{"id":1731,"date":"2015-07-20T08:41:10","date_gmt":"2015-07-20T08:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1731"},"modified":"2015-07-12T20:53:22","modified_gmt":"2015-07-12T20:53:22","slug":"never-enough-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/never-enough-god.html","title":{"rendered":"Never Enough God!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Photo courtesy of Gualberto107\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Leave God out of this.”<\/p>\n

“You pray too much.”<\/p>\n

“Let’s not talk about God anymore.”<\/p>\n

If any of these or similar remarks sound familiar to you, you’re not alone. I’ve heard these and many other comments throughout my life, and especially when speaking with people who are in pain, living with illness, or are caring for those who are, whether medical professionals or not. For some, it’s all well and good to speak about God – to a point. Too much “God talk” can, for them, start to feel threatening or bewildering. And they want to put an end to it.<\/p>\n

Others are not open to God at all, preferring to think about some other “higher power,” whether themselves or science or the latest fad in self-care.<\/p>\n

And others are afraid to bring up the subject of God and life, health, and wholeness, because they don’t want to “offend” others.<\/p>\n

For me? There’s never\u00a0enough<\/em> talk of God! Or prayer! Or striving to lead a faithful life!<\/p>\n

For me, I cannot “leave God out” of much of anything – He’s everywhere, and ever-moving.<\/p>\n

But does that mean that bringing God in crowds out all other discussion? Absolutely not. We live on this earth, we are human, and we have human concerns, likes, dislikes, and dreams. We are children of God – and He works through us. It’s all blessedly connected!<\/p>\n

And does that mean that we take on the cloak of a vehement preacher, shaking our fist and Bible? Not at all – if we are true to the Gospel, and if we are truly faith-filled, we should be so full of joy and light that it shines from our words, faces, lives!<\/p>\n

So, I pray, talk about God, and bring Him into my life because He is wonderful, I am human, and doing so fills me with immense thanksgiving and joy!<\/p>\n

Peace,<\/p>\n

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

“Leave God out of this.” “You pray too much.” “Let’s not talk about God anymore.” If any of these or similar remarks sound familiar to you, you’re not alone. I’ve heard these and many other comments throughout my life, and especially when speaking with people who are in pain, living with illness, or are caring…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,360,43,1047,578,1420,1245,1236,1421,1246],"tags":[1807,45,183,265,1806,1804,1805],"class_list":["post-1731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-determination","category-encouragement-in-life","category-good","category-goodness","category-pain-2","category-positive","category-prayer-2","category-take-some-time-to-rest","category-uplifting","tag-bringing-god-into-our-lives","tag-faith","tag-gods-love","tag-joy","tag-praying-a-lot","tag-spiritual-joy","tag-talking-about-god"],"yoast_head":"\nNever Enough God! - 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\/07\/never-enough-god.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Never Enough God! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"“Leave God out of this.” “You pray too much.” “Let’s not talk about God anymore.” If any of these or similar remarks sound familiar to you, you’re not alone. I’ve heard these and many other comments throughout my life, and especially when speaking with people who are in pain, living with illness, or are caring…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/never-enough-god.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-20T08:41:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-07-12T20:53:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/01\/stone-angel-Gualberto-107-300x198.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mpratt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Never Enough God! - 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\/07\/never-enough-god.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Never Enough God! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","og_description":"“Leave God out of this.” “You pray too much.” “Let’s not talk about God anymore.” If any of these or similar remarks sound familiar to you, you’re not alone. I’ve heard these and many other comments throughout my life, and especially when speaking with people who are in pain, living with illness, or are caring…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/never-enough-god.html","og_site_name":"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","article_published_time":"2015-07-20T08:41:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-07-12T20:53:22+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/01\/stone-angel-Gualberto-107-300x198.jpg"}],"author":"mpratt","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/never-enough-god.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/never-enough-god.html","name":"Never Enough God! - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/never-enough-god.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/never-enough-god.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/01\/stone-angel-Gualberto-107-300x198.jpg","datePublished":"2015-07-20T08:41:10+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-12T20:53:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/#\/schema\/person\/b47fd8e9d9cc9750d5779f75b8669a32"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/never-enough-god.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/never-enough-god.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/never-enough-god.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/01\/stone-angel-Gualberto-107-300x198.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2015\/01\/stone-angel-Gualberto-107-300x198.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/never-enough-god.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Never Enough God!"}]},{"@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\/1731","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=1731"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1732,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1731\/revisions\/1732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}