CHRISTMAS CAROLS FOR THE MENTALLY ILL

1. Schizophrenia -- Do You Hear What I Hear?


2. Multiple Personality Disorder -- We Three Kings Disoriented Are


3. Dementia -- Was I Going To Be Home for Christmas?


4. Narcissistic -- Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me


5. Manic -- Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and...


6. Paranoid -- Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Get Me


7. Borderline Personality Disorder -- Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire


8. Personality Disorder -- You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna Pout, Maybe I'll Tell You Why


9. Attention Deficit Disorder -- Silent Night, Holy Oooh look at the Nativity, Can I have a chocolate, Why is Santa's suit red?


10. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder -- Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle, Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
    Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle...

2 Corinthians on Suffering

Suffering 1
Suffering 2
Suffering 3
Suffering 4

A Good Soldier

2 Timothy 2:3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. (ESV)

'You have been called to endure hardship, and every Christian who has gone before you has had his share. And although you haven’t yet shed blood for your faith (Hebrews 12:4), you will experience hardship as a Christian for your faithfulness–count on it. Jesus said, "If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you" (John 15:20). But be encouraged for He also said, "In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). Jesus is the perfect Commander who leads by example and will bring you to certain victory in the end.'

Read the whole article:
http://www.sfpulpit.com/2007/12/03/a-good-soldier/

Hebrews 4:15-16

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Be Still, My Soul

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness all He takes away.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past
All safe and blessèd we shall meet at last.

Be still, my soul: begin the song of praise
On earth, believing, to Thy Lord on high;
Acknowledge Him in all thy words and ways,
So shall He view thee with a well pleased eye.
Be still, my soul: the Sun of life divine
Through passing clouds shall but more brightly shine.

Ka­tha­ri­na A. von Schle­gel, in Neue Samm­lung Geist­lich­er Lied­er, 1752 (Stille, meine Wille, dein Je­sus hilft sie­gen); trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Jane L. Borth­wick in Hymns from the Land of Lu­ther, 1855.

Birthdays

For most of my adult life I've hated it when my birthday comes up. This year I was starting to feel the dread because I always get more depressed as it gets closer.

There are a few reasons I don't like my birthdays, the main one being that I wish I wasn't born. Life is too (increasingly) difficult and this world is fraught with evil and suffering.

I've been going through 2 Corinthians and I'm familiar with this verse in NIV:

2 Corinthians 4:17 NIV For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

But going through it in other versions really struck me:

2 Corinthians 4:17 NASB For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,

2 Corinthians 4:17 NRSV For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure,

If I were to say that the glory in heaven will be 900 trillion tons and our suffering here, as bad as it can be, is like one tenth of a gram, that wouldn't show enough of a difference because that isn't "beyond all measure."

This year God is teaching me to hope for heaven and have faith that when that time comes around, it will have been more than worth it and I will be very glad that I was born so that I could be with God forever.

It doesn't make this life much easier but I need to ask God to give me the grace to have faith that it will be as He says it will be and experience the hope for heaven in this life.