Month: November 2018

Deliverance

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Part of learning to live with a chronic illness understands God’s deliverance for the Believer in Jesus Christ. The Bible does not flatter us with the false hope that goodness will secure us from trouble. Instead, the Bible warns us over and over to expect tribulation while we are in this body.

Our afflictions come from all directions and at any time. The challenges are many, but with Jesus Christ, we can face each day.

There is no promise they will go away in this lifetime. However, the Lord will guide us through or lift us out of them.

Today’s Bible Verse:

Psalm 34:19, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”

What the Verse Means:

We either have faced, are confronting, or will experience afflictions and trials. This is an unchangeable fact.

There is good news. God’s mercies are more numerous than the afflictions and trials. God’s wisdom more wondrous than the sufferings and trials. God’s power is more miraculous than the hardships and trials. God will give us the grace we need to face them, and God will deliver us.

Personalized Prayer Using Today’s Scripture:

  • Heavenly Father, I know the afflictions of the righteous are many.
  • Lord Jesus, I find some comfort in knowing hardships and trials are the norms.
  • I confess I don’t like the hardships and trials but trust in you.
  • God our Father, I give you thanks for the promise of deliverance.

Photo Source: Pixabay

Thy Will Be Done

Today’s blog post is from the book “Thy Will Be Done: 60 Prayers for the Chronically Ill” by Jimmie Aaron Kepler. It is available in print and on Kindle for Amazon at Amazon Print or Amazon Kindle.

If you are an Amazon Kindle Unlimited member, the book is available to read for free in Kindle format. Over the next two months, I will publish each chapter as a blog post

Compassion

Posted in Blog, Caregiver, Caregiving, Jimmie Aaron Kepler, Jimmie Kepler3 Comments

Part of learning to live with a chronic illness is developing compassion for others. Suffering a long-lasting disease affects people in different ways. Depression may come to reside with some people. Other persons can become bitter. Withdrawal from friends and family can occur with some.

For the Believer in Jesus Christ, the chronic illness often mellows our heart to make us more compassionate. The persistent disease allows us empathy and often becomes the point of rapport where we can minister to others now walking down the pathway we have recently or are currently navigating.

Today’s Bible Verses:

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (KJV), “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”

What the Verses Mean:

The verses are a reminder of what a wonderful God we have. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of every mercy. He is the one who comforts and strengthens us in our hardships and trials.

Why does he do this? He does this where we can help others.

When family, friends, or coworkers are troubled, needing our support, sympathy, and encouragement, we can pass on to them the help and comfort God has given us.

Personalized Prayer Using Today’s Scripture:

  • Heavenly Father, I praise you for how wonderful you are.
  • I acknowledge you are the Father of the Lord Jesus.
  • I proclaim you as the one who wonderfully comforts and strengthens me in hardships and trials.
  • Thank you for teaching me how to comfort others by your example to me where I can give sympathy and encouragement.

Photo Source: Enver Rahmanov [CC BY-SA 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

Thy Will Be Done

Today’s blog post is from the book “Thy Will Be Done: 60 Prayers for the Chronically Ill” by Jimmie Aaron Kepler. It is available in print and on Kindle for Amazon at Amazon Print or Amazon Kindle.

If you are an Amazon Kindle Unlimited member, the book is available to read for free in Kindle format. Over the next two months, I will publish each chapter as a blog post

Don’t Lose Heart

Posted in Blog, Caregiver, Caregiving, Jimmie Aaron Kepler, Jimmie Kepler1 Comment

Part of learning to live with a chronic illness is not losing heart. Today’s verse helps us to have a confident acceptance of the reality of life.

Today’s Bible Verse:

2 Corinthians 4: 16 (KJV), “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.”

What the Verse Means:

Christianity understands the steady decline of the physical body. Though we are rescued from spiritual death and alive with Christ, our bodies remain in the process of decay.

The follower of Christ should recognize that our outer bodies are wasting away. From the moment of birth, we begin to die. It is inescapable unless the Lord Jesus returns first.

