{"id":1505,"date":"2015-01-12T23:59:53","date_gmt":"2015-01-12T23:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1505"},"modified":"2015-01-04T00:08:32","modified_gmt":"2015-01-04T00:08:32","slug":"food-for-thought-straight-from-scripture-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/01\/food-for-thought-straight-from-scripture-part-ii.html","title":{"rendered":"Food for Thought:  Straight from Scripture Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/05\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-701\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/350\/2013\/05\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic1-246x300.jpg\" alt=\"Maureen Pratt Author Pic\" width=\"246\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>If you are feeling completely snowed in by your illness and pain, it can be hard to think that you actually possess amazing gifts that are waiting for your to unpack and use &#8211; brilliantly!<\/p>\n<p>But, as I mentioned last week, \u00a0each person in that upper room after Jesus&#8217; death and resurrection, and each person mentioned by Paul in his iconic letter to the Romans (Romans 12:3-6), and each believer now have\/has been given gifts of the Holy Spirit. No return receipt. No expiration date. They&#8217;re all yours and mine!<\/p>\n<p>One of the best ways to be introduced to your gifts is to pray and reflect on what you think they are. What do you do well? What have others told is your greatest asset to them, your church family, your community. Read through Acts and Romans, asking God for discernment of pupose and possibility.<\/p>\n<p>No matter your situation in life, you have been graced with gifts! And the world will be a far better place if you discover them, develop them, and use them for all good and His glory!<\/p>\n<p>Blessings<\/p>\n<p>Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you are feeling completely snowed in by your illness and pain, it can be hard to think that you actually possess amazing gifts that are waiting for your to unpack and use &#8211; brilliantly! But, as I mentioned last week, \u00a0each person in that upper room after Jesus&#8217; death and resurrection, and each person&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1422,360,43,1242,1047,1420,1245],"tags":[1418,1437,496,1438,1435,1436],"class_list":["post-1505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-chronic-pain-and-the-holidays","category-determination","category-encouragement-in-life","category-food-for-thought","category-good","category-pain-2","category-positive","tag-acts-of-the-apostles","tag-discerning-your-gifts","tag-gifts-of-the-spirit","tag-praying-for-discernment","tag-romans-12","tag-your-gifts"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Food for Thought: Straight from Scripture Part II - 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\/2015\/01\/food-for-thought-straight-from-scripture-part-ii.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Food for Thought: Straight from Scripture Part II - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you are feeling completely snowed in by your illness and pain, it can be hard to think that you actually possess amazing gifts that are waiting for your to unpack and use &#8211; brilliantly! But, as I mentioned last week, \u00a0each person in that upper room after Jesus&#8217; death and resurrection, and each person&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/01\/food-for-thought-straight-from-scripture-part-ii.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-01-12T23:59:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-01-04T00:08:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/05\/Maureen-Pratt-Author-Pic1-246x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mpratt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Food for Thought: Straight from Scripture Part II - 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\/2015\/01\/food-for-thought-straight-from-scripture-part-ii.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Food for Thought: Straight from Scripture Part II - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","og_description":"If you are feeling completely snowed in by your illness and pain, it can be hard to think that you actually possess amazing gifts that are waiting for your to unpack and use &#8211; brilliantly! 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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 &amp; 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\/1505","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=1505"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1506,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505\/revisions\/1506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}