{"id":553,"date":"2013-06-19T21:42:21","date_gmt":"2013-06-20T02:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.caregiversunite.org\/?p=553"},"modified":"2016-11-08T18:24:15","modified_gmt":"2016-11-09T00:24:15","slug":"my-prayer-by-alzheimers-daughter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/?p=553","title":{"rendered":"My Prayer for Finding a Caregiver by Alzheimer’s Daughter"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a world of advanced directives, I have written a prayer to ask God to secure my longterm care.<\/p>\n

Dear God,<\/p>\n

If I enter the darkness that enveloped the women in my family before me, I pray for a good caregiver. I want someone to care for me as a friend, and is empathetic to my plight.\u00a0 I want someone who will get to know my life history and cherish the time we spend together.<\/p>\n

If I am lost to who I am, I want my \u201cfriend\u201d to tell me a story about a little girl fondly called Buffer by her daddy and who always cared deeply for the needs of her family.\u00a0 I want to hear about my special dog named Pittman that loved me so much.\u00a0 I want to know about my two fine sons and my faithful and handsome husband.<\/p>\n

And Lord, sometime we can just live in the moment, when we’ll spend a happy day accomplishing the menial chores that we must do.\u00a0 Grocery shopping would be an exercise in stimulating my body and my senses starting with the pretty pastries in the bakery, then the feel of firm tomatoes in the produce section and take in the lovely sights of all the other garden varieties carefully displayed.\u00a0 I\u2019d want to grind some coffee beans just for the rich scent that emanates from the machine even though I don\u2019t drink coffee.\u00a0 I’d get to push my own grocery cart and have time to investigate something of interest that catches my eye.\u00a0 I could hold on to my cart while bending down to peer into the big glass doors covering the freezer sections.\u00a0 When it was time to check out, I would help lift the items from the buggy on to the conveyor belt, using my bent fingers in hopes of relief from their constant ache.<\/p>\n

My companion would protect me from the questioning eyes of those who didn\u2019t know what a special person I am.\u00a0 She would lovingly put her arm around me and tell me how much she loved me when I tried to go where I shouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 She\u2019d draw my attention to something I couldn\u2019t resist and I\u2019d desire to follow her lead.\u00a0 We\u2019d move on toward the unknown together and I\u2018d be happy to be with someone who knew what to do.<\/p>\n

Lord, you remember the women who cared for my mother.\u00a0 Some would know just how to enter her world and go along with her as they reached their daily goals of care.\u00a0 Others just did the minimum of effort and sat quietly, lost in the crossword puzzle or handheld device brought along to help pass the hours of sitting, taking the term private duty sitter literally, as they added up their weekly paycheck.<\/p>\n

My dear grandmother never forgot who I was, even when she was confined to her bed under the watchful eyes of three shifts of women, round the clock for several years.\u00a0 We had spent so much time together in her later years, that the sound of my voice and the touch of my hand on her arm brought my name to her lips. She said it as if it represented all the life and love we had shared together.\u00a0 Dear God, that\u2019s the kind of care I want to receive.\u00a0\u00a0 Someone who will see me how I looked in the photograph taken when I was a young, beautiful woman, full of promise, fresh and unblemished.\u00a0 Not like the wrinkled, worn, volatile creature that I now may appear to be.<\/p>\n

I want someone who wants to be with me and thinks of things we can do together that will cause us to laugh and smile. She will show me, tell me, and sing with me.\u00a0 She will pray for me, include me and hold my hand. She\u2019ll read aloud short stories and bible verses that may still be hidden in the depths of my heart.\u00a0 I want to recognize something and sing that song buried beneath the noise and confusion that predominates my consciousness.<\/p>\n

She\u2019ll look into my eyes and try to see what I see.\u00a0 Even if my words are few or gone altogether, I\u2019ll still be here, listening for a friendly voice, one that is full of love and compassion. She\u2019ll give me time to respond to her efforts and I\u2019ll try to find my way to the surface.\u00a0 She knows that I might be getting lost along the way, and it may take me a while to begin to understand what is happening.\u00a0 She\u2019ll know that I do best when things are done consistently; she’ll keep her sentences short so I can comprehend and she\u2019ll give me one command at a time.\u00a0 I\u2019ll want her to stay with me.\u00a0 She won\u2019t leave because I\u2019m here and I don\u2019t know what to do.\u00a0 She’ll know whatever she does for me, she does for you.\u00a0 She’ll know you are with me and trusts you.<\/p>\n

Please Lord, hear my prayer.\u00a0 If I begin to wander away from who I was, please seek me out, and rescue me back into the flock as you have done before.\u00a0 Send a faithful servant in the form of a caregiver to keep me safe until I am in your arms forever.<\/p>\n

AMEN<\/p>\n

\"IMG_3183\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“Even to your old age and gray hair, I am he.\u00a0 I am he who will sustain you.\u00a0 I have made you and I will carry you.\u00a0 I will sustain you and I will rescue you.” (Isaiah 46:4 NIV).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a world of advanced directives, I have written a prayer to ask God to secure my longterm care. Dear God, If I enter the darkness that enveloped the women in my family before me, I pray for a good caregiver. I want someone to care for me as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,3,5,21,24],"tags":[77,117,137,268],"class_list":["post-553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activities","category-activities-of-daily-living","category-author-publication","category-personal","category-quote","tag-alzheimers-prayer","tag-dementia","tag-encouragement","tag-tips-for-caregivers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4cxZR-8V","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=553"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2141,"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553\/revisions\/2141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.caregiversunite.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}