Quotation Saturday ~ Strength - Courage

Rescued tiger, from neglect and abuse

Deut. 31:6 “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”

STRENGTH

“If you were born with the weakness to fall you were born with the strength to rise” 
― Rupi Kaur

“Challenge and adversity are meant to help you know who you are. Storms hit your weakness, but unlock your true strength.” 
― Roy T. Bennett

“I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death” 
― Leonardo da Vinci

“My child, the troubles and temptations of your life are beginning, and may be many; but you can overcome and outlive them all if you learn to feel the strength and tenderness of your Heavenly Father as you do that of your earthly one. The more you love and trust Him, the nearer you will feel to Him, and the less you will depend on human power and wisdom. His love and care never tire or change, can never be taken from you, but may become the source of lifelong peace, happiness, and strength. Believe this heartily, and go to God with all your little cares, and hopes, and sins, and sorrows, as freely and confidingly as you come to your mother.” 
― Louisa May Alcott

PERSISTENCE

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can't practice any other virtue consistently.” 
― Maya Angelou

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” 
― Calvin Coolidge

“Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence.” 
― Hal Borland

“The sky is not my limit...I am.” 
― T.F. Hodge

POWER

“Be not the slave of your own past - plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep, and swim far, so you shall come back with new self-respect, with new power, and with an advanced experience that shall explain and overlook the old.” 
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Patience is power.
Patience is not an absence of action;
rather it is "timing"
it waits on the right time to act,
for the right principles
and in the right way.” 
― Fulton J. Sheen

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” 
― Carl Sagan

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a
listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all
of which have the potential to turn a life around.” 
― Leo F. Buscaglia

CHALLENGE

“These are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman.” 
― Abigail Adams

“Life is about accepting the challenges along the way, choosing to keep moving forward, and savoring the journey.” 
― Roy T. Bennett

“That is the challenge Companion. To take what has happened to you and learn from it. Nothing is quite so destructive as pity, especially self-pity. No event in life is so terrible that one cannot rise above it.” 
― Robin Hobb

“The strong-minded rise to the challenge of their goals and dreams. The weak-minded become haters.” 
― Steve Maraboli

COURAGE

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” 
― Lao Tzu

“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” 
― William Faulkner

“Don't be afraid of your fears. They're not there to scare you. They're there to let you know that something is worth it.” 
― C. JoyBell C. 

“Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing.” 
― August Wilson

Go To The Mattresses

Ex. 14:14 KJV “The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”

Go to the Mattresses

Ex.14:14 ESV “The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

Have you ever heard the term, ‘go to the mattresses’? I remember first hearing it in the movie You’ve Got Mail and thought it was kinda funny that Joe Fox the competitor was telling his competition to ‘go to the mattresses’ with her competitor, not knowing it was him of course. (I love that movie!) But he was using the phrase he’d remembered from the Godfather movie, it means to prepare for battle.

I used the phrase a couple of months ago quite literally when I was discussing the necessity of a new mattress. I was willing to ‘go to battle’ to get a new mattress to save my aching back. Our fifteen-year-old mattress had it’s final days years ago but affordability made it quite impossible getting a new one, bad back or not. Illness after illness it seems was always nipping at our feet inhaling any extra funds needed to get a stupid mattress.

Then not long before Christmas my dog showed signs of failing and for sure I didn’t think she’d make it through Christmas, but I went to the mattresses for her and looked up home remedies to help her with her obvious arthritis in her hindquarters. The unending bitter cold and snowfalls were not helping my Sassy as I know myself, the cold can sometimes agitate arthritis. Fish oil! Who would’ve thought fish oil would help a dog’s arthritis? It does tremendously, so much so, if I miss a day, she’s back to the inability to climb the stairs. 

I know you’re going to say, get her to a vet but I’m sure each and every one of you know how expensive they can be and well, in my battle with this disease and every other thing going wrong, funds are just not in the cards of ours. I know it might sound like I’m picking our life over our dog, but I do what I can do. In three days time the fish oil began working its magic. I had fish oil on hand because it is one of my many supplements, I gave it up for her, to save her! It is WORKING! 

My situation always has me wondering what people are thinking. ‘If her God is so great why does she suffer so much?’ Let me put it quite bluntly to you, God is fighting a bigger battle than I ever give myself credit for. You get your hair done, right? Your nails done, too? Well, I look at my life and struggles as God grooming me for my eternity with Him. He’s going to the mattresses for me and quite frankly, I’m sitting in peace, in silence, amazed at His ability to take on anything thrown at me. And just so you know, I've never had my hair or nails done. I do them myself, always have and always will. 

We finally decided to get a new mattress. I couldn’t believe it! On January twenty-fifth, the anniversary of my diagnosis, my husband set out determined to change the negative overtone of the date and hang something new in the balancing scheme of things, we went mattress shopping. It was a surprise to me, I had just said I wanted a Wendy’s chili, and he said he needed a pair of work pants (like the mattress, his old ones had served their time) but we went a different route and he announced, ‘want to look at mattresses’ and I squealed in agreement, ‘yes, yes, yes! 

You might be wondering why I wanted a Wendy’s chili since I’ve been so strict with my protocol. That’s just it, for a year I have been strict with my protocol. The twenty-fifth was a day one-year-ago I had my last fast-food purchase with a chili (my fave). I needed a good memory of chili and not the grim one that held it captive for a year. The twenty-fifth of January will be a new memory for me! We purchased a therapeutic necessity, work pants a part of his uniform, and a wonderful bowl of Wendy’s chili! The day was a great day and no longer does the grim reminder of a dastardly diagnosis hold the days' memory in its hand.

