Dust to Dust

Luke 11:36 “If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

Dust to Dust

People are who they are, 

and kill what they must,

they’ll continue where they will 

and dust what they dust.

I am who I am

I shant live to die

They tell me I can’t 

I don’t accept their lie. 

Society lay claim

All glitter is gold

The shine is now frittered

The soul has been sold

Tune into the Father 

For all pain to be lost

An umbrella in the rain

The Word now embossed.

Cleansed be the body

From sin do we cry

A Light stuffed bin

Our peace when we die.

From now on 

I’ll kill what I must

As my Savior reigns still

My ashes become dust.

Which Voice Do You Hear?

The face in the clouds

Acts 14:10 "Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked."

Which do you hear?

Two voices, one of positive encouragement the other a put down, both on the same exact subject. An example? 
"Does my hair look okay?"
"It looks great."

"I think it looks like it got caught in a blender on high speed!"

When you hear (read) both, which do you hear that you'll carry with you? Do you hear how great your hair looks and you carry that positive affirmation through your day? More times than not you hear the negative comment and go on with your day with a little chip hanging on your shoulder ready to pounce on anyone that looks at you the wrong way.

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27 (NIV)

I love this from Bible Gateway: "Jesus doesn’t tell us if we dig deep enough or study long enough or go to church often enough we’ll be able to uncover the hidden mystery to hearing His voice. Instead, Jesus lists only one prerequisite to hearing His voice: Be one of His sheep." - Katy McCown

You see, my point is, I listen to God but there are people out there muffling His words for me. I sit in the quiet of the morning, meditating on His word and His voice, listening in the still small place that He and I share in the spiritual flow of the cosmos, my soul. When I come out of this place, some negatively call it 'from under my rock', I see it as time WITH my ROCK of salvation! The negative voice hurts and puts a dent in my space but I truly try so hard not to carry it around in my day. It's kind of hard when the clamoring comes beating on your door seeking what it is you have hiding there.

It's ironic that I listen and hear his voice. I try and tell people that they too can listen and hear but I assume they have discord hammering at their door with other priorities that keep their focus away from hearing Christ in them. Yesterday, I received an email noting the distractions WE ALL have knocking on our door keeping us away from hearing HIS voice and listening to another voice that pulls and tugs at us and we often aren't even aware.

I happily live under my rock for many reasons, one of those reasons is to keep the distractions from trying to pull me into the deep end of the pool and drowning me. The other reason is that it is a cool solid place to dwell when needing a rock to lean on that actually listens and HEARS what I'm whispering. I can scream and shout outside of the rock and no one hears, and I'm okay with that too. After all, Jesus has been gently nudging people for centuries and the people smothered Him with fires and flames so they didn't HAVE to hear him.

When I was first diagnosed, the doctors circled around me like a school of sharks. They in no way offered me anything remotely helpful. This conservative state wants you to swim WITH the sharks or be eaten alive BY the sharks, you are not allowed an in-between spot on the spectrum. I am neither liberal or conservative, so basically, in a nation that DEMANDS you to choose a side or be burned at the stake, I'm screwed! I go to the doctor, they offer me drugs. I tell them my stance, they scoff and wave their hands as if blowing me off. They don't, I repeat, they DO NOT offer anything alternative! I need to cross state lines for that, and since I don't see that in my cards anywhere down the line, I stand firm with Christ and where He and He alone will lead me. HE is my safety net, my Rock! 

I CANNOT afford a chiropractor or an acupuncturist, I cannot do yoga because of my arthritis. I cannot turn to a doctor because all they spew at me is, "You need chemo chemo chemo. You don't need a chiropractor, you need chemo!" or "Here, have some drugs for your pain." That right there is the sharks I won't swim with. You too can agree or disagree with me, it is your right. I thank you all for caring endlessly for me and wanting to help. I sincerely love you all to the moon and back! 

I think I need to go under my rock for a bit and enjoy what is left of summer. Which voice is it that you hear? I hear God telling me over and over, "I GOT THIS! I GOT THIS!" All my praise and Glory goes to HIM! 

This is basically how I feel when not under my rock.

"And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the Noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!
That's one thing he hated! The NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! " The Grinch, Dr. Seuss

Godspeed friends, in all that you do, be BLESSED!

2 Cor. 1:3 "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;"

A closer look at The Face in the Clouds

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

Living Water

John 7:38 “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”

The Living Water

A few weeks have passed since the butterfly event when we changed the mower blade. As I stood there firming up the mower for Hubby who was doing the hard part, changing the blade, I was leaning the mower back so it made for an easy blade change. As I stood there my shadow was cast, and as I looked I saw the shadow of a fluttering butterfly landing on what looked to be my shoulder. I slowly turned my head to the left and to my amazement a butterfly was sitting on my shoulder.

