Lord Jesus,
You know how this feels. You experienced it, for me.
You took on a human body.
Pain. Fatigue. Dehydration. Hunger. Bleeding. Thorns.
Physical inability to carry Your own cross all the way.
You tell us to take up our cross and follow You.
Daily.
In pain, with symptoms, this alone feels like cross-bearing.
How can I follow You in it? All the way?
Following You in simple and tiny works
Works? What could I possibly “do” today? Release me from my own guilt-works-earning-shaming-righteousness as one who is clothed already in Yours.
My simple works may feel insignificant. Tiny. But they are Your creation for me…in this body.
Show me, Lord…
By Your Spirit, by Your grace, by Your work within, please show me Your personalized “following,” “walking in them” way for me today.
Thank You for giving me this rest as I carry this difficult cross.
Encouraging another one hurting?
To share the food of Your Word?
“Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him” (Is. 58:7 ESV).
The joyous covering of Your righteousness?
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…. ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me’” (Mt. 25:34, 40 CSB, emphasis added).
Sharing that we have no shame in our chronic earthly life-long?
Hope in Christ alone? Safety and eternal security?
Safe in the arms of Jesus,
Safe on his gentle breast,
There by his love o'ershaded,
Sweetly my soul shall rest.
(Crosby, F., 1868)
A prayer from my sickbed?
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Mt. 11:30 ESV).
Jesus, keep me near the cross;
there a precious fountain,
free to all — a healing stream —
flows from Calv'ry's mountain.
(Crosby, F., 1869)
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1 ESV)… “to loose the bonds of wickedness” (Is. 58:6 ESV).
Warm water, cleansing a dirty dish, the only house chore I can manage today? Your precious gospel gift!
“Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’” (Jn. 7:38 ESV, emphasis added).
“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb. 10:22 ESV).
Not pretending? A true heart?
“And not to hide yourself from your own flesh” (Is. 58:7 ESV)?
Not…
· Pretending my symptoms aren’t there.
· Thinking I don’t need help to carry this cross.
· Hiding myself from what’s happening in my body.
· Deflecting, gritting through, blaming, demanding, accusing, refusing, hardening.
· Hiding myself from my sin, but quickly bringing it into Your healing light.
Not ever pretending with You, my Suffering Servant and Savior.
Near the cross, a trembling soul,
love and mercy found me;
there the Bright and Morning Star
shed its beams around me.
Your healing within today’s cross-carrying
“Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily” (Is. 58:8 ESV).
Jesus, my heart's dear Refuge,
Jesus has died for me;
Firm on the Rock of Ages
Ever my trust shall be.
Your healing in Your glorious, righteous, enfolding work of the gospel. Safe, guided.
Safe in the arms of Jesus,
Safe from corroding care…
“Your righteousness shall go before you” (Is. 58:8 ESV).
Safe from the world's temptations,
Sin cannot harm me there.
Your healing: Protected, held, freed with eternal hope!
“This is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day….For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (Jn. 6:35, 40 ESV).
In the cross, in the cross,
be my glory ever;
till my raptured soul shall find
rest beyond the river.
“The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard” (Is. 58:8 ESV).
Free from the blight of sorrow,
Free from my doubts and fears,
Only a few more trials,
Only a few more tears.
Your healing as I yoke to You alone, Lord Jesus, for You…
“Undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke” (Is. 58:6 ESV).
Near the cross! O Lamb of God,
bring its scenes before me…
“If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness” (Is. 58:9 ESV).
help me walk from day to day
with its shadow o'er me.
Your healing in giving me Your personalized way, sustaining and restoring me in today’s symptoms
“Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am’” (Is. 58:9 ESV).
“The LORD sustains him on his sickbed;
in his illness you restore him to full health” (Ps. 41:3 ESV).
Here let me wait with patience,
Wait till the night is o'er,
Wait till I see the morning
Break on the golden shore.
“And the LORD will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail” (Is. 58:11 ESV).
Near the cross I'll watch and wait,
hoping, trusting ever,
till I reach the golden strand
just beyond the river.
Lord, please water today and every day of this chronic cross-bearing in my body. May each be a day of Your satisfying, strengthening, sustaining, and restoring grace until the day I see You face to face! In Your eternal name, Jesus Christ, amen.
Tips for using this music therapy-inspired podcast
I thank God for the prolific hymn writer Fanny Crosby. She understood the discouragements of chronic illness, suffering from blindness, taking up her cross, and following Jesus. Playing two of her hymns in this month’s podcast, her lyrics wash over my suffering heart. Hearing the Scriptures is a balm to my soul in my own chronic pain and various chronic illnesses, now 16 months after a brain surgery treatment. Sometimes, it’s physically hard to read God’s Word!
I need this podcast as much as you do! It’s inspired by principles of music therapy, but with lots of Scripture.
Some instructions:
1. Use noise-cancelling headphones. Eliminate distraction. Keep the volume as low as you can hear it. Close your eyes. Put your body in a comfortable position, ideally lying flat with knees supported by a pillow.
2. Tap on your body if it’s still hard to focus on the sound.
3. As you breathe to the music, put one hand on your belly and notice its rise and fall. Fill your belly with air as each Scripture and hymn fills your thoughts. You might put the other hand on one of your body’s painful or flaring-up spots as you pray.
4. The beat of the music intentionally offers you musical phrases of inhalations of about eight heats, a short resting there, and a slow exhale of about 6-8 beats. The lengthened exhale as you belly-breathe will help to trigger the calming portion of your autonomic nervous system while releasing natural endorphins or painkillers! Ask God to help you breathe in time to the music and “sing” the hymns in your thoughts, using this set-apart time to worship and adore Him.
5. Use the entire podcast, setting aside about 30 minutes, for God’s gift of the inherently healing dimensions of music is gradual throughout.
6. Practice as He helps reset your autonomic nervous system and calm the beautifully complex body He’s created for us.
7. Please send me your feedback, and I will tweak our podcasts accordingly! What are some of your favorite hymns?
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