So while going to the mattresses holds different meaning all around, I prepared for battle, my Lord by my side, and claim a VICTORY! After one night's PEACE on the new mattress, my back felt different! I can’t wait to see what a month, a year, a couple years do to my back. Just as putting all of my faith in God, the mattress was well worth the price! God goes to battle and *I*, rest in PEACE! 

All praise and glory to Him! 

Pss. 97: 10 “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.”

My D-Day

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! … And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:4, 7 (NIV)

My D-Day

It was a life-altering diagnosis, to say the least. January 25, 2017, will be forever ingrained in my head. My D-day, the day of diagnosis; the pain-filled moments, the buckets of tears, the burden of fears. But wait, out of the somber ashes rose life, promise, hope, and change. What happened? How did I do a 360-degree shift in my ways and thinking? 

I read an email this morning and this is a pastor who received news that his father had the dreaded C. He buckled, he caved but then he prayed and praised. What comes over people in the midst of grief that they feel the need to turn to God? I can’t speak for anyone else but I know why I turned to God because He is my life. He’s not just a pie in the sky man in the clouds, He is my Father and the one I turn to when life seems to be going wrong and even when everything in life is going right. 

Pastor Chris on his father - “His treatment successfully eradicated the disease from his body. However, the cancer returned the following year, and my beloved father passed away a few months later.”

Just like the Pastor, I relied on God then, now and always. My Father’s Words showered over me to comfort me, to carry me, to strengthen me and yes, to heal me! I came home on that brisk cold January day with God pressing on my heart. As the boxes of used Kleenex filled the trashcan I was being comforted in a way I can only describe as a mystical experience because it didn’t feel like a normal everyday event if felt supernatural from a Holy Spirit I had come to depend on, know and trust with every aspect of my life.

2 Tim. 4:18 “And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” (KJV)

As I read the email I kept hearing in my head, eradicated but returned. Over and over the truth of the matter was the very essence that kept me strong when I myself was diagnosed and going against what the doctors wanted for me. Many of my aunts and uncles, lost their fight with the battle because it was eradicated only to return until they eventually succumbed. This was not going to be my battle.

My D day was not my death sentence day, not my diagnosis of death, it was my Day of Deliverance! I was set free from the chains of toxicity. I gained intimate insight of the traumatic illness that had taken over my body. Life was breathed into my nostrils as the tears dried and the fight became a war that was attacking from inside and out. Someone else in my family was not going to war on this ailment; I was chosen to go into battle because God knew I was little but I was the chosen one to handle the life-altering battle that came knocking on my door. I felt very much like the way David must have felt coming face-to-face with a giant and his only arsenal a slingshot.

1 Sam. 17:45 “David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

The BC group I’m a part of says not to use words like war or fight because they have negative connotations but to me, they are the Words that God gave me to use on this journey. I’m not playing poker here. I’m not skipping through daffodils. I’m fighting for my life and everyone else that comes after me who is scared and shaken into submission by the Giant Doc/Pharma. I have to keep in mind that not everyone is serving the same Lord that I listen to and serve. I’ve also learned in ten months not to listen to other people and all of their protocols because every single one is different. Opinions are different, protocols are different and each disease is different. We have to differentiate what supplements and health food work for us individually.

Ex. 14:14 “The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”

That would be the same group of ladies who said not to bring God to their facebook page. While I like reading what protocols they are using in their journey, I respect that they are all healing in their own way and worship different entities. I’ve come to realize that I have something more powerful in my arsenal than most of them have and that is a bag of rocks and my Almighty Father's Healing Words. 

Josh. 23:10 “One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.”

I have impassioned friends who support me on this journey and those that have turned their back. Does that sound familiar to you? If you’re a believer it might, if not, then you are nothing short of the doubting Thomas’ in today’s society. To me the words war and fight doesn’t hold negativity, it holds promise! The very promise that my God filled me with on My D-Day and every day moving forward.

All praise and Glory to God my Healing Savior

Paranoia II

Prov. 13:17 “A wicked messenger falleth into mischief: but a faithful ambassador is health.”

Paranoia II

Sometimes when I begin writing I veer off topic and go in a whole other direction. Like yesterdays post, I wanted to write about the paranoia that seeps into everything I’m doing. If someone comments on a post I’m trying to share I get defensive when they don’t agree with me and they go off in their own direction in what they believe. My apologies, but that just does not work for me.

What I’m trying to do here is unconventional on so many levels, I don’t expect people to rally behind me and say go for it but I also don’t expect them to jump down my throat and berate me with why I’m wrong. I will refrain from sharing on facebook the doctors and websites that I read from and follow because more times than not it’s pointed out that it is a fake news site, the doctor’s are wrong because the medical world does not agree with their unconventional ways, or that I’m just a crazy woman. Well, that one I can agree on.


I’ve just deleted hundreds of emails because most were trying to feed my paranoid state. Topics covered were thyroid, diabetes, heart disease and the list goes on. Topics also include why the water I shower with is toxic, why this one vegetable is not good if I’m fighting the C, or why chemtrails are making everyone sick. The emails feed my paranoia as does the toxic invaders.

