WeAreFibro.org - The Social Support Network for People Living with Fibromyalgia

Sherry

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29 months ago

Theresa

I am  a Buddist and I am hope I am welcome here. Because I practice another faith.

30 months ago

Sherry

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32 months ago

Lynn

This week's promise: God's timing is perfect
No need to worry

Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth.

Colossians 3:2 NLT

Worry is the interest paid on trouble before it falls due.
Author unknown

It is not work that kills men; it is worry. Worry is rust upon the blade.
Henry Ward Beecher

Lessons of a circuit rider

When Abraham Lincoln was on his way to Washington to be inaugurated, he spent some time in New York with Horace Greeley and told him an anecdote that was meant to be an answer to the question everybody was asking him: Are we really going to have civil war?

In his circuit-riding days, Lincoln and his companions, riding to the next session of court, had crossed many rivers. But the Fox River was still ahead of them; and they said one to another, "If these streams gives us so much trouble, how shall we get over the Fox River?"

When darkness fell, they stopped for the night at a log tavern, where they fell in with the Methodist presiding elder of the district, who rode through the country in all kinds of weather and knew all about the Fox River. They gathered around him and asked him about the present state of the river.

"Oh, yes," replied the circuit rider, "I know all the Fox River. I have crossed it often and understand it well. But I have one fixed rule with regard to the Fox River-I never cross it till I reach it."

from 1001 Great Stories and Quotes by R. Kent Hughes (Tyndale) pp 430-31

32 months ago

Lynn

This week's promise: God's timing is perfect
Watch the Lord rescue you

The Lord continued to strengthen Pharaoh's resolve, and he chased after the people of Israel who had escaped so defiantely. All the forces of Pharaoh's army-all his horses, chariots, and charioteers-were used in the chase..

As Pharaoh and his army approached, the people of Israel could see them in the distance, marching toward them. The people began to panic, and they cried out to the Lord for help.

Then they turned against Moses and complained, "Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren't there enough graves for us in Egypt? Why did you make us leave? Didn't we tell you to leave us alone while we were still in Egypt? Our Egyptian slavery was better than dying out here in the wilderness!"

But Moses told the people, "Don't be afraid. Just stand where you are and watch the Lord rescue you. The Egyptians that you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. You won't have to lift a finger in your defense!"

Exodus 14:8-14 NLT

Bearing down

Whatever your worries are today, they probably do not top the 600 Egyptian war chariots bearing down on the children of Israel! Trapped between the mountains and the sea, the people forgot the God who had delivered them from the Pharaoh's hand, and they cried out in despair. But Moses, who focused on the promise of God, stood firm in his hope. When we face our "chariots," it is quite normal to feel anxiety and fear. But when we remember God's faithfulness and his ability to bring good out of any situation, we find our fears calmed and our confidence renewed.

from TouchPoint Bible commentaries by Ron Beers and Gilbert Beers (Tyndale) p 62

32 months ago

Lynn

This week's promise: Christ will return
A vision of heaven

Now I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. And the one sitting on the horse was named Faithful and True. For he judges fairly and then goes to war. His eyes were bright like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him, and only he knew what it meant. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God.

Revelation 19:11-13 NLT

Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne; Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns all music but is own. Awake, my soul, and sing of Him who died for thee, and hail Him as they matchless King through all eternity.

Crown Him with Many Crowns,
Matthew Bridges (1800-1894)

Crown Him with Many Crowns

Matthew Bridges became a convert to Roman Catholicism at the age of forty-eight and published this hymn three years later under the title "The Song of the Seraphs." Godfrey Thring, an Anglican clergyman, added several stanzas to the hymn about thirty years later, with Bridges's approval. So a Roman Catholic layman and an Anglican cleric, who probably never met, were coauthors of a hymn about heaven, where Christians of every tribe and tongue, as well as of every denomination, will crown Him Lord of all.

One of the aspects that Godfrey Thring felt was missing in the original was a stanza on the Resurrection, and so it was added. "His glories now we sing who died and rose on high, who died, eternal life to bring, and lives, that death may die."

Adapted from The One Year® Book of Hymns by Mark Norton and Robert Brown, Tyndale House Publishers (1995), entry for May 16.

32 months ago

Lynn

This week's promise: Christ will return
A heavenly vision

After I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a mighty shout, "Salvation comes from our God on the throne and from the Lamb!"

Revelation 7:9-10 NLT

Heavenly praise for the Lamb

Many times our prayers tend to focus on this world and the struggles we encounter in our lives. God understands and accepts these prayers, but we must also direct our thoughts and prayers to the victory we will share with Christ. In Revelation, God gives us a splendid portrayal of that final victory. In a vision, the apostle John sees a magnificent scene: a vast multitude celebrating the triumph of the Lamb of God. Waving palm branches, the traditional symbol of victory, people from all over the world extol God for the salvation he had provided through his Son.

