How To Be A Grateful Alzheimer’s Caregiver This Thanksgiving
As Thanksgiving approaches, how can you cultivate gratitude even amidst the challenges of caregiving?
In this special episode, we explore how Christian caregivers can embrace thankfulness in their role, drawing from Scripture and a Kingdom-focused perspective.
Gratitude in the Midst of Hardship
Caregiving for a loved one with dementia is no easy task. It often feels overwhelming and emotionally taxing. However, as Christian caregivers, we’re reminded that even in the hardest moments, we can find gratitude. Thanksgiving isn’t just a holiday—it’s a reflection of how we respond to God’s grace and providence in our lives.
Drawing from the Heidelberg Catechism, this episode highlights three key aspects of gratitude:
1) Acknowledging our sin and misery.
2) Celebrating deliverance through Christ’s blood.
3) Living a life that reflects thankfulness to God.
How Gratitude Transforms Caregiving
Gratitude changes how we approach our caregiving responsibilities. It reminds us that caregiving is not just a burden but a part of God’s sanctifying work in our lives. By responding to the challenges of caregiving with a spirit of thankfulness, we reflect Christ’s love to a watching world.
There is a profound difference in how believing families navigate dementia caregiving compared to those without faith. A Christ-centered approach brings peace, patience, and purpose, even during difficult times.
Practical Ways to Embrace Gratitude This Thanksgiving
1) Reflect on God’s Grace
Spend a moment in prayer, thanking God for His grace and for the opportunity to serve your loved one.
2) Simplify and Be Present
Keep Thanksgiving simple. Focus on creating meaningful memories rather than stressing over perfection.
3) Share the Hope of Christ
Share your faith journey with others, whether they are caregivers or not. By doing so, you can offer hope to those who may be struggling.
4) Ask for Support
If you feel overwhelmed, reach out for help. Whether it’s through coaching, support groups, or prayer, know that you don’t have to navigate this journey alone.
A Call to Reflect
This Thanksgiving, consider what it means to be a caregiver from a Kingdom-focused perspective.
By reflecting on God’s grace, embracing gratitude, and sharing hope, you can turn caregiving into a ministry that honors Christ.
Are you ready to see caregiving as a calling rather than a challenge? Let gratitude transform your perspective this Thanksgiving.
Read more:
Upstate Nonprofits Receive Funding Boost to Expand Dementia Services.
Ever Wonder How To Know What Is Causing Your Caregiver Stress?
Take Our FREE Caregiver Stress Assessment Today!
https://dignicarebydesign.com/quiz
Ever Wonder How To Know What Is Causing Your Caregiver Stress? Take Our FREE Caregiver Stress Assessment Today!
https://www.dementiacaregivingmadeeasy.com/dca
Transcript
[0:01] Hey Christian caregiver, welcome back to Dementia Caregiver Support for Christians, the podcast where I teach Bible-believing Christians how to make dementia care
Podcast Cadence Changes
[0:12] easier today, as well as help you focus on tomorrow. If you listened to Monday’s episode, I announced in the episode that you will notice a change in the cadence of the podcast at the beginning of December. I have received a lot of feedback from various different people that the podcast cadence of three episodes a week can feel a little overwhelming when people are trying to listen to all of the episodes.
[0:43] And in light of that, and in light of other feedback that I’ve received, we are going to change the cadence back to Tuesday, Thursday, so two episodes per week. I will still be doing interviews, but the interviews will be very selective to ensure that they are the right people for the podcast, that we align in what we believe, and that they will truly be bringing you as the audience value to the podcast when I have people as an interviewee on this particular podcast. We will be doing two episodes. The Tuesday episode will be a little bit more similar to the typical episodes that I do. Some caregiver tips, strategies, questions and answers, some faith-based type episodes, just a lot of the normal content that you are used to. And our Friday episodes are going to be more mentoring, coaching style episodes where I have the privilege of bringing on people who are just like you, who might be struggling with similar things that you are struggling with,
Thanksgiving Reflections for Caregivers
[1:56] do live dementia caregiver support in action. So that’s going to be the change next. Effective next week. But in light of where we actually talk about solutions, where we always love to do a Thanksgiving episode.
[2:12] So today’s episode, we are going to talk about how to be a grateful Alzheimer’s or dementia caregiver this Thanksgiving.
[2:23] Many of you know, or most of you should know if you’ve listened to the podcast for a short period of time, that I am a naturalized citizen, which implies that I’m an immigrant. So my husband and I immigrated to the United States in 1993. And so when you move from one country to another country, it takes time to get used to celebrating different holidays in the country that you are now moving to. So when we first moved here, many of the U.S. holidays were different to us, took a time to get used to celebrating. And some U.S.
