fun of Christians. He wasn’t a believer. He was desperate to stop drugs. It was the only program that had an opening at the time. Well, the minister that runs the program is phenomenal. He is caring but does not take any crap from the addicts. If they want to stay there they have to cooperate.

This guy respected the minister so much that he started to open his heart up to God. He accepted Jesus in his life and is a completely different person. That is the power of God! Trust me when I say nothing else could have changed this guy. His addiction was severe.

NHWM- Thank you for the prayers.
I am terribly sorry about your Brother.
It is a sad thing addictions. I know personally what a struggle it is.
That is great about the guy you know. Wise of him to know he wasn't ready. I am glad they let him stay, had they not, he might not have recovered.
I know cousin definitely needs at minimum a year long. the 13 month was our only choice we were not going to pay for anything shorter. He would not make it i do not believe. the teen challenge is a faith based program as well. I think his Spirit needs healing as well as his mind and body. So I am praying too that he will be healed.

Smeshque,

A 13 month program is phenomenal. Seriously, the people who do these six week programs are the ones who slip up. The people who are devoted to the programs that are a year have a much higher success rate. I wanted my brother to do a program like that. He wouldn’t. Now he’s dead.

A person that I know did a program that a minister started. This ministry is incredible. It isn’t a year long program, it’s six months, pretty good but not long enough for some. Well, this guy that I know, knew that he wasn’t ready to leave after six months. He begged the minister to let him stay another six months. They agreed to let him stay and asked him to mentor the new people entering rehab. He said he would help in mentoring the newcomers.

Well, he has been sober for over 10 years now. He got clean when his son was in preschool. His kid is a teenager now. He still volunteers with this ministry. It was hard on his wife when he was using. They ended up divorcing. He got clean and has visitation with his son.

I think your cousin will have a very good chance because he is committing to a long term program. I’m going to pray for him. I promise.

I hope everyone has been doing ok.

It has been rather crazy here. I am super worn.
DH and I went and visited cousin last evening. He is not doing well of course. But he acknowledges he needs help and he wants it.
We are working it out where he goes straight from detox, to teen challenge(also for adults), they have a 13 month program. It will be out of pocket. :(
And we have told him if he leaves there before the time or if he gets kicked out, we can no longer help him. We just cannot have him here around Mom and AB until he is healed of this addiction. We are praying for his healing and we are praying we will do God's will in this matter.
I talked with his case worker at the hospital she will be speaking to the intake coordinator on Monday and she will have done all the necessary things that he has to do before he can be accepted. We also talked about him not being released until he can go straight from detox to there. We are on the same page and she is going to make that happen.
Hallelujah!!!
When we went to visit him. It was just DH and I, AB stayed with Mom. It was the first time in a while DH and I had been . So we stopped and had dinner. I couldn't help feel a little guilty, but it was nice even though we are both worn from all this stuff.
And the lady that was supposed to rent the house(we rented for cousin), informed me today she would not be able to afford it after all. Sigh! But we have another person interested and he will let us know Sunday. If he doesn't want it, it doesnt matter. DH and I have done all we could and more to try and right cousin and his wife's wrong with the owner. So if he decides to sue them then so be it, we can do no more in this part of things. We really did our best to make things right. So no matter what happens we are taking the house off our plate.
DH and I are going to be having a couple of days next week away. We are taking some classes at the college for our business and so Monday we get to go to school and have lunch together. I look forward to it, with guilt. And then again on Friday. But I know Mom will be fine. It is just well you all know that guilt thing.

You all are in my prayers, my agingcare family. :)

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20

Psalm 107:20 "He sent out his word and healed them; .................."