Understanding

As you make medical decisions for your loved one, choose among housing options, face the disruption of your own work schedule, sacrifice financially, and handle the various family upsets and other issues that come with caregiving, you might struggle with the thought, No one understands how I feel.

But Jesus does. As Lord, He knows all our feelings. As a man He felt them. Jesus knows we need to hear a friendly word of encouragement now and then. He also knows we need to speak words of encouragement to others.

Many of us hesitate to reach out, perhaps out of fear, pride, or thinking we don’t have the time. But the circumstances we’re going through are exactly the reason we should be reaching out. When we meet people whose paths are similar to ours, we can say we understand how they’re feeling—and really mean it. They can believe us because we have the experience to back our words up. We can offer sympathy, advice, or challenge because we’ve been there and done that.

Sharing how God has sustained us is one of caregiving’s greatest blessings. Let’s not keep that blessing to ourselves.