Ever Feel Like You are Herding Cats?

When this commercial played during a “Best Super Bowl Commercials” TV show Lisa laughed out loud and replayed it a few times for her family. Now you too can enjoy this moment thanks to YouTube.

Whether you have cats, dogs, children, or grandchildren, we’re sure you’ve had moments where it felt like you were herding cats!

See below or click here to play.

www.youtube.com/v/Pk7yqlTMvp8&hl=en

How Being “Tolerant” Can Ruin Your Health

Start Your New Year Right by Eliminating These Common Energy-Drainers

by Mary Yerkes

My desk is messy. My clothes don’t fit. The dog needs grooming. Life coaches agree that people zap their energy and increase their stress by putting up with a multitude of things that bug them, what life coaches call “tolerations.” And for the chronically ill, lingering stress can translate into increased pain. So, why not start your New Year right by identifying—and then eliminating—those things that deplete your energy and dampen your spirit.

Here are four common tolerations, along with practical suggestions for addressing them or eliminating them from your life:

Health Tolerations

If you live with chronic illness, you probably realize there are some things you just can’t control. But what about the things you can? Why add to your distress by eating too much junk food, not taking your prescribed medication, or failing to do your exercises, designed to increase your range of motion or reduce your pain?

Take a few minutes and write down your health goals. Just make sure they’re realistic. Don’t set a goal of jogging three miles a day when you struggle to walk to the curb each day to pick up the day’s mail. When making your list, make sure your goals are SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. A goal of eating healthier this year is too vague, but eating five serving of vegetables a day is SMART.

Environmental Tolerations

It’s hard to keep on top of housework and home repairs when you’re in constant pain and struggling to make it on one income. But, let’s be honest. If you feel well enough to sit at your desk and work, couldn’t you take a few extra minutes to clear that pile of papers from your desk so you could actually see your computer screen?

But what about bigger projects around the house that you can’t do yourself?

If finances are tight and you can’t afford to hire someone to tackle larger projects, barter your services instead. For example, if you’re a graphic designer, offer to create a brochure for your neighbor’s new business in exchange for shoveling the snow off your walk.

You get the idea.

People Tolerations

Face it. Some people are just toxic. They consistently say hurtful things like, “But you look so good!” or “You really should try harder to get to church on Sunday.” They chide you for canceling at the last minute and raise their eyebrows when you serve a store bought cake for your child’s birthday party instead of making one yourself. If you’re chronically ill, limit your contact with people like this.

It’s a little more difficult if you’re dealing with toxic family members. To maintain your sanity and preserve your health, learn to maintain appropriate boundaries. To better understand how to set healthy boundaries, I recommend reading, Boundaries: When To Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life by Henry Cloud and John Townsend.

Spiritual Tolerations

Are there areas in your spiritual life you need to address? Do you struggle with unforgiveness or harbor resentment or bitterness toward your spouse or children for failing to understand your pain, help with the housework, or give you the emotional support you need?

Nothing will rob your joy or sap your strength more quickly than unforgiveness. Don’t tolerate sin in your life for one more day. God’s Word tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).” Help is just a prayer away.

The benefits you’ll gain from identifying and removing tolerations from your life are significant. You’ll be amazed at what a difference it will make.

So, start the New Year right by making room in your life for what matters most.

Life Coach Mary Yerkes specializes in helping the chronically ill live abundant lives in Christ. Diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis in 1997, Mary understands the challenges of living with chronic pain and illness. Her greatest joy is seeing people set free to love and serve God with all their heart, mind, and soul. Mary is also an author, speaker, and contributor to popular Christian print and online magazines, including Focus on the Family, The Journal of Biblical Counseling, and On Mission Magazine. Visit www.newlifechristiancoaching.com and www.maryyerkes.com to learn more.

When It is Tempting to Quit We Need Jesus More Than Ever

I was using a saltshaker when I first noticed that the right side of my body was staging a mutiny. Inexplicably, my hand had forgotten how to move up and down. Other everyday activities became difficult. Brushing my teeth was a challenge. Playing piano was impossible and typing was clumsy. And then there were these weird, involuntary tremors on my right side. What was going on here?

