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Prayer Requests 6-27-20

Anyone have something to share?

Psalm 124

A song of ascents. Of David.

1 If the Lord had not been on our side—
    let Israel say—
2 if the Lord had not been on our side
    when people attacked us,
3 they would have swallowed us alive
    when their anger flared against us;
4 the flood would have engulfed us,
    the torrent would have swept over us,
5 the raging waters
    would have swept us away.

6 Praise be to the Lord,
    who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird
    from the fowler’s snare;
   the snare has been broken,
    and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

28 thoughts on “Prayer Requests 6-27-20”

  1. Just before dashing back outside to play with Gabby last evening, Boy stopped just long enough to say to me, “True fact: God is a myth!” (I’m pretty sure it’s his mother who tells him that.)

    I don’t know what prompted that, but I felt so discouraged and sad after that. And of course, I prayed. Please pray for him.

    As for Nightingale, she has had a book about pantheism on her end-table in her living room for quite a while. (She once considered herself a pantheist while also being an atheist.) It is a pretty thin book, and I don’t think she has read it much, but the other day I noticed it on top of her little pile on that end-table, so I stopped and prayed against its influence, that she would find it unsatisfying and unconvincing. Most of all, I pray for both of them (and Chickadee as well) that Jesus will reveal His Truth to them. Please join me, as I agree in prayer for your own prodigals.

    Liked by 6 people

  4. That is very sad, Kizzie. Prayers for them both to see the light and have other Christian influences in their lives so you won’t feel all the weight is on you to help them along to belief.

    Thankful your friend feels better, Jo.

    Prayers for DJ’s weekend of rest to make her leg feel much better.

    Prayers for 6 and Karen’s family.

    Prayers for Chas and Elvira, Mumsee and crew, Kathaleena and husband, Karen’s babies in the womb and lack of summer camp, Peter’s home project, Cheryl’s husband’s health, Roscuro’s health, Jo’s plans, Michelle’s daughter, Kim’s work issue resolution, AJ’s empty nest prep, Linda’s difficult work project, Nancyjill’s influence in her community for God, and other things as they are brought to mind by the Holy Spirit.

    Liked by 6 people

  6. Oh, that is very tough, 6 Arrows. Of all the birthdays and holidays, I find our anniversary to be the hardest, because it was about “us”. Poor Mike, to have that come so close to her death.

    Liked by 2 people

  7. I was hoping when they gave her 2-4 weeks to live that she’d live more toward the farther end of that range — at least so they could celebrate one more anniversary. Today is 3 weeks and 1 day since that pronouncement. She’s been gone 8 days; barely made it to the 2-week point.

    Here’s something beautiful, though: those family pictures they took on the Saturday 6 days before she died included some lovely ones of just the two of them. Karen was radiant, and one of her daughters said Karen so enjoyed that day.

    I think Mike and Karen were celebrating their love for each other in those moments on that bluff overlooking the city, perhaps thinking that that might be their wedding commemoration for this year.

    That’s only a guess on my part, though. But you can see the joy in her face. Those pictures will bring poignant memories for Mike.

    Liked by 4 people

  8. Men are different from women (and of course all men are different from each other). My husband’s first wife was dying as they approached an anniversary, and she said she wanted to live till after it, and he told her that her comfort was more important to him. (That’s probably not the words he used, but basically no, getting to that next milestone didn’t matter.) She didn’t make it to the anniversary (I’m not sure how many days she missed it by). When he tells me that, I think it probably would matter to ME, but it truly didn’t matter to him. Not because their anniversary wasn’t special, but because it was simply another day at that point, and another day of suffering for her if she made it that long. Now, it might well be different in a case where things progressed very quickly; they’d had a year at that point of knowing she had cancer and it might kill her.

    Liked by 4 people

  9. I was wondering, too, if it might be a more female desire to get to the next milestone before death. It could be that Mike was thinking like your husband, Cheryl, with his wanting his first wife’s comfort above that. Karen lived every day in pain. She had fibromyalgia, and daily headaches since she’d been struck by a car in high school.

    She is free of all pain now and at eternal rest with Jesus, a true comfort to know while we grieve here on this side.

    Liked by 5 people

  10. Karen, FWIW, Nightingale is doing a disservice to her son and herself in giving him the impression that she can possibly know that. For someone who claims she is logically reasoning things out, she is being illogical. Worse than that, her son is catching the attitude that grandma is a little less intelligent than mom and grandson, IMO. That will bite her when she wants you to discipline him. You mentioned the other day about being Nightingale’s second child. I know it was a joke, but it seems to be a little too close for comfort. You are an adult in your own home and with an opinion you are free to have and share in your own home. While it is not fair to ask a little boy to ‘choose’ between mother and grandmother, it is not right, either, for him to disrespect you or your opinions. He is probably just trying to reassure himself, but it needs to be responded to and it would be good to have some idea of the best way to do that the next time it happens. I am praying for all of you. I am sorry if I am speaking out of turn and mean no disrespect for you.

