I cried to the Lord

I cried to the Lord...He heard my voice

We all face difficult things in our lives, for me at the moment its mostly my ill health that concerns me and can drag me down. One of the main things effected by my ill health is socialising with others. Often I'm too ill to attend an event whether it be at church or with friends etc... Often after an invitation to dinner and I say no or last minute can't attend,  its annoying how people can easily misunderstand you and think the worst e.g. 'Couldn't be bothered' or 'not committed to anything'. In the end I don't get another invite, people give up on me. Its at times like this that you can feel that everyone and the world is against you and is lining up in a queue to attack you.
Its easy to get caught up with negative people who steal our hope. Its a part of life that we always will have those encounters with people who drag us down.
It says in Psalm 3:1-4

1 Lord, how they have increased who trouble me!Many are they who rise up against me.
2 Many are they who say of me,“There is no help for him in God.” Selah
3 But You, O Lord, are a shield for me,My glory and the One who lifts up my head.
4 I cried to the Lord with my voice,And He heard me from His holy hill. Selah

As we can see in verse 3, God is a shield for me, which connotes that we have to pick up a shield for it to protect us. Christ is our shield and we must lean on him and grip our shield tightly for protection. Using the analogy of the shield if we're not close behind it we are in danger of being hit by the 'fiery darts'

Action is required on our part; for example if were near drowning , we would cry for help and put our hands up to be saved. As in this Psalm we cry out to God and we see at the end of verse 4 'He heard me'!

I love verse 3:b 'the one who lifts up my head. This is such a vivid picture of a parent lifting up a child's head to reassure them that they are loved deeply. God loves us deeply and is better than any parent here on earth. He loves us so much he desires for us to trust in Christ and be completely shielded from 'the fiery darts of the wicked one'.(Eph 6:16)

Think about :

Are we laying everything at Christ's feet today?
How do you stay closer to God in your walk with Him?

When I consider your heavens!

A vibrant rose after the rain

Recently at the beginning of June I started a wee challenge organised by the Wildlife trusts that has me considering God's creation every day. In my limited capacity I have been able to take a few photographs everyday to help create a wildlife blog.
Its amazing how looking around at our immediate environment has just inspired me and has continually given joy and calm. As a christian I can't help but be in awe of God's Creation 'the works of his fingers'...'the moon and stars'...

In Psalm 8:3,4 & 9 it states:

3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,

4 

4 What is man that You are mindful of him,

And the son of man that You visit him?

9 O Lord, our Lord,

How excellent is Your name in all the earth!

These verses clearly state that when we consider God's works our response is to praise and declare how 'excellent is Your name in all the Earth' !

Also though we are strongly reminded in these verses of our own humility. With all of God's work in creation why would He be mindful of us in comparison to all these wondrous things. Also the fact is He desires to draw close to us. Indeed how excellent is that.

Focusing on the word ordained (dictionary def: To decide in advance or order officially). Theres a great sense of the power and authority of God in creating creation. Creation is God's workmanship, no one or nothing else created it. He ordained it in order that we would bring praise to God, Himself.

Our response: What can we actively  do today to consider God's creation?                  

A question to reflect upon; How does creation bring you closer to God?

I hope this short blog encourages you, we did this as a family devotional this week. I read out what I was going to write in this blog. My son loved it so much he wants me to do two a week. Thats great feedback is all I can say.. :)

A Drooping poppy 

Whatever is lovely!

It was very encouraging to see so many people read my previous post. Since last time my health has been up and down as usual. Still a lot of pressure in my ears but taking it one step at a time as they say and even literally. Last Tuesday I had a very sensitive head to light and noise, so i was wearing my sunglasses inside and out. I was also dreading my son's birthday party, but survived it and was so happy that he had a great time with all his friends.

 I suffer from anxiety and depression as a result of my chronic illneses. And often I'm anxious about all sorts of things. I'm especially anxious about the new symptom I've gained a few weeks ago which I reffered to previously ;  'Vertigo' and i'm not talking about that trampoline place in Belfast either. Vertigo scares me, cos it makes you feel so 'out of control' . Over the years as new symptoms occurred I have gone through the stages of grief with them until I learn to cope with them. A peaceful state can be so hard to find in the midst of all this. The only peace that truly satisfies me is God's peace and the bible verses I want to focus on show us how to recieve that, because peace is a gift from God.

Philippians 4: 8&9

8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

In verse 8 we see a long list of words, and below I have listed them again with dictionary definitions and my own thoughts on them)
TRUE (: Truth based in facts and reality:not emotion; No lie is found in Christ!.)
NOBLE (Fine personal qualities or high moral principles; also belonging to the aristocracy by rank, birth: Jesus' genealogy goes back to Adam, and Jesus practiced what he preached!)
JUST(Morally Right & Fair; or deserved (treatment). I have to add here that Jesus is indeed just, so much so he died on the cross for us, taking the punishment that our own  sins deserved.)
PURE (Innocent or morally good; complete; We are complete in Christ)
LOVELY (exquisitely beautiful; very pleasant; We see clearly in God's word how lovely Jesus is.)
OF GOOD REPORT ( Did you ever hear jesus gossip? No!)
ANY VIRTUE (behaviour showing high moral standards; quality considered good or desirable. It is desirable to be Christlike)
PRAISEWORTHY (Goes without saying that Jesus whole life praised God as our lives should too)

HOW DO WE LEARN THESE THINGS?
The source is  Christ ! We need to learn about Jesus, receive his words, hear his words, see his actions and study Him and His character through the Gospels.
READ AND DIGEST THE WORD OF GOD TO BECOME CHRISTLIKE.