After a batch of expensive tests, the doctors couldn’t — and still don’t — agree. While they are scratching their heads, the elders anointed me and prayed for my healing — twice — and I am trying everything in my power while the problem persists.

Like Paul, I have asked the Lord that this “thorn in my flesh” be taken from me. As He told Paul, He has answered me, “My grace is sufficient for you.”

Humph! Hardly the answer I want to hear!

Here is where the rubber meets the road for every leader and me:  Who is REALLY in control of my life, ministry, and gifts? And who is in charge of yours?

It is when we are are painfully and continually poked by thorns in the flesh that our determination to be obedient to God’s call is tested and displayed. When we have an uncooperative person on our ministry board tying every meeting into knots; when no one will watch the nursery; when we are criticized for bringing less-than-desirable people into the church; when our budget is stymied by the shortsighted; when we can’t get anything done because we’ve lost control, it is tempting — oh, so tempting! — to yank out the thorn and quit.

But if we are called to a task, we are called to it, regardless of who or what stands in the way — even if it is our own physical limitations.

“My grace is sufficient” — It’s a lovely piece of prose, but it’s meaning is so large that it is a slippery life preserver for the desperate.

However, here’s a handle I’ve found through my own storm:

A can-do attitude is a wonderful thing. But it also masks arrogance, especially when the battle we are fighting is a spiritual one and we are more proficient with our natural talents.

• Spiritual battles require much different weapons, leadership, attitudes, vision, talents, and gifts.
• Spiritual confrontation requires practice but you won’t get it if you are relying on your own natural talent.

When the Lord gives us as leaders a thorn in the flesh, He is reminding us that we are to develop spiritual weaponry skill by knowledge of and connection to Him. He’s made it a little easier for us to do this because we not only won’t rely on our unreliable selves, we no longer can.

In the midst of the hopeless, drowning feeling associated with loss, we have His promise: His grace — or Divine endorsement — will make up for our personal deficits.

And that’s a handle we can all hang on to no matter what our limitations may be.

Rebekah Montgomery, author/speaker/teacher, is a gifted, dynamic communicator. She is the author of more than five books and has penned 1,100 articles. She shares tough real-life topics and biblical application in a simple easy to grasp manner. To book Rebekah for your next event visit www.rebekahmontgomery.com. Rebekah is also the editor of Right to the Heart of Women and a publisher at Jubilant Press.© Rebekah Montgomery 2009.

Every Day Is Christmas

A friend recently sent me this and this year, more than any other, I can relate to it since I have been dependent on friends and strangers to help drive me around from place to place as I continue to recover from joint replacement surgery in my hand.

I hope it encourages you to continue to reach out to those in your life who are strangers or friends. While we may assume that the people around us are well taken as, emotionally provided for, and without needs, it is rarely the case and our helpfulness or even smile can make all the difference in their life.

Lisa Copen, Rest Ministries Director

__________________________________________________

Every Day is Christmas

Every day is Christmas when you have the kind of mind,
That stores up all the goodness and the sweetness it can find.
When you don’t need an occasion, to spread a bit of cheer,
But just keep on a-giving, of yourself throughout the year.

Every day is Christmas, with a gaily wrapped surprise,
When you’ve learned to see the friendship, in someone else’s eyes.
When you try a little harder, and complain a little less,
Holding fast to all the fervor of the faith that you possess.

Every day is Christmas, when you’ve found that you can be
More concerned with words like “you” and less with “I” and “me.”
When it’s fun to do a favor, and to lend a helping hand,
When being understood means less, than when you understand.

Every day is Christmas, with a beauty deeply cast,
When you find it doesn’t matter, if you’re first or if you’re last.
When you can face your conscience, and be glad of what you are,
Then every day is Christmas, with a stable and a star.

