Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt

For all of you whose spirit is restless and waiting…   Lord, I’ve prayed for a cure, but none has come. I’ve prayed for understanding of “why,” and haven’t received that, either. I sit, stand, and wait, Lord, for your wisdom and word, but O, Lord, my spirit is restless. Inside of me is worry,…

Hallelujah! Today is the first day of Spring! Even if your neighborhood is still digging out from snow, or you have to wear heavy clothing just to go out to get the mail, rest assured, the calendar has spoken – Spring has begun, and we can benefit in so many ways just from the knowledge…

Go to the pharmacy for a 3-month supply of meds. Return home, look in bag, discover a 1-month supply. Phone Pharmacy. Go back to pharmacy for 2-month supply. Sigh! In a life with chronic illness and pain, there will inevitably be “bumps in the road.” These can be as “minor” as a forgotten doctor’s appointment…

Oh, Lord, there is so much noise in my heart and in my world.  It is becoming more difficult to hear you, to sense your presence in my life, to focus my spirit on what matters most. Please, Lord, here and now, bring quiet. Let your peace fill my soul and enable me to block…

In the elevator of my local grocery store, a mother and her young son were already waiting for the doors to close. As I stepped in, the boy, not more than three or four years old, stepped back, toward the full shopping cart the mother was holding onto. I thought he might hit his head…

A recent rain brought crisp, clean air to Southern California. What a blessing! Before the deluge, it seemed as if there was a pall of dust over and around. Now, it’s a joy to breathe deeply and enjoy the outdoor air once more. During this time of Lent, I’m reminded of what a blessing it…

Feeling like life is passing you by because you’re limited by illness and pain? Do you believe you’re too old to try something new, achieve a dream, or simply shine brightly as a beloved child of God because your health is bringing you down? I offer this little plant as inspiration: It’s a Christmas cactus…

“Happiness is a by-product. You cannot pursue it by itself.”  Samuel Levenson, American humorist (1911-80) My page-a-day Old Farmer’s Almanac calendar often has pithy quotes that stir my thinking. The one above, on Thursday’s page, struck me as tremendously appropriate for those of us living with chronic illnesses. How often have you said, “I just…

The crucible for silver, and the furnace for gold, but the tester of hearts is the Lord Proverbs 17: 3   Living with illness and pain can seem like one, long, test. And, in many ways, it is. These challenges test patience, pain threshold, and, in the more concrete sense of the word, they subject…

Happy the people who know you, Lord, who walk in the radiance of your face.     Psalm 89:16   Happy Lent to you! Happy?  Lent? You might ask. Yes, a very happy Lent. Because we can feel a bit freer, a bit more focused on getting closer to the Lord. We do this at…

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