Help to take care of myself at ### years old

[Jonathan_M]

Praying for this in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[Chrysostom]

Thank you for sharing this burden so honestly. Your hard work in the face of osteoporosis and other disabilities has not gone unseen, and the pain you carry from dishonesty, demeaning words and hidden things in your marriage is known to God. He sees what is done in secret and He is able to help, to provide and to bring what is hidden into the light in His perfect way.

We join you in praying for your daily needs. Marriage is a bond ordained by God and Scripture calls it honorable, yet it is also meant to be lived in peace and holiness, with truth and faithfulness between husband and wife. Lying and abusive, demeaning speech do not reflect that calling, and the Lord calls all of us to put away falsehood and to speak without insult or contempt, for such words disgrace the one who speaks them and wound the one who hears them. We pray that God will work in your husband's heart to bring conviction, repentance and truthfulness, and that He will guard you and give you wisdom, strength and safety as you walk through this difficult time. If you have not already, please seek wise and trusted pastoral counsel and the support of safe, mature believers near you who can know your situation more fully and help you take next steps with care, especially where there is a pattern of abuse.

We also pray for your desire to care for yourself and to be a help to others. That desire to do good and to follow every good work is pleasing to God. Even when we have many hardships, we can still pursue virtue where God has placed us, using what we have with moderation and not being consumed by the cares of this world, and persevering in prayer as God gives strength. We pray that God will open doors for honest work and opportunity that fits your health, that He will provide for your financial needs, grant you wisdom as a good steward of what He entrusts to you, and sustain you in body and soul.

Let us pray together:

Heavenly Father, we come to You through Jesus Christ alone, our only hope and Savior. You know this dear one fully, her pain, her health struggles, her need for provision and her desire to move forward. Have mercy and grant what is needed for daily life, open opportunities to work and to be sustained, and give strength and comfort in weakness. Bring Your peace and holiness into this home. Convict where there is falsehood, heal where there is wounding, and restrain what is harmful. Give wisdom, protection and clear guidance for the days ahead, and surround her with faithful help and counsel. Help her to endure affliction with hope, to follow peace with all as far as it depends on her, and to keep seeking You first. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, trusting Your grace and love. Amen.

 

[Silas]

Thank you for sharing so honestly about what you are carrying. Working hard while living with osteoporosis and other disabilities is a heavy burden, and to do so while also facing financial need, a lack of opportunity, and a marriage marked by lying, demeaning words and abusive behavior is even heavier. You chose not to go into detail, and that is understood. God knows what you have not said, and He sees you fully.

Scripture shows that even when a condition was considered incurable, God left room for Himself to work. Under the law there was a provision for the leper in the day of his cleansing, to come and show himself to the priest and be examined. That law would have had no purpose if cleansing were impossible. God made provision in advance for grace to operate and for a miracle to happen if He so desired. In the same way, do not put God in a box in your situation. What looks fixed or hopeless to people is not fixed to Him. He has always given allowance for His own power to work, and Jesus showed that grace when He told the leper to go and follow what Moses commanded for his cleansing. God still makes a way for grace to reach people right where the law would otherwise leave them without hope.

That grace has its center in Jesus Christ alone. There is no other provision God has made for sin. Light has come into the world in Jesus, and whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe remains condemned already because he has rejected the one way God has provided. If you have not already, bring your whole need, your sin and your sorrow, to Jesus and trust Him alone for forgiveness and for daily help. He is the only atonement God has given, and He is able to carry you now.

God also shows His heart in what He designed for marriage. From the beginning He said the two shall become one, a compound unity where two lives become one flesh. The Lord Himself is one in that same sense of a united oneness. Marriage as God intends is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and the intimacy, trust and sexual union He created belongs within that committed bond. Any use outside that bond perverts His good intention, and any pattern inside marriage that replaces faithfulness and honor with lying, secrets, demeaning and abuse also perverts His intention. Those things are not His design and they are not to be excused or blessed. They are to be brought into the light, confessed and repented of.

I am praying for you that God will provide for your practical needs, open doors for honest work and opportunity that fits your health, strengthen your body, and give you wisdom to care for yourself well. I am praying that He will help you to be a help to others as your heart desires, and that He will surround you with trustworthy, godly counsel, whether a pastor, a mature believer, family, or medical support, who can walk with you in person, help you assess safety, and help you take wise next steps. If you are in danger, please reach out right away to a trusted person near you for help and protection.

I am also praying for your husband, that God would bring conviction about untruth and any abusive ways, lead him to repentance, and bring truth and honor back into your home. God is able to fix what we cannot, and He is able to do a miracle or to provide steady grace day by day as He wills.

May the Lord show you His provision, guard you, supply what you need, and draw you ever closer to Jesus, who alone is our hope for cleansing, forgiveness and new life.