– Author Unknown

The Raging Sea – Poem

A wave, crashing against the shore
Shaking me from my reverie
I was lost in my thoughts once again
Lost within the confines of my pain
An infinite jumble of emotional fears and doubts
I struggled to make some sense
Of my life thus far

In a world tinged in darkness and pain
I know that my heart remains pure
But not untouched by it
My life of pain has left an imprint upon me
The valleys and crevices are emotions pool
Often overflow within me
Drown me in feelings of despair

And now the wave, lapping at my bare toes
Sends it’s icy fingers up my body
Refreshing and terrifying all the same
Reminding me of the coldness I once carried
Reinforcing this need to grasp onto the
only person that has given me Hope.
And claim Him as my own

A rumble, growling behind a curtain of cloud
Lost amid flashes of white against gray
Perpetuates this growing feeling
Disturbs me, but ever so slightly
Reminds me that I am real
I am alive despite the pain
I am living despite this painful reality
I live with every day

Swirling, darkening, tension grows
As a mighty flash of lightning
Licks a fragile web across the sky
And the Heavens split open
Drenching me in its awesome power
Opening up the flood gates that
Hold my emotions in check

As I had screamed into the wind and rain
Scream against the stinging drops
Rage against the injustice of my life
Of emotions, running wild
I Feel this heart with in me beat wildly
So raw! So real!
I realize I am alive despite sorrows of lost dream

Howling winds begins to carry debris
From my past and present
Carry me forward, into His arms
As I surrender myself, peace calms
The raging storm that is with in me.
Calms the sea that stand before me.

As I look towards the calming waters
I see Him walking upon the waters
As He moves towards me His foots
Steps I see in the sand.
He cups my face with His gentle fingers
And I know that despite the pain I
Feel, my life has always been in
His hands…

By Barbara Engle Dec 3 2008

My name is Barbara Engle. I am 54 years old and I have been battling the reality of Gastroduodenal Crohn’s disease all my life. As a result of Crohn’s of the stomach I developed Gastroparesis. 12 years ago I was in a car accident the left me battling the chronic pain of fibromyalgia. By the grace of God and His mercy, I have learned to live with my illness and not be defeated by it. The friends that I have made here at Rest Ministries Sunroom have been a real blessing in my life and I love to share with them some of my poems and article of encouragement. Visit her web site here.

When You Need Help at Home Resources

Here is a listing of some of the at-home-care resources we have found to be helpful and professional. If you have other suggestions to add to this list,
please add them to the comments section below.

Visiting Nurse Associations of America
The Visiting Nurse Associations of America (VNAA) was established in 1983 as the official, national association of freestanding, not-for-profit, community
based visiting nurse agencies (VNAs).

VNAA leads a profession that is more than a century old – a profession that VNAs actually helped create. Today, by linking leading not-for-profit home health
care agencies from coast to coast and creating a comprehensive brand identity program, VNAA has created a powerful network for growth and development. One that will continue to enhance and support the delivery of home health care for the next one hundred years.

SuburbanCaregivers.com
SuburbanCaregivers.com specializes in placing quality Nannies, Caregivers and Housekeeping services to households in Suburban Chicago Land and Nationwide.

They extend their services to families who intend to provide the highest quality of care for their families and loved ones. Services include locating and screening
qualified candidates and matching your family’s requirements to the right Caregiver,
Nanny or Housekeeper without the Finders Fee*

The National Association for Home Care & Hospice
This is the nation’s largest trade association representing the interests and concerns of home care agencies, hospices, and home care aide organizations.

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I’m Stressed Out, Lord!

“Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our Refuge,” (Psalm 62:8).

It is obvious that stress can make our illnesses react negatively; yet when people tell me this, I want to reply, “If I wasn’t ill, I wouldn’t be stressed!” It’s a catch-22 situation.

My chiropractor says he would rather treat someone after a fall than someone dealing with ongoing stress. A person who falls will heal faster. When I was particularly stressed out, he told me I was “internalizing” and I needed to find a stress outlet. He shared how some of his patients read, some walked, some prayed.

