I've been gone for a few days and missed all these posts! One of the things I've found most encouraging was the series of scriptures I have been studying for the past two years, which I mentioned early in this string to Corinne. Devotion books give us encouragement, but it is such a blessing to have the Lord reveal those same deep truths right to us without a "middleman". One book that is helpful for knowing how to dig in and study the Bible on your own is "How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth" by Gordon D. Fee & Douglas Stuart. It tells you how to read the different types of narratives and what study tools are helpful.
Here's a scripture for today which was really helpful to me as I struggled with panic attacks as we took our car trip that kept me away from the website:
"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Hebrews 12: 2 - 3
I found that if I remembered to cry out to the Lord for help, expressing my inability to handle this IBS panic attack on my own, and then fixed my eyes on Jesus through praising Him along with praise music on the CD player, that He would provide calm, peace, and relief. Even though we scorn the shame that our IBS sometimes brings to our lives, we must not focus our eyes on that. It will pass. We must keep our eyes on Jesus, who endured shame, in order to give us eternal life where we will not suffer like this any longer.