I don’t know how many times you’ve had a butterfly land on your shoulder but to me, it sure was a spiritual experience. As my head turned and he was in my field of vision he realized where he was and took flight. After little squeals of joy, I went about my day thinking of the experience. I love butterflies and with the changing of the season, there are many fighting for their last days collecting pollen from the flowers. But for the fragile beauty to land on my shoulder? I still get goosebumps thinking about it.

I’m always driving my family crazy with my interpretations of events. I’m always saying that was a God moment or something like, that’s Jesus doing His work, more creatively mind you. It happens daily, almost hourly that I’m seeing God in everything so much so that when talking to my son I pointed out that I didn’t even bring Jesus into the equation that time. His response was something like, “You always brings Jesus into the equation.” I smiled ear to ear and said thank you! That is the best compliment someone has ever given me.

If my son and husband see me as always bringing Jesus into the life equation then everyone else must see it too like a crocheted blanket, I weave the warmth and love of living water to everyone who comes in contact with me. Some are open to the interpretation; some roll their eyes, while some must sit in wonder. They wonder just what is this living water I speak of.

From the moment we’re pushed out of the womb to join in this world we thirst, which is just the way God intended. From the moment the nurturing umbilical cord is snipped we long to find the living water that sustained us for nine months. We don’t quite know at the beginning but we begin searching for God from that very moment we breathe life and we seek out the peace and serenity that carried us into this world. 

Jesus explained, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13b-14).

Eternal life. We don’t know it yet, but that is what we all pursue from the minute we take our first breath. It’s not about living and obtaining materials. It’s not about being rich and successful. Life is not about you, you, you, or me, me, me, it has and always will be about Him.

When you’re walking along a stream crunching leaves and watching as the river flows, you thirst, you want to bend over, cup your hand and drink from the flowing water. It’s only when we bring Jesus into the equation do we really comprehend what it is we’re thirsting for in this life. 

You can look at a river, swim in the stream, but you can never really drink in the eternal life that God has offered you unless you make your life about Him. The living water taps you on the shoulder, lands on your shoulder, presents truth and you either see it for what it is, or you continue swimming in life blind, consumed with selfishness and greed, not even close to being awakened by drinking in the Spirit.

I’ve thought a lot about life and death over these past eight months, more so than usual and I’ve come to the conclusion, it isn’t about my illness or how or what I do to heal, it has and always will be about Him. When I pass on, it won’t be about me, again, it will be about Him. You’ll weep for yourself, for all you did or didn’t do, you’ll weep not for me because deep down you’ll know I have eternal life, not because of what I did in this life physically but what I drank in spiritually and that is and will continue to be, all about Him! No longer thirsty, my life is about drinking the Living Water into my body, reconnecting the umbilical cord that grants me eternal life.

Quotation Saturday ~ Life Lessons

Pss. 24:4 “He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.”

Life Lessons

“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.” 
― Haruki Murakami

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

“We are addicted to our thoughts. We cannot change anything if we cannot change our thinking.” 
― Santosh Kalwar

“Attitude is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Optimism is a choice. Kindness is a choice. Giving is a choice. Respect is a choice. Whatever choice you make makes you. Choose wisely.” 
― Roy T. Bennett

“There will be a few times in your life when all your instincts will tell you to do something, something that defies logic, upsets your plans, and may seem crazy to others. When that happens, you do it. Listen to your instincts and ignore everything else. Ignore logic, ignore the odds, ignore the complications, and just go for it.” 
― Judith McNaught

“Pain is a pesky part of being human, I've learned it feels like a stab wound to the heart, something I wish we could all do without, in our lives here. Pain is a sudden hurt that can't be escaped. But then I have also learned that because of pain, I can feel the beauty, tenderness, and freedom of healing. Pain feels like a fast stab wound to the heart. But then healing feels like the wind against your face when you are spreading your wings and flying through the air! We may not have wings growing out of our backs, but healing is the closest thing that will give us that wind against our faces.” 
― C. JoyBell C.

“There were people who went to sleep last night, 
poor and rich and white and black, 
but they will never wake again. 

And those dead folks would give anything at all 
for just five minutes of this weather 
or ten minutes of plowing. 

So you watch yourself about complaining. 

