Category: hope

Devotional

by worrylessjourney, posted in God provides, hope, wait

April 19 2025

Holy Saturday

Psalm 22 Verses 1-2

1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
    Why are you so far from saving me,
    so far from my cries of anguish?
2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
    by night, but I find no rest.[b]

Holy Saturday , a bleak day. Jesus is in the grave. The disciples have gone away. They think it is all over. Nothing will ever be the same. God has forsaken them.

We are lucky. We know the end of the story so it is hard for us to feel what they were feeling. It’s hard to imagine the end of all hope. But God hs a plan.

Prayer: God our hope, support us when we can’t see the new day coming. Be with us in the bleak times and show us the way to the light. AMEN

Devotional

by worrylessjourney, posted in belief, help, hope, unconditional love

March 13 2025

Psalm 18 Verses 3-10

3 I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
    and I have been saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death entangled me;
    the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
5 The cords of the grave coiled around me;
    the snares of death confronted me.

6 In my distress I called to the Lord;
    I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
    my cry came before him, into his ears.
7 The earth trembled and quaked,
    and the foundations of the mountains shook;
    they trembled because he was angry.
8 Smoke rose from his nostrils;
    consuming fire came from his mouth,
    burning coals blazed out of it.
9 He parted the heavens and came down;
    dark clouds were under his feet.
10 He mounted the cherubim and flew;
    he soared on the wings of the wind.

I wish I had room to print this whole Psalm. It is not for the weak at heart. This is no namby-pamby God but a God of power. Just imagine…God was call by one of his people and he not only answered but came fast as lightening with such scary special effects better than any movie. This is SOME GOD!

He will come just as fast to hep us…all we have to do is call.

Prayer: God of power and might. Hear us when we call and come quickly to our aid. Give us the strength to banish evil and oppression to the glory of your Holy Name. AMEN

Homework: Read the whole off Psalm 18 part one. Warning…parental guidance is recommended. This is a PG13 Psalm.

Help us find Hope

by worrylessjourney, posted in accountable, choices, community, consequences, frustration, hope, problems

Well, here I am again trying to get back into a routine. I need it. I have not been giving my voice a chance to be heard nor have I destressed by sharing frustrations and thoughts. For my own well being I need to get back to writing. I haven’t even written anything else. I have sunk into a low and it is time to move on.

There are so manhy things going on in this country for the first time in my life I am frightened for us. Our leaders and the press spread fire and dissent. We grow further apart. My grandson who is 21 does not expect to live past thirty. He reflects the views of many of our young adults. They have lost their hope and sense of safety. The suicide rate is rising exponentially. Japan has seen a decline in births. We may begin to see the same thing since there is no concept of permanence among those in their twneties and thirties.

I have no objection to those who want to just live together except that it has less sense of committment and it is the children who suffer when someone decides to just step away.

Arnold Toynbee, a history phiilosipher, says that when a nation’s morality, culttural norms, and governement dissolves into chaos that nation is on the way out. I consider us there.

My greatest wish is that we can recover from this but the signs are not favorable. I want my grandchildren and great grandchildren to have hope for the future.

Today’s journey

by worrylessjourney, posted in acceptance, coping, hope
O to be so relaxed!

I met today with a new therapist and am so encouraged by our connection and her understanding. Things will get better. I will continue to believe that.

I continue my struggle with IBSD but I am reaching out for a doctor as I don’t have a gastro one here. I realize that I also am missing all the doctors I had before. I must find new ones.

We are currently sheltering from the new covid strain and quite a few people here have been sick. We all wanted so much to see things as normal and that is not happening. It can be so tiresome and depressing.

Crash and I remain here working through each day. He is my companion and solace.

And on it goes, and on, and on

by worrylessjourney, posted in anxiety, hope, sadness

The last few days have been bad. I am having a serious attack of IBSD and that always stresses me into anxiety. In addition where I live there has been a considerable increase with the number of people who have covid and that doesn’t help. Today the dining rooms are closed and we can order food to be picked up. Not fun to have to eat alone.

I think one of the hardest things about my time is the loneliness that can’t be helped. I miss my husband who was my rock for almost 59 years. It is the emotional support that is the most difficult to lose.

I am trying to hang in there and hope that getting my rx for the med I need will bring about some change.

