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

no-one deserves God's love, but he lavished it on us anyway.

anyway I am sure I have wrinkly toes from standing in soggy carpet. got to wash the children in the morning. set the alarm for a couple of hours time so I can go and empty the fridge drawer that is under the radiator...

anyway. it's not fair!

so catalogue of broken

now lists tv/dvd/siganal/reecption ie no tv.

computer

fridge freezer... limping along.

new cooker still in hall... (being a shelf) )(sorry oma)

ah well... at least it is not a refugee camp though it looks like it

Oh BES, what a misery. I hope you will be able to find a plumber to mend the radiator, maybe AgeUK (yes, I do realise you do not fall in that category yet) can help as they keep a list of reliable craftsmen.

NewMama how lovely to have you on the thread. Congratulations on the birth of your daughter and on your freedom from alcoholism.
I'm not so sure that I agree with you that 'everything in this world happens for a reason'. Sometimes sh*t happens and there is clearly no reason behind it and I'm sure God grieves with us over the senseless deaths of children (for instance).
But God is good all the time, through the good and the bad and sometimes He can bring good out of bad.
The promise of God has never been that we would not have suffering (look at what happened to Jesus) but that He would be with us in the suffering.
So what I would say to you is: enjoy the good times without looking over your shoulder to see if black clouds are coming. They may well do, but God will, at that time, give you the strength to cope. It is a shame to spoil the good times by fear, isn't it? Does that make sense?.

I have a number to ring.

need sleep. up every two hours

Prayers for your parents Edith. Hoping everyone and everything will be fine for you all. I understand how you must be feeling and worrying about them.

BES prayers for you and everything you have going on at the moment. Honestly, you must have a will of iron to carry on day after day with everything you need to cope with and doing it on your own is remarkable. Praying for you for all things house to work properly and for all things non house to go smoothly too.

Newmama, I just want to echo what has been said before. Also I think that when you said you were pushed to your faith as a means of survival, it's proof of your faith not being fake as you suggest. You reached for your faith instead of alcohol or something else when you were going through a terrible time.

God has sent you a wonderful gift of a child and you will do your dd proud. He will be with you no matter what you do and will continue to love you unconditionally. Don't worry about pulling things apart to analyse them, enjoy your dd and the new life you have now. Be proud of yourself and reassured of God's love for you

just had to give myself a good talking to saying that standing in the midle of the living room screaming is not going to help.

please pray as I play a giant flat sized game of tetris and on e of those sliding puxzzles where you can move one step at a time.

I am cleaning the bottom part of the windows in the living room so I can dry the washing on the sill. (about fifty millionty steps back from getting the radiator sorted)

children sletp downstairs. need to bring down dd's bed so I can move ds's bed so we can get at the leak to get it mended.

there is also an easel and sand tray to move. (if you are the mum I told this to in the playground please do not out me!)

please pray for clarity of mind to work out priorities, and the strength of will to continue. and sleep. I am getting up every two hours to empty the radiator tray. might help if I could find a bigger tray.

oh and if anyone has time to google which carpet cleaner is best. (something that send hot soapy water through the carpet and suck it up again) it would really help. need to buy one as the carpet is sodden. want one that will work well but middle of the range pricish. will be using my birthday money.

this is one you can hire for the weekend. Do you want me to look at one you can buy as well?

May not be as strong as you need but I always get Rug Doctor, can look online as they often have them in supermarket to pick up. Quite inexpensive but effective

BES - hiring one might be a good idea and rug doctor is good for this. They are bulky things to store for a little used electrical item so that is why we hire them. If your keen to buy one, what about Argos? They have one at half price just now. Think it was 79.99 iirc.

Really feel for you. Just wish I could help you. Lack of sleep on top of everything is not good. Could you get anyone close by to help you with this? I guess it's not ideal but the dc dad could he not help? You are going to end up shattered and I really feel for you. If I can do anything to help from here please shout out.

Don't worry about shouting in the lounge when it gets too much but do come and shout about it here. It will do you good, give you a tiny break and you will be supported.

Here have these just wish they were the real things

want to buy one as we would use it a lot.

too cross to look now as just driven to school for an appointment with physio who did not bloomin turn up til 25 minutes after the appointment time, without ringing through and I was back home before they arrived and can not get back for it. it will go ahead with dc anyway. but annoyed.

Argos seems to have a good selection. Depends on your budget but quite a few are reduced and have good customer ratings. They also sell the shampoo solution to go with it so you can crack on straight away.

Really sorry about the appointment. It's so annoying and sometimes people don't realise how these things impact on some families. Hoping you get a peaceful and smooth running evening and lots of sleep. Prayers x

flagging.

very slow progress today but also have to do things like washing and shopping!

Been battling with a teacher at dd school who has made so many promises to sort out one particular area. Each reply to a question such as 'why haven't you gotten back to me in 11 oh yes 11 months' is so frustratingly ignored. I even emailed him an email just asking this. Thinking right, you can't wriggle out of this and he did.

Anyway today he wrote to me. Denies ever having a conversation by any medium with me or dd regarding her options and career choice. I have copies of two emails to and from him discussing the very subject.

