Donny thank you for another great question! I specifically was drawn to the scripture “to keep oneself unstained from the world” so often when suffering I catch myself thinking if only I would do this- I could be like this....sometimes it takes a scripture like this to assure that I need to be still and ensure my loving heart will find peace, acceptance and forgiveness in the current situations while facing them. I would consider myself a loving person as well but not everyone sees things my way.🙏 God bless you for doing these prayer walks even in the cold rainy weather. Thank you😊
I’m thinking now, how do I answer the suffering question. I tend to suffer in silence. I look for things to cause me joy in spite of the suffering. The most frustrating thing about suffering is being in a place where I feel helpless and not knowing what to do. Living with someone who doesn’t hate me but every word that comes from her mouth tells me I’m hated. I don’t know how to fix it. So, I turn inward, pray and seek any kind of comfort I can find. I don’t pretend to suffer, I just do. These are times I need God and my friends the most. These are the times I try to run for cover and times I hope for miracles. The saddest part is the she I’m talking about is suffering too and won’t get help. Thank you my friend.
Thank you Donny for your thoughts on James 1 during this beautiful walk. A few years ago I learned a valuable lesson about suffering when at work a coworker was causing me suffering by their actions and I found myself thinking of how I could save them from the consequences of their actions. I believed this was the loving thing to do. Thus I remained silent to minimize the damage to them. My suffering continued until I prayed and clearly was shown that my silence was not a loving act but rather I was enabling behavior that was destructive to them. With no consequences the behavior or my suffering would never end. Loving your neighbor as yourself can involve making tough decisions with the faith and hope of bringing your neighbor and yourself closer to the Lord. God bless you Donny.
Dec 29, 2022·edited Dec 29, 2022Liked by Donny Mac
Donny, James 1 is very powerful, sobering, yet very truthful scripture. Every time I read or hear it, I always take something new away from it to apply to my own life. Actually, that is the same for any scripture for me. This prayer walk reminded me of something from this past weekend that happened. Without going into a lot of detail, something was said that was negative and directed toward me in front of people. It wasn’t very harsh, but still hurtful. Right then and there suffering started and pride rushed in. In this case, since there were others around, I kept silent as I thought it was best at the time. I still feel that way now. Long story short, it hurt, but more than that like you say, pride rushed in, and I started to feel resentful towards that person. I suffered/struggled with this for several days until I finally asked God for help and a few friends to pray for me without going into detail with them. My point is, yes I struggled/suffered and pride did come out and rule for a few days, but praise God, he helped me through it, realizing that with this person who said this negative hurtful thing reminded me what I had to do over three years ago was to let it go, forgive them, forgive myself for the bitterness and move forward. I also needed to love them in spite of this and understand possibly where this type of negativity came from. Sorry to be long winded, but I share this because yesterday was the first full day I was released from this but I’m released because I turned it finally all over to God and to press on. I did so through prayer and through the Word and chose to love that person in spite of their words or behavior. Forgiveness first and foremost plays an important role in doing so, but in the end, I was the one who had to make the choice of letting go and letting God take the wheel to show me the path forward. For me, every situation is different when I suffer/struggle, but eventually, I end up being led back to God through prayer and the Word. Also, more times than not in a case such as this, forgiveness plays a major role. I have always loved the scripture in Matthew you quoted about the first two commandments as they both pertain to love. Hard to do while suffering but so necessary. Thank you Donny for enduring the rain and cold weather. The park was beautiful in spite of the weather. Prayers to you my friend! Thank you once again for a great and insightful prayer walk! 🙏🙂
Oh wow Donny I needed to hear all of that! Thank you for being open & honest about your own life! It’s very encouraging! Thank you for continuing to challenge your own thinking & sharing it because it helps me challenge myself! I’m praying your closing prayer for my own heart! & I love how you ended this one😉.. I want to continue to grow in my faith & learn & to live more like Jesus & snuff out any wrong thinking so I’m thankfulGod has put people like you to help me stay the course!🙏🙌
