Week 38: Marriages and the Chronic Illness of an Adult Children

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Please join us this week in praying for marriages that are living through the chronic illness of an adult child.  Just tonight we have become aware of a situation in which a couple is dealing with one adult child who has cancer and a second who has a chronic gastro-intestinal disease.  The emotional stress of such a situation is not lessened because the children are adults.  Parents don’t cease to be parents because their children are grown.  For a number of reasons the stress can actually be greater.  Usually adult children and parents live in separate households and often are separated by a geographical distance that makes care-giving difficult and just staying informed a challenge.  The fact that adult children typically have established a level of independence can cause parents to question what care is expected or what care would be accepted.

If the child-parent relationship is good, the parents’ marriage can be challenged as they take on care-giving, such as care of grandchildren, medical transportation service and even financial assistance.  On the other hand if the child-parent relationship is fractured, the parents’ marriage can still challenged as they deal with the guilt of not being able to help because of the relational distance.

Please prayer that these couples will

  • Seek the peace that only God can give
  • Discuss the nature of the care they can give and agree to make the necessary sacrifices together
  • Seize the opportunity to heal fractured relationships
  • Be granted extraordinary strength, patience and perseverance as they take on additional responsibilities
  • Know when they as care-givers need help and be willing to ask for it

Be surrounded and supported by those who care for them and know their situation

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