Prayers of a Family Caregiver

Family caregivers need help embracing a mindset that allows them to understand that they are just as important as the person they care for. Learning to take good care of yourself as you give good care to others creates that much-needed mindset. Self-care is how caregivers maintain their own physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being. Roughly 30% of family caregivers die before the person they care for, mainly because they have neglected their own health and ignored symptoms and warning signs. More must be done to bring greater awareness to the realities of family caregiving, remembering that God needs us to show greater compassion to these awesome warriors. He needs us to show up and do whatever we can to support the efforts of our family caregivers.

Many of the prayers in this book are hard to hear. Some will uncover raw emotions that have never been healed or appropriately dealt with. Some of the prayers are difficult to understand, especially if you have never been a caregiver or if you have been a caregiver who has never had a particular experience. I caution you not to judge, but to intercede for those who are experiencing that level of frustration. The struggle is real! This book has been written to bring a degree of empathy and understanding as well as a realization that those feelings caregivers feel are human and very often validated. It is also written to bring hope by way of the intercessory prayers, scriptures, and quotes that are included. My prayer is that this book will put an even brighter and wider spotlight on the challenges family caregivers actually face. These challenges affect all areas of a caregiver's life which have a direct impact on the lives of those they care for. We need to be made more aware of the daily responsibilities of caregivers that very often result in the heavy weight of mental and emotional disorders such as depression, anxiety, stress, burnout, etc. These responsibilities are also accompanied by many physical challenges which often exacerbate existing illnesses, hypertension, diabetes, asthma, heart disease, etc. The struggle is real! We serve a God who desires that we stay close to Him, regardless of what is going on in our lives. He can bring us safely through. He's the strongest of strongs and the toughest of toughs. Our anger and frustration even when directed at Him will never cause Him to abandon us. We must never stop talking/praying to Him.

Taking on the responsibilities of a family caregiver by a healthy individual can present stress, burnout, and more. But placing these responsibilities on one already plagued with health challenges like diabetes, heart disease, mental and emotional illnesses, etc. can adversely impact every aspect of their life. I was the caregiver for almost six years for two aunts who both had dementia. This experience and owning and managing a personal care home for 13 years has given me an abundance of up-close and personal caregiver experiences. They have proven to be extremely beneficial to me as a leader of my non-profit, It's You AND Me, Inc. These experiences help me to relate and give a greater understanding to the challenges faced by this awesome group of warriors. Roz is a highly sought-after resource, speaker, and workshop presenter for family caregivers, non-profits, community, and faith-based organizations desiring to better understand and help address family caregiver challenges. Her passion, honesty, compassion, humor, and common-sense approach motivate caregivers to take charge of their own well-being to do what is needed in their lives and in the lives of others.