Category: Suffering and Pain

Reflections on the Last Day of 2024

Happy New Year’s Eve friends!

It’s true, we really do not know what a day may bring, let alone a year (Proverbs 27:1). For me, 2024 resulted in the loss of five family members–an aunt, three cousins, and last, my 3rd eldest sister. Some deaths we anticipated were soon to happen; others came unexpectedly, without warning. Regardless of when and how they occurred, these loved ones are gone, and I must venture into 2025 without them.

What God says in His word about people, life and death, and eternal matters resonated in my thoughts. Loved ones will one day cease to be because life is limited and death is sure. We must make a decision about where we will spend our eternity.

Jesus Christ assures us that God is the only eternal One, who will never grow tired or weak, cease to be, or stop loving us. He is the only One we should have complete confidence in as we journey into 2025. He is the only sure thing that will never change.

When loss does occur, we must make changes, adopt new mindsets, and follow new protocols or ways of doing things; my sister was the one who drove me to all events. The publishing of my book has halted, so the process is pushed back. I haven’t looked at the manuscript since November. It’s okay because I needed to be sad, grieve, and think about my sister. Lord willing (I now say), I will resume in January, because I did not know 2024 would end in such a way. We can, however, acknowledge the Lord’s sovereignty, continue with our plans, and move forward confidently if we’ve made the Lord our refuge and secured our eternity.

So, with that said, here are two brief excerpts from my upcoming book, each from a different chapter.

Excerpt:

“We learn how Joseph worked as a carpenter to care for his wife and family. Jesus was their eldest child, but they had more children. Mark 6:3 (also in Matthew), tells us that Jesus had four younger brothers and at least two sisters. The sisters’ names have been preserved, but the brothers were called James (in the Hebrew, Jacob), Joses (in the Hebrew, Joseph, after his father), Simon, and Judas or Juda (also known as Jude)…”

And, later…

“Eventually, my eldest sisters followed mom and continued hosting the home and community bible clubs. My oldest sister, Chris, put the best spin on it to me by incorporating a puppet show in the clubs. She did shows at home and eventually began using a friend’s church building to host them. The children came and loved it. It had a significant impact on them! Of course, my sisters distributed goodie treats and juice each week, and there were Bible contests and games with prizes. So, it was my mother who instilled in us a love for God and His word, a compassion for children, and the importance of inviting others to receive Jesus Christ into their lives.”

We see here that Jesus too had siblings and understood the whole family dynamic; He felt the same love for His loved ones as we do for ours.

Be blessed until next time. Happy New Year! 🙂

Multiple Sclerosis Changed My Life

Hello, subscribers. Happy Spring!!

For those of you who do not know, I’ve been living with multiple sclerosis since 2010. I must admit, it’s been quite a journey. It took a lot of the things I loved–fast it seems. There was almost a two-year time frame before I knew what was wrong. Once I did get the diagnosis, the symptoms just increased each year, rapidly. The first body part it impacted was my hands. My career was as an administrative assistant, doing lots of computer work, desktop publishing, and typing. My documents were flawless, so imagine my dismay when I went from typing with 10 fingers to about 2-4, and seeing the loads of red underlines MS Word signals when you have a typing error. I was flabbergasted! Then, it was my legs and balance. All my life, I moved quickly. I could walk 10 city blocks easily and fast. Now, I must use a walker, and after 2 city blocks, my feet begin to drag; it’s called foot drop. The other notable change MS has produced in my life is the inability to multitask. I told you I moved quick, so I was able to do several things at the same time. However, MS symptoms also impair our mental and cognitive function. Fatigue is also real and sometimes unbearable in MS. I used to be able to clean the entire house in one day. Not anymore. It was the fatigue I kept emphasizing to doctors that something physical was wrong because they kept telling me I was having some type of mental health crisis. I always had a lot of energy. Could go and go like a Duracell battery. Now, I’ll do one thing, rest, then the next thing.

So, I lost my typing ability, multitasking skills, speed, accuracy, and ability to keep going for long periods. I was in a deep depression for the first several years and could not understand for the life of me why God would allow this in my life. (I asked Him.) I loved my career and was good at it, moving fast, and being busy.

