The medical procedures were not major, but were enough of a concern that I shared my anxiety with friends on social media. The three epidural injections were scheduled over a period of time and designed to relieve pain. I had opted to skip the pre-shot sedation. Sometimes, with no ill intent, \u201cfriends\u201d increase the anxiety level. One friend replied, \u201cI had the series of three; two out of the three weren\u2019t bad.\u201d Another commented, \u201cA friend of mine was un-sedated for the first shot, chose sedation the second time!\u201d Still another testified, \u201cHope they work for you. I\u2019ve had more than I can remember and none worked for me.\u201d One well-meaning friend wrote, \u201cI hope this is your last injection.\u201d Wow! One could take that as sounding a bit terminal. But one long-time friend assured me all would be well and encouraged me to just breathe correctly, passing along a soon-to-be favorite Spanish phrase, \u201cHuele la flor y sopla la vela.\u201d (Smell the flower, blow out the candle.). It reminded me of a proverb: \u201cPerfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of a friend springs from their heartfelt advice.\u201d (Proverbs 27:9). The procedures went quickly and well, and I once again thanked God for friends who were supportive, even if some shared more encouraging words than others.<\/p>\n
Join with me this week in remembering the following global concerns:
\n\u2022 Prison ministry is on the hearts of nationals and workers in the Ufa and Bashkortistan region of Russia. Pray for them as they explore these possibilities.
\n\u2022 Pray for missionaries in Macau and around the world as they teach stories and songs about Christmas in English classes during the month of December.
\n\u2022 Pray for Joe in Ukraine as he uses Christmas cards to share the Gospel with his neighbors.
\n\u2022 Pray for Jade and Sheila as they continue to minister through Refuge & Hope International in Uganda.
\n\u2022 Give thanks for Brad Forlow and the first public worship service of the River Community Church in Steveston (metro Vancouver, Canada) with 37 present composed primarily of those that do not know Christ personally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The medical procedures were not major, but were enough of a concern that I shared my anxiety with friends on social media. The three epidural injections were scheduled over a period of time and designed to relieve pain. I had opted to skip the pre-shot sedation. Sometimes, with no ill intent, \u201cfriends\u201d increase the anxiety…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monday-morning-manna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/discipleallnations.org\/members\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}