Praying

Please pray with me.

Dear Lord of Mercy and Father of Comfort,

You are the One I turn to for help in moments of weakness and times of need. I ask you to be with two men very close to my heart (my father and my son) in their illnesses. Psalm 107:20 says that You send out Your Word and heal. So then, please send Your healing Word to Your servants. In the name of Jesus, drive out all infirmity and sickness from their bodies.

Dear Lord, I ask You to turn their weaknesses into strength, their suffering into compassion, their sorrow into joy, and their pain into comfort for others. May Your servants trust in Your goodness and hope in Your faithfulness, even in the middle of this suffering. Let them be filled with patience and joy in Your presence as they wait for Your healing touch.

Please restore Your servants to full health, dear Father. Remove all fear and doubt from their hearts by the power of Your Holy Spirit, and may You, Lord, be glorified through their lives.

As You heal and renew Your servants, Lord, may they bless and praise You.

All of this I pray in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

NEWSLETTER

I know, it's been awhile.  So, I'm going to catch you up on lots of things.  Call it a "newsletter", like the ones you get in Christmas cards.


Relay for Life is over for the year.  As usual, the Luminaria Ceremony was beautiful, so peaceful.  I walked the silent lap with a dear friend whose dad has recently been diagnosed with cancer.  The rain chased us in around 1am and there we stayed until the sun came up.  Ultimately we raised more than $30,000!  Way to go, Martin County!






I got a card in the mail last week from Thy Word Network.  They just wanted me to know that my name was pulled to be one of the people they pray for by name.  How amazing is that?!  I was still stressing about my latest phone call with Jeff (see below) and a little anxious about my two week trip to be evaluated on my knowledge of ERP.  So, the prayers were welcome...and truly appreciated.  It totally made me smile.  And the homemade card is beautiful!

Jeff has made a huge decision for his life.  It's personal to him.  So I don't feel all that comfortable sharing the details on the world wide web.  But suffice it to say, I'm very proud of him.  I don't think he realizes how much I believe in him.  His first call to me was very positive.  His second call to me was very negative.  I haven't talked to him in over a week.  But I've written to him and hope to hear from him again soon.  Prayers for Jeff!

It was SummerFest weekend in Loogootee this past weekend.  I went with a friend Thursday night.  I had plans with the 89ers Friday night and after singing at mass and then with the MarCo's Saturday night, I needed to pack and rest for my trip.  So, Thursday was the best day for me to attend.  It happened to be the night of the auction.  ...I walked away with a red love seat.  I love it and it looks GREAT in my living room.  Friday, I stopped by Englert's and ordered a rug.  When I get home from travel next week, I'm ordering a recliner.  My apartment is definitely coming together.

Like I said, Friday night I went to dinner with the 89ers.  This time, we went to Bobe's and then Scoops in Washington.  GREAT time!  We had a couple of newbies.  Peggy came down from Indy and Tammy came down from near Bloomington.  It was the first time they had both joined us and we had a lot of fun getting to know them again.  I hope they join us more often.

I think I had a migraine early (and I mean EARLY) Friday morning.  I woke up at 3am with a horrible headache.  Within 30 minutes, I was vomiting.  It wasn't until after 4am that I finally fell asleep again.  But still, I woke up with a headache.  Went to work for much of the day, but wore my shades most of the morning.  Finally, one of my co-workers asked if maybe my headache was a migraine.  Made perfect sense!  That's the first bad one I've had in several years.  By the time I went home I was feeling TONS better.

I'm traveling again.  Business, not pleasure.  I chose to drive this time, as opposed to flying.  I figured that since I was going to be here for two weeks, I'd like to have my car with me.  I'd be able to come and go as I pleased and even make it to church.  But I've been here since Sunday night and haven't moved my car even one time.  I'll probably get out and explore some Friday.

Every once in awhile I ask someone if they pray.  Either I'm asking for prayers or I want to share something with them that they'd really only appreciate if they're actively Christian.  I think it's safe to say that I've asked that question dozens of times.  Monday for the first time ever, when I asked someone if she was a praying woman, I received the response, "no".  I was surprised by the answer, mostly because I'm usually surrounded by people who pray.  But I didn't hold it against her or even show that I was surprised.  What I did was share the bible verse with her anyway!

I got a Facebook friend request yesterday that really surprised me.  I accepted the request.  And I'm looking forward to seeing what comes of that relationship.  And that's all I have to say about that...for now.

Prayers for Jeff

Jeff called me tonight. He's having a bad day...though he might argue that he's having a bad life...and needed an encouraging word or two.

I don't know if I had enough of them.

This is when my shoulders fall and my face looks upward as I sigh. Praying for healing for the boy.

Prayer for our Children

(I did not write this...but I don't remember where I got it either.)


O God, our heavenly Father, Who loves all of mankind, and Who is merciful and compassionate, have mercy upon our children, Your servants, (especially my son Jeff), for whom I humbly pray, and commend to Your gracious protection.

O God, be their guide and guardian in all their endeavors. Lead them in the path of truth. Draw them near to You, that they may lead godly and righteous lives, doing Your will in all matters. Give them grace that they may be temperate, industrious, diligent, devout, and charitable all their days.

O God, defend them against the assaults of the enemy, and grant them wisdom and strength to resist all temptation and corruption of this life. Direct them in the way of salvation, for the merits of Your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the intercessions of His Holy Mother, and all Your blessed saints. We pray this in Your most holy name.

Amen.

Quality Time with the Boy

As I mentioned yesterday, I had a flat tire. Today, I taught Jeff how to change a tire. So, now the flat is in the trunk and the biddy wheel is in the front left position. Jeff found the whole process somewhat frustrating. I personally liked the lesson. I gave the same tire-changing lesson to his dad 20 years ago. How's that for irony?

After changing the tire, we watched the USA vs. Brazil soccer game. The first half was GREAT. The second half...not so much. But our boys should be proud. After nearly being eliminated completely from the tournament, they beat Egypt handily. THEN they shocked the world #1 team, Spain to make it to the final game for the first time ever in this tournament. Then they were up 2-0 on Brazil...before ultimately losing 2-3. Still, it was a nice afternoon with the boy.

This evening, I've been fighting with Quicken. I've never used it before and didn't realize how long it would take to set up. Needless to say, I didn't finish it. But I will...before the weekend. I figure now that I have college costs to cover, I should be a little more disciplined with my budget. Not to mention, I got our first bill from Jeff's kidney stone trauma. Jasper Memorial, where Jeff only spent 8 hours (though part of that was out-patient surgery) billed me for $3,200. That's AFTER my insurance covered $11,000 AND the bill was adjusted down by $1,200. {sigh} So, add another monthly payment to my budget. And I haven't even gotten the bill from Daviess County, where Jeff had ER services and spent three nights...and had LOTS of drugs. Ugh! Oh, well. Such is life.

Late tonight, I had a serious conversation with an old friend from Colorado. He's never been to a church service before and it struggling with lots of things right now. His sister gave him a bible just a few days ago. He's opened it twice in the last two days and felt like both passages were speaking to him. He doesn't know if he believes in God or not, but I told him to keep reading. Every day. And before he reads, just pray, "God, if You're out there, speak to me." I'm asking my readers to pray for my friend. That God speaks to him and that he listens. Thanks!