    Liked by 4 people

  11. It has been heavy on my mind, too, about the comment made by the Boy. It grieves me not only for you, Kizzie, but for the many in our nation who he represents. I am praying over your situation.

    The thought occurred to me that Proverbs is the wisdom book of the Bible. It does not talk about Jesus. Do you think Nightingale might consider doing a Proverb a day with the Boy as training in wisdom? The Bible can be approached for it’s literary value. That way the Boy could gain respect for what the Bible teaches. I expect he is good-hearted and wants to be considered to be a Good Boy. Maybe explain to Nightingale that some of her early training in the Bible helped her be the good person she is today. Once I had a neighbor whose daughter wanted to attend church with her friends. I think she was a preteen. The neighbor and her husband were not churchgoers. I advised that she and her husband did not know what her daughter would face in life and how important faith might be to her. I may have even brought up my friend who committed suicide and how I thought if she’d had greater faith that she would not have done that. The neighbor did let her daughter go to church with friends. So keep praying and remain hopeful in what God can do.

    Liked by 4 people

  12. Kizzie, I know she’s forbidden you to speak about God, but would she tolerate asking Boy questions? For example, as a response to “God is a myth” could you ask, “Interesting, where do you think the earth and people came from?” Whatever answer he would give could lead to another and another and another question. Just leave the questions in his mind instead of any answers from you.

    Liked by 5 people

  14. Prayer here, for wisdom. How to deal with the broad picture. Twenty three really wants to move to Boise to be a live in nanny for twenty two and her three children. That would have her caring for four children under eighteen months. She barely can figure out her own. She will use this as God’s direction she is supposed to go help. It is not uncommon for people in her situation to run as they miss the party life. We think she has reached that point as well.

    Liked by 2 people

  16. Like Janice, I too have had your post frequently on my mind since I saw it, Kizzie. My thought process has been similar to Linda’s: ask questions. Get him to think.

    Example (not meant as a “do it this way” approach):

    “God is a myth?” [Pause between questions to give him a chance to answer if he wants to.] “How do you know? I have friends who have never seen you — what should I say to them if they say ‘[Boy’s real name] is a myth.’? How would you define a myth?”

    Etc.

    Liked by 2 people

  17. Janice, from your 9:50am today: I wouldn’t necessarily view suicide as something that could be prevented if only a person had a stronger faith.

    Depression, which can sometimes include suicidal thoughts and even acting upon those thoughts, can still come to those who are strong in faith.

    Forgive me if I’m spending too much time talking about Karen lately, but here is another Karen story that is applicable to this discussion.

    When she was in her twenties and a young mom with two children — before I knew her — she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. (Same rare type as her younger sister had had earlier, interestingly.)

    After I got to know Karen a few years after that, she told me about that period of time and how she had sunk into a depression and was suicidal.

    I don’t know if she attempted suicide — I think she didn’t — but she has been a lifelong Christian who has, to my knowledge, always had a close walk with her Savior.

    I don’t believe that it was somehow lack of a strong faith that caused her suicidal feelings.

    Just thought I’d share that, in a hopefully gentle and understanding way.

    Liked by 1 person

  18. Janice, my thought is that I would never approach the Bible (to a believer or unbeliever) as a book to teach us how to be better people. That isn’t its purpose, and it’s a misuse of it. (That’s something I wrote about a bit in my first book, how teaching “the Bible as moral precepts” is a misuse of Sunday school.) In fact, the Law isn’t given to us to help us live more obedient, godly lives (in the flesh); it’s given so that we can see how far we fall short. Only as sanctified people, in Christ, are we given the strength to keep the Law.

    I think we’ve talked before about being forbidden to talk about God and how you simply cannot ask a person not to talk about God with a young relative whom she is partially rearing. It’s one thing to say to a grandmother who sees her grandchild for five hours a week, “By the way, we’re not doing the Santa Claus thing, so please start that discussion” or even “We’ve chosen not to spank or use any other forms of physical punishment, so please don’t.” But you simply can’t say to the person who is watching your child 30 or more hours a week, and living in the same house with him, “Keep God out of this.” You’re asking her to present herself to your child as someone she is not, an agnostic.

    And in this instance, it would seem that it has been made clear to Grandson that “Grandma believes this.” To say, “Grandma believes this . . . and we will only present evidence that it is not true, not any evidence that it is true” is grossly unfair to everyone involved.