What you're supposed to do 
when you don't like a thing is change it. 
If you can't change it, 
change the way you think about it.” 
― Maya Angelou

“Certain things in life simply have to be experienced -and never explained. Love is such a thing.” 
― Paulo Coelho

“I used to think the worst thing in life is to end up all alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone.”
― Robin Williams

“You take people, you put them on a journey, you give them peril, you find out who they really are.” 
― Joss Whedon

“I'm not a body with a soul, I'm a soul that has a visible part called the body.” 
― Paulo Coelho

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” 
― Albert Einstein

Always A Challenge

Ecc. 9:11 “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”

Always a Challenge

It’s not easy

It’s really hard waking up every single day in a peppy mood. I wake and am so grateful to be awake one more day but let me tell you, every day is a daunting challenge to merely stay alive. While my mind is focused on the positive the dark and evil of the world try too often to slither into my thoughts and screen.

While most wake, go on in a mundane fashion as if their whole life is in front of them because honestly none of us really know when the time will come, I wake to the challenging days before me. Life for me has changed so much in five months, I used to take for granted eating a slice of pizza, or eating something from Subway or placing food on my plate that, while unhealthy as all get out, was delicious. 

Each morning I look at the sunrise differently as if this was my very first dazzling one, the sunset as if it was my very last purple-glazed one, I fall asleep praying that all will be right with the off-kilter world. I wake to a new unblemished day and face challenges, minute after minute, hour after hour. Everyone else seems to be going about life in a ho-hum matter-of-factly manner.

I watch as people shuffle about, children laugh and play, parents doing what parents do and that’s loving on their children. People are hurriedly rushing from point A to get to point B. I feel as if I’m sitting high on the balcony overlooking a flurry of activity and me, just an observer biding my time.

I didn’t want life to change for my husband either but such as it is, it has. I try to continue to make home cooked meals but that in itself is a challenge for me. I stir the delectable sauce or check to see if the noodles I can’t eat are done and place a meal on the plate that I can’t partake of. No, I now make two different meals one for me and one for him. Yes, he says he is more than capable of making his own meals, and I get that. My duty as his other half for fourteen years is now shifted, like a planet off its axis, so I try to keep it as normal as possible and do what I can.

I do believe change is good in so many ways. Maybe that is what God had in store, to wake us (my husband and me) up so we could appreciate the smell of the fragrant roses or enjoy the simple fluttering butterfly more; to bow down to His gloriousness as many just pass the wonder of it all by without a second thought.

I thought I was the most appreciative person alive but now I’m even more appreciative if you can imagine that. But please take note; every single second of the day is wrought with a challenge. With three illnesses upon me, I’m not just facing one mind-bending dastardly disease; I have to be blasted with three, tiring, pain-filled, hurdles to coast over every single livelong day.

I’m not whining I would just like you to think twice before finding my journey somewhat lighthearted. I’m doing so much better than I was five months ago, feeling great and not knocking the hurdles over, nope, I’m soaring but it is not without its grunts and groans. To be honest, I feel as if I’m climbing Mount Everest in blizzard conditions, being tossed about by the winds; or crossing the Sahara Desert in a windstorm where the sand on my face feels like shards of glass being slung at me. 

If I disappear for a day or two, it is more than likely because I’m tired and beat. If I don’t write for a day or two, it is more than likely the Sahara has dried me up, words and all. If I seem distant, you’re not to blame, I am being challenged and am out here trying to do the best I can to overcome everything thrown my way. As humbling as this is, I have to bow down and admit first and foremost…it is always a challenge.

God bless each and every one of you! 

Heb. 12:1 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”

The Challenge

Pss.46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

The Challenge

When I was first diagnosed back in January, the first couple of days were filled with tears, sifting through junk, tossing unnecessary things out, feeling sorry for myself and accepting my impending demise. There’s nothing like a wake-up call when facing our own mortality.

I knew what the diagnosis was going to call for and pardon the pun but I was dead set against chemotherapy. My gut instinct told me that this was not my route, I had an even more challenging route to take.

The question was, am I up for the challenge? I had questions and needed to sort through the tangled mess. I needed to pray, meditate and trust. Trust all that God was going to tell me and be strong with whatever He told me. This is where discernment comes into play. Knowing what is from God and what is not!

I said to myself, if the oncologist is willing to work with me, I’ll go the chemo route. I have no idea about these matters or doctors in general so I seriously had no idea what I was thinking. I’ll say brain fog but the confusion was more than that, it was the stigma surrounding the diagnosis, inevitable doom.

The first oncologist flat out would not work with me or tell me anything I could do to help the chemo not have such extremely bad side effects. So I basically had my answer. Then I chose a second oncologists opinion just to be sure my alternative route was not something made up in my mind and that this is really the route God had planned for me. 

