Oh, my, what a blessing! Corinne and busymom:
I accepted Christ as my Savior and Lord seven years ago - and I've been struggling lately. Your posts have dovetailed with where I am. I've been asking the Lord to bring me back to my first love, to that time when I would rather be with Him, immersed in His Word, than anywhere.
I'm recuperating from a total hysterectomy for endometrial cancer (no symptoms, the Lord just prompted me to ask for an extra test that my former gyn did! If I hadn't had the test, the cancer would have continued to grow, undetected, for who knows how long? No more treatment needed! Praise Him!) And, I started a new job right before I was diagnosed - very stressful training and I just found out that I might not get the job permanently because of missing four weeks due to the surgery. So, I've been very, very tired lately and a little depressed and anxious. When my study Bible became too cumbersome for me recently, I went back to my Women's Devotional Bible to find the topics I wanted to read about, such as fear, trust, obedience, then read the corresponding Scripture passages. Then, when I realized I still wasn't being consistent in setting aside time, and was just so distracted, I found a Daily Reading Bible (not sure that's actually the title - I left it at my mom's today) which takes you through the Bible in two years. I don't have to depend on a reading plan - it's already divided into daily sections of both OT and NT, with meditations and prayers. It's easier to "stay on track" right now with this plan, and get back to some discipline. I could also recommend the New Believer's Bible as a very user-friendly edition - it's well organized and has Biblical principles and "stepping stones" throughout - very helpful even now! I miss the days when I didn't have to work, when I could unplug the phone and just curl up with the Word. I have two concordances (my uncle recommends Strong's - but I couldn't figure out how to use it at first - it helps to read the instructions at the front!) and Henrietta Mears' "What The Bible is All About". But one of the most helpful "quick" references for me is Nelson's "New Illustrated Bible Dictionary." It's just wonderful for getting insight into the culture,customs and geography of Biblical times and for mini-bios on the people of the Bible. It has photos and maps, too. These are the kinds of things that I put on my birthday list!
Besides His Word, God has blessed me with a church full of wonderful, mature, unselfish women who have nurtured me along the way! I pray that you ladies, too, have that blessing. And isn't it wonderful to be able to relate long-distance, without knowing each other? I'm always excited to meet my "sisters"!
Corinne, one of my favorite passages to use as a prayer is Colossians I:9-14. I change the pronouns and turn this into a prayer for others, but I also use it to pray for myself - to ask God to give me a "complete understanding of what He wants to do" in my life, to ask Him to "make me wise with spiritual wisdom", all the way down to thanking Him for "rescuing me.....and bringing me into the Kingdom of His dear Son." Another great prayer passage is Ephesians 3:14-21. I do this with the Psalms, as well - I pray them right back to the Lord and find immediate comfort. Do you make notes in your Bible? Some people do, others aren't comfortable with that. I love to jot a note about something the Lord tells me through a particular passage, with the date, as a sort of spiritual marker. Some passages have several dates - He apparently has to tell me more than once! Sometimes, by the Psalms, I just write, "Thank you, Lord".
I am eternally grateful that He is always near, just as busymom points out - and He goes before us and prepares the way for us, too. I pray, Corinne, that He will go before you and prepare the way for your church outing. Just a note here: the enemy loves to discourage us from fellowship - he will do whatever he can to keep us from worship or church activities, or volunteering for God's work, etc. A dear friend and prayer partner, who is very sensitive to the Holy Spirit, noticed that every month, when I had a day-long ministry commitment that required my presence - and about 200 people were depending on me - I would frequently have an IBS attack either the day before, when I was doing last-minute prep, or the day of the event. She started praying for me the week before the event - faithfully! Because of the insight the Lord had given her, and she had shared with me, I started taking Imodium a few days before the event each month and certainly on the day of the event - and this was before I was diagnosed with IBS! Take heart and remember that "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world."
I'll be praying for you, Corinne. Would you be able to share your concern about the outing with one or two other friends from church so that they, too, could pray for you? It's been very freeing to me to be able to share my health concerns with a few trusted friends. Prayer is powerful: Psalm 65:5 says, "You faithfully answer our prayers with awesome deeds, O God our Savior." He is loving, kind, compassionate and faithful to His children! Busymom, I've printed out your long post with Scripture passages - God has used you to encourage me, too!
Blessings to you both,
Kaybee C
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Re: Tired & depressed - busymom & Corinne....