Therefore, we should be released from an obsession with the physical body. The Christian’s faith is far from a fatalistic acceptance of suffering and awaiting death. Every believer in Jesus Christ has their eyes open to something else. That is the continuous restoration of the inner person.

The Christian should be aware of increasing inner, spiritual strength. God does not forsake his children, but he gives us growing supplies of grace.

The Holy Spirit works in us as an infinite well of life. This is a constant process of renewal. The Lord does not allow us to be born again and then ignore us. No, he gives us daily spiritual energy.

May we never forget the physical and the spiritual are part of your life every day.

Personalized Prayer Using Today’s Scripture:

  • Heavenly Father, help me to not focus on my decaying or diseased body, but to realize that my inner self is being renewed daily.
  • Lord Jesus, help me look to the things that are not seen, not the which are seen.
  • God, help me look to the eternal, not the temporal.

Photo Source: Pixabay

Thy Will Be Done

Today’s blog post is from the book “Thy Will Be Done: 60 Prayers for the Chronically Ill” by Jimmie Aaron Kepler. It is available in print and on Kindle for Amazon at Amazon Print or Amazon Kindle.

If you are an Amazon Kindle Unlimited member, the book is available to read for free in Kindle format. Over the next two months, I will publish each chapter as a blog post

Time

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Part of learning to live with a chronic illness is learning to use the time God has given to us. The Bible teaches that God has the days of our lives numbered. Here are five examples:

  1. Job 14:5 King James Version (KJV), “Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;”
  2. Job 21:21 (KJV), “For what does he care for his household after him, When the number of his months is cut off?
  3. Psalm 31:15 (KJV), “My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me.”
  4. Psalm 139:16 (KJV), “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.”
  5. Ecclesiastes 3:2 (KJV), “A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.”

Today’s Bible Verse:

Psalm 39:4 (KJV), “Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am.”

What the Verse Means:

The verse shares thoughts concerning the psalmist meditations on human life. He reflects on life’s brevity, life’s vanity, and life’s sorrows. He wonders why life was so short. Why was it so vain? Why was it so full of pain?

Personalized Prayer Using Today’s Scripture:

  • Father in heaven, thank you for reminding me of how brief my time on earth will be. Help me to use the days I have to the fullest.
  • Lord Jesus, thank you for reminding me that my days are numbered. Help me to trust that you know what is best for me.
  • God, help me remember how fleeting my life is and to live my days to your honor and your glory.

Photo Source: Pixabay

Thy Will Be Done

Today’s blog post is from the book “Thy Will Be Done: 60 Prayers for the Chronically Ill” by Jimmie Aaron Kepler. It is available in print and on Kindle for Amazon at Amazon Print or Amazon Kindle.

If you are an Amazon Kindle Unlimited member, the book is available to read for free in Kindle format. Over the next two months, I will publish each chapter as a blog post

Laughter

Posted in Blog, Caregiver, Caregiving, Jimmie Aaron Kepler, Jimmie KeplerLeave a comment

Part of learning to live with a chronic illness is learning to laugh.

Today’s Bible Verse:

Proverbs 17:22 (KJV), “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”

What the Verse Means:

Our attitude is crucial when dealing with a chronic illness. The cheerfulness of our mind does good like a medicine for the body. Our opinion contributes to the restoration or preservation of bodily health and vigor.

Personalized Prayer Using Today’s Scripture:

  • Lord Jesus, help me to enjoy the funny things that happen in life.
  • Heavenly Father, help me to take life one day at a time.
  • God, help me and my family and friends to not dwell on the seriousness of the chronic illness, but rather help us to live life to the fullest as we know you hold the future.

Photo Source: Pixabay

Thy Will Be Done

Today’s blog post is from the book “Thy Will Be Done: 60 Prayers for the Chronically Ill” by Jimmie Aaron Kepler. It is available in print and on Kindle for Amazon at Amazon Print or Amazon Kindle.