I prayed flat out, if this is the route to be set before me, let this oncologist be the one who will work with me. Again, the doctor threw his arms up and declared a stance of no there is no alternative, chemo can give you ten years of life. SAY WHAT? Ten years? Suppose I want twenty? Well, he assured me chemo could not guarantee me that far of a lifespan. From my research, I found that most assuredly the Big C would invade my body again somewhere else or some other illness would attack and take me out. Yes, dire prognosis to say the least.

I knew when I was first diagnosed the treatment *I* wanted to take and that was the health treatment. The oncologists cemented my decision. I wanted a treatment that will keep me feeling good every waking day until a doctor comes along and says, the disease has invaded your entire body and we can do nothing for you. I don’t see that happening because health over drugs is the way I NEED to go. God told me quite bluntly that it would be the challenge of my lifetime. 

My husband said something the other night, he asked, “Do you think more people choose chemo because it’s just easier than changing their diet?” I had to say, “It might be that and the fear and that they’re not offered any other option.” People, even at stage one are given a dire prognosis. They’re told that chemo is the only way to go, mainly because they [the doctors] themselves are NOT informed of any other way to go. They’re taught to push chemo and that is what they do to keep food on their plate and money in their pockets. 

I in no way think chemo is the ‘easier’ route. I think that is one of the most difficult things to do in your life, basically give yourself over to the medical profession, trust them, and they use you as a lab rat and with fingers crossed, hope you’re their success story. And we all know what happens when you’re not their success story right? You become a statistic. 

I think changing my diet is my only way out since I don’t see any other option. I told God I was up for the challenge and that is when He said, “I GOT THIS!” All the way, not a portion of the way down the road he’ll drop me like a potato sack on the side of the road and leave me for dead. Nope, we’re in this together, ALL THE WAY! 

My first step? See what other survivors who chose the alternative route have done! That is when I fell into the Chris Beat Cancer modules, for FREE mind you, right when I needed them! Also, that is when The Truth About Cancer modules fell into my lap, again, for FREE!!! Coincidence? I do not believe in coincidence! There is no such thing! 

Guide to clean and dirty fruits and veggies -  A great link with many more than the dirty dozen fruits and veggies. I've learned a lot in these past three months.

Here are some healthy recipes - An excellent link to eating healthy!  

After that my research was being dropped in my lap daily, I didn’t have to dig through articles and recipes, I rarely hit google search for anything because everything was either finding me or I fell upon it like finding a diamond in the coal mines. I don’t believe in luck either so what could this path be guiding me to or whom is the guide? GOD! Plain and simple, GOD! 

Everything happened in His time and in His way from the diagnosis to the healing, so I know it is He that is leading me down this path. Why? Because I need to show the unsuspecting, unknowing victims that there IS another choice! Don't let fear run your healing race. Take CONTROL of your destiny and stand firmly with God.

I’ve come across people who’ve said, “I live a vegan lifestyle and was still diagnosed!” 
I’m going to tell you all, it is NOT just about eating healthy! It is about balance, eating the right kind of meats sparingly, balancing the what and whens of eating.
It’s about healing past pains!
It’s about DETOXING your organs, because if you’re fighting this illness, then your organs are damaged and need mending.
It’s about finding the right vitamins, nutrients, herbs, fruits and vegetables and allow them to work WITH you. 
It’s about looking at the labels on foods and STOP eating processed food!
Stop feeding the disease and it will stop killing you.
It’s about being one with God and giving Him full control and trusting Him. A lot of people falter on this one for fear of giving up control of their illness. I hate to burst your bubble but God has been in control since conception!

 The Body Proves a Creator

No doctor will EVER tell you that nutrition will help you, you need a nutritionist for that and if you’re on a tight budget, you’re on your own, because nutritionists are far and few between.

Here’s a reasonable supplement store but again, read the labels, you want the purest possible:
I find my soaps and deodorants here also as well as Frankincense, Myrrh, Epsom Salt and Magnesium oil.

Pss. 45:8 “All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.”

Here are some more added links you might find useful even if you’re not fighting the BigC. Changing your diet will help many illnesses including high blood pressure, heart disease, type2Diabetes and more!

The Health Benefits of Onions

My eight wonders of the world; yes all are a part of my daily new lifestyle

Is this path my easy way out? I think you’ll agree, it is a challenging route, to say the least, and no weaker person could be up to the challenge. Like fighting any illness, it is a challenge every day and one we must all take, on our own, if we are ever to live a normal, vibrant, pain-free life again.

