Skin Discoloration Injury to the tailbone can damage the blood vessels within the surrounding skin. If this occurs, patients with a bruised or broken tailbone may exhibit a discolored bruise at the site of trauma, reports MedlinePlus, a health information website established by the National Institutes of Health. The skin surrounding the base of the spine can initially appear unusually red. As the injury begins to heal, skin bruise symptoms may appear yellow, green, deep red, purple or black, depending upon the extent of tailbone injury. These skin discoloration symptoms of a bruised or broken tailbone are temporary and will completely resolve once the injury heals. Patients who experience severe or persistent bruising of the lower back or spine should receive further evaluation from a doctor to ensure no additional injuries are present.

Swelling, Pain or Tenderness A tailbone injury can damage the skin, tissue and muscles that surround this tiny bone. As a result, patients can develop abnormal swelling, pain or tenderness at the site of trauma. Sensations of pain or discomfort may be exacerbated when a patient attempts to sit down or walk around normally, explain health care practitioners with University Sports Medicine. Though these symptoms are temporary, affected patients can experience swelling, pain or tenderness for several weeks or months before the tailbone injury heals. Painful Bowel Movements Certain patients may also find it uncomfortable or painful to have a bowel movement as a result of a bruised or broken tailbone, warn health specialists with the University of Illinois Medical Center. Artificial Girl 3 Han Nari Expansion Of The Universe. Inflammation and swelling within the lower portion of the spine can affect the intestinal tract and can cause constipation in certain patients with a bruised or broken tailbone. Patients who become constipated may also experience abdominal discomfort, cramping or bloating.

Affected patients should discuss these bruised or broken tailbone symptoms with a doctor as soon as possible. Copyright © 2017 Leaf Group Ltd.

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Jul 20, 2017. The tailbone. Although it is a common site of injury, often taking the brunt of our many childhood and adult slip and falls, the tailbone is unfortunately an under-evaluated source of pain and dysfunction in both men and women. Once injured it can cause pain in sitting, pain with bowel movements, pelvic floor. The tailbone or coccyx is the small bone located at the bottom of the spine. Certain types of trauma or injuries, such as giving birth to a baby or sitting or falling down hard, can bruise or break the tailbone, leading to uncomfortable symptoms. Patients who develop any bruised or broken tailbone symptoms should consult a.

I’m not totally sure why, but this post has been really challenging for me to actually get written. Maybe it’s because my tiny girl has been battling the flu plus a sinus infection plus a possible virus for the last week and a half. Maybe it’s because I’m overwhelmed by the news that, as it turns out, many, many famous men are total pervs. I don’t know.

Whatever the reason, I have just really struggled with this one. I’ve had the subject in mind for over three weeks, but for some reason I haven’t felt God leading me to really discuss it in a clear way until sometime over the last couple of days.

(At least I hope it’s a clear way.) Like many of you, I grew up in church and have, therefore, heard the telling of the Christmas story for as long as I can remember. As an adult, I feel that the repetitiveness of the story itself presents a special challenge: how to think about Christmas in a way that doesn’t feel routine and doesn’t desensitize me to the huge impact the birth of Jesus has on my life today.

As a girl and as a woman, I always found myself so intrigued by the story of Mary. Now, as a mom, it’s become a fascination. I’ve had a wiggly, growing baby in my belly. I’ve had swollen feet and tired legs in the almost-9th month of pregnancy.

I’ve felt overwhelmed by the challenges I was soon to face with impending motherhood, so I can understand her situation in some ways. However, I’m pretty sure that’s where our similarities stop. But to really understand this miraculous event that is Christmas, a better understanding of Mary is where we must begin. As we know, Mary was merely a child when she we selected by God to be the mother of His Son Jesus. One of the questions I’d love the opportunity to ask God is “why Mary?” What was it about this young girl (although not nearly as young as 13-14 is by our current standards) that made her the perfect person to carry, birth, love, and raise the Savior of the entire human race?? While thinking about this question recently after hearing my all-time favorite Christmas song, “Mary Did You Know?,” and while studying a portion of Galatians 5, I felt as though God opened my eyes to help me understand just a little bit more about why Mary was the chosen mother of Jesus.

