Part 2: Handling working and serving when facing serious situations

Friend,

Last time, I shared 3 areas for us to consider as women and men who are serving and working as leaders in both ministry and business should we face serious or difficult situations.

1. Plan in advance for your mental health, emotional and spiritual care.
2. Plan in advance as a leader for the places you serve and work in.
3. Plan in advance for your business (on line or in person)

If you want to read the rest of that article, please click this link: How do you handle working and serving when you are facing serious situations.

I had said at the end of that article that I would share a few tips for consideration in pre-planning for your loved ones in advance of situations. So grab your coffee or tea and read with me.

Preparation is powerful!

While we are prayerful and hopeful that we won’t have to face health or financial challenges, life still happens. We face situations and circumstances that usually come without warning and need our immediate attention. It can be illness, injury, financial hardship, loss of any kind and so on. Preparation is powerful.

While we can’t be completely ready for those situations, we can do some pre-planning as I indicated in the article above. We must not leave out pre-planning for our family. If you face a sudden illness such as Covid, a flu virus or a physical injury that leaves you laid up for a few weeks to a few months do you have some measures in place for your family?

Here’s a few tips to consider now before any serious situation arises:

1. Have non-perishable foods on stand by that your family member(s) can prepare without assistance from you. That will reduce or perhaps eliminate the need for costly and unhealthy, fast-food meals while you are getting better and stronger.

2. If you have minor children, is there someone to step in if you need time to heal or recover? Who would that be? Have you had a conversation with them now so that they know and agree to be the person(s) to step in to take care of your minor children if car pooling is needed, food cooked, homework assistance, grocery shopping, etc.

3. Make sure that someone you trust knows where your codes and passwords are for anything you are responsible for in the care of your family or yourself such as your bank account, bills that you pay, and so on. If you don’t already have your bills set up for automatic deduction from your account and prefer not to go that route, then be sure someone is aware of your expenses and due dates to be paid.

4. Have a financial reserve on hand. I recommend having some of it in your home in a place that a loved one can access in case ready cash is needed while you are healing or recovering.

5. As is age appropriate for your children or grandchildren, have books, games, creative tools that can be used while they visit with you if you’re not able to move around for a time especially if you’re healing from a surgery or dealing with a physical challenge.

6. Have a few of the top recipes written down or typed up that your family enjoys eating so that someone can prepare them for you and your family.

7. If you are the primary adult in the home and handle the cleaning and cooking, in advance of anything happening, be sure that there is someone you trust that can come in and clean, do laundry and even cook for a time if you are dealing with illness or injury. Or, take advantage of a cleaning service, check into a food delivery service from your local grocery store, or check into a DoorDash, Uber Eats, and others.

8. If you’re a part of a local church community, know in advance who you would call on to help in your home or even with the upkeep of your yard. Let your faith community support you. Prayerfully, you have good friends to count on too.

9. Have quick video clips on your iPhone or Android of you speaking to your family members. Update it periodically. I do this for my family in the event I was not able to communicate with them for any reason medically. I want them to see and to hear my voice loving on them, encouraging them to trust the Lord and to keep going and to know that I love them.

10. People don’t like to talk about death but it is a part of life. If you haven’t prepared your family for your passing, it can bring more pain to them. The loss of you would deeply hurt those who love you, but what will interrupt their grieving greatly is if you have not left any guidelines for them in terms of what you want done with your body. For instance, do you want a funeral, memorial, or celebration of life service. Buried or cremation. Location. A coffin or an urn and so on. Handle as much as you can in writing so that they don’t have to try to figure out what you would want. Someone I knew left instructions of who she wanted to be invited to her service, who she wanted to speak, what outfit she wanted to be dressed in and what music she wanted played at her service. Another area to consider is financials and personal items that are important to you. Be sure you have handled in writing, what you want done in all of those areas. Wherever necessary, perhaps see an attorney to be sure that whatever you wrote is properly notarized and handled so that it can’t be disputed or argued by others.

OK, take a deep breath now…

I know some of these tips are not what we may want to think about but again, pre-planning helps especially when loved ones would already be hurting from your loss or if it’s a medical or physical injury, it will ease your mind if you have already thought through and set-up your family members to be taken care of as you heal.

My Prayer for You now

I pray in Jesus Name that you will remain healthy in your mind, body and spirit. I pray covering over you and your family members. I pray relief and healing from whatever you may be dealing with now. And, may the peace of God be with you always in Jesus Name. Amen.

I hope these few tips to be considered, will help give you some thought to how you can prepare your family. Prayerfully, it won’t be necessary but wisdom says, preparation is powerful.

Warm regards,
Lisa Shaw