1 Cor. 9:24 "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain."

Mind Over Matter

2 Corinthians 12:9  "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Mind over Matter

When I quit drinking at twenty-one, people asked me how I did it, A.A? I said no, mind over matter. You know, that hokey stuff that no one believes in? Well, how about this, I get this ‘dire prognosis’ and am told I need chemicals and drugs to heal, and I say no thank you. Some might call it stupidity, I see it as an unwavering faith in my Father and my mind. I always use my mind to deal with matters. 

Ex. 33:11 “And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend…”

I don’t know about you, but when the Lord speaks to me, I listen. He very boldly told me, “I GOT THIS!” There were more whispers in my ear but you get my meaning, God spoke, I listened. My God doesn’t play tricks and tease me into believing Him. He doesn’t lead me down dead end paths. No, He shows me success, hope, love and I, like a good servant and ever the optimist, I follow Him. Calling an optimist/pessimist a realist is like saying you can have faith in God part of the time. That is not I. It’s God all the time; hope, promise, truth, light, and love every single minute of the day. 

With this diagnosis came an instant change. It didn’t take me weeks to give up the processed foods and toxins I was putting in my body, the change came with prayer, meditation and immediately the shift to healing the very next day after the diagnosis began. I wasn’t ‘trying’ to heal, I WAS, and AM being healed every second of every waking day!

I don’t believe we’re ever done learning here on this earth or beyond, ever. It’s a process where you either walk the path or you stay stagnant and just continue living every day, sinning and doing what you want in life. Free will is amazing like that!

Apparently, I have an amazing willpower to go from a toxic lifestyle to a changed woman overnight. Some people think God doesn’t work that quick but I’m a living testimony that says God DOES work that fast. He saw that I was and am willing to change, and when I prayed He gave me an honest reply. He didn’t say, “Go and the lump will be gone when you wake tomorrow.” The honest reply was in saying it would be the biggest challenge of my life! 

When He sees you actively changing and prayerfully asking Him for guidance, He enters the scene in a spiritual wisp of vapor and you breathe him in as if you would air passing by your nostrils. It’s often hard to call on him and allow him to rule your world, what with so much to do in life and so many materials to be had, and so little time to do what you need to get done. 

Me, I find spiritual time for God first and with him, it changes my worldview from a distance to in my face. Healing comes when He’s in my face. Daily by the minute, I breathe him in and let God be the oxygen in my lungs to heal my world. It is with Him that I have the strength and willpower to do what needs to be done.

I know that willpower can move mountains. If there is an obstacle I move it with mind over matter, God over man, herbs over drugs. I learned a very long time ago that the mind is a very powerful thing to waste. Mankind is dependent chemically and he has spiritually driven the mind, body, and soul into submission to the material world. The strong mind dwells in the spiritual realm and without exercise, like your body, it becomes a wasteland. Without the sustaining nutrients, it becomes a toxic wasteland.

A google search of the definition herbal medicine led me to ---> Herbal medicine: “also known as herbalism or botanical medicine, is a medical system based on the use of plants or plant extracts that may be eaten or applied to the skin. Since ancient times, herbal medicine has been used by many different cultures throughout the world to treat illness and to assist bodily functions.”

God is the great creator of herbs and if we ignore their medicinal usefulness for us, in a sense, we are ignoring a part of the Great Healer God that He has touched us all with and the ability to see and utilize his promise.

My hubby is trying to give up his unhealthy habits. He gave up Pepsi for about two weeks and said he couldn’t do it anymore. I said, “Not everybody has my kind of willpower. I don’t know where it comes from.”
He quickly exclaimed as a matter of fact, “From God maybe?” 
“Well, I didn’t think you’d admit it,” I said with a smile and a tear in my eye.

You see, when people say they don’t have the strength to do something, I boldly tell them, put your mind into it, believe, have faith, embrace God, and you’ll have all the strength and support you need.  

“… being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6 (NIV)

Thankful November?

Pss. 100:4 “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.”

Well, it is pretty amazing that November came around so quick. Seems like just yesterday it was Christmas. Five years ago today there was snow on the ground here, hubby was blind and life in the great state of Nebraska was fairly new to me. After a week long of reminiscing I need to get back on track this week.

I don’t know how man years Thankful November has been going on but I see the ‘challenge’ every year and think it is quite silly for ME, not so much so for the people who need a month reminder to remember what they are Thankful or grateful for.

Rom. 1:21 “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

You see, the challenge should not be a month set aside in November when we have Thanksgiving to celebrate, I think the challenge should be a 365-day event! Wake every day and be grateful for just one thing if not a ton of things, before signing off at night, tell the world what you were thankful for on that given day! 

