“What is it?”

In Exodus 16 we are given the story of a formerly enslaved people, venturing out into wilderness at the leadership of Moses, and ultimately a God who had miraculously rescued them from bondage. However, with limited food and resources they find themselves desperate in a strange wasteland. God provides for them in a way formerly unheard of. “…and in the morning dew lay around the camp. And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.”

Later in the Scriptures, Jesus would come to equate Himself with that “Bread of Heaven”, the ultimate provision for our deepest and most perennial needs. When you are entrenched in caregiving, every day can feel like a struggle to maintain just enough emotional, physical, psychological and spiritual strength to make it to the next day. I can remember many mornings during our caregiver journey praying and asking the Lord for just enough strength for today. What we needed, and what many caregivers need every day is spiritual “Manna” - the supernatural and miraculous provision of the Spirit of God to extend our capabilities, our mental and physical stamina, and our spiritual endurance to not only care well, but to love and serve well, by the power and strength of Jesus Himself, our Manna from Heaven.

Our hope and prayer with this “Manna for Caregivers” site is that it will help connect you to the ever-present and ever-sustaining power of God on your own sacred caregiving journey.