Before we circle back around to Mary, let’s play a little game, shall we? I’m going to list for you several character traits. I ask that you simply slow down, look at each trait carefully, and rate yourself and how well you exhibit each trait on a scale from 1 to 10. (1=nope, not me at all; 10= me, all day every day) Okay, ready? (Shame on you for trying to lie at Christmas!) *Love *Patience *Faithfulness *Joy/joyfulness *Kindness *Gentleness (meekness) *Peace/peacefulness *Goodness *Self-control So, how’d you do? If you’re like me, several of these made you cringe.

In this past week alone, my scores for patience, gentleness, and peacefulness are very low. Yes, it’s been a challenging and stressful week, full of tests and trials, but isn’t it during difficult times that our true selves rear their heads?

The list above isn’t something I made up. It’s God-breathed. These traits can be found in Galatians 5:22-23. In these important scriptures, God lists the traits, the fruits of the Holy Spirit, so that those of us reborn in His Son will know exactly what’s expected of us behavior-wise: “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy (gladness), patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence).” If you’ve ever wondered exactly what God expects of you, or how to know if you’re being the kind of person/Christian that God wants you to be, there’s a way to know.

Simply take a minute and evaluate how you, your attitude and your behavior match up. Now after all that, you’re probably wondering what in the world this has to do with Mary, right? (Edge of your seat, I can tell!) Well hear me out. If God saw Mary, saw her heart and her soul and decided she was exactly who He wanted to be the mother of His Son, isn’t it safe to assume that Mary embodied many of these fruits of the Spirit already? In my opinion, there’s absolutely no way that God would choose to inhabit the womb of a woman who wasn’t loving, who wasn’t joyful, who wasn’t good and kind and faithful, who didn’t display self-control and wasn’t patient with others. This was the future mother of Jesus, for crying out loud! She was going to grow him and nurture him, and lead and guide him.

Before the Holy Spirit, before Jesus, there was Mary, and given Jesus was the fruit of her womb, isn’t it safe to assume that she bore many of the same traits that He did, even if to a lesser degree? So what does this birth mean for us, living here in 2017 just trying to survive the utter insanity and sin that is the world today? It means that a baby was born, long ago, who brought with Him all the goodness and love and peacefulness and gentleness and patience that you and I could ever need. It means that you and I now know God personally, that you and I no longer have to live by hundreds and hundreds of laws just to avoid hell. It means that we have an example for how we are to live our lives, and we have the Holy Spirit within us to help us bear fruit with our lives. I know, I know. You have a house to clean, children to entertain, food to buy and prep and cook.

You have presents to purchase (for the holiday that’s not even here yet) and Black Friday deals to procure. As Thanksgiving arrives, you will undoubtedly have, both figuratively and literally, a lot on your plate (you see what I did there?!).

But setting aside all the hurry and worry for just a second won’t kill you. So go ahead, take just a second to read something that, perhaps, might just help you enjoy your Thanksgiving a tiny bit more. Before we get into the meat of the discussion (look at all these genius food-related metaphors!), take a second to read the section below. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thankful: (adj) feeling or expressing gratitude; appreciative. Hebrews 13:15, “Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Despite one of these being taken from a secular dictionary and the other coming straight from the Bible, they have much in common.

Let’s start with the verse in Hebrew. Many of us aren’t hearing for the first time this concept of being thankful to God at all times and in all circumstances.

If you’re like me, you’ve read verses like this before, and after realizing it’s another verse telling you to do something you know you’re currently not doing very well, you sort of mumble “Sorry, God, I’ll do better,” and move on to the next verse. Don’t get me wrong, I think the type of attitude and mindset described in this verse is the key to living the kind of life that God intends for us. However, I don’t think the first part is the most important within this verse.

I want us to really stop and look at the intentional reference to this mindset as “a sacrifice of praise.” A sacrifice. By definition, a sacrifice is something you choose to do, something that costs you something to carry out, but it’s something you do anyway because you believe it to be the right thing. Y’all, we cannot sit around waiting until our mood allows us to praise God, waiting until we feel like praising God. We must adopt a mindset that, no matter what we have going on, we are going to glorify the name of Jesus. Notice the idea that thankfulness (like joysee previous blog post!) is not a “when you feel like it” thing according to the dictionary definition either. Yes, there are many, many times in our lives when we feel deeply, deeply grateful, but there are many others when we don’t.

Being thankful, according to Webster, might be a feeling you feel, but it might also be a decision you make to express gratitude. I don’t know what you’re going through, I don’t know what you’ve been through, and I don’t know what you’ve lost this year. I do know, however, that the examples set for us in the Bible show people at their weakest, facing their greatest adversity, and coming through it successfully–blessed abundantly!–because they chose to praise God through each miserable step. Even when the devil is trying his best to help me remember every single upset in my life, I want to keep this song in my heart: I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart.

