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

Happy Thanksgiving Smeshque!!🦃

Hugs back to you!!💖

PS. HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!

Just in case I don't get to tell you later.

((HUGS))

Send- Yes DH still gives sermons.

NHWM- How is your DH? you both are in my prayers.

How is everyone? I haven't had a chance to read all the posts, but I love the scriptures.
I have just been doing a lot of studying, so not much time for anything else besides my chores and such around here.
The goats are well and I am confident the three girls will have babies about February.
We are still recovering from the ice storm we had. Power was out for a week. But thank the Lord we have a generator and fireplace, so keeping Mom and AB warm worked out well. But we have been picking up and cutting up sooooooo many tree branches.
I feel kind of dull these days, not much to say. But I love and pray for you all. Do not be discouraged with what trials come your way, draw nigh to God and HE will draw nigh to you, and you will get through them.

The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. Psalms 34:17-19

I have always been taught to be good to others. You know the bible teaches us to do unto others as we would have them to do unto us. Honor thy parents and the days on earth shall be longer.

We are required to be good to everybody unconditionally. Love thy neighbor as thyself.

Be Blessed

Adding Leonnie for prayers.

I am in the same situation, and it is hard. But, unless you are kind to yourself, you can't be kind to the person you are caring for. You know the story about how when the oxygen mask drops on a plane, help yourself first or you won't be able to help the one who needs your help. This is different than considering your self more important and saying, 'Fine...you be that way and the hell with you. I'm a person, too, and my needs come first. If I have any left over, maybe you can have it.' By being kind to yourself you will not be harboring resentment and anger, you will be taking a deep breath of oxygen and then you will be better prepared to help the one in need. Keep the Lord first, too. Acknowledge to Him that you are struggling, and be glad He gave you a job to do. Your post comes at a timely time for me as I am fighting the same battle right now.

1 Corinthians 2:14
New King James Version

14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Llamalover,
Upcoming surgery on your eyes?
I am going to be praying for you to have a successful outcome on your eye surgery. Hoping to hear the good results soon!

Adding Bridger, her family, and now her husband in hospital for Covid.

Adding Pamzimmert and her Mom, now in hospital, non-Covid but breathing related.

And of course, continued prayers for NHWM's husband.

There are others, and even more who have not asked.

I am not trying to take over Smeshque's thread here, but if anyone needs prayers, asking here may help.

Matthew 24:4 (NKJV)
And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you."

Continued prayers for anyone with cancer, or a loved one with cancer.

Smeshque,
Is your husband still giving sermons?

New American Standard Bible
Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.

New King James Version
Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

There is a difficult road ahead, and The Lord God will be with us all.

Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

I want to thank all of you for your prayers for my husband.

He had an uncomfortable doctor appointment to do the prep work for his radiation treatments. He is a bit sore.

Things are moving along. We will be so glad when it’s behind us.

New King James Version
You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!

New King James Version
“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

New King James Version
As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;

The Lord God, speaking of sin.

The Lord God who gave us a Savior, Jesus, His Son.

Denise,
 I just wanted you to know that Simon and I have been praying for Brad and you. We are with you in spirit during this challenging time. Take care of yourself too 🙏

Be near me in my time of weakness and pain; sustain me by your grace, that my strength and courage may not fail; heal me according to your will; and help me always to believe that what happens to me here is of little account if you hold me in eternal life, my Lord and my God. Amen.

Thanks so much, ITRR, Golden and Barb.

I know that the nurse spoke to him about nutrition, ITRR

My oldest daughter that has Chron’s knows more about probiotics than I do. I will speak to her about it. He takes vitamins.

I think that the scriptures The Lord layed on my heart were meant for you and your husband NEED.

Fear not!

https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16322/jewish/Chapter-101.htm

Prayers for you and him, nhwm. It is a very difficult time. Reality can hit like a cold shower. Breathe deep and have faith.

Need, yes of course I will continue to pray for you and your husband.

If he is anything like my husband, he would do better being a comfort to you and not being babied. I think it helps real men fight harder because they are the head of us and we need them in our lives to thrive. It is the natural order of things and helps build them up to know how much they are truly needed. (That's how it is at my home anyway.)

Are you giving him lots of vitamin c and probiotics? His system will need the immune help and doctors will not tell you about supplements to bolster his immunity.

I pray that he tolerates the treatments well and that you are both lifted up in God's grace.

Requests for prayers for my husband. He had his markers placed today so he can start on his radiation treatments.

Thank you.

I was doing okay before. I suppose it didn’t seem real. Now it feels real and I am anxious. I’m trying not to show my husband how concerned I am because I want to comfort him.

Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear Not.

Oh Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.

Lamentations 3, 57 & 58 KJV

May The Lord take all fear and give us certainty and comfort that HE has redeemed our life. God bless you Smeshque, you have been on my heart and I pray that you and your family are well.

"The Lord loves those who love themselves."

It may or may not be scripture (I'm not a churchgoer), but I don't know how anyone is supposed to take care of others if they don't take care of themselves. It seems the Lord understands that.