Anyone who is following my journey on a daily basis knows what I am going through. I have some people who come in and comment off the cuff and think I’m fighting a simple illness like the flu and want to discuss the ramifications of NOT getting a flu shot. I’m sorry people, I do not believe in the flu shot, vaccines, or anything the medical community tosses out for human consumption. If you read me daily, you’ll understand and know why! The pharmaceutical corporations lead doctors; their pocketbooks are lined by an addicted nation that THEY contribute to daily.

When I point out that the medical community knows nothing about nutrition I’m met with a person's statistics on the reasoning why they are okay with doctors pushing drugs, or how there is one doctor in a big city that knows about nutrition. You see what I’m saying? That one doctor is not helping ME, or the ones I turn to and read on a regular basis. I guess me spewing where I get my information is not syncing with you or the Harvard medical community as a whole.

I’m basically alone in my journey and I’m okay with that. I’m living in a world of people addicted to drugs, legal and illegal drugs mind you. Those people are as defensive of their drugs as I am in fighting for what I believe in. I don’t agree with you that every pill you pop is necessary just as you don’t agree that cancer can be fought and won with NUTRITION! Again, I’m okay with what you believe in but please don’t try and sway me from what I believe in just for argument's sake.

In January when I got this diagnosis the medical community worked hard as nails to instill FEAR in me. I being the warrior and rebel that I am, gently asked for time and they put kid gloves on and knocked me out of the ballpark, dropping me like a hot potato because their income just went out the door with me. They quickly moved on to the next uninformed cancer patient. Did they ever call me to see how I’m doing? NO, they could care less. All they care about is their money! I have proof as they quickly sent me to a collection agency for bills unpaid. I sent money to them but they returned it because they want the FULL payment, not a mere portion at a time. THAT is the medical community that YOU bow down to!

While I am out here feeling great, eating well and am on the road to healing, they still have the hold of paranoia on me in trying to bully me into paying for tests that THEY forced me into! In my distress of being informed of a death sentence, they wheeled me into one test after another knowing full well that the tests could cause the spread of the disease. But if I tell anyone in the medical world of this, they scoff and shrug, they are right and I am wrong. I don’t have legitimate sources or twenty years of 'studies' to back me up.

While I have changed everything I cook, eat, drink and wear, I’m still met with people who disagree with my choice in this journey. I am still being hit with a barrage of information that essentially feeds my paranoia. I have to watch every bite of food going in my mouth and the way it’s cooked no microwave or Teflon cookware for me. I read every label, I buy organic when I can, and feel paranoid when I can’t and allow it to still pass through my mouth. To me, that is cheating! If it is not organic and intricately scrutinized, I feel I’m cheating myself.

No, I haven’t cheated on the sugar intake in nine months. I bend a little on the carbohydrates but only because the first six months of strictly fruits and vegetables has passed. I now allow lentils and some (organic) beans, gluten free, grain free bread and still allow only coconut milk and coconut oil. Only free-range chickens and eggs are allowed on occasion, definitely not a daily basis because of the methionine content. And I have found that the only processed food I can eat sparingly is organic soups and chili. That’s it, but I am eating and happy with every bite I might add. 

With Thanksgiving nearing, I’m thinking of a meal for me and one for the carnivores of the house. While the guys will eat the normal meal of turkey and mashed potatoes, I might try a zucchini medley for me. The aroma will wipe me off of my feet and I may find myself sulking as no biscuits and gravy for me unless I can find something organic I can sink my teeth into. But as with everything else, I’m over thinking and allowing a little paranoia to venture its way into my assertiveness.

I am so glad that from day one of my diagnosis I was led right to The Truth About Cancer and Chris Wark and every doctor they’re affiliated with. It was no coincidence, as I don’t believe in coincidence. It could have been me manifesting my wishes in beating this disease alternatively but I would rather believe that I was led there by my FAITH and trust in God!

I am a Christian soldier, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus, going on before! This fight is far from over. As with many other wars, this one can’t be won in a couple months or a year, this one will take years but I am up to the challenging battle. One day I’ll even be open to discussions where I can debate who is right and who is wrong but I’m not there yet. I’m coming up on my one year since diagnosis on January 25th, and two years since I felt the prominent lump in December. So you see, this battle is far from over and that is why continued prayer will carry me to victory.

3 John 1:2 “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”

May God bless the believers and non-believers alike!

A Disciplined Warrior

2 Chron. 12:14 “And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD.”

The Disciplined Warrior God Created

Discipline is never easy. Do you remember as a small child some parents disciplined their children? Whether it was taking something away, a smack on the fingers, or a paddle to the butt. Our parents knew we needed discipline if we were ever to learn from our mistakes.

I’m not talking abusing your children here; I’m talking about discipline. 

“Mom, can I go over to Janie’s house?” 

“Did you clean up your room?”

“I’ll do it later.”

Do it now or you can’t go to, Janies.”

Through discipline, children learn respect. They learn to respect parents, teachers and people in general. As you can see, over the years as society disintegrates it is quite obvious the reason behind the fall. Discipline. Even in the most gentle form, discipline has been left on the side of the road for some government official to come by with a sweeper to clean up the mess. Our children are not the only ones wounded by the lack of discipline in society.

Spare the rod and spoil the child comes to mind when referencing God’s plan for us to discipline. He had in mind raising the child in the way that he should go so it would change the world with each new era and generation. Change it did when discipline became an avenue for abusing the child. Now parents are being led to neglect the child and let them pretty much raise themselves with technology as a babysitter. Parents are now allowing the internet and technology to now raise our children and look how well that’s turning out! 

