Daily Positive Thread for Wednesday

gloriajean — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 02:51:40 GMT

Hello my friends! Well we went to the doctor this morning - nothing bad to report, antibiotics wouldn't help any, but we found out that I don't have strep and he doesn't have bronchitis, his lungs are clear. I felt good enough to go to the birthday celebration with his brothers and sisters - and they all liked the restaurant he chose. After the visit at the clinic, I went right to bed and really slept good, and felt much better then. Now, I'm very tired and as soon as this thread is out, I'll be in bed!

Recognize the joy that comes from the simple things in life like a smile, a

hug,

or a good meal. Lord, help me think about the good things in my life and

how my life would change without them.

Scripture for the day:

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to

do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love."

~John 4:18

Meditation for the day:

I can trust God. This lesson has to be learned. My doubts and fears can

continually drive me back into the wilderness. Doubts can lead me astray,

because I am not trusting God. I can trust God's love. It will never fail

me, but I can learn not fail it by my doubts and fears. We all have much to

learn in turning out fear by faith. Our doubts can arrest God's work

through us. I need not doubt. I can believe in God and continually work at

strengthening my faith.

Prayer for the day:

I pray that I may live the way God wants me to live. I pray that I may get

into that stream of goodness and love in the world.

EMERGENCY NUMBERS

Emergency numbers may be dialed direct. No operator assistance is necessary.

EMERGENCY PHONE NUMBERS

When in sorrow, ......................................... call John 14

When men fail you, ..................................... call Psalm 27

If you want to be fruitful, ............................. call John 15

When you have sinned, .................................. call Psalm 51

When you worry, ................................. call Matthew 6:19-34

When you are in danger, ................................ call Psalm 91

When God seems far away, .............................. call Psalm 139

When your faith needs stirring, ...................... call Hebrews 11

When you are lonely and fearful, ....................... call Psalm 23

When you grow bitter and critical, ............. call I Corinthians 13

For Paul's secret to happiness, .............. call Colossians 3:12-17

For understanding of Christianity, ....... call II Corinthians 5:15-19

When you feel down and out, ......................... call Romans 8:31

When you want peace and rest, .................. call Matthew 11:25-30

When the world seems bigger than God, .................. call Psalm 90

When you want Christian assurance, ................ call Romans 8:1-30

When you leave home for labor or travel, .............. call Psalm 121

When your prayers grow narrow or selfish, .............. call Psalm 67

For a great invention/opportunity, .................... call Isaiah 55

When you want courage for a task, ...................... call Joshua 1

For how to get along with fellow men, ................. call Romans 12

When you think of investments and returns, .............. call Mark 10

If you are depressed, .................................. call Psalm 27

If your pocketbook is empty, ........................... call Psalm 37

If you are losing confidence in people, ........ call I Corinthians 13

If people seem unkind, .................................. call John 15

If discouraged about your work, ....................... call Psalm 126

If you find the world growing small and yourself great,..call Psalm 19

Alternate numbers:

For dealing with fear, ............................... call Psalm 34:7

For security, ....................................... call Psalm 121:3

For assurance, ........................................ call Mark 8:35

For reassurance, ................................... call Psalm 145:18

All lines to Heaven are open 24 hours a day! Feed your faith, and doubt will

starve to death!

-- Author Unknown

THE APPLE BASKET

Author Unknown

One day an elderly man entered into a hospital. He was grumpy from

being on medication and the nurses thought him to be insane, as he

yelled for his wife to get the apple basket. By the time they had

checked him into his room the nurses were exhausted from the fight he

was putting up.

"Sir you have to calm down we are doing everything we can for you"

they would try to explain.

"I don't need your help" the grumpy man would yell "I want my apple

basket". He finally slept. The nurses sighed with relief and talked

among themselves whether they should call the hospital psychologist

about the old man and his obsession with the apple basket.

As they talked and laughed about the situation the wife came in

carrying the basket of apples. They looked kind of stunned as she

asked if she could see her husband and deliver his basket. Sure, they

agreed as they watched her slip past into his room.

Curiosity consumed them over the next few weeks as they tended to the

elderly man. He was eaten with cancer and the doctors had given him no

hope of survival. He turned out to be a very calm, happy man once he

had his basket. His wife, they noticed, would come in with apples and

go out with apples and the curiosity grew even more till one nurse

couldn't stand the suspense.

One night as he was nearing the end, the nurse sat down in a chair by

the wife." May I ask why do you have that apple basket? I just don't

understand the significance."

"I am an apple farmer by trade he sighed. From the time I was 20 till

the day I do die I will forever have my apples." The nurse nodded

thinking she understood. He just likes his work, she thought, assured

now he was a little bit crazy.

As she started to leave, the old man asked her to sit down. "At age 20

I was saved, I accepted the Lord as my Savior." Oh no, the nurse

thought. Here comes the lecture on religion. The old man continued.

"The day I accepted the Lord as my Savior I got this basket, and each

time I had a problem or concern that I could not handle, I put an

apple in the basket un-shined."

"Why?" the nurse said shaking her head.

"Because it reminded me to give those problems to the Lord for him to

shine. See my basket now, he stated. As my problems disappear so do

the apples. As I get new problems, ones I cannot handle alone, I put

an apple in."

