Hope is Powerful
Hope is Powerful
Prepare - Pause - Pivot - ABCs of Self-Care for Caregivers
Be fully prepared to hold your ground. Ephesians 6:13 Voice
What prepared you to be a caregiver?
Most of us went into this experience with zero preparation. In fact, you were thrown into it - sometimes by default because no one else would pick up the task. And now you are here. What are you going to do about it?
Many talk about the hardships of being a caregiver and need a place to vent. If that is where you find yourself, set a timer and go on your rant. What’s left at end of that monologue? Betrayal, anger and despair. As you numb yourself to the strong feelings it could be easy to check out and go through the motions.
Instead, how about you get prepared to hold your ground. Stand firm where you are and learn to regain your power.
What can you do differently?
Prepare to take your power stance
There is a definite connection between your posture and what is happening inside your brain. Research is showing that holding the power posture stance for 2 minutes a day actually releases the assertiveness hormone (testosterone) and lowers the stress hormone (cortisol). Take this posture even when you don’t feel like it and soon your ‘feel-good’ hormones will catch up with the choice you have made.
Pause
Having done all … stand!!!! (King James Version)
The prayerful pause is so powerful because it allows you to take your time and move in the right way without wounding those you love.
Every time you feel yourself shrinking from the task at hand remember that you are in a war.
Take your battle stance. You are a power warrior and the details are already taken care of so that in the end YOU win. This means that instead of groveling and feeling less than your potential, you say, “With the help of the Lord, we’ve got this one too.” This will take practice if you’ve been indulging in complaints .
Pivot to victory
Because of this, you must wear all the armor that God provides so you’re protected as you confront the slanderer, for you are destined for all things and will rise victorious. Eph 6:13 TPT
It’s time to stop reacting and start running to win the race. You can do this! Do you see yourself winning? The stance of someone who wins the race is very different from the one who is happy just to make it to the end.
Pay closer attention to the way you sit, stand, sleep, and move throughout the day. Your body is all connected. When one thing is out of place, the entire body can be affected. When that one thing is your spine, then the body can be greatly affected. Considering that the spine and brain are connected, it’s easy to see why behavior and attitude are so greatly affected by posture.
You are victorious. You are a winner. Throw your hands in the air and praise God before you cross the finish line. Lift up your head to your maker and creator and thank Him for how he has all the details taken care of. Move like a champion not a defeated victim. Prayer will accomplish this in you as you begin to take the territory that is rightfully yours.
Little consistent changes, over time, can mean big improvements.
Prayer
Thank You, Lord, for your help and presence when I feel that this caregiving situation is more than I can handle. I need Your help so that I’ll still be on my fe
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[00:09] Welcome to the Hope is Powerful podcast. My name is Karen Sebastian-Wirth, effectively known as The Hope Lady and I'm here to share with you a hope infusion. I know you may be in a dark places right now, but you will get through it. You can go from rock bottom to the mountaintop. Let's start taking steps towards that today.
[00:39] Welcome to Hope is Powerful podcast. This is the Hope lady with the ABCs of Self-Care for Caregivers. We are on the letter P. I am basing this particular episode on Ephesians 6:13 and I am very excited to share this in three different translations. So I think you're going to find this interesting how they have taken the same scripture and made it very interesting as far as the differences and the nuances.
As we talk about the letter P, Prepare, Pause and Pivot. The scripture is Ephesians 6:13 and I'm going to start in the translation called Voice.
Be fully prepared to hold your ground.
What preparation did you get to become a caregiver? Most people say none. A few people will say that they were prepared by seeing the example, their parents, how they took care of their grandparents, things like that. But so many of you listening to the sound of my voice were just thrown into this experience with zero preparation. Some of you just landed there by default because no one else would pick up the task. They've left it all to you and now you are here. And that's what I want you to think about as we talk about prepare. Many times when I'm talking to caregivers and on groups of caregivers, so much of the time the caregiver just needs a place to vent and that's okay. If that's where you find yourself, I am going to encourage you to go ahead and do that. But I am going to caution you and suggest that you set a timer. Because when you go on your ranch and it just keeps going, what's left at the end of that monologue, you feel betrayed, angry and in despair. Or you may just simply feel numb because you can't handle it and you check out and go through the motions. None of these are good for you. I am going to talk today about a way for you to be fully prepared to hold your ground.
Ephesians 6 is a very familiar passage to many of you. It is where Paul is talking about putting on the whole armor of God so that you can be prepared no matter what. And I like this 613 so much because it's the verse that we based Stance Chiropractic on. Be fully prepared to hold your ground.