    Liked by 2 people

  19. I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with 6. I think that much conversation would get back to Nightingale and irritate her such that she would be angry and lay down more stringent “rules.” To me, just asking “Where did people come from?” and let him continue out the door is a better approach. Let him think on it, ask his mom since it would have become his own question, and come back some other time with an answer. If he comes back with something like, “we evolved from apes” then ask “where did the apes come from” and let it go again. Just my humble opinion.

    Liked by 2 people

  20. Cheryl makes a good point about how the Bible should be used. Jesus is in the book of Proverbs – my commemorative 1611 edition cross references Proverbs 8 with John 1, as Jesus is our Wisdom. Moreover, Proverbs mentions God, and it is the concept of a Creator God that Nightingale objects to.

    Kizzie, it is unfair that you cannot naturally speak of the things you believe to the family you live with. But, I think that I Peter 3, where it talks of wives winning their spouses without the word can be expanded to unbelieving family members that one lives with in general.

    Liked by 1 person

  21. I mentioned on the daily thread the other day about one of my and Karen’s mutual friends, Cindy. Cindy and her husband, along with their three youngest children — all adults — were at the memorial service Thursday. Only the oldest of their four children, a son, was not there.

    Today in church I found out why. He and his wife have both contracted COVID-19. (They live a few hours away and have not for quite a while been around any of the family members who attended the memorial.)

    Prayers would be appreciated for my friend’s son and daughter-in-law. Their cases are mild, but they also have very young children to care for.

    Thanks.

    Liked by 3 people

  22. One more tact for Kizzie, but not from the spiritual angle.

    There comes a time in every boy’s life when hopefully his father must step in and tell that boy (usually about 13-14 as he grows taller than his mother), that he cannot mess with his father’s wife.

    By not insisting the Boy respect you, she is setting him to not respect her or any other woman.

    He’s going to be bigger than both of you some day, he has a very poor role model in his father. He needs to learn that no matter he thinks, he cannot “diss” the women in his life–even if the idea comes from his mother.

    Somewhere–and we don’t know where–he has gotten the message that he is smarter and more sophisticated than his grandmother. The grandmother who provides a home for him.

    If that attitude is not nipped now, you’ll pay for it later, and probably much sooner than each of you think.

    Putting the Boy in boy scouts was a good idea–but not if he’s not interacting with good men.

    Letting him get away with “sneering” at his grandmother sets all of you up for a life of him NOT respecting women. I doubt his mother, who has lived with a man who did not respect her, wants that for her child.

    Sorry to add on to everything else, but there’s more here than the spiritual angle–which is how I read Kathleena’s wise answer.

    When my husband, an excellent leader and role model, pulled each of my three Eagle scout sons aside and laid down the law about respecting me, they were pretty taken aback.

    (And my mouth dropped open).

    But, they never gave me any flack again.

    And they’re all bigger than my 5’9″.

    Liked by 5 people

  24. This is not the same situation Kizzie faces, but maybe it is somewhat close. As I look back now (admittedly through memories shaped by recent events), I realize my sister never has liked or respected me. She has held me and my opinions in contempt as far back a I can remember. My childhood memories are full of experiences like washing dishes while she stood beside me pointing to every pimple on my face: “And there’s a pimple, and there’s one, and there’s another one.” (Not a one-time incident; she did it repeatedly when she was 12 and I was 13, and I longed for her to go ahead and develop pimples herself.)

    Every year I planted sunflowers (from the seeds of the ones I planted in fourth grade). The last year I planted them (because it’s the year before we moved) I only got one sunflower, because at least twice she came into the house, her hand full of seedling sunflowers, and told me, “I was out pulling weeds in the sideyard and pulled these up. Are these sunflowers?” (And no, she wouldn’t have been pulling weeds in the sideyard. I’m pretty much the only person who ever went there, and it didn’t get weeded, and she didn’t weed voluntarily.)

    She gave me a hard time about Misten on several levels, including telling me that dogs are dirty and don’t belong in the house, and wondering aloud if I cared more about my dog than about people (a ridiculous accusation since I was nowhere near “fringe” on how my dog got treated). After she rejected my younger brother, he once told me that he had pleaded with her once: “When Cheryl was a little girl, she said that she wanted to have a collie kennel, and we mocked her for that. Now she has a very reasonable number of dogs, one collie. Can’t you at least allow her to have one collie?”

