I love the purpose of this group. Jesus is the only hope,the only way for me to get through a day. I suffer from multiple illnesses, pain, and God has brought me through it all. I have a multitude of scripture verses, esp.Romans 5:3-5 " 3 And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, 4 endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. 5 This hope does not disappoint, because God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.", which most of you are probably familiar with. Also realizing that God is about transforming our character as in Romans 12:1-2, and will use whatever necessary to help us grow into his image. 1 John 3:2.

I know there are some people who think that only suffering from persecution counts for character formation, but I don't believe in limiting God - if He wants me to endure pain, because I am not listening, obedient or not growing, He can use anything He wants.

I just had reconstructive surgery on my right foot from Rheumatoid Arthrtis damage. I was in Texas in Jan. and God told me to get a t-shirt at a flee market that proclaims "God is in Control", Rev. 19:6. A very loose paraphrase. All through my surgery, and recovery, which isn't going well (bones not healing, nerve damage), I cling to that. I also lost my voice for 6 weeks due to an RA nodule on my vocal folds. I love to talk, and I am a singer and worship leader in my church. I still don't know if I will ever sing again. Instead of panicking, I just clung to God, and He taught me I talked WAY too much, and showed me how to listen to other people. Very important to my character, and my soul.

Then God reminded me of a song by Keith Green called "The 23rd Psalm", which we all know so well. I ordered it on line, and listen to it every night before bed, along with Kim Hill's Psalm 1. Such encouragement.

Hope to get to know and share with many of you.