Light Born Into Darkness

In light today's (and other recent) shootings, I have no words. I direct you to a prayer, posted today by Max Lucado, saying (just in part),

Your world seems a bit darker this Christmas. But you were born in the dark, right? You came at night. The shepherds were nightshift workers. The Wise Men followed a star. Your first cries were heard in the shadows. To see your face, Mary and Joseph needed a candle flame. It was dark. Dark with Herod's jealousy. Dark with Roman oppression. Dark with poverty. Dark with violence.
Herod went on a rampage, killing babies. Joseph took you and your mom into Egypt. You were an immigrant before you were a Nazarene.

Read this Christmas Prayer in full at www.huffingtonpost.com/max-lucado/a-christmas-prayer_2_b_2302548.html .

Chronic Grace

A guest post by David J. Hall.

The Chronic Grace of God

I have found the Scriptures to be absolutely true when the Lord told the Apostle Paul (who was being tormented by a "thorn in the flesh") that God's grace would be sufficient for his journey of suffering and pain.

While I suffer with chronic pain (and sometimes outright agony), I am at the same time blessed by God's chronic grace (if I may phrase it that way) which is more real to me than even the pain. In a sense, the pain is almost surreal, but God's grace is so real, and is provided through His tangible Presence!

His grace does not take my pain away. His grace does however equip me physically, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually to endure the pain, and to do so with a heart that is filled with joy and is established in peace... His peace!

If you suffer with a chronic pain condition of some kind, first pray for healing, and then pray for the "chronic" grace of God to sustain you until His healing arrives in your life.

See you at the altar, my friend, where we together will approach our gracious Heavenly Father Who will provide all that we need!!

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
- Hebrews 4:16 (NIV)

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About our Guest Author:

David J. Hall battles Fibromyalgia with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, diagnosed in 2000 after many tests ruled out other things. "I have been a pastor my whole adult life, and could no longer work as of Sept. 2006 due to my illness.
"My mom and dad say that my pulpit is now my bed, from which I write notes on Facebook (please request a friendship if you would like) and articles on my blog."

Laura Story - "Blessings"

Lear more at Harvesting Hope from Heartache™.

Prayer May Reshape Your Brain

I was just thinking this week about the study of prayer's impact on In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) pregnancy results, so it was fascinating to me today to find this study about the impact of prayer or meditation on the brain and body. (Andrea, thanks for the link!) The article is written from a secular perspective and lumps all "religious people" and kinds of prayer/meditation together, but I still found it to be an interesting field of study as reported by NPR: Prayer May Reshape Your Brain

Is science finally figuring out what God's said all along? "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" James 5:16b. (KJV)

Thorn of Infertility

This praise/prayer request actually pertains to my first book. Hannah's Hope: Seeking God's Heart in the Midst of Infertility, Miscarriage & Adoption Loss has been nominated by RESOLVE, the oldest, and one of the largest, infertility support networks in the nation, as one of the top four "best" infertility books for 2010! I'm beyond thrilled by this nomination and am praying that if nothing else comes of it, at least many new readers will be exposed to the book and God will encourage some hurting hearts as a result. (But I can't say my feelings would be hurt if I won the "best" award either. ;) )

RESOLVE's selections are now open for public vote and I would so appreciate if if you would take a moment and visit www.resolve.org/vote to cast a vote for Hannah's Hope in the "best book" category. Thank you so very much!!! If you have a blog or a facebook/twitter type account and would be willing to pass this along to your friends as well, I would truly appreciate your assistance! Voting closes June 24.

Prayer Team

I am currently building a prayer team to be my backbone of support as I continue moving forward with the writing of my book on the life of Paul as a support resource for living with chronic pain/illness. If you are passionate about these topics and committed to prayer, please send me an email at jsaake AT yahoo DOT com with PRAYER TEAM in the title, telling me your story or why you would like to be part of my prayer team in one or two paragraphs. I am being fairly selective in the handful of people I invite to join the blog where I am vulnerably sharing the ups and downs of my writing journey, so I may need some time to get to know you before I send you an invitation to my team. Thank you for considering partnering with me in prayer!

Hannah's Hope took me nearly 10 years to write, from first dreams and prayers and scribblings to completed manuscript. I'm sicker now and have more kids, but I also have the experience of one prior book, so only God knows the time line He will unfold with this new book. Since Hannah's Hope has been published for 5 years already, I guess you could say we are 5 years into this new book (though I only just put an outline to paper earlier this year) and currently it seems pretty realistic that I could well be another 5 years from submittable manuscript. I'm intentionally not yet seeking a publisher because I want the freedom to write at the pace God places things on my heart, not be scrambling to meet publisher deadlines.

A Thorny Season

I have a chronic illness that stems back to a virus I had as a child and the acute onset of additional complications my freshman year of college. I've lived my entire adult life battling pain and debilitating fatigue and a range of other symptoms, but some seasons are better than others. At my worst I spent 2 years nearly entirely bedridden, so I am very thankful for every day I can get out of bed and function at a reasonably normal level.

Having said that, I am going through a pretty rough season right now and could use some extra encouragement and prayers. I am seeing a wonderful doctor (one of the world's leading specalists in his field!) and am receiving the most in depth care I've had in 20 years. I am very thankful!

But my current treatments are taking a toll on me and I'm struggling physically at a level I haven't faced on a daily basis in several years. My doctor had warned me that this 6 weeks of treatment could make me feel a lot worse before I started seeing any benefits, and for the first 2 weeks I thought I had gotten off pretty easily. But the harder parts hit with vengance a few days ago and I know I still have 3 1/2 weeks ahead of me for this particular treatment.

Thank you for your prayers. I am striving to "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer" (Romans 12:12). These struggles, while seemingly all-consuming to me in the midst of them, are truly "light and momentary" (2 Corinthians 4:17) in the grand scope of eternity and even God's plan for my life here and now! Even so, I can so easily loose sight of God's grace and mercy and start down the path of self-pitty when I know that choosing joy is the better path on all counts! So your prayers are a blessing and I humbly ask you to uphold me before the Lord at this time, yes, for physical endurance and even healing if it is the Lord's good pleasure to grant this blessing. But most of all I ask your prayers that my heart would remain right before Him in the midst of this current struggle and that I would continue feeding on the joy of the Lord.