Week 236: 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, the reader of this post, may be the answer to this prayer for some couple you know)
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