{"id":881,"date":"2013-10-20T20:06:19","date_gmt":"2013-10-20T20:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=881"},"modified":"2013-10-19T20:24:51","modified_gmt":"2013-10-19T20:24:51","slug":"what-if-god-says-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/10\/what-if-god-says-no.html","title":{"rendered":"What If God Says, “No?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maureen<\/a>For the past several weeks, Sundays have been the only days when I can truly rest. The rest of the days of these weeks have been jammed with doctor’s appointments, other responsibilities, and increasingly crushing fatigue. So, I’ve been observing the Sabbath in quiet, moved by the Spirit to pray, read, reflect, and praise more privately. I have felt a little guilty about this, wondering if I wasn’t just being lazy. It wasn’t as if I was having a spiritual crisis, so much as a need to recharge.<\/p>\n

So, on two occasions, I decided, “it’s been awhile since I went to Mass. I’m going to go today.”<\/p>\n

One of those days took me to a doctor’s appointment in a town next to mine. The local church there was having a noon Mass, so I thought, “Great. I’ll go to my doctor’s appointment and then drive on over to the church.”<\/p>\n

Well, drive I did. But there was no parking to be found. None in the jammed church lot, none on the streets, and none in adjacent lots. Nothing. Zippo. Nada.<\/p>\n

Apparently, God wanted me to continue on my private observances, in effect, saying, “No. Not yet.”<\/p>\n

Or did He?<\/p>\n

Last weekend, I decided to try a Saturday evening service at another nearby church. That way, I reasoned, I could spend Sunday quietly.<\/p>\n

So, I got all ready and drove forward. Until I got a couple of blocks from the church where I was blocked by imposing sawhorses and a large sign that said: “Street closed.” A fair had taken over the area all around, even directly in front of the church. Not only was there no parking, but there was no passage.<\/p>\n

One of these days, I am going to get back to church. For now, I think I get the message. For me, and I’m sure many others, too, especially after a highly stressful time, drinnking up quiet time with God is vital. For how long is not necessarily for us to decide. Sometimes, God says, “No. Not yet. Abide with me. And I will guide you.”<\/p>\n

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

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

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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\/881","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=881"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":883,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881\/revisions\/883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}