I pray! But as I mulled over his words, I realized I pray, sing, walk, and praise. . . unless I get extremely overwhelmed. Then I tend to clam up and hold everything inside. It is as if I am trying to be tough and strong, even for God.

How unnecessary. I don’t need to pretend for Him. God is our refuge. Prayer is His prescribed stress outlet for us. Yes, He already knows all that is occurring in our lives and how we feel about it, but He wants to hear it from us. The Bible says we are to pour out our hearts to Him. Pour it all out! Be honest. Get it out there. The Lord God wants to hear your unpolished cries. He wants to hear your real heart. He can take the questions. He can take the anger. He will comfort the hurt. His greatest desire is authentic intimacy.

But we have to go to Him. He waits for us with arms open wide. He wants us to give Him all our pressures, stress, and worry. “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you,” (I Peter 5:7). We can relax and let God take over.

Lord God Almighty, You care for me and can handle anything and everything that comes my way. What sweet relief.

Reprinted from Mosaic Moments: Devotionals for the Chronically Ill.

Author/Contributor of the devotional above is Erica Faraone. Erica is… 33, is an author, singer, and speaker who lives in Whitefish, MT with her wonderful husband, Scott. She lives with fibromyalgia.

Tools for Caregivers or Families to Share the Caregiving

Asking for help is so hard! But if you live with a chronic illness there will come a time when you or you and your family needs to ask for help from others. When you or a loved one becomes ill, it impacts the entire family… but it can also feel like it “takes a village.”

These are some of the resources we have found. Some are to help caregivers organize care for an ill person (such as getting the neighborhood together on who is bringing meals what day). Others are to help a person who is ill communicate with others, such as posting your hospital visiting hours, updates on your condition, or simply sharing. Here are some suggestions on ways to organize the help.

Assist Guide Information Services Care Groups
Organize help to provide care for your loved one so that you can take time to care for yourself. Your AGIS Family CareGroup can be created in minutes. It’s
a free, simple way for friends and family to assist loved ones in need.

Care Pages
CarePages are free, easy-to-use Web pages, brought to you by Revolution Health, that help family and friends communicate when a loved one is receiving care. CarePages help Families create a virtual meeting place on the web, share news and photos as often as needed, receive emotional support during a time of need.

Care Place
CarePlace was founded to help people and their caregivers connect with one another, to share their experiences, concerns, passions, triumphs, and difficulties, and to support one another through trying times

Caring Bridge
A CaringBridge site is personal, private and available 24/7. It has free, personalized websites for anyone facing critical illness, going through cancer treatment or in recovery,helping ease the burden of keeping family and friends informed.

Lotsa Helping Hands
This is a simple, immediate way for friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors to assist loved ones in need. It’s an easy-to-use, private group calendar, specifically designed for organizing helpers, where everyone can pitch in with meals delivery, rides, and other tasks necessary for life to run smoothly during times of medical crisis, end-of-life caring, or family caregiver exhaustion. It’s also a place to keep these ‘circles of community’ informed with status updates, photo galleries, message boards, and more.

Share the Care
This is a detailed step-by-step model that shows you how to: (1) Create a unique caregiver “family” from friends, relatives, neighbors, coworkers and
acquaintances; (2) Answer the question all your concerned neighbors and friends have asked. “How can I help?”; (3) Hold a meeting that will turn a
group of ordinary people into a powerful caregiver team; and more! Based on the book, Share the Care.

Strength for Caring
An online resource and community for family caregivers. Strength for Caring helps family caregivers take care of their loved ones and themselves. Strength for Caring is part of The Caregiver Initiative, created by Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products Company, Division of Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc.

Beyond Casseorles: 505 Ways to Encourage a Chronically Ill Friend
This book is by Rest Ministries author, Lisa Copen, and it has 505 ways to help out someone who is going through a rough time, as well as their family.