That my friends is a CHALLENGE! When I wake up in the morning, I thank the Lord for another day to be alive on this planet and when I go to sleep at night I thank the Lord for getting me through the day and I always find one specific thing in my day to thank Him for; prayers answered, a car that runs, the dog that licks my nose, whether simple or big, I’m always thankful. 

Yesterday, besides being thankful for another day, I was thankful for Thankful November. I know there are many non-believers or passive followers of Christ but everyone loves a good challenge and struggling to find one good thing to be grateful for in a day is a challenge many can’t meet or are not up to the task.

While this November is an election year, too many souls are lost in the mire of hate, anger, and a sheepish leading of their life, that they NEED Thankful November to open their eyes to what REALLY matters in life. While I understand everything physical in this life matters (to an extent) I cling to the Spirit of life that feeds my very grateful and humble being.

When this year ends December 31st, I will still have my dignity intact and won’t have to look back at the shame I brought upon myself in the past year. I know, we live in a world that holds no shame for people spreading the hate, who delights in bringing angst to a day, and for some who wallow in the mire of deep-seated evil spread to the world.

At the end of the day I don’t look in the mirror and feel shame, guilt, remorse, pride or arrogance, I see me; the whiny, bratty me that the Lord shaped on a sun-filled morning thankful for another day of life but ready for my eight hours of sleep that I’m BLESSED to have. 

So when another month passes and everyone’s card is full for the 30 days of being thankful in November and I see hashtags like  #Thankful 30, I so wish it said #thankful365, #Thankful2016, #thankfultobealive. Seriously, this is what the world NEEDS!

I’m grateful for a movement that gets the world being thankful for what they have! I’m grateful for a God who loves me unconditionally and blesses me DAILY! I’m thankful for a blog that at the beginning of the year I wanted to end took on new life and meaning and I surpassed 2014 (182 posts) and my goal now is to surpass 2012 (202 posts) just to prove to myself my words mean something to someone and to ME! 

I could go on and on for all that I’m thankful for and my hope in my words is to see people surpass the Thankful November Thirty-day challenge and have it last the entire year possibly the rest of their lives! Finding something to be grateful for even if it is as simple as having another roll of toilet paper on hand when one runs out, being grateful for EVERYTHING changes you!

So light your days being grateful! Spend the month being Thankful… at the end of the year realize… you have more than thirty days of thankfulness to be grateful for! 

God be with each and every one of you to who I am grateful for!

God Bless!

Col. 3:15 “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.”

CRASH!

Those were the days

circa 2004

Isa. 63:9 “In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.”

Living with a disability is like a car crash. At the scene, you’re taken to the hospital and released after being checked over but sometimes you have to live with a new unexpected disability. People today take for granted waking each day and going on with their normal routine. They brew their coffee, take a shower and sit at their desk all without incident.

As I was writing this, this morning before clicking save on my document, it crashed! Microsoft is looking into the issue is what became displayed on my screen instead of the words I had just written. Gone, the document was lost never to be retrieved. That’s what happened to me when I became one of the chronic illness survivors, I lost something never to be returned.

A person with a disability does not have the same advantage as everyone else when they wake in the morning. Most wake with the routine of taking meds; coffee isn’t their first priority upon awakening. Getting out of bed without wincing in pain is a triumphant beginning of any day.

Here’s a loose synopsis of what it’s like having a disability: Imagine waking up and your computer is gone, fried, crashed. The computer was your life, your news, your accustomed way of living and your window to the outside world. You can live without the piece of equipment but now you’ll have to find ways around living without it in your life; you’d make a trip to the library until you realize it’s raining monsoon like rain so you say oh maybe tomorrow. 

Plans being thwarted become your new norm. Sure you can walk in the rain, some like walking in the rain, but the wind cutting raindrops into your skin you did not bargain for. You make plans to get around without your computer but when someone asks for an email address (asks for more info on your disability) and you say, “I don’t have a computer,” they look at you like you’re a Neanderthal.

“Do you have a smart phone?”  THEY have a smartphone. That’s like asking if your disability is the same as theirs?

“Yes, I have a phone.” Yes, I have a disability.

“Well go online from there.” 

“Um, I don’t have THAT kind of phone.” My disability is not the same as yours.

Again, the Neanderthal look that I’m getting used to seeing. I feel like they’re saying (but they’re not) “My disability is worse (better, medicated, easier) than yours.” 

I feel like saying, ‘do you take medication for your pain’ and when they respond with a loud YES, I couldn’t make it through a day without them, then I’d reply, well I don’t take meds, I live with my pain without medication. Then I’d stick out my tongue for good measure. Just kidding, I use humor to squelch most of my pain. 