Thanks for listening to my woeful post.

Crisis and Hope

by worrylessjourney, posted in complacency, consequences, hope

I am working hard to get back into the habit of posting. I know that I am doing too many things to keep myself from thinking about the changes in my life and the world. Posting is such a good way to vent feelings and share hope.

We have been through so much and now there is another war to think about. So many people are at risk and they did nothing to deserve it. Hitler started by just hopping into Poland and then kept going. I know so little about Putin and how much his personality could influence what happens next. In WWII we learned too much about how one person’s mania can destroy so much. Let’s hope we learned enough to do what works to end it.

After several plus years of dealing with a pandemic and now war it is so easy to get depressed. We are in a fragile condition emotionally. I don’t know there are very many people who have not suffered some deprivation since covid began. Most of us are not at our best to handle a new crisis. We have not yet recovered from the last one.

However in the midst of all of it we have to trust that somehow things will change. We cannot turn away from hope. It is the lifeline that we cling to and a gift from God. Over all the catastrophes we have endured throughout history we are still here. I pray that we will be able to push away the darkness and let in the light.

Hope! Continue to hope but don’t forget to “act as if” we can change things. We cannot sit by and do nothing. Small acts of hope and love matter. Act!

loneliness – a crisis

by worrylessjourney, posted in explore, hope, Loneliness, sadness

Today I am having thoughts about loneliness. We are creatures who need each other. We are hard wired to be in community. We need belonging. The emotional toll of being shut off from others is being felt, not only where we are, but in the world at large.

Finding myself in an Independent Retirement Community during covid has brought on questions that I didn’t expect.

Even though we have all (almost) been completely vaccinated we are still alone much of the time. Our need for companionship, which is one of the reasons to be here, has been intensified. We must all wear masks which limits our ability to see facial expressions. Encouraged to seek physical distance we cannot gather to be with others. This is no fault of where we are but since we are elderly our safety is primary.

Of course this hits harder on those who are truly alone and do not have a spouse or companion with them. We have to find a new way of belonging. Electronic connection doesn’t satisfy the need. We need physical presence. It is imperative that new ideas for belonging are tried and used with safety in mind.

Some of that is already happening by default. People are meeting with others who they feel take safety seriously . Small groups meeting can bring the closeness we need to alleviate the physical and emotional pain (and yes it is actual pain) brought on by our need to experience belonging.

We are suffering. All of us. The innate need to experience personal physical links with others is critical. Without it the increase of depression, loneliness and suffering will increase enormously.

Our love of life, desire to live fully and happily are threatened. We must find new ways to experience belonging or many of us will die lonely and sad.

Let’s get a change!

by worrylessjourney, posted in acceptance, choices, hope

After a series of glitches last week with my health and my dog Crash I think we are both on the road to recovery. A new year is coming and I pray that with it not just a better year for me and mine but for everyone. The last two years have certainly been hard for us. It is certainly time for everyone to have a break. For some reason I was reminded of a very old TV program called HEE HAW and a song that they sang frequently. I think that in the last two years this has felt true.

Hope is never gone

by worrylessjourney, posted in acceptance, dogs, faith, God, hope

I know my life has not provided pleasant reading for quite a while. Unfortunately it has not yet changed for the better. I was terribly sick Christmas Eve I think due to medicine changes but fine on Christmas. Have been basically fine since except for the pain from the fractured vertebrae.

 Now one of my dogs is ill and I am worried. I am praying for a good prognosis. A new year is coming and I still hope for better things to come. With trust in God and faith there will be continued hope.

New journey

by worrylessjourney, posted in hope, sadness

I have not written since the middle of June. It has just been too hard. I have struggled with IBSD and grief and didn’t want to write about all my sadness and anxiety. I have moved to Longhorn Village a wonderful home for those who want to live the rest of their lives with joy and I have met so many people who live life to the fullest. It will take me time to adjust and the grief will come and go on its own schedule. Nevertheless, I am hopeful for the first time in forever.

I will be able to do stimulating mental and physical activities and it is such a relief after covid to be able to go without a mask here and shake hands. Before all this journey we have all been on with virus we would never had imagined how our world would change.

I thank God for all that has changed in my life…the good and the bad. I would have preferred to not go through some of it but I am alive getting up every morning.