How to Organize a Care Group
This is an article with step by step instructions on how Ellen’s Angels organized their care group. Based on the book Share The Care

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Linda Newton Share About Jewels Book

I connected with Linda Newton last year when I read her book 12 Ways to Turn Your Pain into Praise: Biblical Steps to Wholeness in Christ . She was a guest on my radio podcast, Hope Endures, and I know she has blessed many of you with that interview.

I’m excited to say she now has a new devotional book out from called Proverbs, Better Than Jewels: 31 Days of Biblical Insight for a Woman Seeking God.

Your devotional is full of inspiring stories–one for every day of the month. What made you write a devotional book using stories?

I’ve always thought that stories were powerful. They can illustrate a point and offer an example many times better than just logical explanation alone. I wrote a few that were published in different Chicken Soup for the Soul books. That’s when I got the idea to write stories like those chosen for Chicken Soup, colorful narratives to make the reader laugh and cry, that would help to illustrate biblical concepts. I love how Jesus used stories to illuminate the ideas he was teaching, so I decided to follow the example of the best!

The book is a cute little hard back book, with the word “jewels”  in the title. I would think it makes a nice Christmas gift.

That’s what I was hoping for. Thanks so much. As a busy person, I have to buy gifts on the run. I figured any lady would like an appealing gift book full of fun and encouraging stories. A gift like this is a great witnessing tool. It’s a non-threatening way to introduce someone to God’s lavish love and to affirm His love in those who already know Him.

My goal is for every reader to laugh, learn, and leave each chapter feeling closer to the Lord. Jewels is an easy read. One busy lady got it home, brewed a cup of tea, curled up on the sofa, and finished the book in a couple of hours. Then she started through it again using it as a daily devotional, reading a story each day and working through the Polish Your Jewels section at the end of each chapter to apply what she learned. I am so pleased that this book offers comfort and growth to the women who read it.

Your stories are authentic and you’re not afraid to laugh at yourself. Is it hard to be that vulnerable?

I try to stay transparent in my writing because I think readers need to see real people searching for solutions to real struggles, not people pretending to be perfect. If we can’t laugh at ourselves then who can we laugh at? I’ve got plenty of material!

Better Than Jewels has a story about how I accidentally brought bright purple shoes to a speaking engagement to wear with my pale pink and white outfit. I didn’t know the area well enough to find a store, so I slapped on the bright purple shoes and tried to make the best of it. I wrote that story to illustrate Proverbs 31. That’s my best attempt at being this wise and capable woman. The Lord keeps me on my knees, and usually I fall there!

Better Than Jewels contains everyday challenges of being a busy woman in today’s culture. It has insights in surviving the hair-flipping, door-slamming teen years. What mom doesn’t need a sense of humor when it comes it her parenting? If I can bring a smile to someone’s face as she starts her day, that will certainly bring a smile to mine.

This book has a lot of stories from your own life. Could you share some of them with my readers?

It features many stories about answered prayer. I think we need to see how God comes though to help bolster our faith. If your truster is busted, the awesome stories of God’s provision in everyday life can be just what you need. I wrote stories about Sunday School teachers, my youth pastor, and other precious people who made God look good.

Nancy’s Note tells how during one of the most challenging times of my life, God prompted a friend I hadn’t talked to in years to pray for me and send me a note to tell me so! It’s just one of the faith-building tales of God’s amazing care and comfort.

There are stories of the trails and triumphs of raising three kids on a shoestring budget. A humorous but helpful story talks about my son, Jacob, who is melancholic in temperament. He grew up as a deep, sensitive, musical child who tended to see the cup of life half empty instead of half full. What’s In Your Cup? is a fun story of the tools I learned through research to teach my boy to see the world in a more positive light.

I wrote about all the Lord taught me when my youngest daughter, Ashley, needed heart surgery in Change of Hearts and As The Deer. I included a story of how the Lord used a car accident to show me that my petite blond daughter was ready to join the Air Force while our country was at war, called Solid Gold Friends, because my friends prayed me into that understanding. I tried to be a good mom and teach my kids, but it turns out, I learned as much from them as I ever taught them.

