Christian Prayer thread

[Dutchoma]

NIGHT PRAYER

Comfort me with Your love O God
Wrap me up in Your strong embrace
Shelter me from the storm O Lord
Envelop me in Your tender care
By day I pour out my heartbreak to You
By night I give you my racing thoughts
In You I take refuge
In You I will not be afraid
For you hold me strong, You hold me safe
Calm my fearful heart O God
Still my anxious mind O Lord
For all my life is found in You
All my being is given to You
All my hope begins in You

Prayer found on web.dawesvillecps.wa.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/17th-September.pdf

I found this prayer on Facebook and tought it was a beautiful way to start the new prayer thread.

There was a beautiful picture with it too, but I don’t know how to transfer that.

I love the creation account according to job it's in Gods response.

An old friend when I was being "challenged" about my issues attending church (mostly mental but it physical as well) on a day I'd been able to go about needing to "just pray more" and how people were cured if they truly believed turned and simply asked them:

"What about Paul? Why was he never cured then?"

Jaws dropped and ... Silence.

Turned out the bible study group which she was a part of (as were they) were studying Paul and that included the often alluded to thorn in his side he carried for life!

I'll never forget that. She sadly died a few months later from undetected lung cancer and we had our moments of struggling but that day she not only shut them up but gave me an excellent response whenever people are inclined to say that to me. I don't always remember to say it but I'm forever grateful for her reminder that even Paul with all he did and believed and achieved wasn't healed.

I've been reading an excellent book called "anxious about nothing" which is based around Philippians 4:4-8 which I now carry with me in my pocket (the verses not the book!).

god can and does heal. Not reliant on our faith though. Having more faith screwing up your eyes and wishing really hard isn't going to force God into healing someone.

Having faith despite circumstances. Having faith in God knowing best. Etc.

I have often found that those who talk about having more faith often have never lived through really difficult circumstances and not developed that really deep reliance on God that those who have it tough do.

MHD is an example of someone who has had it tough for many years and is compassionate and kind and lovely and thinks of others and grumbly and fed up sometimes as well because she has been through a lot and learned to trust in God and it shows on here.

Sorry mhd hope you don't blush too much and for God's sake don't stop telling us about those pesky lungs and how they make you feel so we can support you just a little bit of what you do for everyone else.

Trying to say the just have more faith people are not helpful. You really need the living with a thorn or two in the side people.

Thank you all, sincerely. I feel as if I have found my 'living with a thorn or two in the side' people

@Dutchoma Thank you for offering to send me the book. I have sent you a PM

Thank you so much Oma and BES for your kind and encouraging words!

Welcome @woundedwarrior. I so empathise with your post, having lived with lifelong chronic illness and gone through all you mention about people praying for me and pressuring me to keep pressing for healing. It's utterly exhausting and sometimes soul-destroying. Yet when I've looked beyond that to who God is and how God longs to break into our darkness and flood us with peace beyond understanding, that bitterness melts away. It's just a choice I have to keep making. But yes, people can be difficult and it can just be too painful sometimes. I really hope my book helps - it was only published a couple of months ago so hot off the press as it were, and as Oma says it does go deeply into all this kind of thing. I was so blessed to have a supportive publisher run with it for me, because I'm so constantly weak I can't do much running!

Welcome.

@Madhairday, thank you for your warm welcome and your words of wisdom. Congratulations on having your book published! I think things like this are much needed in the Body if only to counter the dreadful pressures from others who do mean well but often cause more pain for the individual they are trying to help. I have known and do know the peace beyond understanding...I think at the moment with everything that's going on in my household and in my life, I've just found it difficult to keep on keeping on as it were. I very much appreciate this prayer thread

I have now got your pm woundedwarrior and have tried to reply but the message hasn’t gone.
Book is on its way.

Going to get DD. Took us four hours each way last time due to stops.

Ds is going in the he opposite direction with ex.

Please pray for safety on the roads.

Will do.

I've got meds and a bit of shopping to get today, praying it'll be better than yesterday. Getting lost in a lot of anger and bitterness, mostly towards myself but also others who just stand watching me struggling.

Saw someone from church who did exactly that. It's hard.

I've been praying for help with it. But I just seem to be this nasty, bitter, twisted, evil woman whose snapping at everyone.

I try to keep my mind on Christ and other things but it's really hard.

And the anxiety I feel is dreadful.

I'm reading max lucados "anxious for nothing" which makes logical sense but putting it into practice I'm finding hard.