Prov. 13:24 "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes."

Adults need discipline also. As I look around at an overweight society, a slowly dying nation has taken shape and I see so many people who lack discipline, lack the skills it takes and forges ahead into the future on sheer blind ambition.

Job 15:35 “They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.”

Just like the child who grows to resent discipline, we as an adult species stomp our feet like children when it comes to being disciplined. Some adhere to the discipline, some shrug it off as an annoying nagging pain that will go away, some see discipline as an invasion of the ‘it’s-all-about-me-world’ in which they live.

If you see God as your Father then you should know a little bit about discipline and what He expects from us human beings. He had plans to guide us in life but instead, we became too vain and thought we could march through the world alone, live life without Him holding the reins.

When I was first diagnosed eight months ago with this disease, I turned TO God not AWAY from Him and asked Him what I should do. While he gives some women other options he gave me the option of alternative treatment but I’d need to be disciplined in my approach. I would need the full armor that he bestowed upon me; I would need the strength of little David going into a war of huge proportions. I would meet the giant (big pharma, oncologists, and surgeons) head on and it would wage war against me and I’d need to fight tooth and nail to rise above to reclaim the undisciplined life I was leaving behind.

I had in the palm of my hand faith and hope to endure the trying times that I knew I would face. There is no Awareness Month for the people FIGHTING cancer, there is only a month of awareness set aside for women who are fighting the effects of chemotherapy!

Did you know the reason behind October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month? Back in 1985 the pharmaceutical company pretended to need money and asked you to be aware of the growing-in-astronomical-numbers-the-deaths-from-BC or something like that. BCAM for chemo patients,  and the appearance of survivors of chemo, not for people fighting an illness.

What the pharmaceutical palace didn’t mention was that women (and men) were dying from chemotherapy drugs. No, the awareness that the pharma wants us to look at is the fear and death tied to all that they did to the millions who have perished from a drug, not a disease. Us warriors out here fighting for our life are overlooked, we’re left behind road kill to be scooped up and tossed in the dumpster because we didn’t bend to their way of doing things.

We don’t have a National Compassion Month for WARRIORS, no we have the pharma begging for even more money to be used to make an even better drug to kill cancer patients. THAT is what you support when you go out in force to support BCAM!

It all boils down to discipline. The ones who shrug off discipline because they know what’s better for them than any God are the ones who suffer from the diseases ravishing the world. We do absolutely nothing to change, we just look out at the ocean of people and declare, ‘I am one of you.’

From day one, my sword was sharpened and I went into battle. I went up against a maniacal society hell-bent on doing everything on their own, in their own way never understanding the need or demand for discipline in their lives. I often feel alone but when I look behind I see an army of women and men fighting the exact same way as I am and we’re winning. Quietly we’re winning without the fanfare of a united National Pharma Month. No, we’re alone in this war but in the end, it is disciplined spirits who will win.

All praise and Glory to God!

1 Sam. 7:3 “And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”

Seeing The Light

Eph. 5:26 "That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,"

Seeing the Light

After many days of rain and no sunshine, I finally saw the light the other day and I ran and got my camera. I took a couple of pictures just to prove I knew the orb was still out there in the universe spinning! Without it, I lack Vit. D in a big way and leaves me with stress in trying to bring vibrancy and the vitamin into my world via supplementation. For what seems like months, the sun has been a rare event as well as warmth which can sadden anyone in what is supposed to be Spring! 

Out here in Nebraska, we had such a warm and mild winter, the farmers thought they’d start early with tilling the fields and planting. That turned out to be a bad idea since we’ve had freezing temps and many of the fields need to be redone. Also, we’ve had so much rain the fields flooded out making the farmers well aware that no matter what they do, He is still in charge! 

Recently I read the sad news that I shouldn’t be eating the nightshade vegetables. The ones that are more than likely causing me inflammation are peppers (red and green), cayenne pepper, and tomatoes! I’m going to try and cut back on these. I know I overindulge in these but only because I read they were on the non-acidic list or the alkaline list. I didn’t look into what was causing the flare up of my arthritis and while my Boswellia has a remarkable effect I still have some back pain and I now KNOW it is from my overindulgence in red bell peppers and tomato everything!

Goodness, what things we need to learn to regain our health! This is the nightshade list and while I don’t have a problem with many, the peppers (cayenne, hot, and bell) and tomatoes jumped out at me as my over indulgence lay glaring in my face like the once hidden sunshine.  

Ashwagandha
Bell peppers (a.k.a. sweet peppers)
Bush tomato
Cape gooseberry (also known as ground cherries—not to be confused with regular cherries)
Cocona
Eggplant
Garden huckleberry (not to be confused with regular huckleberries)
Goji berries (a.k.a. wolfberry)
Hot peppers (such as chili peppers, jalapenos, habaneros, chili-based spices, red pepper, cayenne)
Kutjera
Naranjillas
Paprika
Pepinos
Pimentos
Potatoes (but not sweet potatoes)
Tamarillos
Tomatillos
Tomatoes

Like I said in my 5 25 17 post, four things cancer finds comfort in and snuggles up to is a virus, inflammation, bacteria, and fungus; all four of which I’ve battled throughout my life with and I realize NOW as the root cause of this disease eating away at me. No, I wasn’t sent to battle ONE illness, I have three or four, yay me! I AM a warrior! 

