Prayer & Praise
You are the God who makes extravagant promises.
We relish your great promises of fidelity and presence and solidarity, and we exult in them.
Only to find out, always too late, that your promise always comes in the midst of a hard, deep call to obedience.
You are the God who calls people like us, and the long list of mothers and fathers before us, who trusted the promise enough to keep the call.
So we give you thanks that you are a calling God, who calls always to dangerous new places.
We pray enough of your grace and mercy among us that we may be among those who believe your promises enough to respond to your call.
We pray in the one who embodied your promise and enacted your call, even Jesus.
Amen.
Walter Brueggemann. Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: The Prayers of Walter Brueggemann (p. 90). Kindle Edition.
Praying for the community here, and coming with a praise / request. A few months ago I asked for prayer for a friend who had left her husband, moved in with another woman in a relationship with her…taking the children with her. Well…we have prayed and fasted and talked, and watched God work.
Today our friend is moving back home. There is much healing that needs to happen, and much ahead of them, but this is a miracle. So incredibly thankful.
Good to see a “praise” here and to see that God made a way when there wasn’t one.
May His will continue to be done in this matter and more praise come forth as a result.
I can use all the prayers anyone would like to offer…
That is wonderful Sarah! I remember praying for that situation. Thanks be to God!
I know of a similar circumstance where the son was traumatized when his mother married a woman. The marriage ended in divorce and the son is confused and angry. One can only wonder what he will turn out to be when he grows up.
Been hearing about stuff like this for years. In 72 had a girlfriend who I found out five years later was in a relationship with another woman. The other woman had married a man and they together had several children. She left him and went back into her previous life style. She was a Christian singer who wrote some awesome songs and sang them in the style of Joni Mitchel on a twelve string guitar. Most of us were stunned by this turn of events.
Now I realize that it happens. Life is choices and consequences of those choices…
Violence has erupted in Ukraine. 9 people dead already.
Please pray as you see fit
I did hear from my one Ukrainian friend who said he is in city center.
Sad day.
ΠΠΎΡΠΏΠΎΠ΄ΠΈ, ΠΏΠΎΠΌΠΈΠ»ΡΠΉ.
Praying for the Ukraine London and your friends there…Lord, have mercy on this country..
I’ve got a very difficult family situation I have to address. My mother has onset dementia which her mother and aunt had at their death. She’s very forgetful and her driving is scaring me. I have a sister who lives with my mom (5-6 years) who has become destitute after being at the top of every job she had. She does not receive any financial aid as she wants no one to know where she lives. She has always had a huge temper and it’s clear she intimidates my mom. My mom will not allow any visitors including m and my two siblings as my sister does not want to see anyone. I need to check up on my mom’s medication to make sure my sister is taking care of them as my mother would forget to take them. I am going to tell my sister that things need to change as I believe my mother is under much stress which exacerbates her issues. I need my sister to not blow up when I go to the house unannounced and to at least talk with me. This has the potential to get ugly and I don’t want to involve social services as that would be bad for my sister. If you would please pray this goes well. Thank you.
I showed up at my mom’s this a.m. unannounced and my sister flipped. She cursed me out and the started shoving me and hitting me with different things. She then clamped down on my hand and bit me a good one. Going to the dr. in a bit. Not quite sure what to do… Prayers appreciated.
erunner,
You have no choice but to involve social services…
Agree 100% with Michael. It is very hard, but you have to take charge now. Will pray for you brother.
Oh e. I am so sorry to hear that. I have no advice, but I am praying for you now.
My doctor sent me to the ER. They looked at me and decided not to give me meds intravenously and wrote a prescription. Spoke to a social worker and based on the little I shared she called and they aren’t going to do anything. My sister has twisted it and has my mother blaming me for this.
I can go to the police and am debating that. After I left the house my sister e-mailed my brother and sister asking for money back she gave them ages ago and told them it was going to be for our mother. She’s very slick. This has all sorts of possible outcomes and I’m a bit overwhelmed.
Crazy families run amouck in this world. At 5:30 this morning m 86 yr old mother shows up on my doorstep because my brother’s wife kicked her out of their house – where she had been visiting for the past 2 weeks.
