Two Chances

When I first fell about three weeks ago, my whole body was screaming with the worst pain I’d ever felt. I wanted more than anything to die. Throughout my agony in the hospital I cried and prayed for Jesus to please come take me Home and rescue me from this ordeal. Having already fallen flat on my face from a dead faint onto a hardwood floor back in November and miraculously only suffering painful bruising, a black eye, and bloody nose, then losing Mama and my precious sister Nancy, enduring vicious migraines every day, and fierce tension knots, I felt like this new affliction was the last straw. No way did I want to face this new trial.

~~Unlike King David, the man after God’s own heart, who, when God put through a dark trial, he faithfully prayed,

“Your favor, O Lord, made me as secure as a mountain.Then You turned away from me, and I was shattered.I cried out to You, O Lord. I begged the Lord for mercy, saying, “What will You gain if I die, if I sink into the grave? Can my dust praise You? Can it tell of Your faithfulness? Hear me, Lord, and have mercy on me. Help me, O Lord.””

Psalms 30:7-10 NLT

No, I was not good like David, for the very last thing I thought of was praising the Lord in my pain, alas. I screamed in bitter agony.

The Bible says that the dead praise not the living God, however He seeks a people who will praise and glorify Him despite their trials.

“The dead cannot sing praises to the Lord, for they have gone into the silence of the grave. But we can praise the Lord both now and forever! Praise the Lord!” Psalms

115:17-18 NLT

I learned that if I truly love the Lord I would endure despite the pain and continue to trust Him believing He will come through in the end. By His Almighty grace, I have determined to seek for ways that I can praise Him during this trial.

For His Word tells us that God’s mercies are new every morning, great is His faithfulness. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

One thing I will praise the Lord for is giving me such a wonderful husband. Ever since I fractured my humerus I’ve had to rely on Mark for assistance in doing everything ~~even doing my hair. Mark finds this task quite difficult and I must admit he has a gift for making really bad hairstyles. They are so awful that they are hilarious and make me laugh. I wish I had been documenting these crazy styles. Even JJ, our Yorkie, noticed him fixing my hair one day. Her little black eyes seemed to pop as she suddenly halted and hopped fast backwards out of the room, We both wish we could’ve documented her reaction on video.

Well, the night he made my hair look like I was wearing an ice bag, I could not stop laughing. I then said, “Honey, can’t you just manage a simple braid?”

I texted a friend about the issue. She told me that her daughter was really gifted at braiding hair and had her own website dedicated to braiding, and she gave me the URL.

I told Mark and sent him to the website. “Here is your chance, honey. Study her techniques and you will soon be braiding my hair!”

I was hopeful as I saw him intently studying two of the braiding videos. But when I noticed how complicated the braids were my heart sank.

Sure enough he soon gave up overwhelmed. Closing his laptop he looked at me and said, “You have two chances for me to ever braid your hair~ fat chance and no chance!”

I pouted. Why could he not have just chosen a video on how to do a simple braid?

Well, the next day the home health care nurse who comes to help me wash my hair and bathe said that she used to run her own hair braiding business on the side till she had her baby!

Would I like for her to braid my hair? She gave me two long beautiful French braids on either side of my head!

Here was my loving God giving me a chance to replace Mark’s fat chance and no chance!

How I praise Him for showing me His love and mercy in that special way!

And that wasn’t the end of the story either.

The next morning my Occupational Therapist came and wanted to braid my hair. She did a beautiful job. Once again, God demonstrated His love and mercy sending two people to braid my hair!

The dead praise not the living God but I will praise Him for these special ways He blessed me.

And the praising for His amazing blessings does not end there.

We went to the orthopedic doctor for a check up and while she did not see a great deal of improvement in the fracture as it was huge; she said it was going to take time and to be patient; after testing me she said I had no nerve damage!

This was very encouraging to me! She said with this kind of injury they sometimes see nerve damage in the hand so it was very good that I had none.

Glory to our wonderful God!

And today after Mark had graced me with another awful hairstyle last night that was truly hilarious, I went into the bathroom and prayed to be able to braid my own hair.

And God be praised~ He really helped me do it ~despite my broken arm!

God helped me braid my own hair despite my broken arm! Praise our awesome Lord Jesus Christ!

Fat chance and no chance are God’s chances in the eternal realms of the Almighty.

“Lord, You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give You thanks forever!”

