{"id":1105,"date":"2014-04-03T18:44:23","date_gmt":"2014-04-03T18:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1105"},"modified":"2014-03-31T18:55:44","modified_gmt":"2014-03-31T18:55:44","slug":"building-up-strength","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/04\/building-up-strength.html","title":{"rendered":"Building up Strength"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maureen<\/a>A friend about to undergo chemotherapy. An aging parent who is wobbly. You, terrified of the next doctor’s visit and what news you might get.<\/p>\n

Right now, there are many of us who are anticipating something that will require much fortitude and strength. But perhaps you’re not feeling particularly strong. Perhaps you are unsure of your own abilities to face a new health challenge. Maybe, just maybe, you are afraid.<\/p>\n

Not exactly a recipe for success, but this is perfectly natural. Especially if you’ve lived with illness or infirmity for a long while, the thought of yet another fight, yet another uphill climb might be, well, unthinkable.<\/p>\n

But there’s a way to make the way easier, and it doesn’t require a lot of extra time, only mindfulness of the mental struggle you’re engaged in – and the power that God has over and in your life.<\/p>\n

For every trembling moment, remind yourself that you are a beloved child of God, who is all-caring.<\/p>\n

For every doubt that creeps into your mind, push it back with, “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.”<\/p>\n

For each whimper, tear, and anguished cry, be gentle with yourself and insist, “It’s all right to fear, but it’s in me to be courageous.”<\/p>\n

With every positive movement and word that we can bring into our fear-filled days and nights, we are building up resilience, we are stocking up on strength. And, the more mindful we are of God’s presence, the less we will feel like sinking in sadness. How can we be despondent when we have the Creator in our lives?!<\/p>\n

I pray today that you will start to build up strength for whatever challenge looms. And, as you meet it face-to-face, I also pray that you will be heartened by the strength that has been building up inside of you – all along,<\/p>\n

Blessings for the day,
\nMaureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A friend about to undergo chemotherapy. An aging parent who is wobbly. You, terrified of the next doctor’s visit and what news you might get. Right now, there are many of us who are anticipating something that will require much fortitude and strength. But perhaps you’re not feeling particularly strong. Perhaps you are unsure of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,43,4,383,379,95],"tags":[446,45,289,459,982,981,983,457],"class_list":["post-1105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-encouragement-in-life","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","category-heart-health","category-lupus-2","category-prayers","tag-courage","tag-faith","tag-fear","tag-health-challenges","tag-health-news","tag-impending-health-news","tag-mindfulness","tag-strength"],"yoast_head":"\nBuilding up Strength - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/04\/building-up-strength.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Building up Strength - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A friend about to undergo chemotherapy. 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She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1105"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1106,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1105\/revisions\/1106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}