Good Samaritans giving care

Do you know and pray for Good Samaritans who heed the call to be CAREGIVERS? Writing about people who serve selflessly while giving care in rest homes, hospitals, facilities, and homes where people need partial or around the clock care fills my heart with appreciation and honor for Caregivers who share God’s love while looking after them.

Three people who care deeply and serve lovingly come to mind. Surely, you are pondering people who work as caregivers who have earned God’s merit badge as Good Samaritans also.

While I can’t write about every person in Sampson County and beyond who care for people in need, we can team up to pen notes or send cards to those admirable Caregivers and share our appreciation for their outstanding service to sit with, bathe, give medication, change clothes and linens, serve meals, rotate positions in bed, take them for a stroll in wheelchairs, pray with, read to, talk with, observe changes in attitude and health conditions, and sing songs of Jesus and His love! Your duty to be dependable, to love, look after, and leave the person you care for with peace in your heart and blessed assurance you’ve given them your best is what the family and our heavenly Father desires. Keeping them in continual prayers while trusting God in the process of CAREGIVING gets the Lord’s and their loved ones’ attention!

Sherry, the sweet sister of Cindy, dear friend of many, and caregiver for a big plenty … comes to mind first. She has cared for children in church nurseries on Sunday mornings, Wednesday nights, and any occasion when a dependable caregiver for kids is needed. Cindy has even cared for her family members in their times of need. She never says ‘no’ when opportunities arise to serve and carry out her calling to help others. Friends become family when Sherry accepts the call to be a part time or full time CAREGIVER. Her commitment to give excellent care with Christian love flows from her huge heart. God bless Sherry for Good Samaritan deeds done in a spirit of loyalty and love. She is always at God’s beckon call to do her duty to love and look after His children in need.

Mrs Doris, Mr. Johnny McArthur’s wife, cares deeply about people and gives generously wherever she goes. This sweet lady has blessed Tim’s Gift and me beyond measure. Each new season and holiday, she comes bearing a little bag filled with big love and tremendous treasures that are near and dear to my heart. Since Tim’s Gift Inc. started in 2008, Mrs. Doris has been an encourager and prayer warrior, caring deeply and sharing Good Samaritan deeds at Tim’s Gift and wherever God leads. Our hearts experienced the joy of a miracle from God in 2009 when she gave me a book titled “Time with God”! Hopefully, I can share that story with you one day. Mrs. Doris is committed to caregiving wherever God opens a door. One of the Sonshine Kids favorite places to visit is Mrs. Hilda’s where Mrs. Doris spends many days and nights as her CAREGIVER. The joy of seeing those children sing and pray as Mrs. Hilda and Doris tapped their feet and sang along is safely stored inside my heart. Oh, how I praise God for Mrs. Doris’ love for the Lord, her loved ones, and anyone God puts in her path to witness to and care for. I am grateful for Mrs. Doris’ commitment to her calling to care for people, to pray with people, to serve God out loud in love, and to encourage me throughout each new season to keep serving Him and giving help and hope to people in need.

Mrs. Rita Strickland, a Good Samaritan CAREGIVER at a local rest home and part time caregiver for Mrs. Hilda serves lovingly with a big heart and blessed assurance she is following her calling. Rita and I share the joy of seeing God’s provision (she calls it a miracle) throughseasons of caring for children, especially her sweet Shaniah. When Rita’s granddaughterstarted school in 2010. Shaniah was sweet and shy; she did not talk in her kindergarten class.

One day, Rita was driving past The Learning Station, when God spoke to her heart to meet with me about Shaniah. Rita’s strong faith and His powerful stirring caused her to turn around and come inside where I was busy with bookwork. She sat down and shared her story, believing God directed her there to enroll her granddaughter in Afterschool Care. We prayed and secured a spot for Shaniah to start afterschool the next day. Three months later, Shaniah began sharing in words what she had held silently inside her heart for so long. Rita stood firm for Shaniah to stay enrolled even in seasons when both Grandma and me stayed grounded in prayer for Shaniah’s attitude and actions to improve. She never stopped staying; we (her caregivers per God’s plans) never stopped praying. When The Learning Station was open all day during the pandemic, Shaniah had difficult days when a rebellious attitude would rise up; she didn’t believe she could do what we kept telling her she could if she believed in herself and worked hard to achieve.

Persistence in caregiving and prayer (especially for family members and students we desperately desire to help) is necessary and needed more today than ever before in our world where complacency and corrupt behavior are spreading like kudzu. Rita, Katelyn, and I stayed true to the course to trust God for a miracle in Shaniah’s life. And it came in His perfect timing. Shaniah began singing solos in her church, joining in group activities with Sonshine Kids, praying in small groups, studying for tests and seeking help with homework, and engaging in activities where she felt loving support. We kept believing, Shaniah kept trying, and God kept His promise to care for Shaniah (as He promises the same for you, me, even the sparrows) and promote her to a place to shine as a principal’s list student in middle school, member of the softball team (when she did not make the cut the first time, we prayed with her and God worked another miracle in her precious life), and grew into one of our most powerful prayer warriors on Sonshine visits. Shaniah is a Freshman at CHS enrolled in honors classes and walking in faith to the plans God has for life as a young woman who was cared for tenderly and lovingly as He helped get her in shape to spread love and joy while doing her best in school, church, and beyond.

What about Rita, her Good Samaritan and Caregiving grandma? She loves to tell the story of how God sent miracles to shape her grandchild’s life in accordance with His plan and promise in His Word. She still helps care for Mrs. Hilda and stops by Tim’s Gift often to chat, pray, and thank God for sending miracles our way.

“Lord, we are grateful for your protection, provision, and powerful way of showing up right on time with Caregivers to help your children in need all over Your Creation and miracles we pray for and believe will come to fruition in Your perfect timing that will remind us You are still a Miracle Working God. We pray for repentant hearts, working hands, love for Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, caring Good Samaritans to rise up worldwide, for Fruit of the Spirit loving to snuff out evil living … and Christians filled with agape love to embrace generous giving.” Amen.