Psalms 30:11-12 NLT

Whatsoever Things Are True

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on

WHATEVER THINGS ARE IS TRUE
(focus on what is true about ourselves & other people & our circumstances, & about God)

See Philippians 4: 8

What is HONORABLE,
(Look For What is honorable in ourselves & other people & our circumstances & in God)

*See Philippians 4: 8

Fix your thoughts on what is RIGHT,
(Seek for what is right about ourselves & other people & our circumstances & in God)

*See Philippians 4: 8

Fix Your Thoughts on What is PURE,
(in ourselves & other people & our circumstances & in God)

See Philippians 4: 8

Seek For things that are LOVELY, (in ourselves & other people & our circumstances & in God)

See Philippians 4: 8

Think about things that are ADMIRABLE.
(in ourselves & other people & our circumstances & in God)

See Philippians 4: 8

Seek For whatever is EXCELLENT
(in ourselves & other people & our circumstances & in God)

*See Philippians 4: 8

Focus on those things that are WORTHY OF PRAISE ”
(in ourselves & other people & our circumstances & in God) ~ Philippians 4:8 NLT

*See Philippians 4: 8

God is looking for the good in His redeemed children, not for faults, not for things to condemn.

Christ came not to condemn, but to save us. (*See John 3:17)

What is true about God?

God is love

1 John 4:8

“Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds; Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, Your justice like the ocean depths.You care for people and animals alike, O Lord.”

Psalms 36:5-6 NLT

“The Lord forgives all my sins, and heals all my diseases, He redeems me from death, and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

Psalm 103:3-5 NLT

The Lord gives righteousness and justice to all who are treated unfairly. The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

Psalm 103:6,8 NLT

God will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins. He does not deal harshly with us as we deserve.

Psalm 103:9-10 NLT

For God’s unfailing love toward those who fear Him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.

Psalm 103:11-12

The Lord is like a father to His children, tender and compassionate to those who fear Him. For He knows how weak we are; He remembers we are only dust.”

Psalms 103:13-14 NLT

For the needy shall not alway be forgotten, The expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.”

Psalm 9:18 KJV

What is true about God’s redeemed children?

For one thing, we are a new creature in Christ, old things are passed away. God has done a new thing in us, we are reborn in Christ and He has given to us His own righteousness.

“When anyone belongs to Christ, they become a new person. Their old way of life has gone. Their new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17

Christ never did any wrong thing, but God punished Him as if He had. He died as punishment for our sins. As a result, we become right with God when we belong to Christ. We become right, because He is right.” 2Corinthians 5:21 Easy English Bible

“Nobody can say that God’s people are guilty. God himself has accepted us as right with him. So nobody can say that God should still punish us. Nobody can say that, because Christ Jesus himself died on our behalf.

And God raised Christ up so that He became alive again after His death. Now Christ is sitting at God’s right side in heaven. He himself is praying to God on our behalf.

Christ will always continue to love us.Nothing can stop that! We may have troubles.

Things may make us sad or afraid.People may do bad things to us.

We may have no food or no clothes. There may be great danger.

People may even try to kill us.

But none of these things can stop Christ from loving us.

As it says in the Bible: ‘Because we are your people, God, people try to kill us all the time. They think that we are like sheep, and we are ready to be killed.’

Because God loves us, none of these troubles can ever beat us.

He makes us win against them. I am sure of this.

Nothing can stop God from loving us.

Death cannot do that. Life cannot do that.

Angels cannot do that, nor can demons do that.

Nothing that happens to us now, or that will happen in a future time can do that.

No powerful spirits can do that.

Nothing that is high above the world can do that,

nor anything that is deep down below the ground.

Nothing else in the whole universe can stop God from loving us.

Because of our Lord Christ Jesus, we know how much God loves us.”

Romans 8:33-39 Easy English Bible

Heavenly Father,

Teach us to learn about and then to focus on whatsoever things are true about You, and ourselves, those things in us that are positive, and virtuous, pure and lovely, worthy of praise and of good report; help us not to look for faults or things to condemn ourselves for and feel guilty over; for You forgive our sins and give us the righteousness of Thy Son Jesus Christ, You love us very much, and look for the good in us. Thank You for being so kind to us to save us from our sins through Thy Son Jesus Christ, in Jesus name, amen.

For God So Loved The World Prayersong

Lord, Help Me Endure

“Lord Help Me Endure To The End” is a prayer song inspired by a scripture verse that Jesus spoke to His disciples when He was talking to them about prophetic events of the dark last days.

Jesus said, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

Matthew 24:13 KJV

What does the word Jesus used for endure mean?