With Memorial Day approaching as the call to honor war veterans who have died in battle, I think of the ones who lived with the battle circling around them as they fought, trying to survive the killing war. I guess that would be what Veterans Day is for. I also think of all of the people who lighten the somber weekend with a cookout and have the day off of work rejoicing in a three-day weekend, giving nary a thought of the men who died in battle.

While I respect the Armed Forces and all of the government holidays celebrating them, my Memorial Day will be filled with thoughts of all of the family members I lost to the Battle of Cancer. There is no national holiday memorializing their loss and cancer has wiped out millions! 

I am not minimizing the Veterans of war; I have many members of my family who have served. I salute them for their service. But I have every right to memorialize my family members who lost the battle of their disease because there will be no government holiday remembering those victims. 

This week has been a somber week as I try and maintain my optimism. While I see the Light at the end of this tunnel and continue to wake thanking the Lord for being allowed to be a voice to the people, I have my days where optimism wanes. Four months in and it is quite difficult to daily wake up and be the pep who can’t eat peppers, the zip with a zing, the life amid so much death.

Hubby’s family will have another get-together next week and it will be yet another one I miss. I will be ready to celebrate with them by Christmas I hope, but I am still not ready yet for questions, unhealthy food, and celebration. I’m still in the early stages of acceptance of this disease, which is more earth-shattering than my psoriasis or arthritis, that’s for sure. They only know I’m battling the ‘C’ and arthritis and while they love me, they still have questions as to my choice in this path. I can hear everyone’s thoughts, “What, no drugs? Is she insane?” I can assure you I’m not, I’m saved!

Prov. 17:22 (NIV) “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” 

As I move forward and accept the fact that some ‘friends’ have given me the cold shoulder, I move forward into the Light and pray for their wounded souls. I don’t pray for myself as often as I should because there seem to be so many more people out there in the world worse off than me and they need my prayer.

As I seek and find the source of my optimism I stay in touch via my writing as often as I’m led to the words that fill me, I offer them to you. Remember, we are all members of one body. As you unknowingly hurt one, you hurt the other members and as you knowingly seek out to hurt one, you hurt the many. 

From my morning devotional from Bible Gateway: “Solomon assures us a cheerful heart is good medicine for the soul, the mind, and the body. Positive thoughts lead to a positive outlook which leads to a positive heart and a positive life. Negative thoughts lead to a broken spirit which impacts our minds, emotions and our lives.” Life in the flesh is another toxin invading the battlegrounds.

May God bless you all this weekend with loving memories of Veterans who have passed as well as family members who have passed. May your heart and soul be filled with love.

Romans 12:3-5 (NIV) "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ, we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others."

Fort McHenry

Locust Point, Baltimore, Maryland

My hometown

I Choose Alternative

Deut. 3:22 “Ye shall not fear them: for the LORD your God he shall fight for you.”

Alternative: Holistic Health

The definition of alternative is #1. Choice limited to one of two or more possibilities, as of things, propositions, or courses of action, the selection of which precludes any other possibility:

When I was diagnosed, oncologist one and two NEVER gave me an alternative, they gave me a basic death sentence, in the form of slaughter, drugs, radiate, more drugs with only a ten year added lifespan, no alternative! When I asked for time to make a decision, once again, no alternative, slice and dice me like I was some kind of fruit salad being thrown together, make me poorer than I already am and basically suck the life right out of me. “She’s not committing,” is what onc. 1 said. You’re darn tootin’! I’m not committing myself to a death sentence!

Did you know that before the synthetic world of creating drugs to pacify you was made into a billion dollar industry, herbs were used to heal? The map in the link didn’t work for me but the story is well worth sharing. Herbal remedies have been around for centuries. The Native Americans, Asians, and too many cultures to name, all used herbal remedies. It seems that the American man saw a dollar sign for creating synthetic drugs that made people THINK they were being healed but it was really a pacifier to keep man addicted so they needed the drug for the rest of their lives, making the pharmaceutical companies billions of dollars.

Now when people choose to take an alternative path they’re frowned upon. I do have friends that won’t even talk to me because of this route I’m taking, for whatever reason. This is why I’m not putting my vitamin and NUTRIENT intake out here yet because I’m still learning of how each one interacts with each other. I don’t want to give false and misinformed information. All of this information is going to be part of my book so I need to be precise. I’ll explain how I found the info and used it to benefit all of us alternative treatment warriors!

There ARE alternative choices to drug, slice, and dice but you have to be willing to become a scientist, a researcher, a doctor, and a HEALER not a pacifier. You are not going to cover your illness in pharmaceutical drugs, you’re not going to hide behind meds to mask your pain, you are going to become a warrior! There is nothing like a death sentence to have you reshaping the you that you are now. You DO have an alternative to drugs!

You may feel a little whacky for some of the things I’m going to show you, but again, you have an alternative. You can go the drug route, damage your immune system, and for the rest of your life be a prisoner of Big Pharma or go the alternative route to real healing. The CHOICE is up to you. 

What is so ironic is that people choose alternative religions, gods, idols, political parties, food choices (generic or name brand) but choose an alternative treatment for a Life-Altering illness, go against what the herd of sheep being led to slaughter is doing and you’re the one in the wrong? I’m here to tell you, you are NOT in the wrong! YOU have a choice and YOU are choosing to LIVE!

Let me tell you another thing, you may feel very isolated and alone but you are NOT alone. You’ll find a support system in dear friends who will understand the death sentence you were given. You’ll find friends surrounding you and actually be supportive to you in your challenge to live. Keep these friends close, THEY are a part of the HEALING!