Evening, Donny listened to prayer walk earlier today as I was getting ready to go to daughter’s house for dinner, so can now finally share my reflections from the walk. As I was listening to your message, I realized for most of my life I tend to suffer in silence, sharing emotions/ feelings is not something I am comfortable doing. It’s a work in progress for me, I have shared more this past year than ever before. When my husband suddenly passed 17 years ago, l kept many of my feelings inside, put on the I’m ok face and carried on, when really inside I was in a lot of heartache and pain. Took two years to release that pain, when I did finally give it over to God, it was such a relief, I couldn’t stop crying for about 40 minutes. It made realize how much my silent suffering had affected my life. I still tend to suffer in silence as for sharing feelings with friend and family, however I know I’m not alone, God is walking beside me, giving me nudges to share. Faced another hidden issue earlier this year, which changed things for better in my life. The message today has me reflecting on how to face another challenge that is happening in my life, do I stay silent or do I share feelings about it. It is something I’ve been praying about daily for past several weeks, asking God to show me the right choice. I’m afraid if I speak out it may cause heartache for my whole family. So am keeping the emotional suffering to myself for now.
Praying the answer will be shown to me.
Thanks for once again challenging me to look at my spiritual path and trust faith to guide me.
Hey, Donny ~ funny coincidence but my blog entry today was about suffering -- I'd love for you to read it. Not quite as deep as your thoughts, but it's about finding beauty in all circumstances. Here's a link if you every have time. https://janstoneburner.substack.com/p/beauty-and-the-beast I'm going to recommend your Prayer Walks to my readers. Thanks for today's walk. I loved the feeling of those woods. xoxo
You have provided some great perspectives on suffering! When did I last experience suffering? Just about an hour ago I got up the courage to open an engraved flag case that I had ordered to display my dad’s burial flag. The case is beautiful and engraved with dad’s name and honors his service in the Korean War. I lost him a little over a year ago and have put off even looking at that flag all this time. I have dreaded this day! When I took the flag out of my closet and placed it in the case, all the pain I had experienced through the years of dad’s dementia and eventual passing came rushing back. Tears filled my eyes and all I could do was touch the flag and pray the Lord’s Prayer. Now I feel somewhat relieved that I have finally put dad’s flag in that beautiful display case and know that I have to move on. Only by God’s grace and mercy can I find the strength to keep going, but really that is what has kept me going for over a year now. All I could do was let the suffering happen and work though it with a prayerful attitude. I am grateful that I am not feeling bitterness but acceptance. Thank you for this walk and for helping me get through this very difficult experience and put it in context.
What a wonderful subject. Not an easy one, Donny. I am slow to responding, for I have been under the weather the last few days. I am back in the office and feeling slow and sluggish. I know God will sustain me as I sit and am open and available to my dear clients coming in today. For all of them are in a time of suffering. A lot of us mentioned about suffering in silence. I do suffer in quiet, but I will have to say that I do ask others for prayer when I am struggling. When I think about it, I may not go to my friends right away. For the past several years, I have tried to take my pain first to the Lord and then to invite others in. I feel this has helped limit the gossip and the blame game. I certainly do fall short in that area, but I do feel if I pause and take it to the Lord first it is helpful. A couple more thoughts. You asked how do know what I think I know is true. Well, a simple answer, is I believe the Word is infallible; therefore, if scripture proclaims it, it is truth. I do try to take the history and the time period in which some things were written as well. The cultures and customs were quite different when the bible was written. In general on suffering. I think I actually feel closest to God during times of suffering and trials. It is in times where things are good that I feel that I desire to feel as close to God. I find sometimes even wanting something to bring me closer to God. The verse of James 1 is all about count a trial as an opportunity for growth. That is how we thrive as you said, not just survive. Okay, I am done rambling. Blessings to all! Happy New Year!