I even wrote stories of the extraordinary life lessons I learned from my faithful dog called Good Ol’Gus, and a story about my feral cat turned friend called Quincey, the Comforting Cat.

I know from reading your other book you have had quite an interesting life and have plenty of things to write about don’t you?

I believe everybody has a story—a string of stories that make up life. In my first book, 12 Ways to Turn Your Pain Into Praise: Biblical Steps to Wholeness in Christ, one of the ways I teach folks to deal with their pain is to write down those moments in their lives when God showed up. I call them “Monumental Moments.” In the Old Testament when God did something memorable or miraculous for the children of Israel, he would instruct them to erect a monument to commemorate the event. The Lord wanted His people to do that so that they wouldn’t forget his goodness and care. We can have those moments forever etched in time when we remember seeing God’s love up close and personal. It’s very therapeutic to record and revisit His faithfulness. After writing down my monumental moments for years, I filled a book with stories!

I want to point out to our readers that this isn’t just a book of stories that aren’t connected. How does the reading flow together each day?

Each day starts with a verse from Proverbs and a brief scriptural insight into that verse, then a story to illustrate the concept presented in that scripture. My goal is for busy women to have a bite-size bit or instruction and inspiration to start each day. I have talked to ladies who have known the Lord for decades and baby believers who have expressed appreciation for the insight they received into God’s Word from Better Than Jewels. They relate to the situations I present in my stories about “the Lord in the everyday.”

How can folks get Better Than Jewels: 31 Days of Insight for a Woman Seeking God?

Amazon has it and I offer a discount on my website when you purchase more than one book. Better Than Jewels is packaged in such a way as to make a thoughtful gift. I also know ladies who have used is as a small group study, discussing their take away from each story and working through the Polish Your Jewels section together.

So what are you working on now? I know you are always busy!

I’m a mother so I have learned to multi-task. I have several irons in the fire. My website is being reinvented to a teaching tool for people to learn more about how turn the trials of life into triumphs. I want to offer a COUNSELING TIP OF THE WEEK to enlighten, encourage, inform, and empower people to deal with the challenges that life dishes out in these insecure times. I am working now so that those who visit my website can sign up to have the Counseling Tip of the Week delivered to their mailbox and open up to new insight each week.

I am pedal to the metal to complete a gift/devotional book in the same format as Better Than Jewels illustrating the book of Psalms. In keeping with the jewels theme, my working title is Sapphires From Psalms. I am feverishly finishing stories as we speak. It should be out by Mother’s Day 2010. I would love for your readers can check my website for updates.

If your readers would like to email me at lindanewtonspeaks@gmail.com I will put them on my mailing list and keep them informed when our book comes out.

Is there anything that we didn’t ask that you’d like to share with us?

I want your readers to know that God deeply desires to be involved in even the most mundane parts of their day. He loves us that much, and He continually seeks an intimate relationship with the person sitting in you seat! My stories illustrate how much God loves his girls with an unquenchable love and He is available to us in a moment’s notice.

Thanks so much for having me on your blog. I hope your readers will visit me online at www.LindaNewtonSpeaks.com. Remember, God’s got wisdom and insight for you is BETTER THAN JEWELS!

How Long Do I Have to Live With This Illness, Lord?

Excerpt from Think It Not Strange: Making Peace With Chronic Pain by Claudette Palatsky

My prayer journal scribbling illustrates my desperation. “How long, O Lord? Will this ever end? Will it become worse before it gets better? Oh, God! I fear I can’t bear another minute and still, time marches on. Can’t You make it stop? Once, in Your Word, I read that the sun stood still and the moon stopped, for about a whole day. So surely You are capable, Lord, of just the opposite.

How long till the withdrawing is final? How long till the morphine is completely out of my system? What if I can’t wait? It seems I am hanging on by only a thread. You see me here, God. How long before this situation changes? In giant print I am writing to remind You that You are the only One who can do anything about this! I just want to die. Help me now, Father, oh, please help me now!”