I wrote a poem quite a few years ago (late 80’s or early 90’s) titled Music Divine. When I wrote the poem I had in my mind the thought that music had healing properties. I even wrote a few blogs about it but this is the most recent. I believe with every fiber of my being that God was preparing me for this day. Through all the pains, struggles and stresses that life threw at me, God was preparing me, making me strong to handle this very day that I’m facing now.

~ Music Divine ~

Divine is the dancing pirouette of sound

Bathing in the luminosity of space

A bastion of baubles blazing boldly

Rhythm masking in the ticker-tape of time

Reverberating in reverent chime

Compliant to the composer of conceit

Fastidious to the feasible feast

Notorious notes nourish in sync

Melody meets a measure combine...

Divine is the dancing ~~ pirouette of sound!

copyright ©Joni Zipp

On our journey, I’m going to show you ways to allow music to be a fraction of your healing. We’re going to de-stress our lives via meditation on the word of God or whatever you choose to meditate upon it is YOUR choice. I’m not here to judge your choice; I’m here to simply guide you to an affordable way of healing.

While I’ve had to basically beg my friends for money (the majority of my family just don’t care or they think I have some hidden fortune and am able to magically heal myself or they think I can realistically afford the drug route, who knows.) Sitting here two thousand dollars in debt from just getting a diagnosis is another reason to go alternative. Vitamins and herbs are a lot cheaper than the slice and dice method.

I have seven hundred thirty-four dollars, plus an anonymous donor behind the scenes who has purchased vitamins for me and has sent me money (directly to my house), and it has allowed me to get a GREAT start on my healing via the purchase of the major supplements I NEED! It also helps with the organic purchases I need. As we all know, real nutrition costs money, that is why organic foods are so high in price, it costs to bring the most nutritious foods to your food market.

My friends are indispensable! They are with me on this journey and I know that without their support, this part of the healing would not be taking place. My best advice is to surround yourself with REAL friends who really care! My husband is out here struggling to pay all the regular monthly bills, besides what has hit us with this illness. He’s a trooper too, you know. Being disabled only allows him to work part time hours, but the man is totally behind me going the alternative route and fully supports this journey of mine.

Know the importance of having people behind you, this will give you the strength you need on this long arduous journey. In two years you should be able to loosen the grip of your strict, and I mean STRICT new healing diet! In the meantime, you are going to feel GREAT while many are out in the world struggling in pain and addicted to pharma, YOU ARE ON THE PATH TO HEALING! 

Here’s to US, WARRIORS! God Bless!

Isa. 9:5 “For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.”

Poetry Sunday ~ Dry My Tears

Pss. 6:6 “I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.”

Dry my Tears

The sun slants over the horizon

Fears in the night fall asleep

A new day dawns of which I wake

Darkness slides into the deep.

Tears they dry by mornings’ breath

I dare not tell a soul

My heart it hides a rhythmic beat

Broken body bears the toll

Silence slithers in morning mist

Unspoken words decay

Alone am I on desolate land

Dried are tears I face the day

Frost it hides from rising sun

Scattered is the cold

It is with Light I dry my tears

Amid the mornings gold.

Pss. 116:8 “For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.”

*This poem was worthy of a repost from Oct. 2016

(c) all rights reserved

You Only Live Once

1 Chron. 29:13 “Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.”

You only live once!

I hear this too often from people justifying their unhealthy eating and drinking habits. “Well, you only live once, so I’m going to eat all I can whenever and whatever I want.” But when you get sick and on your deathbed, you don’t realize what you are putting your loved ones through. Was that toxic double burger, with melted cheddar, fried onions, lettuce and tomato worth putting your family through an emotional hell that they have to live with for the rest of their lives?

What’s so ironic is I was never overweight, never thought I had bad eating habits, but here I sit with an illness that many people wouldn’t have the strength or willpower to fight, nevertheless, have their families fight for them. I’ve never gone on a diet in my life, I never colored my hair, heck, I’ve never even been to the beauty parlor in my life. Mani/Pedi? What are those? (I know what they ARE but you get my meaning, I’ve never had the NEED for them.) FYI: I am a self-maintenance woman!

You see, I’ve always been conscientious of what I put into my body so I could live a nice long life for my family. That is why my battle with drugs/alcohol happened at the ripe age of twenty-one. Now here I am, with an illness that has FORCED me to rethink life, and my unhealthy eating habits. What did I eat that was so unhealthy? Pasta, bread, processed meats, canned food, a Pepsi a day, yeah one! And three cups of coffee. I was never a big sweets and dessert person, which I am so glad because this disease would’ve more than likely hit sooner! All foods that turned out to be the toxins eating me away.

Yup, this disease loves sugar and carbs and I’ve eliminated them too late. Or is it in time? We’ll have to see on that one. I have every bit of faith that God and I will nip this thing in the butt and in the meantime I just want to scream from the rooftops, or from this blogosphere, LIFE IS SHORTER THAN YOU THINK, PEOPLE!!!

As my doctor bills mount from what my insurance didn’t cover, I didn’t draw concern because I knew that God in all His Glory assured me that He had this covered, and sure enough, He does!!!! Miracles DO HAPPEN! Every day I wake and praise a Mighty God, trusting Him to carry me through another day and praising Him for waking me to pass through this day. I thank Him every morning I wake up and am grateful to Him for allowing me the opportunity to feel so dadgum good in a world drenched in sickness. I am empowered to be His voice in trying darkened times. 

