Nursing Homes

Caregivers Devotional

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It has occurred to me over the 30 plus years of nursing home ministry how few good resources there are for those in what I have come to call the “Long Term Care Community”. That long term care community includes all of us who are family members, residents, staff or volunteers at a nursing home, assisted living facility or large group home. We share a common culture and set of difficulties and challenges that are unique. One part of that community that has been getting a little more press over the last couple of years are those who are commonly called caregivers. But who is a caregiver? Is it the nurse who oversees the ward? Is it the family member who cares for their mom or dad at home or visits regularly at a nursing home? In a small way almost all of us are caregivers including the resident who encourages and prays for their room mate.

Grace for the Road is a small devotional reader dedicated to the hundreds of nursing home residents for whom I have had the honor of singing, praying for and becoming friends with over the years. Together we; along with our families and the staff who work in long term care facilities form a community. We share a common bond and a unique way of seeing the world. Our great hope is that Jesus understands our weaknesses our cares and even our fears. He was not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters and best of all He bows down to listen to our whispered prayers.  Grace for the Road image

These 31 daily readings are messages of the love that God offers to each and every one of us. If we will simply reach out to touch the hem of His garment He promises to give us grace for the road that we travel with Him. Available today in standard, large print or e-book formats.

Grace for the Road – Paperback

Grace for the Road – Large Print Edition

Nursing Home Outreach

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This is a short video that our church filmed recently highlighting the opportunity and need for nursing home outreach. For those of you who have followed by blog for a while you know that my passion has been to reach into Long Term Care homes around our community. Ministering to the needs of residents is about more than simply singing a few songs or showing up on the holidays. Serving the needs of those in long term care means also reaching the community around them, including family members, staff and other volunteers. My prayer is that you will hear God’s call to give time, energy, prayer and resources in this New Year ahead to make a difference in the lives of those in the Long Term Care Community.

Praying for Others

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And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.  He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ Luke 18:1-3 ESV

For the last 23 years in nursing home ministry God has helped me to learn a lot about prayer. Though you may have never set foot in a nursing home you will discover that prayer requests are remarkably the same everywhere. People in nursing homes battle with depression, fatigue and loneliness around the holidays like everyone else. As an outreach worker you often ask yourself; “What is my small faith in the face of such needs?” Jesus gives us some answers in the story that He told about a widow and a judge. P1040884

First, she built a relationship with the judge by going to see him every day. Every day as he sipped his morning cup of tea, he would hear a knock. When he went to open his door there the widow would be again asking; “Give me justice in my dispute with my enemy!”  Maybe he even began to anticipate her visit and prepare for it. In our case we pray, not to some uncaring local magistrate; but to our Father in heaven. He is loving, merciful and kind. Why not begin where the widow began? Why not come every morning with expectant faith; knowing that Jesus is eagerly waiting to hear our knock on His door. Learning to pray for others means persistently building our relationship with God and then trusting Him to meet their needs.