Praying into 2016: a Christian prayer thread for the New Year

[Tuo]

Happy New Year friends.

This thread is a safe space where anyone - regular, occasional visitor, lurker, committed Christian or waverer - is welcome to come and leave their prayers in the knowledge that they will be prayed for. No problem is too big or small to share here, and if you just want to come and say 'hi', that's fine too.

Looking back through our previous thread, we pray in particular for:

ALittleFaith - for good treatment for her anxiety; for better understanding from her boss; for the lovely Faithlet.

amberlight - for her work supporting people with autism, and for her and her family.

Anjelica27 - for her DS, who has mental health problems, and for Anjelica and her family.

BlackEyedSusan - for all that she has to juggle as a single mum, for her DC, and for her mum. Praying for a peaceful and happy 2016.

Dontbesilly - for her dad, who has been diagnosed with cancer, and for all who love and care for him; also for the medical team looking after him; for her DH's work situation; and for Don't's DDog who has a heart condition.

DutchOma - with gratitude for all she does to support people on this thread and elsewhere. Thinking of her especially as the anniversary of the loss of her beloved Bob approaches, in particular after the recent death of her brother as well. May she know God's closeness to her in her grief.

EdithSimcox - for her to be able to find ways to support and nurture her faith; and for understanding from her DP.

FaithLoveandHope - for clarity about what she wants (and what God wants) for her future.

HardyLeodicean - especially for her FIL.

IHopeYouStepOnALegoPiece - for her to find comfort and joy in exploring her faith; also for a good recovery from heart surgery for her best friend's dad.

JugglingFromHereToThere - for her search for rewarding work, for health, and for comfort and strength for her and the rest of her family following the tragic death of her nephew.

Kaykat - following her divorce from an abusive ex; for happiness for her and for her DS.

legohurtswhenyoustandonit - for her to feel more at home and accepted by her church.

LifeofBriony - for her relationship with her DH; also for her DS going back to university after Christmas.

LightnessofBeing - for her new church, and for energy to cope with her punishing work schedule.

MadHairDay - for her health, especially in the cold, wet winter months which are always so hard on her lungs.

Pandora97 - as she starts a new job in a new town for the new year following difficult and stressful times relating to a court case in recent months.

passportmess (formerly known as QuietIsland) - for a colleague whose husband is very ill, and for a university friend who has been diagnosed with cancer.

PatchworkTurtle - for healing in her relationship.

PositiveAttitude - for her DD1, who is depressed, to get the support she needs; for her DD3 and her DH to work through their relationship issues; for PA's DH to find work that makes him happier, for PA's DMum to continue to be happy in her (relatively) new care home and for PA's DDad to cope with her being there. Above all, we pray for PA herself, who is always there for others when they need her, to be happy and fulfilled in 2016.

QoF - for courage when she is feeling anxious.

ScouseQueen - for a full recovery from recent illness.

SESthebrave - for her DH, who has been working abroad, and for SES, juggling everything at home; for her DS to find ways of communicating, rather than lashing out, when he is frustrated; and for her to feel appreciated for the work she does at her church.

TheRealGracePoole - for her ministry to women in her area.

weegiemum - giving thanks for an improvement in her DD1's (borderline) anorexia; praying for weegiemum's own health and for the Master's course which she has undertaken.

And, as always, prayers for anyone I've forgotten (with apologies), for all who lurk but don't post, for 'old-timers' who haven't posted recently, and for newbies who may not have posted yet.

A prayer of St Teresa of Avila

Let nothing disturb you.
Let nothing frighten you.
All things pass away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
Those who have God
Find they lack nothing;
God alone suffices. Amen

Keeping prayers going for all, as I'm reading through.

((hugs)) for don't. have you thought of ringing the school to let them know that christmas was difficult for the children?

you are doing amazingly well too. so frustrating not being able to get answers. hoping that they get their arse into gear and sort out something for your dad.

grr to your mother undermining you. I am too hard on dd and ds rules the roost, apparently
good luck to your h starting a new job. it is a bit of wearing living with someone so pessimistic. mother drives me up the wall when she is so negative all the time, even though I know she is ill I know that when I start the new job the first day is very hard, the first week hard but by the third week it is beginning to be a bit more routine. depends what it is I suppose.

prayers for you. remember to take time for yourself.. as that lot up there ^^ keep reminding me! It all catches up with you in the end, usually when you are least expecting it, so try and let some of it out now. bitter experience

I am feeling a little better today. (was at the right at the bottom on new years eve) church was ok. seems promising. I liked the vicar. and they were a little older than me (at least not a lot younger) thus an adulter adult Quite a few people went to the trouble of making me feel welcome. If things go pear shaped with the new routine at current church then there is somewhere to go to.

please pray for dry feet. I am desperate to get boots/shoes that do not leak.