    Well, one day I was in the kitchen at her house, and her oldest son, who would have been 11 or 12, started in on how dogs don’t belong in the house because they’re filthy animals. My sister was in the room, and she didn’t say anything, but I knew he was parroting her, and basically setting himself up as being on the righteous side of the question. My heart sank because I loved this little boy and didn’t want to have him taking up his mother’s habit of belittling me. In that instance, Misten could be seen outside the window. (I was allowed to take her with me when I went to visit, and she slept in their backyard. I couldn’t really afford to put her in a kennel, and collies are known to not do well in kennels since they’re “people” dogs and can be sensitive to noise.) Anyway, I pointed to Misten and said, “Look at her. See how white her white parts are. She hasn’t had a bath in eight months! She stays clean; dirt falls right off her. Would you be that clean if you hadn’t had a bath in eight months?”

    That of course wasn’t really the “answer.” The answer was for his mom to choose to have their animals be outside animals, and me to have my dog be an inside dog, and both of us to accept that the other one does things differently and that’s OK. And for the children to learn the same thing. (The reality is that their dog is in a pen and must be lonely and not well exercised, and not at all a companion to the children, and she barks all night long. I can’t sleep well at their house as a result, They don’t have many neighbors, but their barking dog is far more of a problem to other people than my inside dog ever was–but I’ve never told her that. She’s not a dog person, and she has no respect at all for the fact that I am–she sees it as a weakness.)

    But yes, a child picking on an adult’s position on something should be taught there’s a polite, respectful way to discuss something–especially with your elders–and there is a way that isn’t polite and respectful. I agree with Michelle.

    Liked by 2 people

  25. Kathaleena – Don’t worry; I did not take your comment as disrespectful.

    Nightingale has insisted on Boy respecting me and obeying me as he obeys her. But I’ve been thinking that I should probably have a talk with her about this to forestall any potentially bad attitudes developing.

    Janice – Nightingale would think of it as an effort to sneak in my beliefs. On a positive note, though, she has allowed me to read The Chronicles of Narnia to him, and is planning on reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy with him (and watch the movies after each book). I will be praying for the Holy Spirit to bring home to her heart the Christian symbolism in those works, and I think they will set him up to recognize the gospel when he hears it more fully someday (soon, I hope).

    Linda – Now that Boy is older and has heard about God (yes, even from Hubby and me), she knows that he is going to hear more. She has heard about a couple brief conversations he and I have had about God, and did not object.

    Boy and I have indeed had that same kind of conversation that you mentioned. Although I can get discouraged by his pronouncements of disbelief, I have hope that God is working in his heart even so. And I look forward to more such conversations. I just need to not let him fluster me when he comes out with those things, but take the opportunity to turn the prism for him.

    6 Arrows – Yup, that is the kind of thing I try to do when we have time. In the case of the other evening, he said what he said and then dashed out to play with Gabby, so there was no time to discuss anything.

    Cheryl – That “order” to not talk about God originally came from X when they were together. Since Nightingale moved home (going on nine years ago come late September!), she has realized that she cannot muzzle us. One of my prayers is that Boy will remember his Papa telling him, “Trust Jesus!” at least a couple times, if not more, and talking some about God.

    Michelle – As I mentioned above, Nightingale does insist that Boy treat me with respect. And I stand up for myself when he does not. But your comment is a good reminder to keep up with that and not let anything slide by. And, as I also said above, I should have a talk with Nightingale about this matter. That is something I had already been thinking.

    What you said about your husband reminds me of how Hubby would say to our daughters, when they were rude, “Don’t speak to my wife like that.” I wish he were here to be a good mentor and role-model for our beloved grandson.

    I know that God intends all things to work for good for those who love Him, but I confess that I cannot yet see how Hubby’s death works for good here. But having said that, I do believe deep down that God will honor His word in this, because He said so. I just can’t see how right now.

    Cheryl – I just may use your story as an analogy when I talk to Nightingale.

    It’s not that she is outright disrespectful herself, but she may say little things in jest that he picks up, so I have been thinking for a couple weeks or so that I should address this with her, to prevent any really bad attitudes from developing.

    (Btw, Cheryl, the things you have written about your sister’s attitude towards you makes me cry for you. I’m so sorry that your beloved sister cannot return your love and care. From what you have told us over the years, I know that you have been a good sister to her. May God reward you for that faithfulness.)

    Liked by 2 people

  26. One of our deacons died on Friday. He fell off a ladder and his injuries were just too severe and he died. Al must have been in his 80’s, but was always serving. He will be greatly missed.

    Liked by 2 people

  27. Jo, sorry to hear about that. Old men and ladders aren’t a good combination. (One of my first experiences with death was an old man in a Bible study I attended with my parents when I was eight or nine. It was led by a man and his father, and his father died falling off a ladder, though they thought he had a heart attack and that caused him to fall off.)

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