Community Chat

[gloriajean]

Hello my friends! Cloudy day, but yet full of sunshine inside! Cards were fun this afternoon with a couple from the card club - in a very beautiful, spacious apartment! Yet - I like my own house. It's a blessing to have this card club - a fund raiser for our parish, which we've belonged to 10 years, and got to meet lots of new couples. Sammy continues to be doing well with not limping although no meds anymore. The cough is still there, but not severe. The gin and raisins are ready now - 9 a day for arthritis. Started taking them, both of us. So with our exercise program and the gin and raisins we should get better sooner rather than later!! Anxious for my legs to get stronger. Friends, the prayer I'm posting here to St. Padre Pio - a great Saint who suffered alot, but was so gifted - and miracles were granted through him by Our Lord - I'm going to be praying this prayer daily along with my other prayers. Powerful! Please if you wish, google him!

God has already prepared you for everything that He plans for you to do.

Lord, You believe in me, therefore I can believe in me, and will have all

the necessary confidence to succeed in what I will be doing today.

Scripture for the day:

"Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you." ~James 4:8

Meditation for the day:

"Draw near to God, and God will draw near to you." When we are faced

with a problem beyond our strength, we can turn to God by an act of

faith. It is that turning to God in each trying situation that we can

cultivate. The turning may be one of glad thankfulness for God's

grace in our life. Or our appeal to God may be a prayerful claiming

of God's strength to face a situation and finding that we have it when

the time comes. Not only the power to face trials, but also the

comfort and joy of God's nearness and companionship are ours for the

asking.

Prayer for the day:

I pray that I may try to draw near to God each day in prayer. I pray

that I may feel God's nearness and God's strength in my life.

Mother Teresa Said...

"My vows bind me to my Sister

because she is much poorer than the poor outside.

If I am not kind and do not smile to the poor outside,

someone else will.

But for my Sister there is no one else."

Here's a prayer to St. Padre Pio -

A Prayer to Padre Pio

Beloved Padre Pio, today I come to add my prayer to the thousands of prayers

offered to you every day by those who love and venerate you. They ask for

cures and healings, earthly and spiritual blessings, and peace for body and

mind. And because of your friendship with the Lord, he heals those you ask

to be healed, and forgives those you forgive.

Through your visible wounds of the Cross, which you bore for 50 years, you

were chosen in our time to glorify the crucified Jesus. Because the Cross

has been replaced by other symbols, please help us to bring it back in our

midst, for we acknowledge it is the only true sign of salvation.

As we lovingly recall the wounds that pierced your hands, feet and side, we

not only remember the blood you shed in pain, but your smile, and the

invisible halo of sweet smelling flowers that surrounded your presence, the

perfume of sanctity.

Padre Pio, may the healings of the sick become the testimony that the Lord

has invited you to join the holy company of Saints. In your kindness, please

help me with my own special request: (mention here your petition, and make

the sign of the Cross).

Bless me and my loved ones. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy

Spirit. Amen.

A lot of people have had answers to prayer with his intercession.

Why God Gives US Problems

Hope this will help you to see opportunities behind the threats!

Why God Gives Us Problem?

LIFE IS A SERIES OF PROBLEM-SOLVING OPPORTUNITIES.

1. God uses problems to DIRECT you.

2. God uses problems to INSPECT you.

3. God uses problems to CORRECT you.

4. God uses problems to PROTECT you.

5. God uses problems to PERFECT you.

The problems you face will either defeat you or develop you -- depending on

how

you respond to them. Unfortunately most people fail to see how God wants to

use

problems for good in their lives. They react foolishly and resent their

problems rather than pausing to consider what benefit they might bring.

