My church recently lost one of our senior saints. Wanda was there one Sunday and gone the next. I mention her here because she had cared for her son for more than thirty-five years.

Donald was thrown through a windshield in a catastrophic car accident and injured so badly that EMTs pronounced him dead. Then they detected a faint heartbeat. At the hospital, doctors recommended the family take him off the ventilator time and again, but his mother refused. He eventually improved enough that Wanda could take him home where she cared for him from that moment on.

Donald’s disabilities are severe and life-altering, but I wish you could watch him worship at church service. Joy infuses his voice, his movements, his face. He bubbles over with praise. Donald and his mom have touched so many lives with their story and their obvious love for the Lord, not just at church but everywhere they go, that I can’t imagine life without him.

Now his mom—his caregiver—is gone.

We never know what tomorrow will bring. Parents may pass away before their children, healthy spouses before the husbands or wives they care for, or even children before their aging parents. We may believe we’ll always be there to take care of our loved ones, but we have no guarantees.

While I don’t think we need to dwell on it, I do think we need to plan for the possibility that something could happen to us before the person we care for. I urge you to talk with your relatives and designate someone who can be the caregiver in your place. Have wills and powers-of-attorney drawn up with specific instructions. Make sure everyone involved knows the preparations you’ve made. In the midst of our busy caregiving season, it’s easy to put off planning for our loved ones’ future welfare.

Only God knows the day and time of our last breath. Don’t wait until it’s too late to make plans that can ensure the continued care of your loved ones.

Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life?
For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
James 4:14 ESV

Tracy Crump dispenses hope in her award-winning book, Health, Healing, and Wholeness: Devotions of Hope in the Midst of Illness (CrossLink Publishing: 2021). A former intensive care nurse, she cared for her parents and her mother-in-law and understands both the burdens and joys of caregiving. Her devotions have been featured in Guideposts books, The Upper Room, and many other publications, and she has contributed 26 stories to Chicken Soup for the Soul® books. She also conducts writing workshops, produces a newsletter for writers, and does freelance editing. But her most important job is Grandma to five completely unspoiled grandchildren.