If you are an Amazon Kindle Unlimited member the book is available to read for free in Kindle format. Over the next two months, I will publish each chapter as a blog post

The Ragged Edge of Night by Olivia Hawker

Posted in Blog, Books I've Reviewed, Jimmie Aaron Kepler, Jimmie KeplerLeave a comment

The Ragged Edge of Night by Olivia Hawker is a passionate, elegantly written (maybe the most beautiful prose I have ever read), historical novel about amazing hope, redemption, and one man’s quest for enlightenment during the darkest times of World War II.

The setting is Germany. The time is 1942. The protagonist is Franciscan friar Anton Starzmann. The story finds Anton torn from his place in the world when his school is seized by the Nazis. He relocates to a small German hamlet.

The purpose of the move is a marriage of convenience. Anton needs a place to live. He weds Elisabeth Herter, a widow. She desires a marriage in name only to a man who can help support her and her three children. Anton seeks the union as a way to amend failing to shield his young students from the madness of the Nazis.

Neither Anton nor Elisabeth foresees their lives to be shaken once again by the inescapable rumble of war.

As Anton struggles to adjust to the roles of husband and father, he hears of the Red Orchestra. It is an underground network of militants plotting to assassinate Hitler.

While Elisabeth has reservations, Anton joins this army of shadows. As the SS discovers his schemes, Anton begins a final act of resistance that may cost him his life. He realizes his defiance to Hitler, the SS, and Nazis could cost him the new family he has come to love more than he ever thought imaginable.

The Ragged Edge of Night is the best book I read in 2018 and in years. Olivia Hawker has crafted a masterpiece for the ages.

Fortress

Posted in Blog, Caregiver, Caregiving, Jimmie Aaron Kepler, Jimmie KeplerLeave a comment

Part of learning to live with a chronic illness is relying on God.

For the person and their family that are living with a chronic illness, they need never to be ashamed to rely on the Lord God. He is their rock and fortress.

Today’s Bible Verse:

Psalm 71: 3 (KJV), “Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.”

What the Verse Means:

God is here for us all the time. We can always go to and rely on God. The Lord God is our rock and fortress.

Personalized Prayer Using Today’s Scripture:

  • Heavenly Father, we rely on and thank you for being here for us.
  • Lord Jesus, we pray that we will continually place our confidence and trust in You.
  • Thank you for being our rock and our fortress.

Photo Source: Pixabay

Thy Will Be Done

Today’s blog post is from the book “Thy Will Be Done: 60 Prayers for the Chronically Ill” by Jimmie Aaron Kepler. It is available in print and on Kindle for Amazon at Amazon Print or Amazon Kindle.

If you are an Amazon Kindle Unlimited member the book is available to read for free in Kindle format. Over the next two months, I will publish each chapter as a blog post

Hope

Posted in Blog, Caregiver, Caregiving, Jimmie Aaron Kepler, Jimmie KeplerLeave a comment

Part of learning to live with a chronic illness is accepting the hope available through God. Everyone needs confidence. Today’s Bible verse tells of the hope we have available in God.

Today’s Bible Verse:

Job 11:18 (KJV), “And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety.”

What the Verse Means:

You will feel secure because of the hope you have in Jesus Christ. While you will continue to experience life’s difficulties, you need not to have a gloom and doom or why me Lord attitude.

Your outlook should be optimistic because nothing will ultimately be able to harm you from your heavenly destination. Have a firm faith and assurance of your final victory, because of God’s love and in the Bible’s promises which respect the life that now is, and that which is to come.

This allows you to lie down on the bed and sleeps at night in peace and quietness, having nothing to fear.

Personalized Prayer Using Today’s Scripture:

  • Heavenly Father, we feel secure because there is hope because of you. Help us to claim that promise.
  • Because of the hope and security that we have in you, we can rest and sleep in peace. Thank you for restful sleep.
  • Lord Jesus, help us to rest in you.

Photo Source: Pixabay

Thy Will Be Done

Today’s blog post is from the book “Thy Will Be Done: 60 Prayers for the Chronically Ill” by Jimmie Aaron Kepler. It is available in print and on Kindle for Amazon at Amazon Print or Amazon Kindle.