I will enter His courts with praise. I will say this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice for He has made me glad. I want to value my relationship with my Heavenly Father enough that I purposefully use my time to simply be in His presence. To say thank you.

To worship Him. I want to be so undone by His generosity that I have nothing but my love and my overwhelming, broken-hearted thankfulness to offer Him.

God is teaching me that for His children to live with Him in their hearts and minds all day each day isn’t convenient. It’s not natural for us, and it’s not easy. It’s hard, it’s frustrating, it’s even uneventful sometimes. And because I’m a sinner by nature, it’s sacrificial. John 4:24 says that “God is a Spirit (a spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (reality).” Guys, just being thankful when it’s easy, just praising God for His innate goodness on Sunday mornings, that’s not enough. That’s nowhere near making a sacrifice of praise.

It should be the first item on our “To Do” lists EVERY SINGLE DAY, not just when a holiday forces us to do it: “Give to the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord” (Psalm 29:2). In my Bible reading this morning, the children of God were called “blessed.” Because I use an Amplified version of the Bible, it gave me deeper insight into what this term meant when applied to Christians. Blessed people = people who are happy, to be envied, spiritually prosperous, with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions. With all my heart, I want this description to apply to me. Spiritually prosperous? Possessing life-joy? (I love that term, by the waylife-joy) Being joyful and satisfied regardless of what my outward condition is simply because I have a God who loves me enough to favor me and who rescued me from my sinful nature out of the goodness of His own heart?

One million times yes! We serve an AMAZINGLY good God, y’all. He LOVES you. No matter what your heart feels like during this Thanksgiving holiday and the Christmas season to follow, be thankful. Choose to offer that wonderful God you serve your sacrifice of praise. You can never out-give God.

Whatever it costs you to choose to set aside your sorrows and your worries and your upsets to white-knuckle your praise to God, DO IT. You will be repaid so very, very richly. (Before the closing prayer, I’d like to take a minute and let you guys know how beyond-words thankful I am for you.

I feel like I’d so often like to offer you an apology for the quality that you get here, but you don’t seem to mind. I will never be able to express my gratitude for your time and your feedback. Thank you for reading, thank you for sharing, thank you for sticking around. God is teaching me SOOO MUCH through you, and I’m forever grateful to Him and you. Big hugs to you all, and may everyone have a blessed Thanksgiving.) Dear Lord, thank you so much. Thank you for every single thing in my life that you so continually provide.

Father, I love you, and I ask that you help me to a more worshipful and grateful attitude regardless of my outward condition. In Psalm 25:12 it states that the person who worships You “shall dwell at ease,” and Father, this is what I want for my life. Please teach me to lay aside myself so that I can choose to offer You the sacrifice of praise that You so greatly deserve. Lord, I am incredibly thankful to be Your child. In Jesus’s name. Author Posted on Tags,,,. Our local Chick-Fil-A hosts a wonderful (FREE!!) event each year called Prince and Princess Night.

The location varies, but the concept never does: boys and girls dress up as their favorite princes and princesses and attend a super-charged meet-and-greet with various Disney favorites. There is a main stage with performances by each prince and princess that the kids get to participate in, games and prizes, and more photo opportunities than you can imagine. It’s something we look forward to every year!

I guess because of this impending event, during a recent conversation with a friend who was struggling with a long-running issue, I started thinking about my approach to prayer, specifically how I thought about prayer (how I treated it). Sadly, it turns out I have a much more “Disney” than Jesus approach often times. This might be kind of tricky to explain, so stick with me. You see, often times I use prayer as a means to an end. I have a problem or a challenge. I don’t know how to handle this problem or challenge or, more likely, I just want it to go away.

So I pray about it. Then, I expect God to wave His Disney-esque magic wand and simply remove my problem or challenge because “I did my part” and said my one prayer about it. I mean, isn’t that how this works? God sees poor, stressed Lindsey and breaks out His magic and all my problems melt away? It turns out, prayer is a lot more powerful and foundational than that. I do want to make sure I’m clear about one thing right off the bat: I ONE-HUNDRED PERCENT believe that God can answer a prayer either before we ever offer it up, or the second the words leave our hearts. He is mighty and able to do more than we could ever even dream.