ὑπομένω hupomenō~~Thayer Definition:

1) to remain, 1a) to tarry behind, 2) to remain, i.e. abide, not recede or flee,

2a) to persevere under misfortunes and trials to hold fast to one’s faith in Christ

2b) to endure, bear bravely and calmly: ill treatments

This verse with its word meaning has spoken volumes to me as I have studied and meditated over them.

I’m so thankful the Lord gave me this prayer song to encourage me to meditate on this verse as I seek Him in prayer and in His Word, especially now.

No stranger to affliction being a sufferer of chronic daily migraines and fibromyalgia, I was painting to distract myself from pain early one morning last month.

Mark reminded me of an appointment I had to get ready for so I got in a rush to print my painting and get ready for the day.

Alas, as I rounded the corner of my bed I tripped and fell backwards landing on my left side and crashed onto the hardwood floor.

Horrified, I saw my left arm detached from my body. In excruciating pain, I thought my hip and neck were broken, as they were hurting as much as my arm and shoulder, also I could not move. Talk about screaming. My beloved Mark was by my side in a second.

I had to be taken to the hospital where they did imaging. Not only did I have bruises all over the left part of my body, but the X-Rays and scans revealed that I’d severely fractured my left humerus. Thank the Lord I had broken nothing else. I returned home with my left arm in a heavy splint and sling. It was so heavy in fact, I could barely walk. The pain was unbearable. I learned how disabled one is made by such a severe injury.

At first I just felt manacled by that awful splint and was sent into panic mode in certain positions. I was in more pain than I’d ever been in my life and I begged God to take me to Heaven. He kept saying nope. Not only did I find the pain beyond my endurance, I couldn’t tolerate being so helpless and dependent on others for assistance in EVERYTHING.

The Lord said, “ENDURE.”

Hadn’t I suffered enough, I asked.

The Lord was not going to let me off the hook.

He reminded me of the prayer song He had given me, “Lord Help Me Endure To The End.”

He reminded me of the other prayer song with lyrics He had given me on my most recent release Paths of Faith, “I Will Lay Down My Life.”

Migraines flared up the agony in my fractured arm even more. The wretched splint caused huge tormenting tension knots in my back and neck. I could not get comfortable nor sleep in my bed but had to sleep in Mark’s recliner.

Despite my misery, the Lord showered me with rivers of His measureless mercy. He sent wonderful home healthcare people to assist me. They always ended up telling me about folks who were far worse off than I was and this would somehow comfort me because I not only then felt I was not alone in my pain, it motivated me to pray for people who suffered as I did.

Prayer was the only way I could lay my life down in love for others because of my disability, while others were laying their lives down in love for me. The Lord always sent me people with the most cheerful attitudes. They somehow could make me laugh despite my intense pain.

Our son flew home from LA to help my husband with my care.

Our daughter being tied up with myriad issues in Tucson did many wonderful things for us that we needed assistance with by ordering things we required and had them sent to us.

We were surrounded by love. God showed His mercy and faithfulness in so many ways that helped me to hang on when I thought I could not endure another moment of pain. Many from our church sent beautiful cards and prayers while our friend Sharon came and stayed with me twice so Mark could run some necessary errands.

Our Pastor came over and anointed me with oil and prayed for my healing. All of these beautiful expressions of God’s love comforted me, reminding me that our Heavenly Father still loved me despite my suffering.

One night after I finally fell asleep exhausted from the pain, I dreamed that the Lord Jesus Christ came down from Heaven and into my living room. He stood by the recliner where I lay sleeping and He checked on my arm as if He were a doctor checking on my progress. I dreamed this two nights in a row. I woke up very comforted both times, assured of His love for me.

But on days when the hours stretched by and my pain level stayed at a ten I became depressed and wept, praying for God’s mercy and repenting for everything I could think of that might have upset the Lord. For when we go through serial trials we can’t help but look up and ask the Lord, “What did I do wrong?”

Whenever I ask the Lord questions like that He refers me to His Word. From the Epistle of James: “My Christian friends, remember to be happy, even when many kinds of trouble happen to you. Troubles can help you. God wants to see if you really trust Him. Your faith in God will become stronger as a result of these troubles. So you should continue to trust God all the time. Then you will become stronger as a Christian. You will become completely how you should be. You will not need anything more.” James 1:2-4 (*Easy English Bible)

The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to comfort me and assure me that God is using my trials to enlarge my faith.

We thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because He is so good to us. As our Father, He is very kind to us. He is our God who comforts us in every way. Whenever we have trouble, He comforts us. Because of that, we ourselves can comfort other people. When they have any kind of trouble, we can comfort them, in the same way that God has comforted us. Christ himself received much pain, and God comforted Him. As Christ’s servants, we also receive the same kind of pain. But, God also comforts us very much, because we belong to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 *(Easy English Bible)

Peter the Apostle wrote that we should expect to have suffering and trials as Christians.

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” 1 Peter 4:12-13 KJV

Peter asserted that suffering and pain motivate the Christian to do God’s will instead of their own will, even as Christ did His Father’s will on earth.

“Christ had trouble and pain while He lived in His human body. So you should prepare yourselves to have trouble and pain too. Think about it in the same way that Christ did. If someone has trouble and pain in his body, he stops doing wrong things. As a result, that person will want to do what God wants him to do. In his life in this world, he will not want to do the bad things that people think are good.” 1 Peter 4:1-2 (*Easy English Bible)

That is why we never give up.

Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!

So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.

For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” ~ 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NLT (*New Living Translation)

“Lord Help Me Endure To The End”~ Midnight Prayers and Meditations Volume II, © ℗ 2021, by Suzanne Davis Harden, All Rights Reserved.

“Lord Help Me Endure To The End”~ Peaceangel Song, Copyright © 2022, by Suzanne Davis Harden, All Rights Reserved.

Scripture Quotations from the King James Version Bible Translation, the Easy English Bible, The New Living Bible Translation, All of which are copyrighted by their various publishers.

*Created through the Indwelling Risen Lord Jesus Christ, Inspired by His Holy Spirit, To The Glory of God The Father, In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Christ, My Healer

Christ, My Healer

I Am the God that heals thee
I mend the broken hearts
I restore the shattered souls
That have been torn apart…

I Am the God that heals thee
Who bears with thee thy pain
I bore upon My cross thy grief,
Thy sickness, and thy shame…

I bore thy suffering, thy sin
And by My stripes you’re healed
And made whole within thy soul,
Redeemed, forever sealed…
Upon My heart, upon My hands
You ever are engraved,
Forgiven from thy every sin,
Thy soul within is saved.

I Am Thy God that heals thee
Within thy very soul,
I’m working every day you live
To ever make thee whole…
Perfecting thee on thy journey
Since it was begun,
I will complete My work in thee

Until Thy journey’s done,

In Jesus’ name, amen.

(Prayer Poem) All Glory To God, Copyright © 2020, Suzanne Davis Harden, All Rights Reserved.

Christ, My Healer

Scriptures for Meditation

…weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” ~ Psalms‬ ‭30:5‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“Lord my God, I prayed to you, and you healed me. Lord, you lifted me out of the grave. I was falling into the place of death, but you saved my life.”~ Psalms‬ ‭30:2-3‬ ‭ERV‬‬

“I am sure that the good work God began in you will continue until He completes it on the day when Jesus Christ comes again.” ~Philippians‬ ‭1:6‬ ‭ERV‬‬

“God has blessed you in ways that serve Christ. He allowed you to believe in Christ. But that is not all. He has also given you the honor of suffering for Christ. Both of these bring glory to Christ.” ‭~Philippians‬ ‭1:29‬ ‭ERV‬‬

Prayer

Lord, many of Thy children are suffering. Please wrap Thy Holy arms around each one of them. Help them to know that You love them very much.

May they feel Thy tangible presence with them as they walk through the Shadow Valley; may they know without a doubt that You are with them, so they will have no fear.

May You comfort and encourage them today and give them peace and hope that You will surely bring them through this dark time; that there is joy and light at the end of this seemingly endless tunnel.

Though weeping may endure for a night, joy will come in the morning, for so Thy Word has promised.

Lord, please hold their hands and pour Thy peace upon them without measure; let them know that You love them as if they were the only child that You had to love. Thank You Lord, we love You.

In Jesus’ mighty name, amen.

Please Pray for America!!!

Peaceangelsong, All Glory to God, Copyright © 2020 by Suzanne Davis Harden, All Rights Reserved. Original Prayer Poem, Christ My Healer, May Christ be glorified in these works! Copyright © 2020 by Suzanne Davis Harden, All rights reserved. Original Scripture Collage Digital Paintings, Copyright © 2020, by SD Harden, All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations quoted in the text are from the King James Version Bible, Public Domain, and the Easy To Read (ERV) Bible: © 1987, 2004 Bible League International, All rights reserved.