The RESULT is thatTHE PEACE OF GOD WILL BE WITH YOU!
Verse 7 of Philippians 4 states  "and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Everybody is searching for a state of peace, striving for peace.
 Peace according to the dictionary is;freedom from disturbance, anxiety and distress which gives us a state of tranquility or calm.

There is in every human being a gaping void, that we try to fill up with the things of this world, stuff, internet, tv...objects.. But they never satisfy ever!

So where do we start? My challenge is simply read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

and see what you learn about Jesus.
An to end this post let me quote from Colossians 3:15a 

LET THE PEACE OF GOD RULE IN YOUR HEARTS.

A change

I've been thinking and praying for a while now and believe it is time to combine our Facebook page True Word Ministries with this blog. I have changed the title from 'chronicles of a chronic illness sufferer' to 'Rose Cottage; True Word Ministries Blog' to better encapsulate what I'll be blogging about. Simply put the blogs will be about everyday life and also what I learn from God along the way. I'm working on a blog that will be ready tomorrow so watch this space.

As it is the truth

As it is the truth let me tell it
As it is the truth don't you judge me!
As it is the truth I have to live it
As it is the truth just let me be!

Wee poem i just thought of. May add to it but really it sums up perfectly for me the unbelievers in Chronic illnesses that surround me. So easy for others to judge and think you lay around all day and define the word lazy. Often though we are our worse critics as in we believe those things too. '' I'm lazy, unmotivated, heading nowhere fast" and the list goes on... We can sit or lie there thinking maybe all the "haters" are right.
Well the truth is they're not right and neither is the negative committee meetings in your head. Chronic illness is real, I know I'm not making this illness up. My health is rubbish, this week proves it with all the inflammations raising their ugly heads in my body, and especially the costochondritis ( chest wall muscle)  inflammation that grips you with panic at times when it prevents you from getting  a deep breath. I would love to be out working, learning to drive, catching up with friends, getting to grips with the housework and doing the things I really enjoy doing! I would much prefer that than struggle with a Chronic Illness, so just go ahead and judge me if you like!!!

Twas the night before May 12th

Twas the night before May 12th and all through the house not a creature was stirring , not even a mouse...well not technically true, I was tossing and turning and my husband was snoring!

There's never a quiet night in our home, I try to settle into a good nights sleep but it doesn't often work that way. Either I am not able to sleep for ages or I start out well and am awakened by my own aches and pains later in the night. Also of course there are all the toilet visits as well. Then there's my husband and his snoring and his pauses in breathing and his gagging and his sometimes running to the bathroom to get sick.

You see in our house there are 2 people suffering from a Chronic condition.
As you know I have ME and Fibromyalgia but my husband has recently been diagnosed with Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnoea and Fibromyalgia. So as I say 'we're a right pair all together'.

I used to have a carer, that was my husband but at the moment its like the blind leading the blind here in our wee cottage in rural Co. Down. Our son puts up with so much from us,,he's a star and will only be 9 at the end of the month.
All appears to be miserable in our home and at times it can be but that doesn't last long. You see my hubby and I have the ability to trudge through each day. Our faith in God helps us trudge through and every step of the way we enjoy our son's laughter, play with our cats, talk to our hens, breath in fresh air, admire our flowers in our garden and the list goes on.
I also shared in my last post how I split a difficult day up and take one moment at a time. Well my hubby and I do this together every day! we have to we've no choice.

How it works on a practical scale is that we compliment each other, i.e. while hubby irons the school uniform I am trying to put something together for my sons lunch. While my hubby peels the vegetables, I then supervise the cooking times of the steamer and oven, we then  put the dinner out together and our Son gets involved too. So its a real team effort, and it couldn't work any other way.
So for May 12th International ME/FMS Awareness day I hope this has given you an insight into a couple with chronic illnesses persevering together.

And to end on a funny note, my son has just returned from school, it had just poured hailstones and rain and he came in soaked. Daddy was drying his hair and then the cat came in soaked so we decided to dry the cats fur too. So after the fiasco of trying to dry the cat,,we both commented how terrified the cat had been of...the ...could we find the right word,,no; While hubby said 'hoover', I said 'iron'. To put you all at ease it was a hairdryer..we are in stitches right now and life is funny..lol

Exhausted and its only 7th May!!

Hi everyone,
As I slump over my keyboard I wonder when will this exhaustion ever end! But I know if I think like this I'll never be able to put one foot out in front of the other both physically and metaphorically.[Now there's a big word for me today lol]. My head feel like its stuffed with cotton wool and nothing else, my body feels like its been run over by a bus and my core temperature is fluctuating from one extreme to the other.
The only way I can deal with a day like this is to split it into 3 shifts; Morning, Afternoon, Night. Then I split my shifts into hours and then half hours. So I only need to get through the next half hour, if I make that then I'll handle the next one. And so by the end of the day I'll realise I made it and well done me !!!All of this is done mentally of course to help me cope with this Chronic illness.
I knew that going out Monday would wreck me but really why do we have to pay for having a family day out.?? While that has wrecked me then we got the news yesterday that my hubby isn't allowed to drive due to a diagnosis of OSA Obstructive Sleep Apnoea until he starts treatment; which is who knows when? So stress has impacted me physically. I wish my body wouldn't do that. [rant over]
So far in terms of awareness May is going well, I started posting an image with words on it and a comment on my Facebook page everyday and on my support group page. Delighted with the response in general. But the greater thing is I know that a lot of non-sufferers are reading it on my profile and that's a success in itself!!
Its so good to see awareness plastered all over social media and so may it continue. On the 12th May people will not escape awareness, between thunderclaps on facebook, twitter etc, Blog bombs, image sharing, status sharing and the list goes on.
I'm glad to be part of this,,it makes days like this better knowing that we are fighting a battle to make the world see we are not invisible!!
Stay tuned for more posts soon. xx Elaine