Go to a doctor, get some medication, get a diagnosis. Really? So in other words, buy a new computer? Sometimes not everyone has the capability of buying a new web source. I know I have no way of buying a new body!

You’ll make plans to go to the library because you know they have a computer you can use but when you arrive the librarian announces, sorry but the internet is down for the day. That’s like affording a doctor visit only to be told the medication is an astronomical monthly, rest of your life, fee!

While the non-computer is a loose analogy and living without the computer would steer you into a new routine, that is what people with sudden chronic illnesses are forced into, a new routine that they had no plans for. Sure we’d all make different plans if we KNEW we were going to be disabled but plans are often made just to be broken. 

Maybe God is tired of the ordinary. Maybe He wants to shake up the world and see how people react, to see what kind of new familiarity we’d fall into, to see what kind of plans we’d make. Something was taken away from me and my fellow disabled friends, a normal take-for-granted-routine. 

I, and I imagine others, are no longer setting a methodical plan. We just wake and are happy to be alive. Meds or no meds, we get by another day trudging through the slime that impedes our pathway. We’re stronger and more resilient with what we generally go through on a daily basis.

So when I wake up with the intention of going outside to mow the lawn, I have to first survive getting out of bed. When I succeed I give the old fist pump and say YES! under my breath. Now, onto making a pot of coffee! Success, YES! Now onto making it into the shower without any incidences. Yes! Now the weather; is it cool enough for my back to be able to withstand an hour of mowing an enormous lawn? Yes! Will I suffer because of the challenge I overcame to get from point A to point B? I most certainly will but then I remember who is going to comfort me when the day is done. 

Pss. 72:3 “The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness.”

People take for granted the waking, the making of the coffee, the hopping in the shower, simply putting their clothes on one leg or arm at a time, when for people with disabilities, it’s a chore, a long drawn out painful obstacle.

When God places a challenge in front of you ie: heart attack, breast cancer, any illness or disability, the reason I feel it is there is for you to share with others HOW you overcame the unseen hindrance. The illness isn’t for you to hide and be ashamed of, that’s not doing any service for God it’s being selfish and thinking of only you. No, God wants you to rejoice in His saving grace. Each day is a hurdle that you’ve overcome, shout to the world a resounding YES! I made it another day! 

Prov.24:10 “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.”

Some people are empty of expression and to me, that is sadder than ANYTHING God tosses at me. I can live with pain, I can live with a wobble and a cane or a wheelchair, but I cannot live without my ability to express myself to the world how I’m blessed daily with overcoming my every day challenges. I can even live without a computer, my expression might reach you a little slower but only because I would be forced to take another route in seeing you receive my message. I can't live without my body.

If you’re in a bored ho-hum daily routine, actively seek to make a change, a simple change or a major one; either way if you do nothing, God will see to it you taste, touch, feel, hear, SEE His presence; even if you don’t acknowledge that it was Him. Eventually, you will crash. What will YOU do with a mountain in YOUR way?

Jer. 16:21 “Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.”

Quotation Saturday ~ Change

Job 10:17 “Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war are against me.”

CHANGE

“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.” 
― Mary Shelley

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” 
― Lao Tzu

“When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny.” 
― Paulo Coelho

“We can't be afraid of change. You may feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if you never venture out of it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a sea. Holding onto something that is good for you now, may be the very reason why you don't have something better.” 
― C. JoyBell C.

GROWTH

“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape.” 
― Charles Dickens

“Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength.” 
― Sigmund Freud

“This life therefore is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness, not health, but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it, the process is not yet finished, but it is going on, this is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.” 
― Martin Luther

“The lotus is the most beautiful flower, whose petals open one by one. But it will only grow in the mud. In order to grow and gain wisdom, first you must have the mud --- the obstacles of life and its suffering. ... The mud speaks of the common ground that humans share, no matter what our stations in life. ... Whether we have it all or we have nothing, we are all faced with the same obstacles: sadness, loss, illness, dying and death. If we are to strive as human beings to gain more wisdom, more kindness and more compassion, we must have the intention to grow as a lotus and open each petal one by one. ” 
― Goldie Hawn

CHALLENGE

“At first, they'll only dislike what you say, but the more correct you start sounding the more they'll dislike you.” 
― Criss Jami

“When you're following your inner voice, doors tend to eventually open for you, even if they mostly slam at first.” 
― Kelly Cutrone

“But today our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change. The large house in which we live demands that we transform this world-wide neighborhood into a world – wide brotherhood. Together we must learn to live as brothers or together we will be forced to perish as fools.

