Martha Served

The Alzheimers Association reports that more than 12 million Americans gave an estimated 19.6 billion hours of unpaid care to people living with Alzheimers or another dementia in 2025 (2026 Alzheimers Disease Facts and Figures). Many of them are grown sons and daughters with jobs and children of their own, keeping a parent safe at home and wondering whether anyone sees what it costs.
Martha Served is a 30-day devotional through the home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus of Bethany. It is written for families caring for a parent with dementia: the daughter who does the pill organizer and the paperwork, the sibling who lives far away, and the spouse in the next room.
Martha opened her home to Jesus and then complained that she was left to do the serving alone. "Martha, Martha," the Lord replied, "you are worried and upset about many things" (Luke 10:41). When her brother was sick, she sent for Jesus, and He did not come in time. She met Him on the road and said what every caregiver has wanted to say: "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died" (John 11:21). And six days before the Passover, at a dinner for Jesus in that same house, the Gospel says simply: "Martha served" (John 12:2).
Alongside that story runs an original one. Margit, 46, is a bookkeeper in a small town in rural Wisconsin. Her father was a high school band director for thirty-eight years. Then one October morning he set out to buy birdseed and was found three hours later, an hour from home, telling the deputy he had a rehearsal at seven. Now he lives in her spare room. He calls her by her late mothers name, and he gets up at 2 a.m. to run a rehearsal. The county pairs her with Leland, a retired rural mail carrier who cared for his wife with dementia at home for seven and a half years. Over fifteen months of Tuesday mornings, they read the Bethany story together.
The six parts:
- The House at Bethany: opening your door, distraction and resentment, and the one thing that is necessary
- Twelve Hours of Daylight: the diagnosis, the long wait, sundowning, and the friends who stop coming
- If You Had Been Here: anger at God, the sibling who stays home, and the faith that still holds
- Honor Your Father: what honoring a parent does and does not require, money, locks, and hard decisions
- Martha Served: different gifts, extravagant love, memory care, and respite
- As Far as Bethany: the measure of our days, hospice, grief, and hope
Inside the book:
- 30 days. Every day includes a passage from the Berean Standard Bible, a Mentor and Student conversation, a reflection, "Todays Practice" (one concrete step), a one-line "Only One Thing," a prayer, and journal questions
- Honest: it does not promise that a parent will get better, and it does not recommend any medicine. It supports doctors, attorneys, and local aging services, and it says plainly that caregivers need help too
- Back matter: practical help (stages, safety and wandering, driving, legal and money matters, kinds of care, hospice, caring for yourself, and where to call), a chapter for siblings, friends, and churches, background on Bethany, a six-session group guide, and a Scripture index
Who its for:
- Adult children and spouses caring for someone with Alzheimers or another dementia
- Caregiver support groups, small groups, pastors, and church care teams
- Brothers, sisters, and friends who want to help
Margit, Leland, and everyone in Kesterfield are invented characters. This is a devotional, not medical, legal, or financial advice. It includes emergency and help-line information for the U.S. (911, the Alzheimers Association 24/7 Helpline, and 988). Written with the assistance of AI writing tools, under the authors direction. Scripture quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible (public domain). Every Scripture quotation was checked word for word against its source.