Support, respite, and encouragement for those who care for othersTaking care of a family member who is ill, disabled, or dying requires courage, strength, commitment, and love. Now Terry Hargrave, an expert in counseling and caregiving, offers you help with a devotional written with your specific needs in mind. The morning prayers and evening reflections in this book are short and to the point. Strength and Courage for Caregivers weaves together powerful stories, practical advice, and the restorative promises of Scripture, reminding caregivers that they are not alone in this important yet all too often unacknowledged and underappreciated work.
Drawing on the writings and wisdom of Henri J. M. Nouwen's themes of caregiving, Marjorie J. Thompson offers a vulnerable exploration of caregiving intertwined both with her own many years of intimate caregiving of family members and collected stories of caregivers in varied settings and stages of life. While not shying away from the demanding physical, emotional and spiritual challenges of caregiving, Courage for Caregivers also celebrates the gifts of caregiving grounded in the belovedness both caregiver and care receiver share in God¿s eyes. Practical leader guides and resources make Courage for Caregivers a tool that moves smoothly from individual encouragement to group and congregational ministry to develop support for the universal experience of caregiving.
Elane Cross (USA) and Elena de Ru (EU) are two cousins with quite a bit of experience in handling dementia. They have been caregivers for many years. The source of their strength comes from meeting peers, the ancient words of the Bible, from songs and prayers. "If we want our homes to continue being peaceful places, we have to change something: We have to change the way we think."
Caregivers speak candidly about their experiences, sharing insights and lending courage to others. With as many as 44 million people currently providing care for those with debilitating illness, this book can serve as an invaluable resource and important source of guidance.
There are 65.7 million caregivers in America, making up 29 percent of the U.S. adult population. Where does the caregiver turn when dealing with their own need for encouragement and renewal?
Just off Highway 53, in the small town of Lynchburg, South Carolina stands a white house down a long unpaved lane on one's way to Shiloh. To the left of the front porch's cinder block steps once grew a nice rose bush groomed by the diligent hands of Mrs. Ella W. Gibbons. Like its budding, unfolding, displaying and falling petals, Keesha stood growing and examining her southern surroundings, enduring all seasons. Keesha, as only she knows, conveys through poetry, her recollections of growing up with Ella, as only she knew, forewarning of a readiness for transition that would arrive some twenty-five years later. She lived through the processes of listening, caring, denying, and ultimately letting go. The reader is privy to a poetic journey through the forest of grief by her sharing of the perceived thought processes, considerations, and endurances of Ella and other courageous women who made impressions on her life. She knows that total preparation for the inevitable-death-is impossible; however, accepting the reality that beginnings render endings, make the losses less agonizing. She knows that out of the most grueling circumstances derive the most beautiful experiences. She knows that when coping with loss is the toughest, pen and paper can become one's dearest friends. Readers are encouraged to experience the grief process without making apologies and to write intimate thoughts while wiping away the tears, maintaining sanity. The crying will not last always, but the precious memories will sustain. Remember the facial expressions! Remember the favorite things! Remember the holidays! Remember delightful times! Remember praying times! After the pain subsides, come out on the other side of the forest ready to drive a little farther up the road. Embrace the new day that is daily replenished with God's tender mercies. Great is His faithfulness and sufficient is His grace! (Lamentations 3:23 KJV) To correspond with the author please email: [email protected]
Walking a companion home is an old-fashioned custom, often lost in our modern era. But there was a time when walking someone home was a way of offering protection and guidance. Joyce Hutchison and Joyce Rupp capture the spirit of that personal companionship for those who accompany the dying on their final journey. Whether family members, friends, chaplains, or health care workers, caregivers will find here much inspiration and support for their ministry.
A moving, intimate, and compassionate book that chronicles the experiences of a group of long-term caregivers—spouses, parents, and friends of the elderly and ill—illuminating critical issues of old age, end-of-life care, medical reform, and social policy—and “providing comfort in the time-honored form of shared experience” (The Minneapolis Star-Tribune). In 2010, journalist Nell Lake began sitting in on the weekly meetings of a local hospital’s caregivers support group. Soon members invited her into their lives. For two years, she brought empathy, insight, and an eye for detail to understanding Penny, a fifty-year-old botanist caring for her aging mother; Daniel, a survivor of Nazi Germany who tends his ailing wife; William, whose wife suffers from Alzheimer’s; and others with whom all caregivers will identify. Witnessing acts of devotion and frustration, lessons in patience and in letting go, Lake illuminates the intimate exchanges of caregiving and care-receiving and considers important and timely social issues: How can we care for the aging, ill, and dying with skill and compassion, even as the costs and labors of care increase? How might the medical profession take into account the needs of caregivers as well as patients? In The Caregivers Nell Lake shares a thoughtful and tenderly reported depiction of the real-life predicaments that evoke these crucial questions. With more and more people spending their late years ill and frail, and 43 million Americans already caring for family members over age fifty, this is an important chronicle of a widely shared experience and a public concern. “The Caregivers is as elegantly constructed as a novel, but more than that, Lake writes about these people with such warmth and vividness that they feel as memorable as our favorite fictional characters. It is a beautifully written account” (The Boston Globe).
