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Living with Purpose in a Worn-Out Body: Spiritual Encouragement for Older Adults
Living with Purpose in a Worn-Out Body: Spiritual Encouragement for Older Adults
Living with Purpose in a Worn-Out Body: Spiritual Encouragement for Older Adults
Ebook72 pages39 minutes

Living with Purpose in a Worn-Out Body: Spiritual Encouragement for Older Adults

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"Why am I still here? Why is God letting me suffer so long?"

Frailty, dependence, and constant pain can lead to a spiritual hopelessness in this increasingly "gray" society. While we're inspired by occasional news about an extraordinary centenarian who swims every day, it's more common to grieve and wonder as loved ones grow feeble.

With compassion and honesty, Buchanan gives voice to those living an assisted life.

Through the painful-to-consider feelings of loss, self pity, resignation, and loneliness, she leads caregivers and those in their care to see that living with purpose in old age is an extension of the challenges lived all along:

  • learning to offer one's will to God's
  • trusting God's grace
  • continuing to respond with the joy and fortitude of faith

Buchanan fosters empathy for and expresses the deepest concerns of the frail elderly without tap-dancing around the tough issues. 42 short, comforting devotionals offer much-needed spiritual encouragement to the once-vibrant who now cope with daily limitations and failing health.

The devotions are written in the first person, allowing readers to speak directly to God about the pills they take, the walkers they need to be mobile, and the ambulances that take away their friends. Supporting scriptures from the New Testament and Psalms are included with each meditation. Buchanan writes to the experiences of lifelong Christians as well as elderly non-believers who are thinking anew about God.

"Though we may experience fear and discouragement, this book invites us to remember that God's energies are at work silently but powerfully throughout all of life," writes one reviewer.

Living with Purpose in a Worn-out Body is elder-friendly, offering large-print text and wide margins for easier handling by arthritic hands.

Help someone you love find a reason and way to live out God's purpose in spite of their limitations.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 1, 2008
ISBN9780835812030
Living with Purpose in a Worn-Out Body: Spiritual Encouragement for Older Adults
Author

Missy Buchanan

Missy Buchanan, an advocate for older adults, is an internationally recognized author and speaker on issues of aging faithfully. With thousands of followers on Twitter and Facebook, Buchanan provides daily insight and encouragement for the journey of aging. She enjoys weekly visits (digital visits and phone calls during the COVID pandemic) with older adult friends in senior living communities. Buchanan is the author of multiple books, a devotional calendar, and a devotional journal. She lives with her husband, Barry, in Rockwall, TX. They have three adult children and four grandchildren.

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    Book preview

    Living with Purpose in a Worn-Out Body - Missy Buchanan

    Slow motion

    Mine is a slow-motion world where everything moves like thick corn syrup.

    It’s a deliberate pace that is both slow and slower.

    Residents with walkers inch their way to lunch.

    Folks speak in measured stride.

    Others lean close to hear every word.

    The world says, Hurry up. Do it faster. Faster!

    But here at the center, life crawls in turtle time.

    I calculate each daily task in my mind.

    How long will it take to get from here to there?

    Ten minutes to the dining room some fifty yards away.

    A little longer to the laundry room. Longer still if I’m pushing the cart.

    Even mindless tasks take more time and energy.

    Brushing teeth. Fastening clothes. Cutting food.

    But there are small wonders to be found in unhurried life.

    I get to see the first bloom on the geranium outside room 107.

    I take in the scent of newly mown grass.

    I stop and chat with the maintenance man, basking in his latest fishing tale.

    O God, no matter how slowly life unfolds, your hand is moving in the circumstances of my day.

    Thanks be to you, I am moving forward still.

    Glory be!

    Psalm 31:14-15

    I trust in you, O Lord;

    I say, You are my God.

    My times are in your

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