Praying

• Why is it doing the right thing makes you - the bad guy? sm
  • Why would your husband talk to his - job about it? Reading between
    • There was no hidden agenda to it -- - our butt - nm
      • Wouldn't it be funny if this man was - busting your husbands chops and
      • You started out with an ethical dilemma and - below you revealed info about him
  • This is why I despised working in a prison - glad I don't now
  • I don't think your husband is fraternizing with him - - Amanda
    • If his job says it is, then it is. - NM
  • making friends with other parents - where did we go wrong?
    • perhaps I wasn't clear enough for you - the bad guy
      • I am guessing by - your response to me
        • You really need to learn to read before answering posts - Can you read?
        • I wish you well -- because with that kind of karma - the bad guy
          • I seriously doubt you know anything about - karma
            • You must eat where you poop since you talk out - our butt - nm
              • yeah, - butt talking
                • We haven't discussed it with anyone - the bad guy
                  • you are a professional victim - my point has been proven
                    • ANd you have proven exactly who you are! - What a [professional] creep!
    • bs. you didn't read her post very closely. - nm
  • Just becaue the league itself - smn
    • We have emphasized this to the league - the bad guy
      • If they are not going to do anything - sm
  • a thought - sm
    • We thought about approaching the ex-inmate - I know -- no comments please
      • See. You do have an agenda. You're - offering up way too much information
      • this is really irresponsible - sm
        • My husband is having the superintendent - the bad guy
          • Praying - tmt

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I'll keep you and your family in my prayers.  I know it's hard to lose your grandmother.  I lost mine a couple of years ago.  I received this in an email today.  I hope it helps in some way.  I don't know if the monitors will keep this here, but here goes:

“I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” (John 16:20-22 NIV)

Worship/Fellowship — There are some days when, frankly, I don’t feel much like worshiping God. There are probably more days like that than I’d care to admit.

But usually those are days are when I’m staring at my circumstances and making faithless judgments about what I see around me. And I struggle with the God-truth that he is in the circumstances that surround my life – all the circumstances.

Have you ever considered that heartbreak is part of God’s plans for you, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”? (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV) We put so much energy into avoiding the hurt when God would have us embrace it. He wants us to know that he can heal our hurts, even use our hurts for his benefit, and for us to faithfully believe that sometimes the circumstances we think are harming us are actually positive situations God is engineering.

God, who is omnipotent, sees the breadth and depth of our circumstances, and he knows his plans for our lives. Thinking, then, like Christ, we can slowly, ever so slowly, begin to understand that avoiding the pain in our lives is actually an act of faithlessness. God calls us to faith in him during difficult circumstances; we’d rather place our faith in avoiding the circumstances.

As always, Jesus shows us the way – because he is the Way. Jesus embraced the pain of God’s plan for his life, and he did it with full faith that God was still working the plan to bring a “hope and a future” to your life and mine. (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV) Christ was so sure that his grief would turn to joy that he showed a radiant certainty in God’s faithfulness (“Radiant certainty” is a phrase William Barclay uses to describe the attitude of Jesus at the Last Supper).

Our Brother Jesus, who is also our King, was heading into a crisis that would cost him His life, yet He was so certain – radiantly certain – of God’s faithfulness that not one of his disciples even discerned the gravity of the crisis! Jesus was so certain of God’s faithfulness that it radiates throughout his whole being.

And we, too, can have this radiant certainty about God’s hand in our lives. We can say, when it comes to God’s faithfulness, “I know because I know that I know.” That’s radiant certainty! The Cross was Christ’s glory, not His penalty – and the same is true of difficult circumstances in our lives.

So what?

· God’s faithful character - You will develop this radiant certainty in God when you learn to trust in his faithful character. Your daily worship of God is irrevocably tied to your faith in God.

· Praise God anyhow - You must choose to praise and worship God every day, no matter what the circumstances of your life. Developing a radiant certainty in God begins with simple steps of faith and obedience.

· Respond to God, not your circumstances - When faced with a painful or difficult circumstance, ask God, “How do you want me to respond to this?” Keep your eyes wise for the ‘Why me?’ traps that lay about your circumstances.

You can be radiantly certain of this: Difficult circumstances are opportunities for you to intentionally focus your faith in God and to see what he will do to give you hope and healing.

Seeing a post like yours really puts things into perspective. You're so calm. What an inspiration to me!

And to everyone who responded, God bless you. You have helped me immensely, and the long lunch I had today with my best friend helped much too!

I'll let you all know the results. Was told that the next mammogram won't be until Dec. 27.........