I’m wondering if you’re all tired of me talking about my unwavering faith and trust in God? Tired of me talking about the toxic lives we live? I can’t help it, friends. The way I see it, some of my words (or links) might provide you with the change you NEED or were looking for but kept putting off because, “Hey, we only live once, I’m going to do what I want and eat what I want and die HAPPY!” Maybe you see me and what I’m going through with vitality and want a bit of what I have. I'll share, I have God, life, energy, and a most humble nature (and the best friends ever.)

Rest assured, I can guarantee if ‘you only live once’ is the way you feel about life, you will NOT die happy. You will be relinquished to a fetal position in some uncaring hospital, allowed to dry up, wither and die, ALONE! But if you have a family, they get to witness your brutal choice of this death scene.

Jam. 5:5 “Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.”

You see, you live for the pleasure of the day. You don’t think of tomorrow, or your children or grandchildren, you live for you and your happiness. You have the theory ingrained in your head that ‘you only live once’ and that scares me as I think of heaven and it not being as full as people ‘who only live once’ will never have the pleasure of seeing. I hold eternity in my pocket!

I think that’s what makes me different among men (and women), I don’t live for earthly pleasures, I live for one day getting the opportunity to kiss heavens gate and to be welcomed in with open arms.

I have plenty to keep me busy these days around the house to ready myself for spring, like Spring cleaning! Yes, I love this time of year, out with the old, in with the new! I am healing, I am well, and I am LIVING! Living for my God! 
May God reach out to each and every one of you and rain blessings upon you!

Pss. 9:1 “I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.”

Time...

Isa. 58:8 “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy reward.”

Time...

Do you remember the days where you took a test in school; you were sitting there sweating and looking at the clock, tapping your pencil on the desk, tripping over questions and answers as if your shoelaces were tied together? Do you remember the anxiety as the clock ticked and tocked and you were still sitting there with questions unanswered?

That’s what it’s like when you’re diagnosed with cancer or any other life altering illness I imagine, you keep looking at the time. Time, seconds turn into minutes, minute’s turn into hours and before you know it…the day is over, time has run out. 

Every second becomes more precious in each day and you wonder did you study hard enough to pass the test or did you just ‘wing it’? While the test in school was to see if you remembered everything you read, the test of life is going to be about you and all the knowledge you’ve gained and what exactly did you do with that knowledge up to those last minutes of your life. 

This is why it is important to make every minute count because you never know if this is your last one on the clock and you don’t get a redo of the test, once the day is over on your biological clock and your called home, is home going to be the place you had tried to attain while your breath sustained you while alive? 

I strive for eternity, not a place where seconds and minutes become days and years, I want time to be erased and live as if eternity is within my grasp. The good news is, eternity IS within my grasp with the saving grace of Jesus. I try to tell everyone else about the eternity we have as part of our biological plan but many are too busy making up for the menial minutes in a physical day to see the picture that’s right before their eyes playing out in front of them. 

My husband’s aunt is in the hospital as I write, hooked up to feeding tubes to keep her alive battling her last days with cancer and chemotherapy. When I asked hubby’s mom if auntie was in hospice, she said no, she’s on the ‘transition’ floor. The transition floor? Out of respect, I didn’t want to ask what a transition floor is but I have a pretty good idea.

A year ago we were sitting with this same aunt as the family was gathered to celebrate Christmas. As we piled bite after unhealthy bite of food on our plates from mashed potatoes to salads, meat and desserts, I watched his aunt speak about battling cancer and listened to her say how it was sucking the life out of her. I asked her if she had heard about turmeric and she said yeah, and that she was taking it, in between globs of potatoes and gravy crossing her lips.

Here’s the thing, chemo is not going to take cancer away, it will give cancer a resting place and that is it until it’s time to wake up again. A pill is not going to take cancer away either. There has to be a life-altering plan of your intake of food that got you to this point of unhealthy living that fed the cancer cells all along. From everything that goes past the lips to everything that comes out the other end, there HAS TO BE a life-altering change! 

I understand that when you hear the word cancer, you automatically think you’re going to die. So, many people go the chemo route trying to add a little more time to clock. It doesn’t add to the clock it takes time away. Time spent hooked up feeding radiation to your system, time spent vomiting, time of worry and stress, time spent going to the doctor, time spent looking for a parking spot! Precious time that is consumed by an illness and a treatment without a cure.

Maybe adding time to the clock should have been your first priority, to begin with. Why did the alarm clock need to go off for me to say hey, wake up, you’re not going to eat the chemical filled processed food? If you think that the processing of the food you eat was brought to you in the cleanliest of fashions, you are sadly mistaken. 

From the steroid injection of the farm animals to bring you a meatier slab of pork, beef, or chicken, to the handling, to the added chemicals of giving food a longer shelf life, to the people who all breathed and touched that pork chop before you purchased it and put it in your mouth! You are what you eat takes on new meaning to me now that I’m battling these nasty little demonic cancer cells!

Cleansing; that is what the soul needs to bide time and nothing else; a mind, body and soul synchronicity cleansing. You can see the detoxifying of the chemical laden body as torture because you’d rather choose to permit the very thing killing you to own you. Or you can take the all important life test without studying for the exam. It’s up to YOU and no one else what you choose to do to pass the exam of eternity. 