Did you have a good visit Oma. The candles were lovely.

oh for goodness sake I need no encouragement that hoovering and dusting do not need doing.... actually don't. after a bit it does not get visibly worse...

Yes, the visit was lovely, we let the candles burn down and then took all the decorations off the Christmas tree. Rose helped and put the nativity scene back in its box. She discovered a bug hotel on my window cill, no idea where they came from, but we just wiped them off with a cloth and a bit of disinfectant.
She made us laugh when i asked her whether she could have a look for one of the little men that belongs to the garage. She put her hands on her hips and said: "And where did you last have it?". She'll do well when she has children of her own, won't she?

I can not guarantee that all the little men for the garage were there when we left...

Well, there were two missing when I looked for them. One was lying by the small desk and the socket, the other one is probably under the bed or in the Lego box or somewhere. I thought I might get eagle eyed Rose to find it, but she was not up for it. Don't worry, it won't have gone far.

urgg. I could not sleep last night.(bedtime) I woke in the middle of the night after a bad dream and could not get back to sleep for a while... and now I am supposed to be awake... struggling to wake up.

back to school.

Best of luck BES

oh my goodness. Ihave caught up on some sleep but I have lost the ability to do anything else at all. supposed to be clearing out the hall for the delivery on thursday.

off to get the children. hoping the boots don;t leak. hoping there is not a melt down.

hoping I do not melt down.

ok dd has had a bit of a strop about playing ds's game. ds had a strop at the thought of playing her game. I am sitting in the corner rocking.

I need prayer and lots of it to get the hall sorted. tonight they will have the frozen dinner I have ready as a treatto me and I will either bulk that out with freezer veg and a tin of tomatoes or do me stir fry.

Good plan re the dinner BES*. Did you keep your feet dry?

no. must be a manufacturing fault. same place. need to go and get money back. need to go and get some other shoes from town first as I have no spares as the spares leak too. need to get money back on another pair too.

I am really struggling. making a real effort to keep calm. and it is only just working. think tiredness has a lot to do with it.

oh I don't think it helps that we are still waiting to find out what will happen with church.

Oh Bes. Glad you caught up on some sleep. It's the most important thing. The dinner idea sounds great and well organised. So sorry that your dc had a strop about the game. I bet first day back at school was quite a lot for them to contend with. Lots of chatty excitable children and then the work side.

You will make space for the delivery though. Why not do it in chunks of twenty minutes. Then go completely away from it and return after ten minutes break and have another bash. It's amazing what you can get done I find.

Good luck with the new boots. Wet socks and cold feet are not good. Hopefully you get a refund and find a fab replacement in the sale.

Dad's still in hospital. They can't find the stent they put in on Xmas eve and he's in agony. They upped the pain relief and he's zoned out. The doctor who operated on dad saw him yesterday and I explained that we are not thrilled with the surgery and what we consider the rush to discharge him. The doctor told me I should have said something about it and he wouldn't have been discharged. Really.....relatives views top the consultants in discharge plans....who knew? I said that perhaps if he had been in work during dads initial stay he would have heard everyone query both the pain dad was in and his fitness to leave the hospital. I suggested that a notice is put up beside patients beds informing relatives that they have the ultimate say in whether their relatives are fit for discharge or not and that the consultant will follow the relatives lead. Lol
Also apparently the consultant did visit dad on the day of discharge very early in the morning. Dad has no recollection whatsoever. We think dad was either still asleep with the affects of the drugs or zoned out on drugs. Either way he wasn't fit for the purpose of the consultantation. The notes on the day of the visit said he had a settled night bla bla nothing else. Nothing suggesting dad had a coherent and beneficial conversation with him before discharge.

On the other hand the oncologist is absolutely amazing. An angel on the earth. He is so busy but takes time and care with everyone. He kneeled at dad's bedside chair yesterday talking to him. He pushed him from clinic to the ward and has time and patience and compassion with patients and relatives. I will inform the hospital just how valuable and special he is and how grateful we are. He is a true blessing.

How are you all? Oma are you looking forward to the flight and the break away. Hoping you are feeling a bit better each day. Mad, how are you feeling today? Pa, how's your dd?

Thinking of you all and praying too.

what are they doing about the stent? finding the fecking thing will probably identify the cause of the pain

How are you too? you need to look after you too. Are things dh more positive at home? Is your mum still staying? And how did his new job go?

