{"id":1224,"date":"2014-06-17T19:11:12","date_gmt":"2014-06-17T19:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1224"},"modified":"2014-06-15T19:21:41","modified_gmt":"2014-06-15T19:21:41","slug":"chronic-pain-many-ways-to-say-hallelujah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/06\/chronic-pain-many-ways-to-say-hallelujah.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Pain: Many ways to say, “Hallelujah!”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image<\/a>
Image courtesy of Michael Elliott\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sometimes, praising God is tough. Physical pain can make it impossible to lift a limb, let alone raise hands to heaven. Emotions might be anything other than joy-filled. And spirits can sag, especially as life with chronic pain goes on and on and on and on…<\/p>\n

Today, I was preparing for the music we’re going to sing in church on Sunday, and was struck by how many different songs there are with “Hallelujah!” (or, “alleluia”) in the title. “Alleluia, Sing to Jesus,” “Alleluia! Sing!”, “Hallelujah!”, “Alle, Alle, Alleluia,” and so on. Songs that are fast, slow, high, low – lots of variety there, too. Yes, very, very different, but among them all is a common thread, praise for our God.<\/p>\n

Finding your way to say, “Hallelujah!” in the midst of pain is difficult sometimes, but it’s important to remember that there are myriad ways of doing it. And, there is no, one “right” way. You can blink your approval of the beauty of God’s earth – that’s an “Hallelujah!” You can whisper “Thank you, Lord,” for even the smallest blessing during the day – that’s an “Hallelujah!” And, you can raise your head and shout, if the spirit moves you to do so. Yes, that’s an “Hallelujah!” too!<\/p>\n

Giving praise to God is one of the crucial duties of we people of faith. Yes, our God is worthy of praise. And, it doesn’t matter how we do it – the joy of it is, we find a way, no matter what!<\/p>\n

Blessings for the day,<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes, praising God is tough. Physical pain can make it impossible to lift a limb, let alone raise hands to heaven. Emotions might be anything other than joy-filled. And spirits can sag, especially as life with chronic pain goes on and on and on and on… Today, I was preparing for the music we’re going…<\/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],"tags":[490,44,45,47,1089,1090,265,18,1087,1088,849],"class_list":["post-1224","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","tag-alleluia","tag-chronic-pain","tag-faith","tag-god","tag-hallelujah","tag-hard-to-find-joy","tag-joy","tag-lupus","tag-physical-pain","tag-praising-god-in-pain","tag-praising-god-when-youre-in-pain"],"yoast_head":"\nChronic Pain: Many ways to say, "Hallelujah!" - 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\/06\/chronic-pain-many-ways-to-say-hallelujah.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Pain: Many ways to say, "Hallelujah!" - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sometimes, praising God is tough. Physical pain can make it impossible to lift a limb, let alone raise hands to heaven. Emotions might be anything other than joy-filled. And spirits can sag, especially as life with chronic pain goes on and on and on and on… Today, I was preparing for the music we’re going…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/06\/chronic-pain-many-ways-to-say-hallelujah.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-17T19:11:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-06-15T19:21:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2014\/06\/Cactus-in-bloom-by-Michael-Elliott-199x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mpratt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chronic Pain: Many ways to say, \"Hallelujah!\" - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/06\/chronic-pain-many-ways-to-say-hallelujah.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Chronic Pain: Many ways to say, \"Hallelujah!\" - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","og_description":"Sometimes, praising God is tough. Physical pain can make it impossible to lift a limb, let alone raise hands to heaven. Emotions might be anything other than joy-filled. And spirits can sag, especially as life with chronic pain goes on and on and on and on… Today, I was preparing for the music we’re going…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/06\/chronic-pain-many-ways-to-say-hallelujah.html","og_site_name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","article_published_time":"2014-06-17T19:11:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-06-15T19:21:41+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2014\/06\/Cactus-in-bloom-by-Michael-Elliott-199x300.jpg"}],"author":"mpratt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/06\/chronic-pain-many-ways-to-say-hallelujah.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/06\/chronic-pain-many-ways-to-say-hallelujah.html","name":"Chronic Pain: Many ways to say, \"Hallelujah!\" - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/06\/chronic-pain-many-ways-to-say-hallelujah.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/06\/chronic-pain-many-ways-to-say-hallelujah.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2014\/06\/Cactus-in-bloom-by-Michael-Elliott-199x300.jpg","datePublished":"2014-06-17T19:11:12+00:00","dateModified":"2014-06-15T19:21:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/06\/chronic-pain-many-ways-to-say-hallelujah.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/06\/chronic-pain-many-ways-to-say-hallelujah.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/06\/chronic-pain-many-ways-to-say-hallelujah.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2014\/06\/Cactus-in-bloom-by-Michael-Elliott-199x300.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2014\/06\/Cactus-in-bloom-by-Michael-Elliott-199x300.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/06\/chronic-pain-many-ways-to-say-hallelujah.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Chronic Pain: Many ways to say, “Hallelujah!”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/","name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","description":"Beliefnet Voices","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32","name":"mpratt","description":"Several years ago, Maureen Pratt earned her Master of Fine Arts in Theater Arts\/Playwriting from UCLA's School of Theater, FIlm and Television. 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\/1224","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=1224"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1226,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1224\/revisions\/1226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}