What you can do differently in taking care of yourself is prepare to take your power stance. So those of you who listened to last episode, Overwhelming Darkness with Light you remember I talked about the Wonder Woman stance. I've done even more research that when you take this power stance, a Superman or Wonder Woman stance, you basically decide you're going to stand up straight, pull your shoulders back, and with your hands on your hips, something begins to happen. There's a definite connection between your posture and what's actually happening inside your brain. Do you stand up straight because you feel powerful, or do you feel powerful because you stand up straight? The answer is yes.
Research shows that if you hold that power stance, that's that Wonder Woman stance we talked about last time for two minutes a day, it actually releases the assertiveness hormone. That would be testosterone and lowers the stress hormone, and that would be cortisol. So as you prepare for your day, as you start your day, I want to encourage you to do something different in the privacy of your bathroom. I want you to look at yourself in the mirror and I want you to stand as straight as you can and hold that stance even when you don't feel like it. But see, those hormones will catch up with the choice you have made to be prepared to hold your ground. Another part of this posture is your feet must be firmly planted on the ground, shoulder width apart, and you're prepared to not let any little thing shake you. You are prepared to stay in the fight.
Pause in Prayer
Let's look at another translation of Ephesians 6:13, and it says, Having done all stand." That's a familiar one, King James version-the one I grew up on.
This is a powerful pause in the battle going on because having done all you stand, if you add prayer to that pause, it's going to allow you to take your time and move in the right way without wounding those around you. "Having done all stand." Every time you feel yourself shrinking from the task at hand, remember that you are in a spiritual war. And the most important thing to remember, you ARE going to win. You're a powerful warrior. The details are getting you down right now, but in the end you are going to win. So I want you to begin to change your language, say, "With the help of the Lord, I am going to be able to do this."
This is going to take practice. If you like to complain and you like to be the martyr, I'm wanting you to stand in prayer, taking your battle stance. Let it come.
Pivot to victory
The final translation I want to look at is the third point. Prepare to take your power stance, pause to pray. And the third one is pivot to victory. Now listen to this same verse, ephesians 613 in the Passion translation, one of my favorites. Because of this, you must wear all the armor that God provides. So you're protected as you confront the slanderer. That means the liar, the one that makes you feel inadequate, the one where you struggle to hold your head high. And listen to the way this translates that same thing. Having done all stand for you are destined for all things and will rise victorious.
So that is what I want you to mainly take away from today's podcast. It's time to stop reacting and start running to win this race. It's a marathon, it's not a sprint and you can do this. But do you see yourself winning? Do you see yourself strong until the end?
What is the stance of someone who wins a race? Their hands go up, their head goes up as they cross that finish line. They have won. They are not just barely making it. And what I want you to do is to begin to pay close attention to your posture. That's another word that starts with P, because the way you sit, stand, sleep and move throughout the day is all connected with your mood and how you feel.
What I want you to do is begin to change your posture and it's going to improve your strength and your mood. This is going to be amazing. Remind yourself for that pivot to victory instead of, oh, I don't think I can take anything else. Prepare to stand, pause to pray, and then pivot to victory, because these small changes are going to mean big improvements.
You are victorious. You are a winner. So throw your hands in the air and praise God. Even before you cross that finish line, you will finish strong. You can do this. And I want you to lift your head to your Maker and Creator. Thank Him for how he has all the details taken care of. See, I want you to begin to move like the champion that you are. You are not a defeated victim. You are not a martyr. As you pause to pray, it's going to begin to happen as you take all the territory that is rightfully yours. This caregiving time can be a victorious, glorious time. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord for your help and presence during difficult care giving situations. And for those of you who feel like it's more than you could handle, I want you to know that God's got this with the help of the Lord. You'll still be on your feet when it's all over but the shouting. So I thank you, Lord, that's what you say, that we can apply your truth, righteousness, peace, faith and salvation to this critical situation. Thank you, Lord for the privilege of praying even with my eyes wide open. And I pray for everyone listening to my voice that they will realize just how strong they are and that they need one another. When one falls behind or someone is tempted to drop out, the other can lift them up. Surround my brothers and sisters with people that care and allow them to be vulnerable enough to ask for help. I ask this in Jesus name. Amen.
It has been such a joy to speak to you today about preparing to take your power stance, pausing to pray and pivoting to victory. I'm excited to hear from you. Please send me a message. If this is helping you write us a review subscribe, share it with other people who need to be reminded that Hope is powerful. You can go from rock bottom to the mountaintop with good posture and one's death at a time.
[11:57] Thanks so much for listening to the Hope Is Powerful podcast. Subscribe now and join our Facebook group, the Power of Hope for more hope infusions. Until next time, keep looking up for Hope Rays.
