Driving to church this morning, extremely tired from senior home care as well as moving all week and running ten minutes late, I was really tempted to skip it. It would have been so much easier to just head for the old house to pick up more items while listening to a sermon on my iPod.

Resisting temptation, I walked into church as they were singing the second song. It was a gift from God, handpicked just for me. One of my favorite songs, I started singing joyfully as I walked to a seat up front. It was followed by another song I love. This one was such an encouragement to me I wanted to share it with you as well. Written by Elvina Hall in 1865, it is:

Jesus Paid it All!

I hear the Savior say,
Thy strength indeed is small!
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all

CHORUS:Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow

Lord, now indeed I find
Thy power, and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots
And melt the heart of stone

For nothing good have I
Where-by Thy grace to claim
I’ll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calvary’s Lamb

And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete
Jesus died my soul to save
My lips shall still repeat

The two most encouraging parts of this for me were:

When before the throne, I stand in Him complete.

Some of the sermons I’ve been listening to on my iPod were Calvary Chapel’s John Miller speaking on the book of Revelation. Listening to him this past week as he taught about Christ returning in power and great glory has been exhilarating and singing about it put a huge smile on my face! I can’t wait to see my precious Savior!

Thy strength indeed is small…Find in Me thine all in all!

I can’t tell you how many times this week alone, I have told God how weak I am, both physically (because of the move my joints are all screaming at me) and emotionally (in large part again because of being so exhausted from the move).

That was a big part of the reason I didn’t want to go to church. I chose to obey in spite of how I felt and God poured out His blessings of encouragement on me. I left church feeling so much stronger.

I hope and pray that, as you deal with senior home care, grandparenting, and more, you are encouraged this week through the power of God’s love and the encouragement of these words. If you’d like to join me in learning more about Revelation, click on the words “the book of Revelation.” Scroll down about 2/3 of the way to find the links to each podcast.

Leaving the house too early yesterday, I wound up listening to a sermon on my iPod instead. I really enjoyed it. There was one point, in particular, that really caught my attention. The pastor talked about preparing to worship before you ever get to church.

He suggested that we would be wise to purposely choose to drive to church in an attitude of “let’s get ready to worship.” Listening to praise and worship music on the way there, whether old hymns, contemporary praise, or whatever your taste, can help set the right atmosphere.

I have done this many times without thinking it through. In looking back I can, indeed, see a more positive attitude towards worship as a definite result. I am setting a new goal to make this a chosen habit each week as I head to church. I would add to this idea that we should also be praying as we drive there. One thing I often do is pray that God would use me to encourage someone else at church, and that I would also be encouraged there. God has always blessed that prayer wonderfully.

It can often be hard for caregivers to be in a positive mood when going to church. We may have been rushing to help others before we could get ourselves ready. We may be worried over the health of one of our loved ones. We may have been dealing with those who are in bad moods due to chronic pain. Or we may just have gotten a poor night’s sleep. Whatever the reason, starting your morning in the car with music that glorifies God, praying for Him to be honored in all that we say and do, and asking Him to give us the right attitude and thoughts for worshiping Him when we get to church will help. I encourage you to join me in choosing to start worship in the car instead of in the pew.

The worship music at my church is one of the highlights for me each Sunday. I love singing to praise God and am so blessed as I do it. I hope and pray I am a blessing to Him as well! Fortunately, as most of us know well, the Psalms say to make a joyful noise – I can handle that! My rhythm is a bit off, so I can’t sing and clap at the same time. But that’s ok. I just sway and tap my toes and praise my Holy God with great joy!

I love hymns and I love contemporary praise and worship. Being a bit on the hyper side, I have a decided preference for songs with a happy lilt to them.

Today we were blessed by Chris Tomlin’s song “Everlasting God.” The song is based on Isaiah 40:28-31. As a caregiver, I have many times read and reread this passage:

Do you not know?

       Have you not heard?

       The LORD is the everlasting God,

       the Creator of the ends of the earth.

       He will not grow tired or weary,

       and his understanding no one can fathom.

 He gives strength to the weary

       and increases the power of the weak.

 Even youths grow tired and weary,

       and young men stumble and fall;

 but those who hope in the LORD

       will renew their strength.

       They will soar on wings like eagles;

       they will run and not grow weary,

       they will walk and not be faint.

It is such a blessing to me to know that I can keep entrusting myself to God and He will keep me going, when I am exhausted, when I have too much to do, and even on those days when I feel like running away.

I am so grateful to God for the gift of His Word and for the gift of music to remind me of His Word! How about you? What are some of your favorite praise and worship songs that encourage you as you bless others with your gift of caring for them?

Found some interesting articles today for you to enjoy on the topic of grandparenting.

The Grandparenting Blog had a great article on “Five Ways to Make Phone Calls with Grandchildren Fun” by Shayne and Tanda Packer. As anyone who has tried to carry on a conversation with a young child can relate to, it can be hard work! I like to sing hymns and Bible songs with my littler ones and they really enjoy it. Their mom tells me they get great big smiles on their faces. With the older ones, we talk about books, and food, and the weather, and I often end with a song with them too. I have a few favorites that we sing together and my hope has always been that when they hear those songs at other times it will trigger fun memories of our phone times together.

Shayne and Tanda Packer of The Grandparenting Blog had a similar thought in their great article, “Five Ways to Make Phone Calls with Grandchildren Fun.” Grandparents of eight, they also have a lot of experience in this area. I especially enjoyed reading the idea of making up stories together on the phone. I just did this with one of my local grandkids while we were waiting in the car. I started the story, told a few sentences of it and then waited for him to add more, he did a little, then back to me. We went back and forth like this for ten minutes and had a great time. Not only is it fun, it is teaching them creative and critical thinking skills! I am definitely going to give this a try the next time I am on the phone with one of my blessings.

They also mention videophone calls with their grandkids. I haven’t tried that but I have used Instant Messenger by MSN and a webcam that came built into my computer to see and talk to my grandkids and that was fun, though not the easiest thing to do. Fortunately their mom is VERY good at it and helped talk me through it.

You can read the rest of the Packers’ article and see other articles that may interest you at their grandparenting site . One of their most recent articles tells how they made Sticker Books for their grandkids. Woo hoo, I see a great rainy day idea there, for sure!

“Share Everyday Moments with Grandkids ” by Donna Erickson was an interesting article, which pointed out how important it is for our kids to get regular breaks “from the daily demands of raising [their] kids.” Helping them to build a strong marriage helps our grandchildren as well! She recommends regular overnighters at your house, as well as giving some fun ideas of what to do when they are there. You can read more about her at her website, DonnasDay .

For more fun ideas, check out my article playing outside with your grandkids .

I am always on the lookout for fun, creative, and educational ideas to enjoy with my grandkids. Do you have any you would like to share? We’d love to hear from you. Just click on the Comments link at the bottom of each post and share away.