If you are an Amazon Kindle Unlimited member the book is available to read for free in Kindle format. Over the next two months, I will publish each chapter as a blog post

Helper

Posted in Blog, Caregiver, Caregiving, Jimmie Aaron Kepler, Jimmie Kepler4 Comments

Part of learning to live with a chronic illness is allowing the Lord to be your helper.

When you or our loved one faces a chronic or severe illness, you need the Lord’s help as our helper. You also need the courage to face the next hour and the challenges of everyday living. With Christ, you can meet each day without fear.

Today’s Bible Verse:

Hebrews 13:6 (KJV), “So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”

What the Verse Means:

Without any hesitation or doubt, in all times of difficulty when we don’t know how to pray or how we will make it even through the night, we have an assurance that God will not leave us to suffer.

What can we fear if we have the assurance that the Lord is on our side, and that he will help us?

We fear nothing. Man can do no more to us than God permits, and no more than will be for our own good.

We know under whatever trials we may be placed, we need be under no extreme anxiety, for God will be our protector and our friend.

Personalized Prayer Using Today’s Scripture:

  • Heavenly Father, help us to cling to you and keep our total trust in you.
  • Lord Jesus, give us the courage to say you are our helper.
  • We pray for fear to flee from us. We will not fear what man or disease shall do unto us.

Photo Source: Pixabay

Thy Will Be Done

Today’s blog post is from the book “Thy Will Be Done: 60 Prayers for the Chronically Ill” by Jimmie Aaron Kepler. It is available in print and on Kindle for Amazon at Amazon Print or Amazon Kindle.

If you are an Amazon Kindle Unlimited member the book is available to read for free in Kindle format. Over the next two months, I will publish each chapter as a blog post

Rest

Posted in Blog, Caregiver, Caregiving, Jimmie Aaron Kepler, Jimmie KeplerLeave a comment

Part of learning to live with a chronic illness is resting in the Lord.

Living with a chronic illness can leave you tired and weary. I am talking about becoming bone tired. I am talking about the type of fatigue that a vacation or even a sabbatical cannot cure.

You may be like my late wife was when she was battling Stage Four Melanoma cancer. She found herself very tired.

The juggling of her schedule to visit the surgical oncologist, managing oncologist, dermatologist, thyroid doctor, blood work, biopsies, surgery, second surgery, PET scans, CAT scans, MRIs, days and weeks of radiation treatments, months of daily chemotherapy prescription medications, waiting for UPS or FedEx to deliver the refrigerated prescriptions from the special pharmacy, visits to the lymphedema therapist, seven days a week lymphedema therapy at home with the machine that sounds like Darth Vader with its sleeve that looks like Snuffleupagus on Sesame Street plus managing her work schedule to maintain health insurance had her exhausted.

Then there is her eating schedule. She had to take the meds and wait two hours to eat or eat and wait several hours before she could take the medications.

You get the picture and can relate. Like my wife, you get tired. You need to rest. You need God.

Today’s Bible Verse:

Exodus 33:14 (KJV), “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

What the Verse Means:

The Lord is telling Moses that he that is the Lord will personally go with him. He that is the Lord will give him rest. He is informing Moses that everything will be fine for him.

The application for the Believer in Christ is the Lord also personally goes with us, gives us rest, and promises that ultimately all will be fine.

Personalized Prayer Using Today’s Scripture:

  • Heavenly Father, thank you for your presence going with us.
  • Lord Jesus, thank you for the rest you give us.
  • God, we ask to experience your rest again this day.
  • Let us use Sundays as the day of rest and worship.

Photo Source: Pixabay

Thy Will Be Done

Today’s blog post is from the book “Thy Will Be Done: 60 Prayers for the Chronically Ill” by Jimmie Aaron Kepler. It is available in print and on Kindle for Amazon at Amazon Print or Amazon Kindle.

If you are an Amazon Kindle Unlimited member the book is available to read for free in Kindle format. Over the next two months, I will publish each chapter as a blog post