Forsaking yourself is just martyrdom, not being helpful.

This is a difficult decision for you but I think you need to reframe it. You know how they tell you in an airplane to put on your own oxygen mask before you put on your child’s? This goes against every instinct but the truth is you cannot be of help to the child unless you have oxygen. So with regard to the person you are caring for, you must be healthy in order to do the job properly. It is not selfish or non-Christian to take care of yourself first. It is necessary. Remember Jesus fed the people who followed him because he understood common human needs. Without caring for yourself, you will struggle with resentment and the love you are trying to give will be more bitter than sweet because you are simply human. We must be humble with the reality of our frailties and not proud trying to be perfect. God bless you.

AS a former Long Term care Nurse and now in my 76th year,active faith is important to me.Early in retirement I worked as an activity assistant in Long term care of others.Now my priority #1 is my morning activity to read my small size Doctor's Bible at my bedside before I put my feet on the floor and get up and out of bed.During the day I play with a colorful doable puzzle.Sitting beside me now is an almost completed one.It is not known commonly,but doing puzzles builds nerve cells in the brain improving memory.Also I take Prevagen,a common inexpensive supplement daily. Though it is hard to be as active during the Pandemic I get about wearing paper diposable masks with handwashing when I go out and about.

Habakkuk 2:20
New King James Version
 
“But the Lord is in His holy temple.
Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”

Thanks be to God for the snow in Colorado to help with the wildfires!

I can’t believe my daughter is living there now. She seems to be prepared. She bought snow boots, hats, gloves, warm jacket, sweaters and wool socks! Oh, and new tires for her car.

So sad that an elderly couple died in their home because they didn’t evacuate.

I’m a bit nervous about my southern daughter driving in the snow! Please pray and reassure me that she’s going to be fine.

🙏 Thanks.

Smeshque, I have enjoyed reading about your goats.

Are you going to make cheese? I love goat cheese.

The Lord is showing me the way to deal with my dad in a way that lets HIM be 1st and foremost in the conversation.

Thank you for your example, it truly has been helpful.

May God continue to lead you and strengthen you in this journey you are on. Your loved ones are blessed to have you.

May you be blessed exceeding abundantly.

Your presence is missed.

The goats are great. Incredibly smart. Maybe not like horses, horses are magnificent creatures. I have always heard that goats will eat anything. But these goats are choosy. I haven't seen them try and eat anything they shouldnt. Maybe the breed? These goats love fresh leaves, especially pecan leaves. That is there nightly treat until the leaves fall. But I have read they like cedar leaves and those are year round, but I have yet to try that. But they also like dried leaves to munch down. They love dried banana tree leaves. They eat baking soda at will for any digestive issues. They have 4 stomachs. Basically besides free range grass, they get hay, and I give them a mixture of goat pellets and all stock pellets in the morning and at night,Just a bit. They shouldn't have to much grain. But the grain is more for training them on the milkstand. So I can trim their hooves and getting them use to it for milking time. Plus now I am feeling for babies. I can't tell just yet, maybe next month. They are gaining weight but I do not know for sure if it is for winter or pregnancy or both. Time will tell. If all went well with the buck rental we shall have some wonderful lambs in February.
The names came from the Bible :), My next girl will be Chloe.:)
We have a little buckling which is Rebecca's son, we wethered him, however I let AB name him and he named him Jr. :(
We just rent a buck as needed for freshening.
My girl Abigail, I have trained her to just follow me without being led and she will jump on the milkstand on command. Sarah is almost as good. But Rebecca has been a challenge, I think her previous owners were either not social with her, or maybe mean to her. When we first got her she definitely would not allow us to get close. So she has to be caught and led to the stand. But, now she will let me touch her head, but no pets yet. I am wearing her down. She will trust me one day.
My Border collie which was a gift from a previous co worker, he is becoming a good goat herder. It is amazing how they have that instinct and it is so natural. It is so neat to watch. When he was a pup, he would try and herd us and the other dogs. Then he went to the chickens and would herd them. But now that he has goats. He is all about the goats. His name is Sika. Pronounced Ceekuh. It is part of my DH's Indian name. But Sika is still in training daily but he improves daily. He is a brilliant dog.
Sorry I got on a goat kick. I just so enjoy them, they have brought so much joy around here. Mom enjoys sitting out and watching them as well. Abigail will jump on the bench next to Mom and Mom will pet her. It is sweet. She has never really been an animal person, but now she loves the dogs and well the goats too.

I hope you all are doing well.



Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! Psalms 31:19

Polar,

I have a friend who lives in a log cabin north of New Orleans in a rural area. She had a goat named, Spanky.

He is so cute but she says he eats everything! She has five acres of land. She used to have a flower garden but she gave up on growing flowers. She said Spanky destroyed her garden!

I remember taking my daughters to the zoo when they were young. Audubon Zoo in New Orleans has a cute little petting zoo for kids.

I was toting around a diaper bag. A diaper was sticking out of the bag and a goat grabbed it and ate it. I was shocked. Goats are funny!