Here are five ways God wants to use the problems in your life:

1. God uses problems to DIRECT you. Sometimes God must light a fire under

you

to get you moving. Problems often point us in a new direction and motivate

us

to change. Is God trying to get your attention? "Sometimes it takes a

painful

situation to make us change our ways." Proverbs 20:30

2. God uses problems to INSPECT you. People are like tea bags ... if you

want

to know what's inside them, just drop them into hot water! Has God ever

tested

your faith with a problem? What do problems reveal about you?"When you have

many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, because you know that

these

troubles test your faith, and this will give you patience." James 1:2-3

3. God uses problems to CORRECT you. Some lessons we learn only through

pain

and failure. It's likely that as a child your parents told you not to touch

a

hot stove. But you probably learned by being burned. Sometimes we only

learn

the value of something ... health, money, a relationship... by losing it.

"It

was the best thing that could have happened to me, for it taught me to pay

attention to your laws." Psalm 119:71-72

4. God uses problems to PROTECT you. A problem can be a blessing in

disguise if

it prevents you from being harmed by something more serious. Last year a

friend

was fired for refusing to do something unethical that his boss had asked him

to

do. His unemployment was a problem, but it saved him from being convicted

and

sent to prison a year later when management's actions were eventually

discovered."You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good." Genesis

50:20

5. God uses problems to PERFECT you. Problems, when responded to correctly,

are

character builders. God is far more interested in your character than our

comfort. Your relationship to God and your character are the only two

things

you're going to take with you into eternity. "We can rejoice when we run

into

problems ... they help us learn to be patient. And patience develops

strength

of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until

finally

our hope and faith are strong and steady." Romans 5:3-4

Here's the point: God is at work in your life even when you do not recognize

it

or understand it. But it's much easier and profitable when you cooperate

with

Him!

==========================

by Mena Haryanto

Lord, Help Me...

Help me, I pray

To get through this day.

I don't even ask

To have things my way,

Your will is okay.

Things done in your way

Are best suited to stay

In the Master Plan,

Help me to help

In any way that I can

Don't let me be

Part of the problems I see,

But let me rather be

A light unto Thee.

Amen.

THE TEACUP

Author Unknown

There was a couple who used to go to England to shop in the beautiful

stores. They both liked antiques and pottery and especially teacups.

This was their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.

One day in this beautiful shop they saw a beautiful teacup. They said,

"May we see that? We've never seen one quiet so beautiful." As the

lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke, "You don't

understand," it said, "I haven't always been a teacup."

"There was a time when I was red and I was clay. My master took me and

rolled me and patted me over and over and I yelled out, 'Let me

alone,' but he only smiled, 'Not yet.'

"Then I was placed on a spinning wheel," the teacup said, "and

suddenly I was spun around and around and around. 'Stop it! I'm

getting dizzy!' I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, 'Not

yet.'

"Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I wondered why he

wanted to burn me, and I yelled and knocked at the door. I could see

him through the opening and I could read his lips, as he shook his

head, 'Not yet!'

"Finally the door opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to cool.

'There that's better,' I said. And he brushed and painted me all over.

The fumes were horrible; I thought I would gag. 'Stop it, stop it!' I

cried. He only nodded, 'Not yet.'

"Then suddenly he put me back into the oven, not like the first one.

This was twice as hot and I knew I would suffocate. I begged. I

pleaded, I screamed. I cried. All the time I could see him through the

opening nodding his head saying, 'Not yet!'

"Then I knew there wasn't any hope. I would never make it. I was ready

to give up. But the door opened and he took me out and placed me on

the shelf. One hour later he handed me a mirror and said, 'Look at

yourself.' And I did. I said, 'That's not me; that couldn't be me.

It's beautiful.

I'm beautiful.'

"'I want you to remember, then,' he said, 'I know it hurts to be

rolled and patted, but if I had left you alone, you'd have dried up. I

know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had

stopped, you would have crumbled. I knew it was hot and disagreeable

in the oven, but if I hadn't

put you there, you would have cracked.

"'I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over,

but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened; you would

not have had any color in your life. And if I hadn't put you back in

the second oven, you wouldn't survive for very long because the

hardness would not have held.

"'Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when I

first began you.'"

Jeremiah 18:6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter

does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are

you in my hand, O house of Israel."