{"id":953,"date":"2013-12-12T20:46:32","date_gmt":"2013-12-12T20:46:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=953"},"modified":"2013-12-08T21:01:43","modified_gmt":"2013-12-08T21:01:43","slug":"bringing-glad-tidings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/12\/bringing-glad-tidings.html","title":{"rendered":"Bringing Glad Tidings"},"content":{"rendered":"

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 because the Lord has anointed me;<\/p>\n

He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly,<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 to heal the brokenhearted<\/p>\n

To proclaim liberty to the captives<\/p>\n

\u00a0 and release to the prisoners,<\/p>\n

To announce a year of favor from the Lord<\/p>\n

\u00a0 and a day of vindication by our God,<\/p>\n

\u00a0 to comfort all who mourn;<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Isaiah 61:1-2 (NAB)<\/p>\n

\n

\"Image<\/a>
Image courtesy of Arvind Balaraman\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The prophet Isaiah’s words resound through the ages and rest on our ears and hearts today. No matter who we are, no matter where we go, Isaiah trumpets our mission: “to bring glad tidings” to the lowly, the prisoners, all who mourn, in fact, to everyone!<\/p>\n

But this can be really tough if you’re hurting, can’t it? Experiencing stabs of physical pain, being unable to move one or more limbs without excruciatingly awful sensations – how in the world can we cut through all of this and muster the energy and heart to said, “Hallelujah!”?!<\/p>\n

I’m with you as far as the difficulty goes. Oh, yes, on the “good” days, it’s much easier to raise a praise. But on those dark, “bad” days, well, not so easy. Sometimes, almost impossible.<\/p>\n

Yes, almost<\/em>.<\/p>\n

On the days when it’s extremely difficult to shout, I try at least to whisper. On the days when it’s hard to say, “it’s all good,” I try to find at least one thing that\u00a0is,\u00a0<\/em>one even small blessing to which I can point and say, “See? God does bring good.”<\/p>\n

Isaiah’s powerful witness and purpose leap off the pages of Scripture, and sometimes, our hearts leap right with him. But we know, as does our all-loving Father in Heaven, that some days, it’s just not possible to shout and leap and, perhaps, even lift our hands to the heavens.<\/p>\n

But on those days, those “bad” days, there’s always something we can find, if we look, and some glimmer of joy we can feel, if we allow ourselves to, that can spark an even-muted \u00a0praise…and show the world that we might be down, but we’re not out – not out of God’s grace, goodness, and glad tidings!<\/p>\n

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

Maureen<\/p>\n

\n

\n

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

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, \u00a0 \u00a0 because the Lord has anointed me; He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, \u00a0 \u00a0 to heal the brokenhearted To proclaim liberty to the captives \u00a0 and release to the prisoners, To announce a year of favor from the Lord…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[241,3,43,4],"tags":[225,852,851,848,850,19,847,265,30,849,86],"class_list":["post-953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-encouragement-in-life","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","tag-advent","tag-christmas-cheer","tag-christmas-time","tag-giving-praise","tag-glad-tidings","tag-illness","tag-isaiah","tag-joy","tag-pain","tag-praising-god-when-youre-in-pain","tag-suffering"],"yoast_head":"\nBringing Glad Tidings - 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\/2013\/12\/bringing-glad-tidings.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bringing Glad Tidings - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, \u00a0 \u00a0 because the Lord has anointed me; 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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\/953","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=953"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":954,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions\/954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}