Growing in Grace: Lessons from a Caregiver

A mom incapable of love. Multiple caregiving emergencies. Expensive litigation against false allegations. Betrayal, loss of all parents. Grief. Growth. Giving up control. Leaning on God.

When you are raised in a dysfunctional family with a mentally unstable mother who should love you but doesn't, you spend your entire life, sadly, trying to earn that love, until one day, you move her into your home in obedience to the fifth commandment. Within weeks, things start to go downhill, your mom's condition (mental and physical) deteriorates, your sisters accuse you of elder abuse, and it isn't long before the proverbial manure hits the fan. As if that isn't bad enough, your in-laws have simultaneous health emergencies, then your dad, and you gain a new caregiving responsibility.

Funerals, lawsuits, and betrayal--a perfect storm of catastrophes that would knock most people on their butts.

But instead, it knocks you on your knees, and you find grace, God's free grace.