Celebrating Thanksgiving and Its Significance
[3:02] Holidays, I will never celebrate. For example, Halloween. You will never see me celebrating Halloween. It is foreign to me and I don’t believe in the philosophy behind it. So, we just don’t celebrate Halloween. It’s the same time as Reformation. So, we focus more on the Reformation. But other holidays in the United States were very easy to get used to. We celebrated Christmas in South Africa, we have a similar type of a holiday in South Africa that is similar to Thanksgiving. It’s called the Day of the Covenant, and it’s the 16th of December, or the Day of the Vow. Even though it has changed now and has a different name, the principle behind it was Thanksgiving.
[3:47] And so Thanksgiving in the United States speaks to me the most, and it brings me back to my South African roots and upbringing from a Christian perspective, going to a different catechism than what we use here in the United States. My husband is a minister of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church,
The Heidelberg Catechism Connection
[4:09] and so we attend an Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and we typically use the Westminster standards. But in the time of the Reformation, there were multiple catechisms that were written. And there’s one that’s called the Three Forms of Unity. And I’m putting myself on the spot now because I didn’t actually go write these down. But one is the Canons of Dort. One is the Heidelberg Catechism. And I knew if I did this, I wasn’t going to remember the third one.
[4:37] Oh, the Belgic Confession. So Thanksgiving always takes me back to the Heidelberg Catechism because the Heidelberg Catechism is a very pastoral catechism, and it was written and divided into three separate parts. And here are the three parts that it is divided into. It is divided into the first section that talks about how great my sins and misery is. The second part talks about how can I be set free or delivered from my sin and misery? And the third part is how am I to thank God for such deliverance or my gratitude for my salvation? So this brings me back to Thanksgiving. So the Heidelberg question and answer 86 is the following.
[5:31] Since we have been delivered from our misery, misery of sin, right? By grace through Christ without any merit of our own. Why then should we do good works? And the answer to that question is because Christ having redeemed us by his blood. So the answer to this question is because Christ having redeemed us by His blood is also restoring us by His Spirit unto His image, so that with our whole lives, we may show that we are thankful to God for His benefits. That’s the first thing. We are thankful to God for His benefits, so that He may be praised through us.
Responding to God’s Providence
[6:18] That’s the second point. So that we may be assured of our faith by its fruits, and so that by our godly living, our neighbors may be won over to Christ, which is the fourth thing. So we can show.
[6:33] Our gratitude back to God, our thanksgiving for our salvation by being thankful for his benefits, praising his name.
[6:45] Having fruits of the Spirit in our godly living, so that our neighbors may be won over to Christ. So in light of that, I am grateful to help people who are struggling or living with Alzheimer’s or dementia as a caregiver because by the way that we are a caregiver.
[7:10] By the way that we respond to God’s hard providences in our life, how we respond to our sanctification process through being a caregiver, we can win over a watching world for Christ, because I know many of you guys do not necessarily know this or have seen this, but there is a tremendous difference, a tremendous difference in how a believing family navigate dementia and dementia caregiving and an unbelieving family. And if you haven’t seen and unbelieving family navigate dementia. I know you don’t necessarily understand this, but there is a vast, vast difference. I will use a close friend now and previous client whose mom recently passed away within the last week of Alzheimer’s as an example. I have never in my life met such a godly family who have taken such good care of their mother through.
[8:25] The dementia caregiving process. And then I have seen many other people who are not believers and the fight and the ugliness and the frustration and the devastation that it has wrought on them and the
Serving Christian Caregivers
[8:44] people that they were caring for because of their unbelief. And so today, this day before Thanksgiving, I am grateful to the Lord that He has placed in my heart this desire to serve Christian caregivers of people living with dementia in a different way, in a kingdom-focused way, in a God-honoring way, in a Christ-honoring focus. And so, if these episodes resonate with you, I’m inviting you to hop on my calendar, let us talk. I do a 20-minute strategy call with people, and we will see if you are ready to move forward and have a deeper relationship and more support. I can help you. If you’re not ready for that, I will continue to be here and serve you in this capacity.
[9:39] I’m excited that the podcast is slowly growing. My ask this Thanksgiving is that you share these episodes with somebody. Number one, if they are a dementia caregiver, and number two, if they are not a Christian dementia caregiver, share the episodes with them because this is a way for me to share the gospel
Practicing Gratitude This Thanksgiving
[10:02] of hope and Thanksgiving with unbelievers as well. So how can you be a grateful Alzheimer’s caregiver this Thanksgiving. You can reflect on how great your sin and misery is. You can think about what it means to have been set free and delivered from your sin and misery through the blood of Christ. And then because of that, now you can thank God for your salvation on this Thanksgiving day, because we are to live in gratitude. So yes, you can be thankful for Alzheimer’s as a dementia caregiver this Thanksgiving. And as I end all of my episodes or try to remember to end my episodes, may the Lord bless you and keep you. And truly, truly, truly make me