I quoted him. Gave reference to the date and time of the emails and offered him a copy.

At first I felt a bit smug but this is waring off as I fear that he will ignore this proof, nothing will happen and I will now be forced to raise a grievance through the grievance procedure.

Aaaaagh I am so frustrated. Angry he is blatantly lying, smug I have actually got proof and sad that I normally would ring dad up to discuss wording the emails and I can't. So I am keeping calm and carrying on. Reminding myself of Winston Churchill who said enemies came from standing up for something and I am not dropping this issue with school.

That felt much better out than in I can say x

Definitely better out than in. It is such a nuisance when people, especially people in authority start lying and messing about, good on you for standing up for dd. It is a pain having to go through an official grievance procedure, but sometimes the only way to achieve something. How you must miss your father's wisdom and care. We, on the prayer thread do our best, but it's no comparison. Is a word with the head of year before you start anything official a possibility?
Prayers continuing for you BES, I hope you got your shopping and washing done as well as a bit extra. When is the plumber coming?

when he can find the fecking radiator... been in the library helping dd with homework due to broken computer.

got to sort tea. need to lie down and sleep. shattered. plodding on doing a bit at a time.

please pray for endurance

BES - oh my goodness. Things sound manic there. How's the wet carpet and the carpet cleaner search going? I fear it's on your never ending, always growing, to do list. Did you get some sleep? Prayers!!!

Oma I think a chat with head of year might work. Trouble is this teacher is head of a subject and fairly high up too. His letter denying and request for help by any medium was so bold, so adamant and so putting me in my place, that I feel that I need to use it, the email proof, as assertively as he denied things. He's really messed up with dd and her career choices and made a huge mistake and is either glossing over it, ignoring it or lying.

I hate Conflict though. Recently there was a school trip. I rang school offering to pay for it and for details. Was given the rough details and assured that there was no cost etc.

Anyway the two coaches arrived and it turned out that not enough seats were available on the coaches. So dd was asked to stand. She thought this was dangerous and unfair. The solution was for another student who had passed his test only four months earlier, to take dd and four other students in his car. No teacher as chaperone. Noone following them. What would have happened if they had an accident?? I was furious. The teacher making the decision is so strict normally, banning driving lessons in free periods as it means the students are off the premises and need to be safe in school etc and does this, which is ridiculous. Dd didn't want me to speak to school about this as she fears a reprisal. Yet she is being treated badly, in two areas already. I think it needs to stop and she thinks a chat would make it worse. So difficult as she has to attend the school.

Praying for things to go smoothly.

So there were six people in the car of a newly qualified driver? Thank God it ended well. It is utterly ridiculous though, but I can understand your daughter not wanting to speak to the school. She is what? 15 nearly 16? A young adult who needs to learn to sort her own issues. Very hard to stand by and see it go pear shaped. If the teacher's mistake is seriously affected her future you will need to raise it with the school. If you can print all emails you have sent to the teacher (I am an email hoarder, but realise not everyone is) and first tackle the teacher again with the evidence, if you don't get anywhere take it further. There does not need to be any conflict, you just need to sort things out. Be guided by your daughter's wishes ('Don't make a FUSS, Mum') though.
Prayers for a sensible outcome.

trying to do normal jobs before tackling their room and dismantling bed.

please pray for more endurance and lack of hormonal stress... oh yes. double whammy.

Hello all. Sorry to have been away so long. I've been really busy and now am horribly under the weather too. I'm never ill and am very bad at just stopping, though I know that's what I need to do now in order to get better. (I've just got a cold, sore throat, cough, kind of thing, but with a temperature too, so it's just really grinding me down.)

Anyway... enough of me!

Newmama - welcome to the thread and congratulations on the birth of your DD. She is lucky to have you as her mother, you know. It's hard to free yourself of alcoholism and you must have worked so hard to be clean and healthy for her. That's a really important thing for you to tell yourself. Don't worry about your faith: faith for all of us takes different forms at different times in our lives and there is no one-size-fits-all approach. I think it's enough for you to turn, in whatever way makes sense to you, to that 'higher power' that you talked about. Do come back and tell us how you're getting on with your beautiful baby. Praying for you and for her as you step into the future together.

BES - what a lot of stuff you're juggling as ever. Prayers for peace, dry carpets, and space to breathe.

Oma - how are you?

Has anyone heard from MHD? Praying for her health and for her family's future direction.

Don't - that sounds dreadful about your DD and the lack of support from school; I'd definitely ignore her objections and go in all guns blazing... but then again my DDs roll their eyes at me and tell me I'm 'so embarrassing' about 10 times a day, so I'm not necessarily a good role model! How is your mum doing? And how are you? Prayers for your whole family at this time.

Edith - prayers for you and DP, and for your parents.

Prayers too for PA with all that she has to juggle.

And prayers for anyone who reads this thread, whether regular or passer-by, lurker or prolific poster.

the computer has been working for a while now it is nudey... ie we have taken off its internal fur coat! hoping that it will work long enough for homework and stuff etc. too long and I may never get any housework done! It has been a good way to wean me off spending too long on teh computer.

ex is busy taking his stuff away. dismantling his hi-fi.