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.

Or I trigger process and know that I did everything I could and the decision was not mine. I don't know if I have the courage to walk that path.

Cocoax in terms of making decisions generally, I’m pretty good at deciding in favour of something which will be difficult in the short term but which will have long term gains. Particularly if a principle is to be defended.
But I am more cautious and tend not to do things (even if the principle is one I agree with) – when there are too many variables and the situation could easily get out of hand, sending higher stress levels. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valour – some situations are such that it is better not to confront. I wish you the support of the Holy Spirit as you make your decision.
You mentioned the Advent reading (and thanks for your kind thoughts). As it happens I am reading Advent prayers and letters from Dietrich Bonhoeffer – a Lutheran pastor held by the Gestapo. He made the decision to return from the US in 1939. He had sanctuary there but felt his country needed him. So he made the decision to return to Germany after only a short while in America. He bravely stood against the Nazis and the Advent prayers are derived from Advent 1943, which he spent in prison. He describes the act of waiting which is what Advent is all about (and as he wryly observed prison is all about waiting too). He points out that ‘Not everyone can wait: neither the sated nor the satisfied nor those without respect can wait. The only ones who can wait are people who carry restlessness around with them and people who look up with reverence to the greatest in the world. Thus Advent can be celebrated only by those whose souls give them no peace, who know they are poor and incomplete and who sense something of the greatness that is supposed to come…’
In a letter to his fiancée Maria, he reminds her as they are apart that ‘God is in the manger, wealth in poverty, light in darkness, succor in abandonment. No evil can befall us; whatever men may do to us, they cannot but serve the God who is secretly revealed as love and rules the world and our lives.’

I am mindful that I haven't posted much - I have been reading through though. There have been numerous domestic appliance breakdowns and I'm the practical one in the house so I've been racing around sorting problems and dealing with plumbers and boiler engineers when I haven't been able to sort a problem.

Anyway I am thinking and praying for you all especially when at my new church.

Praying for Thomas and his family as he enters the hospice. I hope they have Christmas together.
Ithappened praying that the job is part of God's plan for you and that you may use your gifts there.
MHD praying for your dd mock exams and for your family during your first Christmas in this parish.
nickel praying for you and your situation in your church. Glad you enjoyed Doncaster Cathedral and the Advent service.
Tuo glad the site issues have sorted for you - I had my own hence the name change! Thank you for all the lovely prayers that you post.
Bloomed hope the move is going well and that during this start of the new church year, you continue to gain strength.
Orchid praying for peace and calm and for your husband to be understanding. x
Drspouse glad you are enjoying the new church - you must be so looking forward to the nativity this year. Hope your ds enjoys his role. In my son's nativity Mary wandered off and forgot baby Jesus. To be fair she wanted to be a donkey and auditioned for that role.
Dutchoma hope the mittens are coming along nicely and thank you for all your support to us here on the thread. I hope you are feeling less lonely.
Cocoa thinking and praying for you as you build your life with ds. I hope the issues facing you begin to resolve and that you can find strength in the Advent season.

Hi to Applesandpears too! I love your current user name.

BES I've been praying hard for the right outcome for you and dc with regards to the school issue. You must be exhausted from all the meetings and organising. I hope your message to these authorities is met with reasonableness and action. Hope your dm leg is better too.

Praying for all on the thread.

Welcome to people posting for the first time xx

cocoa I'm rubbish at making decisions and have some good and bad ones in the past. Maybe think through how you'd feel after each different scenario. Xx
Yesterday was a good day re dh this morning was not. I pray it will get better. Xx

Adding more prayers. I would be grateful for discernment as I need to make a potentially lifechanging decision in the next 48 hours. Sorry to be vague but it would be very easy to reveal who I am

Praying for spiritual help with your decision Bloomed

oh shit, oh shit oh shit. ds has pushed me down the stairs and thumped me. he has lost privaleges. he is not impressed by this. I need to walk a line between forgiveness (obviously) but also him realising there are consequences to his actions.

Are you okay Bes?

I have a sore back from twisting about and probably a hard jarred landing. did land on my feet though.

I am at a loss as what to do.

bes I pray that physically you feel better soon- could you take ibuprofen before you go to bed to help any soreness. I also pray for your continued emotional and spiritual strength in a very tricky and emotional situation.

bes, I am so sorry to hear this. Does DS realise this was wrong/express remorse? I am not sure how much support you have. Prayers for calm in your household tonight.

Bloomed prayers for you as you consider your options

Thank you for prayers and kind words earlier today, I am reflecting and praying for strength. I have a step to take tomorrow or Friday to seek clarification on my concerns. Lisette your Advent story is helpful, much anxiety comes from wanting the answers and solution now and the panic to go, rather than living with it and waiting for a clearer path. I pray to God for insight and a way forward.

I pray for all those in need of support as I read over the posts.

Praying for clarity for you in your decision-making, Cocoa.

Lissette - thank you for sharing this, observation, which I think is very helpful (and kind of reassuring): Advent can be celebrated only by those whose souls give them no peace, who know they are poor and incomplete and who sense something of the greatness that is supposed to come.

BES - hope you are OK? Praying for peace and calm in your household.

Bloomed - Praying for your decision-making to be clear and for you to have confidence in having done the right thing, whatever happens.

A prayer of St Augustine:

O thou, who art the light of the minds that know thee, the life of the souls that love thee, and the strength of the wills that serve thee; help us so to know thee that we may truly love thee; so to love thee that we may fully serve thee, whom to serve is perfect freedom. Amen

I have very sore IBS. trying to de stress but not easy.

