Christian prayer thread

[Dutchoma]

Just starting a new thread without any embellishments so it doesn't run out.
Please add any concerns/witterings/names to it.
Love to you all.

edd prayers for you dd1 and for you- it must be worrying for you.

oma glad you're continuing to recover.

Numerous pancakes eaten by dc here and cooked by dh - who offered.

Prayers for all as we come in to lent. Def going to try oma's suggestion. Plus going to try 5 min exercise every day. Small but may help.

dd has her first choice of secondary school.

That's wonderful BES

That's wonderful BES

Yay Bes. That's really good news. I'm delighted for her.

😀bes

Could I ask for some prayer?
I've been unwell for about 3 months, was taken into hospital for 2 weeks in Jan and let out no further forward. I've been so weak I've been housebound in the month since, feel sick and can barely eat, and have never felt so ill in all my life.
I just had a CT scan yesterday to check for, amongst other things, pancreatic cancer.

I can't change what this mystery illness is or isn't, but I'm struggling to stay even remotely positive and my lovely DH, almost adult DDs and parents are struggling with the worry. My DFather was taken into hospital with heart problems last week and is now, mercifully, slowly recovering. We're going through difficult days and any prayer would be great.

I will in turn pray for those on here. Thank you!

Praying for you and all your family music.

Welcome musicposy. So sorry to hear of your troubles. Of course I will pray for you and share in the ups and downs of your illness. Not knowing what is wrong is very worrying in itself, having a possible diagnosis of cancer is terrifying. Feel free to 'vent' here as much as you like, even if you do not want to share details with your family so as not to worry them. I'm glad your dfather is now on the mend.

Sorry to hear of your health troubles musicposy and those of your dfather. You must feel at your wits ends. Praying for strength for you and your loved ones and for good news from your doctors.

Thank you so much for your prayers and words of support . It's good to have somewhere to vent, like you say.

music

off ot get ds. I forgot to pack his snacks this morning. he will be v cross. meeting after school so an hour hanging about.

Prayers for you musicposy that sounds enormously stressful and difficult. I pray that your DF recovers and that you get some answers from the scan to help with treatments.

bes fantastic news about your DD's school. Re snacks, mistakes happen, my DS has been in tears at school because I packed the wrong thing. I try to get him involved in packing his own bag, but then i am policing it to stop half the house going in.

Orchid exercise will help. Good idea.

Prayers all around

the glue is just drying on the world book day costume.

nowt like leaving it to the last minute. apart from the glue it was finished before midnight which is not the normal practise here.

So, I am definitely low carb no sugar for Lent. One side effect of the stress of the past few months is there seems to be more of me around the waist and thighs. Given that I cannot afford a new wardrobe, adjusting diet and adding exercise seems the way to go I think I need to look after my earthly body a bit more here to do justice to God's investment in me.

Wishing you all a pleasant day and the blessings of Gods love

Yes, that's the effect of cortisol the stress hormone - fat around the waist.

Walking destresses the mind, gets you into the fresh air and burns calories.

My wardrobe features elastic waist bands but I've been 'expanding' without doing anything about it.

Anyway, as part of loving ourselves, as the beloved, we need to look after ourselves and nourish ourselves properly.

My Lenten reading hasn't arrived by post so I'm feeling a bit deprived!

My thoughts this morning are with those who are I'll - Don't and family and Musicposy and the other posters on this thread who have these concerns.

Ill not I'll. Sorry.

Yes, that's the effect of cortisol the stress hormone - fat around the waist

Too true.

I'll happily have anyone's spare fat but all the best in your Lenten efforts!

I remember world book day - my DDs are 17 and 21 and it's quite a relief not to have to pull a costume out of nothing, usually at the last minute! DD1 had singing and dance assessments today and they went well (she's at full time performing arts school) so that's one less stress for her. She organised her own costumes - I just get the lovely pictures and none of the effort!

My DDad went the dr yesterday and they've doubled his beta blockers. The doctor seems to have it under control which is good. I'm very shaky today and my pulse is sky high every time I move, but trying to stay calm and positive. Thank you for all the prayers and good wishes.

Oh posy I hope you did not find the comments insensitive. I would happily give you my extra waist if it were possible, but in the absence of that, I will pray for your recovery. I saw a colleague today who had been off for some weeks ill and lost weight, which reminded me that weight loss is not always a good thing. Prayers for your DDad as well. Well done to DD.

Not at all, Cocoa! I certainly don't want to come on to a long standing thread and make people feel they have to watch what they say. I too usually give up chocolate for lent - just not this year. One of my friends and I keep joking that we'd both like it if I could have some of her weight - I'm trying to laugh where I can! Thank you for the prayers and hope your lent sacrifices have rewards on your waist as well as spiritual

Hello (waves cautiously). I'm a long time lurker who used to post here under a previous name and received an immense amount of support. I'm currently going through a really bad phase of depression and things truly hit rock bottom last week when I tried to commit suicide. As somebody on the mental health board told me, perhaps that's the turning point for me, for one can't feel much lower than at that point. If I'm honest I've drawn away from this board as I've been really struggling in my relationship with God and with the church - which I find sometimes happens when I hit low points. Although perhaps those times are the times I need to draw most closely to God.

Anyway, this lent I decided to not only give up something, but to take on more reading, something which I have neglected recently because of my depression. Last year at Greenbelt I bought a book, "Soulfulness" by Brian Draper. It's about mindfulness within the Christian tradition and how by being mindful we can become closer to God and give full outward expression "to our unique inner aliveness". I haven't even picked it up since I bought it. But today something called me to pick it up. Within the first 5 pages Brian quotes a passage from Luke, "For what does it profit [anyone] to gain the whole world and forfeit their soul". This was also in my Sacred Space Lent reading for today and this afternoon I received a letter from the primary mental health team offering for me to go on a mindfulness course - something which I have no recollection of discussing with the psychiatrist last week. All these little coincidences, they seem little but fill me with the sense that God is speaking to me and within me. It saddens me that I have felt so distant from Him in the last few months but today I feel so completely loved and held by Him.

I don't really know what I want from posting, perhaps there's needs be no other person than to want to share this experience and to slowly reach out for the support that I need.

Sadandanxious I am very sorry to hear of your troubles and this past week must have been so hard for you.

I think we all have faith ups and downs. I have only recently rejoined a Church community after some decades (!) away. I suppose you might say I was a lurker in real life!

I am sure you will find the mindfulness courses helpful and how wonderful that you have Lent reading on the subject. I am glad that you are feeling closer to God. I was reading about discernment today and about how to connect with God's movement in everyday life. I will say a prayer for you, that this Lent will be a time of peace and stability for you. God bless you. x

Thank you Lissette, your thoughts and your prayers are very much appreciated. I am a little concerned I may be taking on too much with the mindfulness one evening a week and counselling another evening a week but I think I'll try the mindfulness and see how it goes. If it feels too much I can chat to them and hopefully get myself on a later course once I've done more counselling.

Welcome (back) sadandanxious, how very frightening to go so low as not to want to be here any more. I'm so glad you got some support and also that you are able to reconnect with your Christian faith.
As you may have seen earlier in the thread, our lent 'give up' is giving up not loving ourselves and taking up the position of 'the Beloved'. I hope you can join us in that and see yourself as 'Beloved' .
Musicposy I hope that our prayers have helped you, even though you have not been feeling so well today.