be still and know

Our God is so amazing. He has been showing me all kinds of things about my latest struggle...including what is actually going on (exercise(and I use the term loosely) induced hyperventilation due to post nasal drip). He's also directing me on what to do about it (stay away from dairy, and drink more water is part of it). I also need to put some things on the backburner and 'be still'. I have a one day retreat tomorrow...so that should be a good kick off.

Responsorial Psalm

USCCB - (NAB) - June 12, 2009: "Responsorial Psalm
Ps 116:10-11, 15-16, 17-18

R. (17a) To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.

I believed, even when I said,
'I am greatly afflicted';
I said in my alarm,
'No man is dependable.'

R. To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise."

I've been going through pretty severe anxiety lately. I've turned it over to the Lord...and have suffered in (relative)silence, but now I feel Him leading me to post about it...to humble myself and request the prayers of others on the journey with me. I want to be released from this affliction...not so much so that I won't suffer...but so that I can stop focusing on myself. There is nothing like an anxiety attack to magnify every little blurp you may be feeling.

I'm feeling that He wants to do more with this...use this for my benefit somehow. In prayer, I asked Him 'why now, Lord...I have so much that needs to be done'...His response... 'All you need to do is obey Me!'. Wow...ok, Lord...I hear Ya. He goes on to say, 'Be still and know that I am Lord'. I want to cry....

Battlefield of the Mind

God Is Doing a New Thing: Chapter 4 - A Path of My Choosing Part 2:
"Keep praising Him for His attributes, his provision, His grace, His love...any thoughts of self, trade them, replace them with thoughts of 'Oh, God! How GREAT you are!' 'I need YOU so much!' 'Thank you for all YOU do and are!' 'Thank you that YOU are bread for my hungry heart!'"

Poetry in Motion

Holy Experience: Attend to Your Life and You Make it Art: "Maybe it's just me who is still learning that it's not perfection that makes one's life a work of art. It's how one sees. It's taking me a lifetime to wrap the corners of my heart around it: beauty isn't a product to be be found in the material world. It's a function of the way the eye and soul work together."

You really need to click on the link above and go read the entire thing...BEAUTIFUL!

"But we all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18)

You are a work in progress. In fact, the Lord calls you His poetry. You are His poetry in motion, His masterpiece. (Ephesians 2:10) ---Thin Within p48

Today's First Reading

USCCB - (NAB) - June 12, 2009:
"Reading 1
2 Cor 4:7-15

Brothers and sisters:
We hold this treasure in earthen vessels,
that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.
We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained;
perplexed, but not driven to despair;
persecuted, but not abandoned;
struck down, but not destroyed;
always carrying about in the Body the dying of Jesus,
so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.
For we who live are constantly being given up to death
for the sake of Jesus,
so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Since, then, we have the same spirit of faith,
according to what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke,'
we too believe and therefore speak,
knowing that the one who raised the Lord Jesus
will raise us also with Jesus
and place us with you in his presence.
Everything indeed is for you,
so that the grace bestowed in abundance on more and more people
may cause the thanksgiving to overflow for the glory of God."

Isn't it amazing that today's First Reading is exactly what we're dealing with in our TW study right now? God is so good.

"For we who live are constantly being given up to death
for the sake of Jesus,
so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh." Less of us, more of Him. We have to constantly put to death our 'fleshy and sinful nature'...so that Jesus's life within us can grow.