I don’t doubt His ability, but as I’ve learned more about the heart of God, about His desire for a real, deep, binding relationship with His children, I’ve started to see that God uses prayer as a bridge, and not one that He’s willing to quickly discard. Think about it this way. What if every time we had a problem, we prayed about it once, God moved immediately, and our problem vanished. Where would this leave us as Christians? Where would this leave us in our relationship with God? I believe that God, in His infinite wisdom, has created prayer to be, not as a magic wand, but as a door that we, His children, can use to gain access to His voice, His guidance, His wisdom, and His love.

Prayer is not a last ditch effort to restore our earthly calm, uttered only at the apex of our need. Prayer is a way for God to guide us small step by small step through our challenges and trials and temptations until at last (sometimes at loooong last), we are on the other side.

If the purpose of our struggles is to teach us to be more like Jesus, what good would a magic-wand response from God do us anyway? We know from watching Jesus’s actions and hearing His words that He exhibited a variety of character traits: grit, determination, faith, forbearance (self-control), patience, grace, love, long-suffering, toleranceand that’s just to name a few.

These qualities were the tools Jesus used to persevere through His trials and tribulations. It’s these qualities (plus a few others) that made Him Jesus! There was no magic wand. There was no immediate relief. There was, however, prayer.

In researching some biblical truths about prayer, I came across a verse that I don’t remember ever really paying attention to before, but it really emphasized the importance of prayer in our personal relationships with God. Job 22:27 states powerfully, “You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows to Him.” Did you catch that? Prayer is such a significant vehicle for solidifying our personal relationships with God that Job refers to it as vow fulfillment. When a couple gets married, isn’t it the ceremonial vows that set the foundation for how their relationship should go?

Aren’t the vows what dictate the sanctification of a marriage, the unbreakable bond that marriage creates between those two people? Hopefully now we’re beginning to understand why God lets that trial linger longer than we’d prefer, why He allows us to develop a prayer life that involves our repetitive return to Him for guidance and strength instead of simply taking that magic-wand approach we so often hope for. If we were meant to deal with our struggles by reaching out to God once and only once, if God wasn’t interested in using our prayer life as a doorway into close relationship with Him, we wouldn’t need verses like 1 Thessalonians 5:17: “Be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly].” We wouldn’t need to be encouraged BY JESUS HIMSELF “always to pray and not to turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up)” (Luke 18:1). If prayer isn’t something that helps us develop long-suffering like Jesus and an ability to persevere like Jesus, there’d be no need for these scriptures. Take a second to look closely at Psalms 145:18, “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him sincerely and in truth.” Let that sink inthe Lord is near to all who call upon Him. So how, again, do we draw near to Jesus?

How do we put ourselves into the very presence of the Lord? Friends, this is proof that God’s purpose for prayer is far greater, far more important really, than simply answering our requests. Sure, He does that, too. He’s a loving God who wants only the very, very best for His children. He wants to bless them and show them how mightily He can move on their behalf.

However, for Him, prayer is so much more than that. It’s His line to us.

So often we come to God with our needs and we feel unheard and unimportant when instant gratification isn’t granted. Instead of getting upset and maybe even angry with God over what we perceive to be His distance, let’s choose instead to remember what the Bible says about Him. He longs to be in close relationship with us, and prayer is the cord the binds us to God. I think it’s worth our time to consider a change in our prayer lives, also. Before you disagree, hear me out. In James 4:8, the Bible states, “Come close to God and He will come close to you.” (Sounds really similar to Psalms 145:18, doesn’t it?

Wonder if we should pay close attention when God repeats Himself in the Bible? My initial plan was for this post to be written and published Thursday or Friday of last week.

I wanted to use this post to discuss a prayer on my heart, a lesson God was teaching m Egg Money Quilts Templates For Powerpoint. e. However, while praying about and thinking about my post’s content, I felt God guide me toward waiting so that I might also include the BIG way He was planning to show up and answer my prayer (i.e.

Show His power and love). So, I waitedbecause I’m smart like that. Before I get into the aforementioned lesson, let me ask you a question which God has really been pressing upon my heart lately: do you only believe in God, or do you actually believe Him, too? In other words, do you truly believe, deep down, that He not only can but WILL fulfill His biblical promises in your life, just like He did for Mary or Moses or Joshua, or even Jesus? After some careful, honest self-reflection, I found that I leaned way more toward believing in God, but when it came to believing God, believing He will do for me what He says He’ll do, I doubted His promise fulfillment in my own life. It wasn’t that I thought He couldn’t do what He said He could do, it was just that I doubted He’d do those things for little ole insignificant me. I mean, I totally understand why God parted oceans for Moseshe’s Moses for crying out loud!