We must work passionately and indefatigably to bridge the gulf between our scientific progress and our moral progress. One of the great problems of mankind is that we suffer from a poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance. The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually.” 
― Martin Luther King Jr.

STRENGTH & COURAGE

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” 
― Winston S. Churchill

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

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

“There are so many ways to be brave in this world. Sometimes bravery involves laying down your life for something bigger than yourself, or for someone else. Sometimes it involves giving up everything you have ever known, or everyone you have ever loved, for the sake of something greater.

But sometimes it doesn't.

Sometimes it is nothing more than gritting your teeth through pain, and the work of every day, the slow walk toward a better life. 

That is the sort of bravery I must have now.” 
― Veronica Roth

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

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” 
― Albert Camus

1 Cor. 15:51 “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,”

Quotation Saturday

EMOTIONS ~

“Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.”          --Benjamin Disraeli

“When you develop your ability to balance your emotions, unexpected problems won’t knock you off balance as easily, and you’ll return more quickly to a positive outlook.”           
--Peggy McColl
    
“One ought to hold on to one’s heart; for if one lets go, one soon loses control of the head too.”
--Nietzsche

CHALLENGES ~

"Self-acceptance comes from meeting life's challenges vigorously. Don't numb yourself to your trials and difficulties, nor build mental walls to exclude pain from your life. You will find peace not by trying to escape your problems, but by confronting them courageously. You will find peace not in denial, but in victory."
-- J. Donald Walters

"Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew. They’re what make the instrument stretch—what makes you go beyond the norm."
-- Cicely Tyson

"When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure."
-- Peter Marshal

CLARITY~

"When you know clearly what you want, you’ll wake up every morning excited about life."
-- Mark Victor Hansen

"If you are clear about what you want, the world responds with clarity."
-- Loretta Staples

"Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain cool and unruffled under all circumstances."
-- Thomas Jefferson

HOPE ~

"True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings."
-- William Shakespeare

"A comforting acquaintance, hope, a contagious thing like spring, inebriating like lager."
 -- Sylvia Ashton-Warner

"Everything that is done in the world is done by hope."
-- Martin Luther

LOVE ~

Never pretend to a love which you do not actually feel, for love is not ours to command.
---Alan Watts

To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already three parts dead.
 --Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970), Marriage and Morals (1929) ch. 19

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.
 --Carl Jung (1875 - 1961)

Some might wonder how I choose the quotes that I do. I have to admit, I wholeheartedly choose from an emotional state of mind. If I’m in a writing mood, they are about writing. If I am debating my life choices, then the quotes become an abstract part of all that I am feeling.

May the light of the world shine clarity in your heart, and give you strength to face any challenge before you. Only then can you have hope in a new tomorrow full of LOVE.
-- Joni

Talk-o Tuesday

Exodus 24:7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.
***

Wow, it’s been awhile since I’ve had talk-o Tuesday hasn’t it. I never really have much to say about the audio book industry, that is until now.

My beau, who is blind, has done a major shake up at his Reviews in the Deep audio book blog. He decided to change the name, join affiliates, and I must say, he is up for the challenge that this new blog presents to him.

He is an avid reader of books, or should I say, he was an avid reader until he went blind. Now the audio book has taken on new meaning for him. He listens intently to every story, carries his MP3 player everywhere and I do believe he has listened to almost as many books as he ever read. That can’t be true because he has read thousands in his lifetime.

He reviews the audio book with finesse. Sure you can say, great book, but he has a different spin that other book reviewers just haven’t tapped into. They are not blind, so they review from what they see, while he reviews from what he hears.

Critical Mass Media is still in the building stages, but he is well on his way to such a wonderful piece of work in this blogging world, I felt it warranted its very own post. He gives the crux of the story without giving you the pivotal climax away. He is honest in his reviews too. If he doesn’t like it, he’ll let you know why it didn’t work for him but really he leaves it up to you to decide.

Apparently narration is everything in an audio book . He gives you the run down on the narrator and where warranted, he even gives you some background history of the narrator. There’s a duration of the book being reviewed also, abridged or unabridged version. Don’t you want to know if you’re going to want to invest 3 hours or ten hours in an audio book?

As a writer, I think audio book format is important because now I know that a bad narrator can ruin all my hard work, whereas a good narrator can lend to the work. Important things to think about as a writer.

Now what are you going to do next? I know, click the link Critical Mass Media, and peek in on the blog. Who doesn’t like a thumbs up or thumbs down on this journey? Maybe post a comment or two, read through some favorites such as The Shining, The Green Mile, or the wonderful book, Seven People You meet in Heaven. He has a variety of books already reviewed, so give him a click!  You won’t be sorry and you might even thank me for the info.