A Day to Pray

As Christians, we need to constantly be in prayer for our country and our leaders.  We are at a place in history that finds us facing challenges that I would have never believed would happen in the United States of America.

Sunday, January 20, 2013 has been declared a Day of Prayer where we will ask God to grant our leaders, local and national, the wisdom they need for the road ahead. We gather to ask God for forgiveness and healing of our land and to bless our Country and her people. This is not a political rally but a spiritual event and hopefully one that can help bring us together as we move forward as a nation.

O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us, in the midst of our struggles for justice and truth, to confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and to work together with mutual forbearance and respect; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O Lord our Governor, bless the leaders of our land, that we may be a people at peace among ourselves and a blessing to other nations of the earth. Lord, keep this nation under your care.

To the President and members of the Cabinet, to Governors of States, Mayors of Cities, and to all in administrative authority, grant wisdom and grace in the exercise of their duties. 

Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

 

To Senators and Representatives, and those who make our laws in States, Cities, and Towns, give courage, wisdom, and foresight to provide for the needs of all our people, and tofulfill our obligations in the community of nations.
 

Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

To the Judges and officers of our Courts give understanding and integrity, that human rights may be safeguarded and justice served.

Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

And finally, teach our people to rely on your strength and to accept their responsibilities to their fellow citizens, that they may elect trustworthy leaders and make wise decisions for the well-being of our society; that we may serve you faithfully in our generation and honor your holy Name.

For yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Amen.

From the Book of Common Prayer (1979)

What a Way to Start the New Year

Back in October, I wrote about how I had new things planned for this blog.  The plan had been to launch the new and improved “My Life with Fibromyalgia Pain” January 1.  As you can tell, that didn’t happen.

We moved the end of August to downsize.  I couldn’t keep up a 1,500 sq ft house any longer and Bill was having trouble keeping up the half acre yard and helping me inside. Unfortunately, we went a little lot smaller than we should have.  I’ve been trying to find a place to fit just the stuff we use everyday somewhere in our 1,094 sq ft apartment.  (406 sq ft is a lot more space than I thought it was.) I'm not finding room for things no matter how hard I try. So sometime in March we are moving again.  I can’t believe I’m excited about moving twice in seven months but we can’t keep living in this little space.  We aren’t even living out of boxes because there are boxes filling the garage that we have nowhere to put to go through them.  And then there’s the huge rented storage locker.  Sigh…

We’ve found a wonderful 1920s Arts and Crafts home in a small town just across the Tennessee/Mississippi line. Having an Arts and Crafts home has been dream for both of us.  Here in Memphis, it wasn’t ever going to happen.  Because of the neighborhoods they are in and how few are available, they are way out of our price range. Several people have asked why we want to leave Memphis.  I’ve nothing against Memphis other than it’s loud; there are too many people, too much traffic, too much crime and very few people who care about the people around them.  I’m looking forward to being part of a place where Southern Hospitality is still practiced and they want to know your name. The town still has a vibrant downtown square with the county courthouse in the center.  The drug store still delivers and from what we’ve been told it won’t take long for the businesses we go in a lot to know our names. 

I have quite a bit of information gathered including an outline for my “How to Keep a Clean and Organized Home in spite of Fibromyalgia” ebook.  There’s one large problem.  It’s all on the hard drive of my computer that decided it had had enough and refused to do anything else.  Couldn’t get my files off.  Couldn’t get the pictures that I was organizing to burn to a disk. I’m sure that somewhere in its computer mind it’s still laughing at me,

Microsoft Clip Art

Our youngest son built the now dead computer for me several years ago when he upgraded his.  I was not looking forward to telling him that I thought I had killed it.  When I finally did tell him, he wasn’t upset.  He was expecting it not to last much longer.  Seems that although the outside looked really nice, everything on the inside was 5 or 6 years old.  Apparently that’s really old for computers.

He promised me another new to me computer when he came down for Christmas.  In the meantime, I had to learn to use my hubby’s Mac.  (No offense to Mac user but I hate it.)  Unfortunately, Dave wasn’t able to work his schedule to come down from Ohio but he did UPS me a new computer!  It has the latest Windows operating system on it (is that the right word for it?) so that’s been a learning curve but I’m back on my own PC!  Hopefully, he’ll be able to come down in March and retrieve the information on my old hard drive.

Microsoft Clip Art

Probably the biggest reason I'm behind on my blog plans is that I came down with what the doctors in our area are calling the 2 week flu.  In my case, it’s been more like 4 weeks. I'm sure the havoc that the fibro plays on our autoimmune system is the culprit there.  Mid December I developed what I thought was a simple cold.  When it was still hanging around a week later, I went to see my Advanced Nurse Practitioner.  She said it was a sinus infection and gave me 10 days of antibiotics. That was the 18^th. I had plans to visit our oldest daughter and her family the 26^th – 31^st and thankfully I was much better Christmas Eve.  I felt well enough to do Christmas with our family here and the 26^th I climbed aboard the City of New Orleans to head down to Jackson, Mississippi.  Other than arriving 2 hours late it was a good trip and I still felt well. 

About the 29^th that all changed.  The cough came back, the fever came back and I was miserable. I climbed back on the City of New Orleans the 31^st with my blanket and my cPap and slept the 5 hours home. We had planned to spend New Year’s Day with our family here but I had to back out. I was back to being so sick I could barely hold my head up.  January 2 saw me back at the doc’s office.  This time I walked away with two sore hips – Rocepherin in one side and prednisone in the other – and another prescription for an additional 10 days of antibiotics and one for prednisone.  I finished off those antibiotics earlier this week and so far, knock on wood; I think it’s gone.

So this is how my life has been the last few months.  My plan is to post something everyday even if it’s a picture or a joke because we definitely need to laugh.  I really do believe that a smile can take our mind off of our pain and the other hardships it causes even if it’s just for a minute.  I may even share how I’m coming along with finding places for the things we’re going to need for the next 6 weeks or so.  I’m also organizing and repacking things that family and friends packed because I was in a huge flare when it came time to move.