I had to practice “Extreme Forgiving”, just recently.
There I was, in my car, praise music blaring out, as loud as it would go. I’ll Raise a Hallelujah was pounding throughout the car, and I was screaming at the top of my voice, “I Forgive ######. In the presence of My Lord God, I Forgive ######”.
I had to repeat that several times, with the music blasting away, … many times.
As I said, I had to practice, “Extreme Forgiving”.
I had left work, without even seeing my supervisor, but having left a message of, “Book me a half day holiday, I have a need” (in an email).
My work colleague, who I had left a verbal message with, could clearly see that I was upset. “Drive carefully”, was something like his words to me, as I left.
I know full well the benefits of, forgiving, as I’ve written about it in the past, but this “Extreme Forgiving”, is taking things to a whole new level.
(I do believe that I was better off for having done the “Extreme Forgiving”, even though it didn’t leave me in a fully peaceful state, that I would have liked for it to have done. But the worst of the heat, was kind of removed, and I was able to function on a slightly better level.)
So what had upset me so much, so that I needed to do some “Extreme Forgiving”?
In a nutshell, the social care system, just doesn’t appear to have any care in it, anymore. 😦
I’ve been having a few phrases run round my head, for a while now. “There’s no Care, in the Social Care!” is one such phrase.
It was an email from a social worker, that had sent me over the edge. (There is so much, that I’m not saying here.)
Part of me just wants to put it all out there, every little detail, to expose just how bad it has been for me and my wife.
But then I’m torn, as I’m thinking, what good will it achieve?
The whole system is so broken, what can a rant from me achieve?
Very little, possibly?
What I can say is, the objectives of the care system, has changed dramatically, over the period that my wife has been needing to rely on a personal caring assistant.
When she was first assessed, her quality of life was considered, and as such, she was given a good number of hours for a PA. (Personal Assistant) After this latest assessment, it’s clear to see that this is no longer the case.
The question is more a case of, can you do basic things, such as dress and wash yourself, by yourself. If the answer is “yes”, well then, you’re OK then, and you don’t qualify for any help or hours.
(This is a very simplified basic way of looking at this, but there is also a large amount of truth there.)
From our experience, it seems that the social care system, is now more about cutting costs, which means services, as much as it possibly can.
Without going into too many details, the state of play that we find ourselves in at the present moment is, my wife’s PA hours have been cut by about two thirds, to a level where we think that they won’t meet her needs.
My wife is going to privately fund some extra hours for her PA from her savings, which will be gone after a certain amount of time. (What happens if/when that happens, will be looked at, if/when it happens.)
Even with the privately funded hours, we will see a reduction in the overall care hours. We’ll probably be looking to family and possibly friends to step in to cover any needed shortfalls.
I do believe that having family and friends cover people’s caring needs is part of the caring systems prefered policy now. If friends and family are covering it, then they don’t need to pay for it, kind of thinking.
To me, it seems like they are taking their policy advice from Homer Simpson when he uses the slogan, “Can’t someone else do it” in the episode called, “Trash of the Titans”.
As for me and my wife, we now have to remain focused on continuously seeking to forgive those who are causing us the grief and trials that we are facing. We continue to remember that “We are Blessed” and continue to look to Our Lord God, for what is the best way to go forward.
We do thank Our Lord God, because we Are Blessed!
We also pray for anyone who is facing a similar situation to us, but is missing the blessings that we have.
We pray that they would also be able to look to Our Lord God, and as they do, that He will meet with them, and be the help and guide to them, that He is to us.
Amen.
If you have found yourself upset, annoyed, angry or any other kind of negative feeling, for what you have read here, then I ask that you would forgive those who have caused you to feel this way. (Including me, if it’s needed.)
I don’t want this post to be a source of pain for people, but instead a light for the benefits and power of “Forgiveness”.
So, if you have a need to, please do consider giving it a go. You could try saying the next bit out loud, as many times as is needed, as a starting point???
“I forgive those who have upset me, in the presence of God, I forgive them.”
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That’s the official end of this post. I post this full in the knowledge that very few people are likely to read it.
It’s just how my posts tend to go, which is OK with me.
If you think that there is something here that should be heard by a larger audience, then please do consider clicking on a “like” or “share” function in whatever social media seems good to you.
If you would like to know more about me, I do have an “About” page.
I also have a post, that goes into the sad tale of what happened to us, to leave my wife, in our current situation. Link here
I also have a post, that goes into how we cope, in the here and now, as we wait, for Our Lord God, to heal my wife completely.
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Just for reference, there are a few links to posts about forgiveness and reconciliation, below.
Forgiveness is Key
How do we Forgive, when we Don’t want to?
The Release that Forgiveness Brings.
Forgiveness and Reconciliation are Two very Different Things
Reconciliation Matters
Wannabe Christian Doorman 