Week 257: Marriages and the Chronic Illness of an Adult Child

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Please join us this week in praying for marriages living through the chronic illness of an adult child.


The emotional stress of this life situation is not lessened because the chronically ill child is an adult. Parents don’t cease to be parents because a child is grown. For a number of reasons the stress can actually be greater than it would be if the child were a dependent.



Usually an adult child and his/her parents live in separate households and often are separated by a geographical distance that makes care-giving difficult and just staying informed a challenge. Also, the fact that an adult child has established a level of independence can cause parents to question what care is expected, desired or would even be accepted.



In ideal situations in which the child/parent relationship is good, the parents’ marriage can still be strained as they take on time-consuming care-giving, such as care of grand-children, medical transportation, or even financial assistance at a time when they themselves may be on a fixed income.



If the child/parent relationship is unstable or totally fractured, the parents’ marriage can be challenged in a different way as they deal with the guilt of not being allowed to help because of the relational distance.



Please prayer that these couples will

  • Seek the peace 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 who know their situation

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