Oma, how are you today? thinking of you.

I have a neighbour covering the delivery slot when I am on the school run. and a soggy foot. (ok a soggy boot with soggy socks in as I come home and take them off, wash my feet and put clean socks on. put the soggy ones back on when I go out)

I need to finish the hall and kitchen in two days and find time to replace boots and possbily go to home group thingy tomorrow.

first is breakfast though. as I managed to sleep through 20 minutes of alarm going off.

Hope your dh's first day went well Dont and that your dad is somewhat better when you visit today. Glad that your dh is on the mend TUO.

As it happens I was at the doctor today and she has found a breast lump (smooth and mobile) so she is referring me for a mammogram etc. She did say as I was walking out that clinically she thought it wasn't presenting as malignant. I had explained about my friend's recent diagnosis and the doctor said that it's probably best to get it checked out. So within four weeks I'll get a call, probably sooner. I am upset and even more so when I look at ds but I think that's normal.

anyway fingers crossed...

sorry read the wrong post dont. Reading your new one now. My goodness - thank heavens for that Oncologist. He sounds lovely. I hope they find the stent.

Oh passport. I understand how you must be feeling. I had a lump checked out a few years ago and I was frightened. I had a mammogram and a scan which worried me more as I expected the mammogram to dismiss the lump. Anyway it turned out to be nothing sinister, can't remember what it was to be honest some boring lump. They did tell me that most lumps are nothing to worry about but we still worry about it anyway. Plus your a mum too and I worried about my dc too going through every worst case scenario in my head. Please try to keep positive and reassure yourself that most lumps are nothing to worry about. It's great that you went to the gp and hopefully you will be seen far sooner than they said. I will be thinking of you and praying too. Praying for a positive outcome and for your lump to be so boring and normal. They said that about my lump and I haven't been so pleased to be described as boring and normal thinking of you

Dh loves, absolutely loves his new job. I am delighted in seeing him looking so happy. I hadn't estimated just how down he was in the old job until he was gushing about the new one. I am beyond relief. He used to come home and offload his days and he he was so miserable and he has been walking in full of positivity it's brilliant and just two days in. Long may it continue.

Bes the thought of putting on soggy socks is making me feel cold. Your braver than me. Could you perhaps put small freezer bags over your clean dry socks and then put your boots on. As a temporary measure. My mum made us do that as kids when we had snow and wore wellies. My sister was forever Nipping home for mum to tip snow out of her wellies and putting them back on again winding her flares round her ankles so her trousers fit in the wellies I digress

Off to drive to the hospital to see my dad and collect my mum who is staying over tonight. Hopefully I will have stent news.

Tuo how is your dh getting on? Is he recovering well?

oh passport. praying.

I have done a bit more on the kitchen. I need to do more than I have achieved already. there is always the shovel into carrier bags and dump in another room method. which is why my room is a bloody mess and inaccesible as this is what I did when the fridge came over two years ago

I am a complete and utter slattern.

... and I need help. kick up the arse

Dont praying for you and your dad, that the hospital will get their act together for your dad and sort out what is going on.

Passport praying for peace and calm for you and a quick appointment to put your mind at rest.

Thanks for asking about DD1. She is doing well. She has been taking her antidepressants and I know it is too soon for any real affect, but just taking them and being at home with us does seem to be keeping her calm and positive. She has decisions to make about her future, which is concerning her. Does she go back to uni, or stay with us here and see if she can be allowed to finish her uni course as a distance learner? Which leads on to does she look for a job here, or does she look for another job away at uni because her old job has been causing so much stress. A bit of guidance and wisdom would be good.....

PA, prayers for your dd that she can consider all her options for her future and she can make a decision that works for her and she is happy with. Being at home with family will be a good environment for her to be in to think things through and make a decision. Hoping she feels better soon and takes time to consider everything and it all works out well for her.

How are things with your dad and mum with the home? Is your mum still having enjoying it and how is your dad doing?

Passport, how are you feeling today? Hope you slept well and are keeping positive and the appointment comes through quickly for you.

Mums staying with us and today she wants to keep busy and asked me if she can help me with my ironing pile. It's huge. I said that we can tackle it together. I have two irons and only one ironing board which is a pity as we could really plough through it together. Dh took the tree down last night and hoovered everywhere and I came home from the hospital to a slightly more organised home which makes me feel a lot better. If you live near me bes, we can pop over and help you out for a few hours with your current mission. Hoping your boots don't leak too much today and you get a new pair soon.

Now that would be lovely if you two could link up for mutual support. Dont and BES

oh God Mother is on the phone.