Who am I that God would move mountains, part oceans, burn bushes for me? As I’ve told you before, I struggle with a negative outlook at times, especially during challenging times, which unfortunately dampens my faith and hinders my trusting in God’s plan and hand. This is something I’ve recognized about myself for many years, and it’s something I’ve longed to correct but felt unable to do. I recently began reading Believing God by Beth Moore, and if you struggle in this same area, I HIGHLY recommend it (even if you don’t struggle with trusting that God will do what He says He’ll do, it’s a fabulous resource).

In this book, Ms. Moore posits the question I asked you earlier about whether you’ve stopped at believing in God or matured enough spiritually to believe God and His promises. Because I was spending time reflecting on where my belief truly fell, I started noticing how I approached God’s promises, and to be perfectly honest, I wasn’t liking what I saw. Back to that lesson I told you about earlier.

In order to really up the celebration factor for our daughter’s recent fifth birthday, my husband and I decided to surprise her with a weekend trip to Branson this past weekend. For most of you, this will seem like no big deal. Branson is only a little over two hours away, and we were only planning to stay two nights. But for us, for our little family, this was a BIG, stress-inducing deal (especially for me). Not only does our sweet girl’s food allergy situation present a really big challenge when eating out (and when eating in an unfamiliar town), but she’s never really slept away from home.

She’s a HUGE fan of her own bed, and even in it, sleep it not always her friend. (Just so you understand the magnitude of this, she’s now five and we’ve slept solidly through the night maybe 15-20 timestotal. In her whole life. Help me, Jesus.) My gut reaction was to give in to the fear that this trip might be exhausting and difficult and just cancel the whole thing.

However, God’s really been showing me the danger of living a life where my decisions are based on my human fears and limitations, so we kept the trip on the calendar and pressed forward. Fast forward a couple of days, past days devoted to praying my burdens over to God instead of trying to plan out every single movement myself (“Do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes.” Proverbs 3:5-7). Fast forward a couple of days where I had to remind myself literally as often as eight to ten times a day that God was in control and I wasn’t.

That He was planning each minute, each circumstance, and not me. Fast forward a couple of days so that you’re in the midst of a trip that turned out far better than we could have ever expected.

Did I know exactly how we were going to get our daughter to sleep each night before we got there? No, I did not.

Did I know exactly what she was going to eat for each meal while we were there? No, I did not. And, friends, hear this: not only did He make sure her needs were met, but He went above and beyond (because that’s how He rolls, if you’ve not noticed). Where, besides Chick-Fil-A, was the only other place in Branson that we found where it was safe for her to eat? AT OUR FAVORITE RESTAURANT IN THAT WHOLE CITY!!

Are you hearing this? Not only did we find a restaurant with menu items (pluralitemS!!) that would feed our child, but we found them at the restaurant that is our go-to, can’t-miss stop each time we’re in Branson!! God is so good!

And do you know what else? Was it the most peaceful, uninterrupted sleep of all time? No, but it was fine. It wasn’t perfect, but it was progress. It was progress that was, without a doubt, God-ordered and constructed. As it turns out, I don’t have to have it all figured out ahead of time.

God was right. If we trust Him, if we put our faith in Him and His promises, He. During this time of trip prep and a mentally tiring cycle of feeling worried, turning that worry over to God, and blocking it from my mind, I revisited the story of Abraham in Genesis 12.

In the first verse of that chapter, God instructs Abraham (Abram), saying, “Go for yourself [for your own advancement] away from your country, from your relatives and your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.” After promising to bless Abraham and protect him and his future descendants, verse four tells us that “Abram departed, as the Lord had directed him.” Think about that for just a minute, what this exchange really entails. God visits Abraham. God tells Abraham to leave every single thing (He even lists them!) that he’s familiar with and go where God directs. Abraham does as he’s instructed.

Okay, hold the phone. I don’t know about you, but if this happened to me, I can PROMISE YOU that I’d need a little something extra between 2 and 3 that included the tiny detail of WHERE I AM GOING!!!