The Lord is faithful, though, and allows nothing in our lives we can’t handle; in fact, He teaches us in it–if we let Him. He’ll show you a whole new way of being and living. It’s what He did for me and continues to do; He taught me how to manage this disease. I’ll never forget Him gently reminding me when I was living in denial trying to continue as I once was. “You’re sick Ellie,” He whispered. Wow, God deals in truth. Besides, how could I ask for healing if I’m not accepting I’m sick.

Maybe your life course, dreams, or way of being has been altered too by some malady or misfortune. You too may have legitimate questions for God. He may not always explain the reasoning, but He slowly puts things in perspective for us. So, now, I write. My body, mind, and spirit are finally at a slowed enough pace to do so.

Nonetheless, I’m excited today! Me and my new network of people is gearing up in Philadelphia on Saturday, May 4 for our annual MS Walk. I finally got a team together after 14 years. It’s an exciting event! If you would like to support us and donate, please visit my Facebook page (Eleanor Parks), or click the link below to be taken to my National MS Society’s personal fundraising page to donate. The National MS Society is an excellent organization; I’m where I am today because of them.

https://events.nationalmssociety.org/participant/Eleanor-Parks

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us… In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:18, 26-28)

Be blessed until next time… 🙂

What’s your Issue(s)?

There’s a story in the Gospel writings in Luke 8:43-48 about a woman who had an issue of blood. She was bleeding profusely for twelve long years with this disease and spent all her money going to see different doctors, but she never improved. She was suffering. In fact, the Bible says, her condition got worse until she encountered Jesus. Interesting?

I can relate to this woman seeing many doctors. I have multiple sclerosis. Diagnosed in 2010, and it’s been one trip after another to see doctors. There are bi-yearly wellness visits, MRIs, physical therapy, medication management, infusions, and sometimes hospital stays for steroids when I have an MS relapse. Unlike this woman during her time, I’m not ostracized by the community because of my health condition. In fact, I once said jokingly to one of the hospital’s welcoming team members, “You guys need to get me a cot and a room to stay over as much as I’m here.” She laughed. Having a medical issue that there is no cure and doctors can’t fix is difficult and daunting.

But medical issues are not the only issues from which we suffer. There are various types and degrees of issues. I like how this verse begins, “There was a woman who had an issue of blood.” The text is specific to her gender and problem. We’ve learned how Jesus came to save the world, so we can draw a universal principle here. Let’s read it again, placing ourselves in the text. “There was a woman [or man] who had an issue of… Stop right there. The Bible teaches us in Isaiah how the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jesus to save, heal, deliver, or set people free, not only from sin but from other problems or issues they may have. Jesus still does this because He is alive. He is still handling people’s issues who believe and come to (or touch) Him in faith. This is the gist or theological principle in this story. He said in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Isn’t this what this woman, and Jesus, did?

You too may have been suffering from an issue for a long time. You’ve tried to solve it yourself or sought help to alleviate the pain, as the woman did. But you found no relief; your issue lingers. What may your issue be? Maybe you’re suffering from a bad attitude, insecurity, lying, racial or biased views, hatred, drinking, mental illness, cancer,  rejection or foolish attempts to fit in, be “cool” with peers, a need to please, overworking, autism, bipolar, body image issues, striving for perfection/success, anxiety, inability to communicate, illiteracy, infatuation with committing criminal acts, drug dealing or dependency, pride, an awful mouth, continually hooking up with wrong romantic partners, intimacy issues, introversion… and on and on and on the list could go.

Jesus commended this woman, who was afraid to be noticed in the crowd because of her issue. He calls her “daughter” and tells her it was her faith that healed her. She could now go on with her life in peace. You too can receive God’s commendation. Believe that Jesus came to heal your broken heart too. Know that He’s alive and wants you to come to Him. To touch Him and be made whole. No issue is so bad, or too complex or complicated for Him. He has the remedy! Only believe!

He has surely helped and continues to help me with mine. 🙂

Be blessed until next time…!

