051813 Loyola Press Retreat

Do you not know or have you not heard? The LORD is the eternal God, creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny. ~ Isaiah 40:28

In what are of my life am I most in need of God's consolation at this time?

• my new writing project that will help me make sense of things and bring me healing and be an encouragement to others
• my health, the enduring migraines and the associated weariness of body and soul these can create when my soul is vulnerable or my body is wracked with pain seems at times to be too much. I know that God will not give me more than I can handle, but sometimes, sometimes He and I disagree on my physical abilities to bear what he has given me.
• mental and physical disability that makes reading hard, focusing hard, and exacerbates my faults since the sickness at least in my own perceptions...

What word of comfort can I offer to someone who is suffering in body, mind, or spirit?

•  I'm there and God is with you. This pain will pass. You will learn from it something. That something will help you help one who is hurting in the future. You are not alone, there is a reason for this, and you may know it or not in this lifetime.
• Acceptance, though hard at times, is a grace from God and an attitude to cultivate. I do my best every day. I pray for acceptance of my situation because I cannot change it. Sickness gave me this physical disability in my brain and has brought me greater understanding of acceptance, God, my place in the world, and everything. 
• Praying the words, "Please take this from me, but not my will but yours" as Jesus did in the garden until you believe them and can understand them. I have prayed often that God take the migraines away, but not my will but his. I understand my grandma's desire/need to pray to God for a miracle for me to have no more migraines. I don't share that same prayer. Mine is simply, please take this from me, but if not, please also give me acceptance and the grace to show that to others.
• In the hospital this last time, that was my prayer. The doctors had done all they could to end the migraine from January 5, 2013. This was early in the week of my birthday, February 21. I prayed to God, "Heal me or give me acceptance. You can do that. Man has done all that he can. I need a break from the pain. But, heal me or give me acceptance." He gave acceptance and that migraine did go away, so He healed me of that migraine or the medicines finally worked, or both at the same time. 
• Read Job 38. God is seriously funny in there. I know suffering is not some laughing matter, but sometimes even in our suffering we have to laugh. That or go crazy.
• How can you help someone else today? I am stuck home most of the time because of my body's reactions to the environment that trigger migraines, though not all migraines are triggered by known or controllable things. So, I pray for others. I read the Bible and I talk with God. I ask him for acceptance o my situation and that if somehow my suffering can ease the lot of those who are in worse situations, please just give me acceptance. What can you do today?

Heavenly Father, Great Comforter, Thank you for all you have given to me this day and all the days that have brought me to here. You inoculated me from suicide that day in the hospital when you saved me from the poisons. May I bring comfort to others today in someway, however that works for you. In your name I pray, Amen.