The humble nurse looked into the basket...only one apple was there.

With that, he took a big breath and grabbed his wife by the hand and

faded into eternal sleep. The wife paused for a moment and got up from

her place to take from the basket the last remaining apple. She

whispered in his ear that his reward awaits him in heaven.

The nurse stayed still and asked with tears in her eyes, "what do you

think his riches will be?"

The wife knew what they were, eternal life with Jesus Christ. But she

could see the concern and sadness upon the young nurses' face and

handed her the apple and said "the biggest apple pie you can

imagine!"

That was the day the young nurse was saved, and from that day on she

always had a basket by her bed.

Meditations by Padre Pio

Yes, I love the Cross, the Cross alone; I love it because I see it always on

Jesus' shoulders (Letters I, p. 377).

Mother Teresa Said...

Believe in Jesus trust in Him with blind and absolute confidence because He

is Jesus.

Believe that Jesus and Jesus alone is life and sanctity is nothing

but that same Jesus intimately living in you; then His hand will be free

with you.

Give yourself unswervingly, conforming yourself in all things to His holy

will.

Love Jesus generously.

Love Him trustfully, without looking back and without fear.

Give yourself fully to Jesus.

He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition

that you believe much more in His love than in your weakness.

Father O'Malley was pastor of a small parish in Grass Valley, California.

One evening while he was preparing his homily for the coming Sunday, his

telephone rang.

The weather was stormy, and all the electrical lines were down. A voice on

the other end of the telephone said, "Fr. O'Malley, I am calling from the

local hospital and we have a terminally ill patient here who is asking to

see a priest about the last rites, can you come quickly?"

The trip was 30 miles, the going was rough as trees and power lines were

down. The nurse met Fr. O'Malley at the door, and thanked him for coming.

The person who wants to see you, Father, is an alcoholic, but he is still

coherent but is slipping fast. Fr. O'Malley asked the nurse what the

patients name was. She answered, the hospital calls him Tom.

Fr. O'Malley went into Tom's room and said to Tom, "I was just passing thru

and thought I would visit you before you sleep."

"Don't give me any of that garbage", Tom replied, "I asked that nurse to

call someone to give me the last rites because I know my time is done and

its my turn to go. Now get with it."

"Would you like to make a confession?" the priest asked Tom.

"Absolutely not" Tom answered. They talked for a long time and occasionally

Father would ask Tom if he was ready for confession. After some time Tom

told Father that he had done something in his life that was with him every

day and he did not feel that God would forgive him. Finally after some

time, Tom agreed to tell the priest his story.

"Thirty-two years ago, two months and eleven days ago, I was working for the

railroad. It happened in a bad storm. It was two days before Christmas and

the whole crew was drunk. Someone had to go out and push the switch for the

train to go northbound. I guess I was more drunk than the rest because I

pushed the switch in the wrong direction. At 45 miles per hour the freight

train slammed into a passenger car at the end of the next crossing and

killed a young man, his wife, and their two daughters. I have had to live

with that all of my life," Tom said.

There was a moment of silence as Tom's confession of this tragedy hung in

the air. After what seemed like an eternity, Fr. O'Malley gently put his

hand on Tom's shoulder and said very quietly. "If I can forgive you, God

can forgive you, because in that car were my mother, my father and my two

sisters.

Do we still find it difficult to forgive anyone?

Re: Daily Positive Thread for Wednesday

lovestopaint — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:54:54 GMT

Hey Lucy, send it anyway. I might be able to make something of it. I am praying for your DH, and your daughter and her children.

Gloria, happy you had a nice time at Linus's birthday celebration.

It snowed here last night too but there wasn't much to it. Thank the Lord.,

Counting my Blessings.

Harlene(lovestopaint)

Re: Daily Positive Thread for Wednesday

serenity4ever — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 16:26:37 GMT

Gloria, happy to hear that you and Linus are on the mend and it wasn't serious. Glad to read that the dinner went well.

As far as forgiveness is concerned, the most difficult person to forgive is sometimes ourselves. Forgiving others for some past transgressions generally helps the person doing the forgiving but isn't always easy, that is for sure.

Blessings extended to all who post here. May you have a beautiful day.

Re: Daily Positive Thread for Wednesday

gloriajean — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 02:57:31 GMT

Bobbiesue - That's great about you rededicating your life to Jesus - we all should do that! My husband and I took the class and we consecrated ourselves to Jesus through Mary and that's a great feeling too!! We used the 33 Days to Morning Glory by Father Michael Gaetly and that book is very popular with Lighthouse. Linus gets a lot of orders for Churches to get that book!

Harlene - snow is expected tomorrow - hope it won't be much!!

serenity - You're right, nothing is serious but I still feel awful, and have this cough, two bad nights - but hoping for a good night tonight!! When I was at the doctor, I didn't have the mucus or cough yet, just slight sore throat, but not step. That's true about forgiveness, we do need to forgive others of course, but not forget to forgive ourselves. That piece I shared our priest shared on the pulpit and I asked him for a copy and sent to my list so use it here too sometimes.

Felicia - Hoping your recuperation will be fast and soon you'll get that stint out!! Thanks for your posts. Praying for you and your daughter.

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