Photo: Canva
This is now early in 2026. I find myself in a new location. Yes, I’m still at MarthaGrimmBrady.com, but I’m at Wix instead of Fistbump. I needed to save money and this seemed a way to do it as well as provide possible income. We’ll see.
Welcome!
I’m writing to welcome you to this space. It is for older women. Anyone who wants to read over our shoulders is welcome as well. Some of you have caregiving in your past, present, or may have it in your future.
I find myself on the verge of widowhood. It may be months still, but I have become an expert in caregiving, both as a professional nurse and as the wife of a stroke patient. He has now been part of Hospice Care since not long before Thanksgiving due to his weight loss. He weighs less than 100 pounds now.
It has been a little over 10 years since Ron’s first stroke. We have walked through 4 strokes, then vascular dementia (it hasn’t gotten as bad as it could have.) But it hasn’t been an easy walk…for either of us. He has many problems with swallowing and can only eat a pureed diet.
All of you are aging and that is definitely a challenge. It is a life stage full of good-byes. We say good-bye to our kids as they grow up, sometimes move away, marry and have a family, generally making their way in the world. Often we move to a new part of the country to live near our kids or retire in a pretty area. In doing so, we say good-bye to the familiar and often our long term and close friends. At some point, we say good-bye to our health and to loved ones as they die. In the process of all these good-byes, our faith is tested.
Do you feel alone? Disappointed? Hopeless?
We often feel alone in our suffering. We may even feel disappointed with God or feel hesitant to say it outloud. Other Christians talk about their hope in Christ and we aren’t sure what they are talking about! Some of us who are caregiving are up to our ears in diapers, dealing with confusion and forgetfulness all around us and we wonder if we will ever have a cogent thought again.
Grief is constantly popping up either because of death or because of the losses we are suffering. Some days, we aren’t certain how to handle it all. If there was ever a time we needed to have hope, it was in this stage of life. It’s not the hope as in “I hope it doesn’t rain.” It is the hope found in the Bible that means confident assurance. A helpful definition of Biblical hope is the following: hope is confident assurance based on the person and promises of God. That is what I talk about a lot here.
- Who I write to
- What do I have to say to you?
- How am I going to communicate it?
Where do I go from here?
Each older woman is adjusting to the unique changes and challenges old age has brought to her.
I help her become aware of the hope she finds in Christ,
as she places her confident assurance in the person and promises of God,
realizing this isn’t the final chapter of her story.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them,
they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.Psalm 139:16-18 ESV
updated and rewritten 1/13/26
