Week 161: Marriages and Hospitalization
Please join us this week in praying for couples
going through the hospitalization of a spouse. This life situation can
create numerous stresses on a marriage. Just dealing with the anxiety of
the medical situation itself is trying on a marriage, but there are other
stressors as well.
When one spouse is in the hospital, daily tasks do
not decrease by half; in fact, they increase for the other spouse, and, if
children are involved, they increase a lot. Time gets compressed as one
spouse tries to be at the hospital to support and comfort the other while still
meeting the demands of work, home and family.
When one spouse is hospitalized, it is not unusual
at all for both spouses to become sleep-deprived. Hospitalization does not
equate to quality rest for the patient or for the spouse who is splitting time
between a lonely bed at home and a not-so-comfortable chair in a hospital
room. The longer the hospital stay, the more weariness is likely to
increase. And, unfortunately, weariness tends to decrease one’s capacity
for patience and compassion, attributes that are important during the
hospitalization of a spouse.
Finally, a sense of helplessness can descend on
marriages in this life situation, on the part of the patient because of the
limits imposed by his or her illness and, on the part of the spouse, because of
his or her inability to make the situation better.
Please pray that these couples will
- Lay all their cares upon Jesus who cares for them
- Not be afraid to let their friends and family know they need help
- Get the rest they need to function
- Be wise and unified concerning treatments for the sick patient
- Be free from financial worries
- Receive the support they need from their family, friends and church body (be open to the possibility that you may be the answer to this prayer)
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