{"id":1480,"date":"2014-12-20T18:57:42","date_gmt":"2014-12-20T18:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1480"},"modified":"2014-12-18T19:02:48","modified_gmt":"2014-12-18T19:02:48","slug":"a-praying-spirit-advent-week-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/12\/a-praying-spirit-advent-week-four.html","title":{"rendered":"A Praying Spirit: Advent Week Four"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image<\/a>
Image courtesty of anankkml\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Christmas is near! And no doubt your calendar is full of more things than you know you will be able to accomplish between now and the 24th. All the more reason why breaking away and taking time for prayer is important.<\/p>\n

The clutter in our lives can stifle prayer, and, besides our calendars, our homes, cars, and even perhaps our workspaces are cluttered with “To-dos” and “Must-dos”.<\/p>\n

This week, think of helping yourself in prayer by clearing however small a space for peaceful, focused time with God. Move papers so that there is a spot of clear desk that you can look upon as you pray at work. Move boxes and bags from a corner at home and sit, quietly, in the newly-simplified space.<\/p>\n

Pray with simplicity – and with a direct spirit. God will hear you clearly, as He always does, and He will cleanse your heart so that you are prepared, inside and out, for the celebration of Christmas!<\/p>\n

Joy and peace,<\/p>\n

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

Christmas is near! And no doubt your calendar is full of more things than you know you will be able to accomplish between now and the 24th. All the more reason why breaking away and taking time for prayer is important. The clutter in our lives can stifle prayer, and, besides our calendars, our homes,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1272,241,360,43,1047,578,1236,95],"tags":[225,2120,1398,1399,265,1400,96,223],"class_list":["post-1480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-praying-spirit-prayer-2","category-christmas","category-determination","category-encouragement-in-life","category-good","category-goodness","category-prayer-2","category-prayers","tag-advent","tag-christmas","tag-cleansing-prayer","tag-god-will-hear-you","tag-joy","tag-peace-of-soul","tag-prayer","tag-praying"],"yoast_head":"\nA Praying Spirit: Advent Week Four - 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\/12\/a-praying-spirit-advent-week-four.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Praying Spirit: Advent Week Four - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christmas is near! 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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\/1480","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=1480"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1481,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480\/revisions\/1481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}