Donny thank you for another great question! I specifically was drawn to the scripture “to keep oneself unstained from the world” so often when suffering I catch myself thinking if only I would do this- I could be like this....sometimes it takes a scripture like this to assure that I need to be still and ensure my loving heart will find peace, acceptance and forgiveness in the current situations while facing them. I would consider myself a loving person as well but not everyone sees things my way.🙏 God bless you for doing these prayer walks even in the cold rainy weather. Thank you😊
I’m thinking now, how do I answer the suffering question. I tend to suffer in silence. I look for things to cause me joy in spite of the suffering. The most frustrating thing about suffering is being in a place where I feel helpless and not knowing what to do. Living with someone who doesn’t hate me but every word that comes from her mouth tells me I’m hated. I don’t know how to fix it. So, I turn inward, pray and seek any kind of comfort I can find. I don’t pretend to suffer, I just do. These are times I need God and my friends the most. These are the times I try to run for cover and times I hope for miracles. The saddest part is the she I’m talking about is suffering too and won’t get help. Thank you my friend.
Thank you Donny for your thoughts on James 1 during this beautiful walk. A few years ago I learned a valuable lesson about suffering when at work a coworker was causing me suffering by their actions and I found myself thinking of how I could save them from the consequences of their actions. I believed this was the loving thing to do. Thus I remained silent to minimize the damage to them. My suffering continued until I prayed and clearly was shown that my silence was not a loving act but rather I was enabling behavior that was destructive to them. With no consequences the behavior or my suffering would never end. Loving your neighbor as yourself can involve making tough decisions with the faith and hope of bringing your neighbor and yourself closer to the Lord. God bless you Donny.
Donny, James 1 is very powerful, sobering, yet very truthful scripture. Every time I read or hear it, I always take something new away from it to apply to my own life. Actually, that is the same for any scripture for me. This prayer walk reminded me of something from this past weekend that happened. Without going into a lot of detail, something was said that was negative and directed toward me in front of people. It wasn’t very harsh, but still hurtful. Right then and there suffering started and pride rushed in. In this case, since there were others around, I kept silent as I thought it was best at the time. I still feel that way now. Long story short, it hurt, but more than that like you say, pride rushed in, and I started to feel resentful towards that person. I suffered/struggled with this for several days until I finally asked God for help and a few friends to pray for me without going into detail with them. My point is, yes I struggled/suffered and pride did come out and rule for a few days, but praise God, he helped me through it, realizing that with this person who said this negative hurtful thing reminded me what I had to do over three years ago was to let it go, forgive them, forgive myself for the bitterness and move forward. I also needed to love them in spite of this and understand possibly where this type of negativity came from. Sorry to be long winded, but I share this because yesterday was the first full day I was released from this but I’m released because I turned it finally all over to God and to press on. I did so through prayer and through the Word and chose to love that person in spite of their words or behavior. Forgiveness first and foremost plays an important role in doing so, but in the end, I was the one who had to make the choice of letting go and letting God take the wheel to show me the path forward. For me, every situation is different when I suffer/struggle, but eventually, I end up being led back to God through prayer and the Word. Also, more times than not in a case such as this, forgiveness plays a major role. I have always loved the scripture in Matthew you quoted about the first two commandments as they both pertain to love. Hard to do while suffering but so necessary. Thank you Donny for enduring the rain and cold weather. The park was beautiful in spite of the weather. Prayers to you my friend! Thank you once again for a great and insightful prayer walk! 🙏🙂
Oh wow Donny I needed to hear all of that! Thank you for being open & honest about your own life! It’s very encouraging! Thank you for continuing to challenge your own thinking & sharing it because it helps me challenge myself! I’m praying your closing prayer for my own heart! & I love how you ended this one😉.. I want to continue to grow in my faith & learn & to live more like Jesus & snuff out any wrong thinking so I’m thankfulGod has put people like you to help me stay the course!🙏🙌