@Dutchoma The book has arrived! Thank you so very much for your kindness in sending it to me. What a blessing you are. I will be in touch

@Madhairday I am so looking forward to reading your book. Am I right in thinking I saw this referenced in the Woman Alive magazine recently??? It seems familiar to me to the point where I believe I saw it and read what it was about and decided I would look for it and probably forgot (terrible brain fog) but Abba remembered and provided! Thank you for writing it, and I will let you know how I get on with it – I will start it tonight when the household is quiet enough that I can read in peace

@BlackeyedGruesome Have prayed for safety on the roads for you and your family. Forgive me for not knowing your own story – I am new and will try to go back to the start of the thread and catch up with everyone. But whatever your situation, I pray God’s love and peace enfold you and surround you

@Becca I try to keep my mind on Christ, too, and it is hard. You are not a nasty, bitter, twisted, evil woman. You are a daughter of God who is hurting and I am praying for you, sister. I pray especially that your day will feel easier and you will know pockets of peace as the Lord’s presence invades the challenges you are facing. Much love to you

That was quick, it only went yesterday afternoon

Hello @woundedwarrior and thank you for your lovely post! Yes, I did write an article for Woman Alive about it a few months back. So amazing you remember that and now it's come about this way. Oma is so kind to send it to you. I really pray it will minister to you.

BES praying and hoping all is well today and sending love.

Becca I love the Philippians verses too, it's what my book is centred around, and love the Max Lucado book. But yes sometimes easy to read the theory and hard to get it into your heart. Trying to get the mind of Christ is really like a spiritual CBT - so training our minds to focus on the good and the lovely, and setting pathways which will help when things go badly. Love to you.

Any lurkers please do come and say hello. It would be a privilege to pray for you.

I'd love prayer for a situation I can't talk about but is tearing me apart right now. Thank you.

Becca, people standing by and watching you struggle is enough to make anyone angry. It is a lot easier to be nice and calm if you are not in pain all the time. It will take a while to work through what you feel to find peace at the other end.

Will pray MHD.

We are at the services. Got DD on time despite a minor detour after missing a turning. Had a couple of hours at the beach building sandcastles and eating ice-cream. DD was able to have a soya ice-cream so was particularly pleased.

Minor hiccup at the services. MC Donald's is closed. Will owe DD a visit later or tomorrow. Got another hour or so to go before getting home.

I hope you are safely home how BES.

Praying for you MHD and for Becca

home. shattered. washing on. dd's holiday stuff first, then another child returning home with another bag of washing tomorrow.

urgg. dd has been sick. poor lovely.

Sorry to hear that bes

Got to go out again today for meds/milk. Already really struggling. Just can't get my mind off help others are given whilst im struggling. A big part of that I know is I was promised the same help when I needed it and was, basically being manipulated. Now I know it's not possible my anxiety is through the roof.

I have done 5 loads of washing today, and the one from yesterday evening which I hung up this morning. Some dried very quickly in the sun.

I have cleaned up DD's clothes and washed them, and disinfected and scrubbed a bath mat. That is in the bucket waiting to drip dry outside tomorrow.

Wooden bathroom floor has been scrubbed with disinfectant and the bath
cleaned. The basin has been cleaned multiple times.

DD is still feeling poorly so will clean up her room when she is feeling better tomorrow. Sheets and valance to wash as they are a little marked on the edge. They were sponged in the night but need a proper wash. It is not the bit she lies on.

Unpacked the coolbag and suitcase. Will put those away tomorrow.

Ds is still an hour away up the motorway. Eek.

Oh poor DD, BES! How is she now? That sounds exhausting for you.

Keep meaning to ask you how things are going in terms of church thesedays, and how the DC are getting on with it all? We must pop over to see our mutual friends sometime and come down to school for pickup and see you, maybe towards easter.

Continuing to pray for you all. @woundedwarrior how are you today?

@Madhairday Checked my WA back copies and found your article so read that again before starting your book. I'm about a third of the way in, and am so moved by your own experience and the journey you are walking through with Abba. I have cried more than once, reading your words. Your life laid bare. Your pain so raw and real. Your discoveries of new and wondrous facets of our Father’s character and faithfulness, and compassion. I want to give everyone I know who is struggling/suffering a copy of this book for, to me, it is the whispered response of a loving Father to hot, desperate tearful cries of the heart wrenched in the agony of not understanding, until we do. Until someone writes about all of this as beautifully as you do. Lives it. Shares it. Shows us how to move into and through it. Holding fast to His Hand. Looking only at His face. Trusting Him beyond. Although physically I’m still struggling and feeling ill, my spirit feels lighter, and I know I have been ministered to through your book. I cannot thank you enough. God bless you.

@Dutchoma I want to thank you again for your kindness in sending me this wonderful book. I pray God’s richest blessings over you.

I am praying for all of you.