I have chosen to do my homework and look forward to exam day, no tapping of the pencil, no tripping over shoelaces, no ticking of the clock. It’s not about taking a vitamin to beat this. Beating cancer is about CHANGE; a swift major shake-up to your everyday living and eating habits. People can’t be bothered by drastic change because it takes up too much time? Well, I’ve got all the time in the world to make a change; time to LIVE! Holistically going to win this battle! 

Jer. 17:14 “Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.”

I Choose To Believe

Gen. 15:6 "And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness."

I Choose To Believe

I have a new favorite movie, it’s titled Little Boy and it’s about faith, racism, hate, love and belief. It shows the strength of one little boy who gains faith so that he can move mountains AND that he can will his father home from the war. I like this show so much that I watch it over and over again when I feel doubt seeping into my life and it pulls me out of the mire. 

As you should know by now I have been diagnosed with cancer; Her2 positive stage 3. The first day I was told I was devastated because like you, the word cancer elicits fear and immediately the word death falls from your lips. How do I know? I’ve had too many people in my life fall victim and die that’s how. ALL chose chemo, ALL are now deceased. 

The next day I woke up empowered to change this diagnosis and fight it head on. It’s no different than Christ calling you into battle and you either fall to the sheep and follow behind what the majority of men and women on this earth would do, or you take up arms and fight for Him.

I drastically halted my lifestyle in one day; no sugars and no carbs. Had I done this sooner, I might not be here writing about this diagnosis but it is what it is and here I am finding a way to LIVE. What I found with this shift was that I had no food to eat. I looked in the fridge and there was food, but the meat was chemically enhanced for taste, the cheese processed, the boxed food all had chemicals that would feed the cancer, even the vegetables were chemically treated with toxins for better growth and sprayed with pesticides, rinsing them, soaking them in vinegar is not going to take out what was put into something as simple as a carrot. 

I went through the week nibbling on toxins until I could find a weapon on the battleground. Organic, cancer-fighting techniques that could actually STOP the progress of all the toxins I’d had in my body. I would halt the growth of the cancer that I was feeding on a daily basis. The little YouCaringFund is essential in helping me in this battle! I thank each and every one of you for fighting this battle WITH me not against me. I love you!

What I’m finding out is that we all have the cancer cells dormant in our body and it's just a matter of time until they wake up and decide to take over all the cells in your body until you no longer have a defense mechanism in place. That small lump is fed day after day by your chemically treated water, your nice big fat juicy steak that was shot up with steroids, your vegetables that were sprayed with toxic chemicals before they were processed and treated to another chemical treatment so they last longer on the shelf.

You’ll say you don’t agree with the way our food is chemically treated, yet day after day your placing chemicals and toxins in your body that you think is good food because you think it was properly handled. Just how was that fish caught out in the Pacific Ocean tasting until the thought of Fukushima Japan had a chemical leak popped into your head? You rinsed it? You cleaned it? And that made it all better? I guess the poison didn’t get into the meat of the fish, huh? 

The following week after my diagnosis, I was told that chemotherapy would be used in the fight of my cancer. Wait a minute, it is the toxins and chemicals in the food and water that got me here and I’m supposed to just let you shoot me up with more toxins and radiation?  I might as well eat all of the Pacific Ocean fish I can, it’s not going to hurt me right? Radiation is good, right?

Research, that’s what I need and you know what I found out? Radiation is not good. Radiation will kill the cancer cells but it will also kill any other immune-boosting cells I have. More research, page after page, hour after hour, the result? I can beat cancer without chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is the LAST resort, not the FIRST resort. 

If you can go into battle with vitamins, oils and hoop-de-la witch doctor fanatics (that’s what everyone believes self-treatment is really) why are people still dying of cancer? Let me put it this way, just because you took the fish out of the water and cleaned him up, it isn’t fighting what built up his muscle throughout his life. 

Holistic healing is just that, HEALING the meat on my body from within with God given herbs, fruits, and vegetables that were essentially put here for us to nurture our bodies with. The almighty dollar got in the way as the government allowed its people to be slowly deprived of the real nutrition that would sustain our life. They shot up our cows and pigs and poultry and gardens as well as our waterways with TOXIC CHEMICALS. We are now junkies relying on our fix and I am fighting back just as any other drug addict would. Do they treat drug addicts with chemo? No, why not? 

Cancer is NOT a death sentence, it is a wake-up call! Am I going to die? Yes, I am but I will go out fighting! Are you going to die? Most definitely, you don’t know when or how no more than I do. Do I want to live? Most definitely, just as much as you do but I’m taking action right now right this minute as I purify my system not toxify. If I continue in cleaning up my body the old way with toxins and poisons, vitamins and supplements will never reach the portion of my biological chemistry that's needed to change the outcome.

Remember, cleaning off the fish is not going to make him healthy enough to eat, he has to be cleansed from the INSIDE and there is only one way to do that, counterattack the toxins in his system. Fish need to be nourished not destroyed. Man needs to start tending his garden now not shooting up to get his fix for another day. 

Back to the movie Little Boy, he believed! He believed he could end the war, he believed he could will his father home, he believed! He had the faith of a mustard seed and that is all we’re asked to have. I BELIEVE I can beat this! I BELIEVE I can win the battle! I don’t believe in chemo so how is that going to help me? I CHOOSE TO BELIEVE!

p.s. If you have a negative opinion and goes against what I BELIEVE please keep it to yourself. It’s not helping, it only adds negativity to an ocean of positivity. 

Top Ten Trigger List

acidic vs akaline

An alkaline chart:

Matt. 17:20  "And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."