As followers of Christ, today, we are privileged to be part of this multitude-the communion of believers. Because Jesus has overcome death, a new life of wholeness and peace through him has opened up to us. This is worth shouting about-praising God with all that is in us!

A prayer for today.

Dear Lord, I join your praying people through the ages to shout about that salvation that comes from you.

Adapted from The One Year® Book of Bible Prayers edited by Bruce Barton, Tyndale House Publishers (2000), entry for April 3.

32 months ago

Lynn

This week's promise: God is our security
God will catch you

There is no one like the God of Israel. He rides across the heavens to help you, across the skies in majestic splendor. The eternal God is your refuge, and his everlasting arms are under you.

Deuteronomy 33:26-27 NLT

When you are at the end of your rope, God is there to catch you-but not before.

Erwin W. Lutzer

God's everlasting arms

Our world seemed to be falling apart. My husband was severely depressed, and his business was crumbling. As I tried to support and nurture our children, help my husband, and take up the slack financially, I became drained physically, spiritually, and mentally. I cried out to God in exhaustion, and I felt his everlasting arms underneath me. Quieting my racing heart, the Lord reminded me that although my own resources might be exhausted, his resources were limitless.

During that difficult season I experienced God as my refuge when there was nowhere else to turn, and I felt his security in the middle of a very uncertain, insecure time.

In today's passage Moses praises the Lord and assures the Israelites that God will be with them no matter what adversity or trial they encounter-that he is their refuge and underneath them are his everlasting arms. Do you need to feel God's everlasting arms carrying you today because your strength is exhausted? Do you know someone who is in desperate straits and needs God's help? Pray these verses for yourself or for someone else, and proclaim God's faithfulness.

LORD, there is no one like you! You ride across the heavens in majestic splendor to help us when we cry out to you. May we experience you today as our refuge and sense your everlasting arms of protection and love holding us. I praise you for your faithfulness and unparalleled power!

Adapted from The One Year® Book of Praying through the Bible by Cheri Fuller, Tyndale House Publishers (2003), entry for April 9

33 months ago

Lynn

This week's promise: God honors truth
The living Truth

Jesus said."I came to bring truth to the world. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true."

John 18:37 NLT

A wife prays for her husband's salvation

After a rather gentle talk [one evening] about Christianity, [my wife Davy] went to bed, leaving me lying upon the sofa in front of the fire reading..A half hour passed. I let the book fall and switched off the lamp. Gazing upon the glowing coals, I wondered with a strange mixture of hope and fear whether Christ might be in very truth my God. Suddenly I became aware that Davy was praying beside me-she had stolen into the room in her nightgown and knelt down by the sofa. I looked at the quiet figure for a few moments. I have never seen her pray. Then she spoke.

"When I was in bed," she said very softly, "it seemed to me that God was telling me to come to you. I have prayed to God to fulfill your soul."

She paused a moment, and then she whispered: "Oh, my dearest-please believe!"

Moved almost to tears, I whispered back-a broken whisper, she wrote in the Journal [the book we both kept of our searching for God and truth]-I whispered, "Oh, I do believe." I was shaken by the affirmation that swept over me.

"Hold to this moment," she murmured. "Hold to it when doubts come. This is the truth-I know it it."

33 months ago

Lynn

This week's promise: God protects his people
God will provide

Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the Lord will never lack any good thing.

Psalm 34:10 NLT

Dear God, I know you will provide, but why don't you provide until you provide?

Jewish saying

The empty basket

When Palestine was partitioned, Maltar and his family were stranded in Jerusalem. Daily his family read the Lord's promises, such as those of Psalm 34. One day Maltar said, "Children, we finished the last of our food for breakfast. We have no money. We'll tell this only to the Lord, and I'll go out with this basket." So they prayed around the empty basket.

Maltar went to the bank, but there was still no money coming through. As he turned to go, he saw a friend from his hometown in the line. He'd left before the worst troubles and banked his money in Jerusalem. "Maltar!" his friend cried. "What are you doing here?"

"We were on holiday in our small house in Jerusalem and weren't able to get back home," Maltar said.

"Then you must be having money problems. How are you managing?"

"Fine," Maltar told him and left the bank.

His friend overtook him: "You can't be fine, Maltar, with nine kids to feed." He dropped a handful of bank notes into the basket.

The children, waiting at the gate, stared in wonder as Maltar returned with an overflowing basket.
Patricia St. John
in Finding God Between a Rock and Hard Place
David said, "Those who honor [God] will have all they need" (Psalm 34:9). Why not claim that promise today?

33 months ago