What in the actual world?! Look at the faith and trust displayed by Abraham in just these verses. God doesn’t tell Abraham each step to take. God doesn’t tell Abraham the game plan or the big picture or even a tiny hint toward what He has in mind. But does that stop Abraham from trusting God and stepping out? Unlike me, Abraham’s faith and trust exist stronger and bigger than his desire for understanding or planning.

He (again, unlike me) didn’t need to know the next step or where he’d be one week later. He didn’t ask God why. He just went. Without question and with nothing but trust.

He believed God. And, friends, this is exactly how God wants us to be, too.

In Isaiah 42: 16, God promises His guidance: “I will lead them in paths that they have not known. I will make darkness into light before them, and make uneven places into a plain.

These things I have determined to do [for them]; and I will not leave them forsaken.” Put yourself into God’s shoes for a second. Can you imagine our reactions if He were to tell us each bump in the road we’ll face between now and heaven? We’d freeze up. We’d be so overwhelmed and disheartened we’d miss every single blessing lying in our path.

So instead, God does for us what He did for Abraham: He encourages us to trust Him; He promises to be with us continuously; and He guarantees that He’ll never forget to guide us to that next blessing and through that current/next hardship. As another surprise for our daughter’s birthday, we got her a new “big girl” bike.

The morning she got it, we took her to a nearby trail so that she could ride it. People, you do not know patience at the level it took to survive this jaunt on the new bike.

Without training wheels, she would have literally fallen slap-dab over from the utter lack of speed. For someone like myself who really values getting things done quickly, this was less than enjoyable. However, with some practice and after seeing that her dad really was going to be able to keep up with her (good grief!), she finally began to pedal at a decent speed. When it was all said and done, that little birthday girl rode over three miles! And she did all of that with only one fall. Her mistake was in failing to trust that her dad was by her side, like he said he’d be. Instead of keeping her eyes on the trail in front of her, she turned her head to search for him because she’d gotten worried and started to doubt that he was right with her.

Then, when she turned her head, she turned her wheel, and suddenly her success turned to accident. After we got her tears dried and got her back up on her bike, I said to her, “Just ride your bike. Dad is going to be right where you are. He’s not going to forget to guide you. You look where you’re going and don’t worry about what he’s doing.” As soon as those words were out of my mouth, I heard God say to me, “How about doing the same thing yourself.” Here I was fussing at her because she wasn’t believing what her dad said, and that’s exactly what I was doing. I was planning a surprise trip and stressing over things I had no way of controlling when all I had to do was take that one step forward like Abraham and trust God to come through with the rest.

Friends, our Dad is right there. He’s not going to forsake us or forget to guide us. He’s not going to let us be misled. But we have to trust Him.

We have to make that forward progress, even over the bumps and uneven patches, and trust that He’s still right there with us. I know that right now, some of you are facing something you don’t understand. You’re up against something that has you confused and worried.

You don’t know what to do next or where to go from here. The good news is that God does. Take it from me, a major planner and someone who needs desperately to have figured out every detail before anything even happens. That’s not faith. Reasoning and self-reliance aren’t faith. The Bible doesn’t tell us that our reasoning and ability to solve our problems is what activates God’s power.

It tell us, instead, that it’s our faith–our trust–that allows God to work most in our lives. And yes, sometimes that’s really scary because it means we don’t get to control it all. But you know what I think the future holds for me, now that I’m making every effort to let God lead? I think the future holds a lot more joy and a lot less worry and stress, and that sounds amazing.

“But what joy for all who take refuge in Him!” Psalm 2:12. Dear Lord, thank You so much for bearing my burdens for me and for creating a relationship in which trust is rewarded and valued. Help me, Lord, to trust You more. Help me to rely less on myself and to choose to put aside my worry and just take one small step at a time in faith. Second Samuel 22 tells me, Father, that Your ways are perfect, Your promises are true, and You are my shield and my protection. Press these truths onto my heart and mind, Lord, so that I desire closeness with You more than I desire to reason out and rationalize my life.

Like Your Word promises, Lord, I know you will make me “sure footed as a deer” and that You will make a wide path for my feet. Thank You, God. Help me to believe You so that in the midst of the trials of life, I step back and give You the reigns. You are a loving God, and I thank You so much for loving me enough to be my Guide, my Protector, my Shield, and my Refuge. Help my trust in You to be seen by others so that they, too, might glorify You with their lives. Thank you, God, for hearing my prayer.