“Not of the World” repost by Sheri Rose Shepherd (2015), His Princess Every Day Devotional, Bible Gateway

Another sister in the faith agrees how we’re not of this world. (Retrieved 9/4/2023 from https://www.biblegateway.com/devotionals/his-princess-every-day/today. Sign up to receive Sheri’s His Princess Letters in your email inbox. Be blessed until next time…. 🙂

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My Princess Warrior,

I am the master builder of your home in heaven, and I am the Creator of everything on earth. This is not your home, my beloved warrior; your true citizenship is in heaven. While you’re on the battlefield fighting for souls to be saved, I am preparing a paradise for you. The Place I am preparing for you will have no more death, heartache, pain, or war. But for now, my chosen one, I need you to fight the good fight of your faith with your whole heart, soul, and mind, knowing that this spiritual war will soon be over and eternal rewards await you.

Love,
Your King who reigns in heaven and earth

Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.” – John 18:36 (NLT)

A Prayer for Kingdom

I pray for you, my sister princess, to receive a touch from heaven today… that our Father in heaven will remove the blinders from your eyes and you will experience an eternal view of the amazing things to come. May you find peace in knowing that the troubles of this world will soon be over, and the joys to come will be everlasting. I pray that thoughts of eternity inspire you to share God’s love everywhere you go and increase the citizenship of heaven. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. – 1 Peter 2:11 (NLT)

In It, But Not of It: Huh? Part 2

Last month, we looked at Jesus’ words to the disciples in John 15:18-21, where He said,

“If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you do not belong to the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you. Remember what I told you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they obeyed my word, they will obey yours too. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name because they do not know the one who sent me.”

We concluded how:

  • Sometimes Jesus’ statements are hard to grasp or accept.
  • Jesus equates those who have accepted Him with Himself.
  • Jesus suggests a mind shift to now seeing ourselves as not a part of this world, although we live here.
  • This “spirit of the world” opposes the Spirit of God. It does not know God or accept Jesus Christ’s ways, teachings, or message. It hates God and His Son, Jesus.
  • We too will experience hatred and opposition as His disciples. We should expect this and not seek any comradery with or acceptance by the world.

In continuing this discourse about “not being of the world,” in John 17, we find Jesus this time talking to His Father, God about it. He prays in verses 13-19, 

“But now I am coming to you, and I am saying these things in the world, so they may experience my joy completed in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to the world just as I do not belong to the world. Set them apart in the truth; your word is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I set myself apart on their behalf, so that they too may be truly set apart.”

Jesus knows He is about to physically leave them. He confirms with God how the disciples: (1) now belong to Him because they accepted His truthful words; (2) were sent out to proclaim His word, and they went; and (3) they no longer belong with the world but are now with and for Him and God. On this basis then, Jesus asks the Father: not to take them out of the world; to set them apart from the world (or distinguish them) by the truth; and to protect and keep them from the evil one or evil spirit that runs the world. Again, Jesus equates the disciples with Himself, “[Father] they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.”  God sent Jesus; Jesus sends us. The preservation Jesus asks for is about a distinction Christians should have and a work for which they were chosen–to proclaim God’s kingdom and Jesus’ message of being Savior of the world.  They needed divine power, protection, and sanctifying grace for this.

So, Jesus commits them to the custody and care of God. But it’s not just for them. He continues in vss. 20-23,

“I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony, that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one–I in them and you in me–that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.”

That’s us, folks! 😊 One day, we heard or read the disciples’ testimony about Jesus Christ in the Bible, or someone told us; we believed and accepted it. So, we too, are called out of the world and sent into it with a specific message to share. We unite with other believers to testify of God’s love and show forth Jesus’ oneness with God. Others will also believe and glorify God as we proclaim Jesus’ message in the world.  For such, we’re in it, but not of it.

Author and Pastor Ray Stedman agrees about not being a part of the world. He writes on his Ray Stedman Daily Devotion website a devotion titled, “The Way of Health” at https://www.raystedman.org/daily-devotions/nehemiah/the-way-of-health, “We must never forget that we are in the world but not of it. We are never to settle down here for good. I love the way C. S. Lewis has put it: ‘Our kind heavenly Father has provided many wonderful inns for us along our journey, but he takes special care to see that we never mistake any of them for home.’ We are pilgrims and strangers, passing through this world. We are involved in it, deeply sometimes, but we are never to see ourselves as a part of it.”

May we receive the grace to understand and accept this truth from Jesus while still here. May we unite as never before as the early church did–sharing the message of the Gospel of Christ, keeping the unity of the faith, and staying close together.

Blessings until next time! 😊