Man, e, just read all this.
I have no advice, except continue to do what is best for your mom.
It may take a bit more pushing with the social services.
Praying for you.
e-runner…I hope your brother and other sister will unite with you. You should not be the sole person in the family concerned about the Mom you all share. If you want to chat in more detail you know how to get in touch with me.
MLD….words fail. Sorry for you too.
I’m calling the police. Please pray.
E – I am praying for you this moment.
Praying, E.
The officer was really good. He said the reality of me pressing charges is that nothing would happen and it would be a drawn out process. He suggested that what I might do and which I chose to do was that he would drive over to my mom’s place. He would check up on the place, ask my mom how she is and then be prepared to have my sister give him a totally different story than what I shared with him. He was going to tell my sister that under any circumstance what she did was wrong and that next time I would be pressing charges. It’ll be up to my mom and my sister to choose how they’ll respond to the visit. Thank you for praying.
I am so sorry, E. Mercy, Lord. I know the pain of the dementia, but the added pain of dealing with your sister…praying for a great peace of the Lord to settle in the midst of this situation. Praying for wisdom for you and your brother and sister, and for strength in the midst of this to deal with the situation.
Mostly praying for the room you need to simply breathe in the midst. To have the space to mourn the situation, and to deal with all the emotions involved. Praying for your sweet wife to know how to help and be a support to you…so many details and issues involved. You will be thought of and lifted up often.
Praying for your sister, for somehow the Spirit to calm her, to stop her and to bind her actions. Praying protection for your mother in her confusion.
MLD…I can’t imagine. Praying for your mother, and for all the dynamics tied up in that paragraph. praying for wisdom for you as well.
Lord…give us grace as we walk through these situations, where we are so bound by our brokenness and our emotions and fears and our relationships. Give us the space to think well and the calm to hear your Spirit. Guide our words and our actions and our thoughts in the midst of these situations…especially as we see our parents aging and adjust who we are in relationship to them.
Mercy, Lord, to each tonight.
Just caught up here and praying for E and MLD’s families.
MLD, I’m so sorry about your mother. Some things I just don’t understand. I hope she is okay as well as you and yours.
Steve, My brother and sister do stand with me though they are out of the area and that means a lot as I’ve felt alone in all of this for so many years. Maybe one day we can talk or even get together.
Sarah, What makes it hard with my mother is she has always been such a mean person and so many simply dislike her. She treats me badly and it’s difficult on my wife and kids. My sis ter needs help of that I am sure. After yesterday I don’t know what she’s capable of. She was totally unhinged yet at the same time repainting the story so it was her trying to keep me off of her. Right now my mother isn’t speaking with me and my sister has her ear.
My wife told me yesterday I was looking for someone to tell me what to do and I confess she was right. She asked me what did I want to do and that caused me to contact the police and I am so relieved I did no matter the outcome.
You have been there and right now things for my mother are manageable but her memory is slipping and her driving concerns me. I honestly don’t know if my wife would be up to if it ever came to us taking care of my mother. So many others deal with these same things.
To the rest…. thank you again for your prayers.
I’m so sorry, E…the added dimension of a life lived in cruelty to any level makes things all the more difficult. You know we had a tough time with my mom the first year and a half of her dementia when she was terribly cruel and difficult…my Dad saw it as being counter to her character, and yet those of us children saw flashes of our encounters with her from our childhood. Maybe God was guarding my Dad’s recollections because he has had such grace in caring for her, I don’t know. I know those moments made it very difficult for me to help. That was when i was flying home each five weeks to spend a week and help. When tried to spit on my youngest was when Steve asked for not to have the children there (Sam was 4 at the time).
So…that does add such a tough dynamic. For whatever reason, after that first 18 months things have eased dramatically for us. Part of it is in how we manage her, but her tone has also changed as she has been lost farther into the dementia. That may happen for you as well, I don’t know.
Regardless, it is such a difficult time. Praying for strength for you, and for wisdom in this added dynamic of your sister. Your wife is wise…I’d listen to her.