It’s in Jesus’s name that I pray. Author Posted on Tags,,. I recently came across a quote online that I thought was hilarious, and, sadly, perfectly fitting for how I’ve been feeling lately. It said, “ Welcome to adulthood, I hope you like ibuprofen.” The truth in this silly statement is too accurate.

Who knew being this side of 40 could demand so much pain killer?! And those of you “more mature” readers who are tutting and saying things like just you wait, hush your mouths.

I do not want to hear it. In order for you to know where I’m coming from, you need a little background, but I honestly do NOT want to share it.

It’s ridiculous. I’d love to tell you that my pain emanates forth from a chronic injury that I received whilst saving ill orphans from near death (they’d all be happy and healthy and flourishing right now, no doubt). But instead, I will tell the truth (booo!). One day, a little over a year ago, I got up off the couch after reading during my daughter’s nap-time and felt like I had taken a HUGE fall straight onto the hardest concrete on my tailbone.

It’s never been the same since. (Did you catch that? I got a chronic injury SITTING ON THE COUCH AND READING!) After medical professionals (um, yep, more than one of those guys) determined it wasn’t technically my tailbone but apparently something else undetectable by two MRIs, at least one x-ray, six weeks of twice-a-week physical therapy, and some pretty uncomfortable examining, I decided that there was nothing to do but deal with itand complain frequently, of course. I am a real person.

After a few months, the tailbone pain was gone, and it stayed gone for quite some time. Until a few weeks ago.

Not sure what I did–apparently sitting is WAY more dangerous than I knew–but the exact same tricky pain was back. I knew that going to the doctor wasn’t an option. Not only are those little trips nutso-expensive, but what exactly were they going to tell me this time that they couldn’t tell me the times before?

I felt really frustrated and definitely in a funk because the pain was such that it negatively affected my sleep because I couldn’t get comfortable. Plus, I remembered. I remembered what it was like when I had this pain before, and for some inexplicable reason, knowing I’d had it before, knowing I was option-free as far as medical care was concerned, and knowing how uncomfortable I was going to feel until it left of its own accord really snatched my joy away. Friends, we’ve all been here before, haven’t we?

We are hurtingphysically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. We feel burdened. We feel helpless.

We reach out to friends or family or doctors or therapists or pastors or even strangers. I was doing the same. I was reading things online. (Did you know that tailbone pain is a possible symptom for a multitude of nefarious diseases? Did you know that it’s possible to have what doctors call “unexplained tailbone pain” that lasts for years and has no real cause or treatment?! What is that mess?) I was complaining to my husband.

We were praying about my issue, but with statements like Lord, please help Lindsey’s tailbone pain to go away. While those prayers are certainly better than no prayers, they’re not exactly what you’d call boldly approaching the throne of God.

Then, after we prayed, I’d wake up the next morning mentally crossing my fingers that I’d suddenly be healed and all would be well. You’ve been there, too, right? You wake up each day so hopeful that your ailments from the night before are no longer. Then you realize they’re fully present. You still hurtphysically or mentally or emotionally (or all three). And now, because you feel like God’s not heard you, because you feel alone in your pain, you hurt spiritually. Your pain grows.

And doubt and unbelief grow. I’m saddened that it took me until this point to realize I had consulted everyone but God (aside from a quick prayer for healing) regarding my need for pain relief.

I knew that I needed to get real serious with my prayers, but I felt the Holy Spirit’s prompting me to see what the Bible said about healing first. So, I got my pen and my notebook and copied down all the verses that my Bible categorized as dealing with “Health and Healing.” (For those of you dealing with your own pain and interested in these scriptures, I’ll type them up for you at the bottom of this post, underneath our closing prayer.) What I found in these scriptures was a promise from God Himself to be with me, to renew my body so that I could rejoice in the glory of His healing. Here’s what the first day of my newfound strategy for jump-starting my healing looked like: Wake up.

Realize tailbone is not healed. Instead of getting bogged down in woe-is-me attitude, decide to read those scriptures out loud and believe for my healing. Read said scriptures. Wait 25 seconds. Do quick assessment in which I realize no angels visited and healed me, no bright lights shone, and nothing feels differently. Allow more negative thoughts to creep in while muttering such uplifting phrases as healing shmealing and yeah, right.

I’m not a total dunce, so it didn’t take me long to figure out that this wasn’t going to work. I decided to keep doing what I was doing right, which was praying sincerely and speaking scripture out loud over my need.

