Into the New Year a Whole Lot Lighter

This morning, I lay in my bed from 5 - 7 pondering. I awoke hurting. In fact, I slept hurting. My body is definitely not without pain. I began to think about this: What if every physical pain I have was brought on by taking on a burden I was not designed to carry. Psalm 55:22 says, "Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain you." Could my aches and pains be there because of emotional wounds inflicted by myself when taking on what belongs to God? I began to name every emotional burden that I could think of and I gave them to God. Where I was having trouble letting go, I asked God to take them from me. Then I asked for His healing in those areas. I've asked that He show me how to live each day without allowing myself to be burdened with heartaches and worries too big for me.
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have sent Your Son into the world as one of us to save us and show us how to live. Help us to take to heart the words of Jesus: "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me for I am gentle and humbe in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light."
Thank you, Father, that I can end the year and go forth into the new one with this assurance.

Every day is New

Things that I thought I dealt with in the past, do appear again...and again...and again. Just as God supplied His people with manna in the desert (just enough for that day), we are given the grace to deal with all we will encounter each day - one day at a time. Some of the issues we face are huge and sometimes the path to health and wholeness is marked with the blood of wounds not yet whole. There are many hurts we deal with, that took a long time of festering and poison and improper dressing that we find we are faced with today. Healing will likely not come in one day. Healing is a process. It is a determination to pursue wholeness. It is a renewing of vows to remain true to that which brings health. It's more than a one time pursuit within a day.
Healing in my life has always involved faith. Faith in what? Not faith in the fact that I will heal. Not faith that circumstances or people will change. No, it is not this. It is faith in He who heals. It is faith in my Creator - my Sustainer. There is no magic formula for healing. But there is well being and joy in the presence of my Healer. There is comfort in knowing He knows the end from the beginning. There is power in knowing that God is love. There is deliverance in knowing that it will come - in His time, and in His way. In His Presence I am reminded that joys unspeakable are sure to come ...for those who wait on Him.

Not my Words

Today let the God news be told! Today I worship and celebrate the birth of our Lord.
His Words: "For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you; you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest!

His Comfort

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." (Matthew 5:4)

I have on many occassions mourned certain losses, and some of those losses are associated with Parkinson's disease. I have known the pure joy of moving effortlessly across a room or moving in perfect time to music.... and those are things that I am not so good at as I used to be. There are many things that I'm not so good at any more. I feel the loss of these things, but it's all good in the end. My Lord offers sweet comfort and I draw close to Him as He pours out His loving Spirit upon me. Think about it! The God of all creation - the Creator of all that there is - the One who sustains every living thing that there is.......... It is HE who comforts me. I have His affections. His eye is on me!
The sadness and grief and mourning for whatever it may be, becomes almost sweet as I receive comfort from the One who matters most of all. Ponder this. Meditate upon it. My pain is followed by the comfort of the one and only God. Words cannot begin to describe how this satisfies, delights, calms and quiets me.

The Deep Waters of Pain

Physical pain.......... it is constant. What would life be without it?
People watch us as we navigate the rough waters of pain. They see our true character as day after day as we respond to it.
I wonder what my daily life says about my Lord? Do I let His character and His pure and loving heart shine through me or do I show little or no evidence that there is a God - who is the Creator, Sustainer, Shepherd?

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for this day, because You have designed it. I am blessed because as I submit to all that You have chosen to bring into my life this day, You will be there with me. May my life be an example to the world around me of Your unfailing love. Please let them take note of how gently and lovingly You guide me through the waters of pain....... And if these waters get deeper, please give me the same spirit that Jesus had - He did not open His mouth to utter protest or anger when the time of His crucifixion was at hand. Instead He trusted You and relied upon Your power and love to get Him through. He trusted in Your purpose for Him even though it seemed that there could not possibly be anything good that could come from His agonizing death.
I will cling to this promise: "When you pass through the waters I will be with you. And when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze, for I am the Lord your God, the holy One of Israel." - Isaiah 43:2

Christmas

It's Christmas. It's time to celebrate the birth of the Savior of the world born long ago.


But somehow we haved made it into what it was not designed to be. The word "Christmas" has "Christ" in it. But does our celebration acknowledge that Jesus Christ was born - the Savior of the world? We have made Him unwelcome in our schools and our government. We have rejected His ways of living, and we have rejected His love.





Do we even know the real meaning of love?The Bible says, "Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth: bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy they will be done away; if there are tongues they will cease; if there is knowledge it will be done away......."





Many people cannot get out and about to buy gifts and travel to see family, or even to worship in church this Christmass season because of illness and disabilities. But, I'm thinking that these people can give the best gift of all. Love. In a thousand little ways, the brothers and sisters in Christ, whose bodies are less than whole, have the time to pray for loved ones, the saved and the unsaved, the good and the bad.





Those who are homebound can pray. This is a powerful and loving gift. The only thing it will cost you is time.





Heavenly Father, take my life and make it a prayer.....

Silence

Ecclesiastes 3:7 says there is a time to be silent and a time to speak. I haven't written anything lately or shared my story with anyone in recent days. I began to feel a little guilty about neglecting my blog, until I realized that silence is an acceptable thing to God.
Having Parkinson's Disease gives me many legitimate reasons to complain or even to focus on it and talk about it. But sometimes silence is better.
In silence I convey my deepest emotions, and in silence I listen. I have much to say about this disease and what it has taught me, but sometimes silence is better.

Heavenly Father, like the psalmist, my soul waits in silence for You only (Psalm 60:1). In Your Word - the Bible - you speak of a time when there was silence in heaven for about a half hour (Revelation 8:1). Help me to pull up from the silent depths of my heart - indeed from all of me -every thought, feeling, insurmountable problem, and fear inspiring thing there is that resides there, and in silence, help me to give it to You. In silence, by faith, help me to receive all of Your love for me. In silence help me to testify to Your great love so that the world would hear and know that You are God. Let my silence be godly. Thank You for silence.