Ambushed by Grace by Shelly Beach

"The mystery of care-giving is the mystery of grace", says author Shelly Beach in her book Ambushed by Grace. This book is an inspirational book to help those that are finding themselves on the caregiving road. This journey though at times my seem hard and senseless if we allow God to do his work we will come to the end of journey transformed into a new being.

This book offers practical advice, web sites, phone numbers and wisdom from experts in the field of geriatrics and family counseling. This book was written with the purpose to draw you, the reader (caregiver), into the Word of God and to sensitize you to the work of the Spirit of god in your life. The goal of this book, and care-giving for that matter, is to help the reader (caregiver) see the need to carry out the double-love command.

You'll enjoy sprinkled through each chapter:
Roadside Rest - Scripture meditations
Roadside Realities - a static or fact
Roadside Assistance - a tip giving help or ideas

At the close of each chapter the author shares some meditation and personal application questions. Along with scriptures for further meditations, a prayer and resources that go along with the chapter theme.
Chapter themes include:

• expectations and realities of care-giving
  
• imperatives of caregiving
  
• helping us see our loved one in a new way
• forgiveness
• * 5 steps to forgiveness
• * 6 garments we must put on to make forgiveness possible
• dealing with selfishness using the MARIE principle
• dealing with guilt and grime (hidden dust bunnies)
• basic steps for building boundaries sharing the PAUSE principle
  
• our role as conduits of God's grace; being a grace dumper
  
• cultivating a Spirit of Joy
• surviving caregiving
  
• maturing
  

While caregiving is messy work it teaches us things we'd probably never learn and gives us opportunities that we'd not have in ways we may have never known. Caregiving is hard work. It is a journey. Caregiving comes in many shapes and forms. Where caregiving is concerned you can never give a fraction of what you receive in return if completed by the double-love command.

You'll find helpful things such as:

• caregiver resource listings
• things to consider if elderly should move in with you
• tips on caregiver burnout
• tips on phone conversations
• list of caregiver's helpful tasks
• tips on long-distance caregiving
  
• tips for improving communication
• suggestions for creating shared stories
• suggestions for decision-making and compromise
• pages to fill in with vital information for quick references
• assessing the elderly's driving
• overseeing finances
• and also turning toward you, yourself, becoming the elder one day

With both my parents' caregiving is getting closer, one has Parkinson's and the other Crohn's disease, I found the long-distance caregiving tips helpful since they live over 800 miles away. There is so much good information in this book. I very highly recommend this book to any person that is presently in a caregiving role or finds themselves in one sometime down life's road.

A copy of this book was provided for this review by KCWC.

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