Gosh 8 pages already, and I thought I'd only been away a short while.. have read through, praying, there is a lot going on. In fact perhaps I haven't posted in a very long time I'm not sure, though I was lurking on the old thread quite often. I've switched names back to something some of you will recognise. Was MrsP most recently I think. Talking of names, Lissette, can you remind me who you were before passport? My minds gone blank.

This calming prayer, which I use a lot, from the Northumbria community (via Tuo I'd wager) is for us all:

Calm us, O Lord, as You stilled the storm.
Still us, O Lord, keep us from harm.
Let all the tumult within us cease.
Enfold us, Lord, in Your peace. Amen

I am more or less back in the same situation as this time last year. DP simply cannot bear my faith, for good and sad reasons, so I have to choose to let her go, or to try and live without God to make good my vows to her to love honour and protect her, to cherish her, til death do us part. I think a lot about what Jesus would do, whether I should choose love (the greatest of these...) in the knowledge that I would be forsaking God so that I can love better, which, perhaps, is wjwd - he was after all not a stickler for 'the law'. Of course I could try if I did that to speak to God in my heart and just give up any Christian 'activity'. Or, I could say that my discipleship requires me to follow Jesus even if it means leaving my love behind, if that is the only option. Of course I choose both, as I have done all along, but it is more untenable now than ever, and I just weep a lot, praying and hoping, and not knowing what to do. Advice / thoughts welcome of course.

I am at Mum's today. Alzheimer's diagnosis confirmed. All very sad and hopeless too.

I was just Passport on this thread mostly. I can't remember what I was before that!

Very sorry to hear of your dm's diagnosis Eddsimcox and to hear of your continuing situation. I wouldn't know what to advise. I have been away from group worship for a while but am enjoying being back in the fold. For a long time by choice I was worshipping on my own. If it was me and if there were children involved, and my partner was basically goodhearted but had a blind spot about religion, I would probably worship inwardly with an occasional trip to a service. It would not be what I'd want at all and it would be denying an important part of me and it would be wrong of my partner to restrict me in this way. But I would probably worship in secret. I'm not saying that's what you should do but I think given my personality that's probably what I would do. It's terribly hard for you and not right at all.

Sorry to hear both your sad stories Edith.

BES I'm so sorry to hear that... How are you feeling now? That must have been such a nasty shock for you. Is ds repentant and understands what he's done? This is all so tough praying.

Dear Edd it's lovely to see you here. Things sound incredibly hard with your dm having Alzheimers and then everything with dp. I'm so sad things are as they are and dp can't see past your faith. It's always seemed she has felt very threatened and almost hurt that you would want to have this belief and its been so very difficult for you while you are trying to honour her and follow God's call on your life.
I can't really give advice because it's so personal to you and the right thing will be the thing that you feel is right. I think there are 2 sides because the Bible makes it so clear we should love and honour our loved ones but also that we should honour God above it all. You may feel that the way to do that is to honour your dp and worship in 'secret' but that seems so sad for you and it feels like she is unable to honour you in that. Nothing of this helps, I know, but we are here to listen (and you know where I am.) I will be spending time in prayer for you both and praying so much that your dp will soften towards your wanting to pursue faith. This is so tough and I am so sad for you dear one. May you know peace now and a sense of God leading.

Just thought of this song which has helped me a lot in the last year:

God I look to you
I won't be overwhelmed
Give me vision to see things like you do
God I look to you
You're where my help is from
Give me wisdom to know just what to do.

And I will love you Lord my strength
I will love you Lord my shield
I will love you Lord my rock
Forever all my days I will love you God.

Bit of a rubbish video and I know it's not your usual worship style but the words are good...

That's lovely MHD thank you, I am praying for wisdom.

Ah, Edd I love that prayer. I think it was in the OP of one of our old threads.

Sad that things are still so hard for you. Good advice here from MHD and others. Praying for you and for your DP: for wisdom, love, strength, and hope. Also praying for your mum and all who love her.

BES - how are you feeling today? I hope you're OK and am praying for calm.

Lovely MHD - so good to see you back on the thread too. Prayers for you and your family. Is it time we started up 'healthy Christmas' prayers for you? How are your lungs?

Edd has inspired me to look at the Northumbria compline for today and here is a prayer for all on this thread as we prepare to sleep tonight.

May God be in my sleep;
may Christ be in my dreams.
May the Spirit be in my repose,
in my thoughts, in my heart.
In my soul always
may the Sacred Three dwell. Amen

I like the phrase 'the Sacred Three' for the Trinity. Thank you Tuo, what a lovely prayer.

BES I hope you're better today. I'm so sorry you've had to go through that. Hopefully, ds will be able to work on his anger with you and the family, and that he is able to sort his soul out.

Edd that's an awful situation. It is extremely hard to reconcile relationships and God when the two don't mix. I pray that your dp is able to respect your decision (religion) and accept it as part of you instead of trying to make you change. That's probably the hardest, but God is with you

I love that prayer Tuo, thank you it's lovely to see you too!

Yes it's great to be back, I got so busy with the move but really settling now and loving it as is dh. Lungs are behaving for the first December in donkeys. Prayer appreciated !

Dds mocks going OK I think. She seems more chilled even though she has 3 today bless her.

How are things with you and your lovely family?

Bes - how are things?

Edd, continuing to pray.

We will, as in previous years, pray that your lungs will behave over Christmas. I'm glad they are co-operative at the moment and give thanks to God for them.