One thing that kept me sane during this time was reading God’s Word and listening to praise music to renew my mind. Hour after hour I tried to focus my thoughts on the Lord. He showed me two verses in the book of Isaiah that helped me see that He was, indeed, working on my behalf.

The first one was: “Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you; and therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him,” (30:18). His waiting to move out in your situation does not mean the Lord is “kicking back” like we often do during times of inaction. The Lord does not sleep or slumber. He is not slack or lazy. He never wastes time. His timing is perfect.

The second verse that brought me comfort was: “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him,” (64:4). He has a time for everything and we need only have the sense that God’s timing is perfect. Trusting him when we are hurting is an act of faith. Seeing our situation from a timeless perspective requires prayer.

There is a miracle, recounted for us in 2 Kings, chapter six, that may help. Elisha prayed for his fearful servant, that God would open his eyes to the unseen. The invisible army was made visible. Those that would be with them were more in number than those on the enemy’s side! Greater, too, is Christ in you than anything this life can throw your way.

As long as we are mesmerized by our dark and confusing circumstances, we will be unable to look past ourselves to what’s really happening in the spiritual realm (remember, for our good and for His glory). The writer of Ecclesiastes penned: “He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap,” (11:4).

We must be still and wait on the Lord! It is not waiting in vain. The important thing is to regard Who (not what) we are waiting on! We are rendered fruitless when we fix our eyes on our surroundings.

Instead, let us take the advice in Hebrews 12:2-3, and “look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

We must “consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.” Psalm 123:1-2 eloquently reiterates: “Unto You I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, Until He has mercy on us.”

We may not see or feel it right away, but God’s Word clearly indicates that He is worth the wait. You may be asking, “But just how long do I have to wait?”

Two verses in the book of First Peter explain: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,” (1:6-7).

In chapter five, verse ten (of this same book), it says: “May the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.” Now I don’t know about you, but I want to know what is meant by a while!

How long was that? When would I know my while was over? In the book of James it says: “Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful,” (5:11).

What if Job had given up? He surely wouldn’t have seen the final blessing, which included “twice as much as he had before.” The Bible is clear that: “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven,” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

The Lord knows when enough is enough. He sees the end of our frayed rope. He does not allow us to go beyond what we’re able to endure. He gives strength for the trudging, though only day by day (See Deuteronomy 33:25, Psalm 84:7).

The end may not be in sight now, but it does exist. We may not be able to see it while we are prisoners of pain, but there is a release date. “Blessed is the man whom You instruct, O Lord, and teach out of Your law, that You may give him rest from the days of adversity,” (Psalm 94:12-13).

Even those dealing with chronic pain can experience closure if they look for it. Think of your life of pain as a book. We know that the last chapter for the believer is in Revelation 21:4. “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

Meditate on the following Psalm references as you wait on the Lord:

• Psalm 130:5: “I wait for the Lord. . .”
• Psalm 57:1: “Be merciful to me, O God. . .”
• Psalm 71:20-21: “You, who have shown me great and severe troubles, shall revive me again. . .”
• Psalm 27:14: “Wait on the Lord. . .”
• Psalm 40:1-2: “I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me. . .”

PRAYER:
May I see the eternal view and not look at current circumstances. Help me to focus on You, looking up instead of on things around me. Be the lifter of my head. I don’t want to give up on You and try to work things out according to my own limited understanding of the situation.


I believe You have the greater good in mind. Help me trust You are working while I wait. Increase my faith, Lord, to endure in Your grace and power. Encourage my heart to not give up. Show me creative ways to pass the time. Help me count my blessings. Keep me prayerful.


Claudette resides with her husband and their  son in California. Claudette is a columnist for Rest Ministries’ HopeKeepers Magazine, called “Drawing Near.” She has been featured on Rest Ministries podcast, Hope Endures speaking about I Feel Guilty Because I am Not Doing Enough! Listen here!

Tis is excerpted from Claudette’s book,Think It Not Strange: Making Peace With Chronic Pain © 2003,. Visit her web site wit encouragment, a printable study guide and moe at www.thinkitnotstrange.com.

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