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

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.”

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Adding Leonnie for prayers.

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

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

PS. HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!

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

((HUGS))

Happy Thanksgiving Smeshque!!🦃

Hugs back to you!!💖

Sendhelp: Thank you so much!

Thanksgiving is a Christian holiday in the USA, when believers praise and thank the Lord. Thursday is set aside for giving thanks!

Psalm 150

Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty firmament!
2 
Praise Him for His mighty acts;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!
3 
Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;
Praise Him with the lute and harp!
4 
Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!
5 
Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with clashing cymbals!
6 
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord!

O Holy Night!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5j_XuATgRU

Hi Everyone,
I hope you all are well. It snowed here yesterday, so it is super cold. I am getting things ready in advance for the does, for kidding time. DH has finally had a chance to build separate stalls for the does, and we have gotten them trained to be in them all night. The two boys are in their own pen and they have a great friendship, its adorable.
My does are getting huge. I read an article about a doe that broke the worlds record with 7 babies. Yikes!! I am definitely not hoping for that. Abigail looks like maybe twins, Sarah, maybe twins, but Rebecca looks like triplets or quads. So we shall see.
I would love if all the kids were females, I am not looking forward to having to give up any even if they are males. :(
Mom had DH get me a harmonica for a birthday present from her. So I have been
playing/practicing. I can do a few songs that are recognizable. I have always wanted to play the harmonica. I do not think I will ever be a Buddy Green, but I enjoy it and Mom loves to hear the harmonica, so that's a bonus. It has been a great stress reliever as well.
AB has been having issues. kinda slowing down stuff. Sliding feet instead of walking normally, and getting more forgetful.
Mom had a good check up last month. I am pretty sure she is healthier than I am.
This last week has been rough, but God has gotten me through.
Well, I love and pray for you all. Please take care. I am hoping to be able to stop in more. I know I always say that, I do have good intent to, but sometimes life gets rough on me.

2 Chronicles 16:9
For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him...

Smeshque, so good to hear from you.

May God grant your hearts desire and give you all girls.

Sending great big warm hugs to you and many prayers for all of you.

Hugs and love my precious sister in Christ.

Oh, Smeshque you are going to have babies of my favorite animal - how precious! The boys sound adorable with the great friendship they have. May you have all girls like you want so you don't have to give any up.

I'm glad to hear your mom is doing well even if you think she's doing better than you. We as caregivers probably have all experienced that at one time or another! Sometimes I feel like I'm 80 instead of 58. I'm not sure who AB refers to but, I'm sorry they are slowing down and exhibiting some forgetfulness - gee, even I can't remember squat anymore - actually, I think I am remembering squat - lol!

I'm sorry last week was rough but glad the Lord brought you through it and may it be a better one this week.

I've always liked that verse - the mere thought that the Lord runs to and fro throughout the whole earth in strength on behalf of those whose heart is perfect towards Him is quite amazing if you really stop and ponder it!

Think of you often and wonder how you've been doing!

God bless you and your family! Merry Christmas if I don't see you on the forum between now and then.

P.S. I hope you can show a picture of a doe when they are born - I would love to see one!

(((hugs)))

The Lord sometimes brings us through troubled waters, not to drown us, but to cleanse us.

Please pray for my husband as he continues with his cancer treatments. He’s half way through his radiation. More hormone treatments and upcoming MRI.

Prayers needed for my cousin with Covid.

Thanks for being our prayer warrior, Smeshque.

Sending love and prayers to everyone on this thread.

It’s hard not to get discouraged at times.

I have difficulty at times understanding suffering.

Doing all that I can to focus on what really matters in life and keep the faith. I am grateful for so much in my life.

Stay safe during these difficult and uncertain times.

I know that I am not alone in struggling with all of this. My heart breaks for all of the families that have lost loved ones due to Covid.

God is with us in every situation that we face. It is a comfort knowing that we aren’t ever alone.

I wish I could answer your questions, but I can only offer my prayers. As fellow caregiver, I struggle alone with a parent who is often verbally abusive towards me, and me alone. I try to "honor my my mother/father" , but fail time after time and feel a lot of guilt. Hang in there. You are Not Alone.

Alice,
This commandment has been going through my head lately. How do you honor your mother/father who is abusive to you? The answer that seems to pop in my head is this: we do what we can for our parents. If our parents are loving then honoring them is not a problem. However, for those of us who have abusive parents honoring them can be tricky! We know our Savior went through being lied on, used, abused, beaten, and HE was betrayed. As we walk with Him we know that we will face all these things as well. Does that really mean to put up with the abuse from our parents in order to honor them--no, it does not! For me, I do not believe there is any honor in being a doormat or being verbally abused! I just don't! I am sure I will get some backlashes for this, but this is how I feel and think!! The honor is just seeing that our abusive parent(s) as human beings and do what we need to do for them (however that looks like for our situation) and let God figure out the rest! We get enough abuse from the outside world and God knows that we have endure enough abuse in our childhood.

Just my 2 cents!!

NHWM,
Don't worry about not understanding suffering.
There was a moment, when on the cross, even
though He is God, our Lord cried out.
Matthew 27:45-50
My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?

Send,

I needed that reminder. Thank you. Your words are humbling to me.

NHWM,
The Lord knows what you are going through.
We know only part of what you are going through, but can identify.

The loved one supporting the one going through cancer treatments
is ashamed to say how it feels, but you have done well keeping your dH's
confidences. We are not alone, but it feels that way at times.

Prayers for you, and if anyone else mentions cancer, I always pray for them at that moment, even if I do not post.

You are right when you said:
"God is with us in every situation that we face. It is a comfort knowing that we aren’t ever alone."

God Bless you and your dH in this coming New Year!

Smeshque,
Interested in your comment about troubled waters, I went to find more.

I saw this:
"I asked the Lord why are you taking me through troubled waters?"
"He said: Because your enemies cannot swim".

Actually the Bible says we are first to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind", That is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: "love your neighbor as yourself". Matthew 22;36-39.
We cannot love our neighbor if we don't first love ourselves. And yes that means we must take care of ourselves, especially while caregiving, by taking time away and doing things we enjoy, getting proper rest etc. So the Bible doesn't say to put others before us, it says take care of you first, so you can in turn take care of others.

Alice2365,
Honoring your mother and father no longer includes submitting to their authority when you are an adult. Hope this one little bit of thought helps you survive.

We don't heap abuse back on them nor seek revenge, but if you have the Lord, parents no longer hold any power over you.

Jesus was teaching in a house. His mother and brothers were outside, seeking Him. From my understanding elsewhere in scripture, they were worried about Him, and thought he was crazy. (I could be wrong). He answered to the people gathered to hear Him: "Who are my mother and my brothers" "These are my mother and brother". (Believers).

Thank you, Send. Wishing you and your family all the best in the upcoming New Year.

I don’t think all of 2020 was bad. A good portion of it we would like to erase if we could.

There will be amazing lessons learned from this experience.