Some days during the long years of caregiving, I wasn’t sure I could keep going. But God’s covenant held when everything else felt like it might fall apart.
When the Wall Is All You’ve Got
I couldn’t go one more step.
Exhausted, I leaned my body against the wall and let it support me. This had been going on far too long. People hurried past me, barely glancing at the weary woman with the limp hair and the strained face.
I took a deep breath and prayed.
“God, give me the strength. I need to do this. I need to keep my promise.”
I felt a surge within me. Not energy, not strength. Just the quiet and affirming knowledge that if I put one foot in front of the other, God would get me through it.
“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.” —Jeremiah 31:31
A covenant is not merely a promise, but a heartfelt commitment that binds your soul to God.
Throughout scripture, God makes covenants with humanity—Noah, Abraham, Moses—each one a sacred agreement revealing His love and mercy. But the New Covenant promised in Jeremiah 31 changes everything: it offers redemption through grace.
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, held the first Covenant Renewal Service in 1755. Adapted from a Puritan ritual, it’s a time of reflection, confession, and recommitment to discipleship. As our Pastor Amy recently reminded us, the Hebrew word for “covenant” is berith—a blood-bound promise.
In the New Covenant, Jesus Himself is the sacrifice that binds us to God. And as we wait for His return, we’re invited to “lay our service before the Lord as our acts and deeds.”
I wish I could say I handled it all with grace and faith, but the truth is messier.
There were days I wanted to run. Days I couldn’t hear God through the noise. Days when I would sit in the car before going into a hospital room, whispering prayers through clenched teeth.
Ron’s illnesses were both physical and mental. There were hospital stays, relapses, long nights, and fragile mornings. I was his caregiver for nineteen years. I also worked multiple jobs to keep us afloat. I went to graduate school. I raised our three children.
Sometimes I did all of it in a single, long day.
And I know I didn’t do it alone.
Every time I reached my limit, God showed up. Quietly. Faithfully.
“One more step,” He would whisper. “Just one more. I’ll be there.”
The Promise That Carried Me
I’ve made two covenants in my life.
The first was when I accepted Jesus as my Savior at fourteen. The second was when I married Ron and promised, before God, to love and care for him “in sickness and in health.”
I kept that promise, one imperfect day at a time.
Covenant is not about perfection—it’s about perseverance fueled by grace.
And that’s how we’re called to walk with God, too. Not perfectly. But with persistent awareness of His presence. With faithfulness, even in weariness. With love, even when the feeling runs dry.
Lord, You are the keeper of promises, the faithful One who walks with us through every storm. When we are weary, carry us. When we are uncertain, guide us. Help us honor the covenants we’ve made—with You and with each other—one day at a time. Let our lives speak of Your grace. Amen.
Have you made a covenant with God? How can you keep it?