The attitude, however, had to go. I had 11 verses that I used, but it was Isaiah 58:8 that I clung to most. It reads, “Then shall your light break forth like the morning, and your healing (your restoration) shall spring forth speedily.” The speedily part was definitely what I liked best about this verse, but I realized with each reading that my biggest problem was that I fully expected God to work immediately, not speedily. I expected immediate gratification from a God whose timetable has never been our own. I’ve written past posts about what it means to wait on God, how important it is, because His timing isn’t ours and what’s lengthy to us is but a drop in the bucket for Him. Yet when hurting, no amount of relief mattered and no timetable mattered to me if it wasn’t full and immediate.

Of all those 11 verses my Bible grouped for me, would you believe that not a single one said anything about healing coming immediately OR all at once? I had gotten so selfish in my thinking, and I don’t even really know how or why or when it happened. I had somehow decided that healing only counted if it was instant and complete at the moment I prayed. I was giving no thought and no praise to God for that morning when I woke up and still hurt, but it hurt less than the day before. God literally had to say to me, just because you’re not 100% doesn’t mean I’m not working. Just because you’re not healed all at once doesn’t mean I’m not working on you and binding up those wounds you’re praying over (Psalm 147:3).

Why did it take me so long to get that? Why was I shocked at this simple revelation? God is working. God is moving.

I’m hurting, but that doesn’t mean God’s not in the process of fixing me. I asked; He’s mid-answer, but I’m so busy grumbling I don’t even notice or hear Him. And this isn’t just the way it works for those of us suffering physical pain. Some of us are in the throes of gut-wrenching emotional pain. Some of us physically hurt because our mental anguish is so fierce.

God is working, y’all. If you’ve come before Him and called on Him to heal your hurting spirit or your hurting heart, HE IS WORKING FOR YOU RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND. You may not feel better tomorrow, but He’s still at work within you. It might take a little bit, but don’t do what I’ve done and assume that because He doesn’t fix you the second you pray and your pain relief is only gradual that He’s busy doing other things.

He feels what you feel. He understands, and He’s actively involved in healing you. Aches and hurts and wounds you have carried for years or maybe didn’t even know you’ve had. I felt the peace come over me, that glorious internal peace found only in walking alongside God and His will, as soon as I decided to quit trying to make God so “on or off,” when I quit pushing my pitiful, impatient timetable onto Him.

When I simply kept up the Biblical strategies of bold prayer and speaking scripture but left everything else to Him. That was about two to three weeks ago. I’m not 100%, but I’m honestly 95% better than I was then. If you’re hurting, no matter what kind of pain you’re struggling with, hand it over. Seek those doctors and specialists (but only after praying for God’s guidance about what to do and where to go and who to see!), but don’t expect human healing before expecting supernatural healing from the ultimate Physician and Healer. And maybe our most important lesson of all, in anything really, is that feeling God working and believing God is working may not be mutually exclusive. It’s our job as His children to believe BEFORE we feel.

Slow progress is still progress. (Just a reminder that below the prayer are the scriptures my Bible listed under “Health and Healing” if you’re interested.) Dear Lord, thank you so much for all the promises You’ve made to me within Your Word regarding healing. Thank you that when I come to You for healing, You WILL heal me.

Help me to trust Your ways and not attempt to put human constraints around the ways in which You work. Help me to choose belief, even before I start feeling any better. Be with my pain, Lord, and take it away completely. Give me the strength and good countenance to endure it well while You work full healing in my life. I trust you, Lord. I know that You are at work. In advance, I thank you and praise You for my healing, which I know is right around the corner.

In Jesus’s name I pray. Health and Healing Scriptures Psalm 30:2–O Lord my God, I cried to You and You have healed me. Psalm 103:3–Who heals [each one of] all your diseases Psalm 107:20–He sends forth His Word and heals them and rescues them from the pit and destruction. Psalm 147:3–He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds [curing their pains and their sorrows]. Proverbs 4:22–[My Words] are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh. Isaiah 58:8–Then shall your light break forth like the morning, and your healing (your restoration) shall spring forth speedily. Jeremiah 17:14–Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for You are my praise.

Jeremiah 30:17–For I will restore health to you, and I will heal your wounds, says the Lord. James 5:15–And the prayer [that is] of faith will save him who is sick, and the Lord will restore him I Peter 2:24–By His wounds, you have been healed. 3 John 2–that you may prosper in every way and that [your body] may keep well Author Posted on Tags,,,,, Posts navigation.