Evening, Donny listened to prayer walk earlier today as I was getting ready to go to daughter’s house for dinner, so can now finally share my reflections from the walk. As I was listening to your message, I realized for most of my life I tend to suffer in silence, sharing emotions/ feelings is not something I am comfortable doing. It’s a work in progress for me, I have shared more this past year than ever before. When my husband suddenly passed 17 years ago, l kept many of my feelings inside, put on the I’m ok face and carried on, when really inside I was in a lot of heartache and pain. Took two years to release that pain, when I did finally give it over to God, it was such a relief, I couldn’t stop crying for about 40 minutes. It made realize how much my silent suffering had affected my life. I still tend to suffer in silence as for sharing feelings with friend and family, however I know I’m not alone, God is walking beside me, giving me nudges to share. Faced another hidden issue earlier this year, which changed things for better in my life. The message today has me reflecting on how to face another challenge that is happening in my life, do I stay silent or do I share feelings about it. It is something I’ve been praying about daily for past several weeks, asking God to show me the right choice. I’m afraid if I speak out it may cause heartache for my whole family. So am keeping the emotional suffering to myself for now.
Praying the answer will be shown to me.
Thanks for once again challenging me to look at my spiritual path and trust faith to guide me.
Hey, Donny ~ funny coincidence but my blog entry today was about suffering -- I'd love for you to read it. Not quite as deep as your thoughts, but it's about finding beauty in all circumstances. Here's a link if you every have time. https://janstoneburner.substack.com/p/beauty-and-the-beast I'm going to recommend your Prayer Walks to my readers. Thanks for today's walk. I loved the feeling of those woods. xoxo
You have provided some great perspectives on suffering! When did I last experience suffering? Just about an hour ago I got up the courage to open an engraved flag case that I had ordered to display my dad’s burial flag. The case is beautiful and engraved with dad’s name and honors his service in the Korean War. I lost him a little over a year ago and have put off even looking at that flag all this time. I have dreaded this day! When I took the flag out of my closet and placed it in the case, all the pain I had experienced through the years of dad’s dementia and eventual passing came rushing back. Tears filled my eyes and all I could do was touch the flag and pray the Lord’s Prayer. Now I feel somewhat relieved that I have finally put dad’s flag in that beautiful display case and know that I have to move on. Only by God’s grace and mercy can I find the strength to keep going, but really that is what has kept me going for over a year now. All I could do was let the suffering happen and work though it with a prayerful attitude. I am grateful that I am not feeling bitterness but acceptance. Thank you for this walk and for helping me get through this very difficult experience and put it in context.
What a wonderful subject. Not an easy one, Donny. I am slow to responding, for I have been under the weather the last few days. I am back in the office and feeling slow and sluggish. I know God will sustain me as I sit and am open and available to my dear clients coming in today. For all of them are in a time of suffering. A lot of us mentioned about suffering in silence. I do suffer in quiet, but I will have to say that I do ask others for prayer when I am struggling. When I think about it, I may not go to my friends right away. For the past several years, I have tried to take my pain first to the Lord and then to invite others in. I feel this has helped limit the gossip and the blame game. I certainly do fall short in that area, but I do feel if I pause and take it to the Lord first it is helpful. A couple more thoughts. You asked how do know what I think I know is true. Well, a simple answer, is I believe the Word is infallible; therefore, if scripture proclaims it, it is truth. I do try to take the history and the time period in which some things were written as well. The cultures and customs were quite different when the bible was written. In general on suffering. I think I actually feel closest to God during times of suffering and trials. It is in times where things are good that I feel that I desire to feel as close to God. I find sometimes even wanting something to bring me closer to God. The verse of James 1 is all about count a trial as an opportunity for growth. That is how we thrive as you said, not just survive. Okay, I am done rambling. Blessings to all! Happy New Year!