Let Go And Let God: Willpower

Matt. 4:23 “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.”

Let go and let God: My Willpower

Okay, I realize now I’m the strong one. What would knock someone out completely has me falling apart for a day, maybe, then jumping back up and coming out swinging! Do you remember those weighted punching bags you’d hit over and over and they’d bounce right back in your face? Yup, that’s me!

I have to attribute my strength to God because He is all I’ve known all of my life. He gives me strength to go on in life day after day when a lot of people would rather just give up. I can’t give up, I have a purpose! (No, Naven jokes please.)

I see so many people struggling and only wish I could reach out and help but right now I am so focused on my healing I feel reaching out and giving my ‘Let go and let God sermon’ might be hurtful to a non-believer or a person who just doesn’t want to hear those words. He is all I know, so if you come to me for advice, if you look to me for inspiration, all that you will see is my sermon in action, I let go and let God be the driver every single minute! 

I didn’t give him much credit in driving my willpower vehicle. I didn’t even think I had any. I had hit a brick wall and I was repairing my banged up vehicle when the diagnosis of a lifetime came tapping on my door. I realized right then and there that God pushed me out of the driver seat (because after all, I did bang up my vehicle pretty bad) and He was willing to repair the damage I caused, as always.

What happened the day after my diagnosis is this, I saw a thread on grandma’s afghan. With curiosity in my fingertips, eyebrows raised, I pulled the string to see just where this path was going to lead me. Wouldn’t you know, in two months time the afghan is almost completely unraveled as I am on a warpath of HEALING! 

My first step was taking the afghan and wrapping it around me for warmth. I prayed. I normally pray for everyone else but the next few days my prayer vigil was consumed with me. I prayed for me; for insight, for strength, knowledge, healing and a host of other things. Don’t get me wrong, I put aside time to pray for others in the day but honestly, my prayer was for me the majority of the time.

I was living my sermon, let go and let God. I released everything in a weeks time when I had to visit onc. #1. Sure, she knocked me down like the punching bag but prayer, friends, and love had me rebounding! 

I knew there were things I’d have to do to see this healing through. A drastic change would have to take place and I’d have to pull every bit of strength from the very fiber of my being to tackle this; willpower! Let go and let God!

Healing takes more than taking supplements and I knew this. I’ve learned how other people were healing and what they did, my prayers were being answered daily as I was led to one healing place or another and my willpower kicked into high gear as I put my sermon into action. God was in the driver seat and I was trusting Him as each thread of the afghan was coming unraveled. 

I was being led to Dr. Mercola, Ty Bollinger (The Truth About Cancer), and Chris Wark (Chrisbeatcancer) among other sites that I’d use in my fight against the Nazi oncology invasion! I say Nazi Oncology not loosely, I use it factually. 
From google: “When did chemotherapy start?
The era of cancer chemotherapy began in the 1940s with the first use of nitrogen mustards and folic acid antagonist drugs. Cancer drug development has exploded since then into a multibillion-dollar industry.”

Did you read that, a multi-billion dollar industry? Did you know we basically funded the annihilation of millions of people in Germany? It’s amazing what a little research will find. 

What do the Nuremberg Trials have to do with doctors and Bayer pharmaceuticals? CLICK the links to LEARN. the Doctor's and the Natural News the Big Pharma. 

I do not CARE how much fake science says that mustard gas and chemo are the way to sending this disease into ‘remission’ note, not CURING. I have a spiritual God who has and WILL and does DAILY overthrow false, manipulated science and all they try to mislead people into believing. Pluto not a planet, anyone?

Why would God lead me down this path of discovery if he WANTED me to do chemo? Would He falsely mislead me, would God now become a deceiver in my life? Could satan be using my STRONG faith against me and lead me to this place? The answer is NO! God is, and always will be in control of MY vehicle! And please, your opinion and lack of trust and faith in the God I believe in wholeheartedly will not sway my decision in moving forward with HIM! 

Why would I be led to Spiritually Healing the wrongs in my past? Why would I be led to turmeric, Frankincense, myrrh and the numerous other healing supplements? Why would I be allowed to HEAL if this was not from God? I only know of One Healer! Jesus HEALED the maimed, the blind, the demon possessed, the woman who bled for twelve years, Jesus was put here on this earth to HEAL and that is EXACTLY what is happening to me right this moment! Yes, I DID sign up for the weekly newsletter and FREE report in the link above, TYVM!

When people see me, they see God in action, healing taking place, the strength of my willpower to overcome what ails me. What they don’t see is the clawing my way out of the hell that science and man has placed as an obstruction. People don’t see me daily fighting the enemy. Taking the good and the bad is all the form that willpower takes and the positive truth wins in the end! 

To find the truth that our country, our very government, keeps from us has to be dug up, researched and researched because I think we all know, our governments LIE to us and keeps the truth hidden!

Why is there successful cancer treatment centers in Tijuana Mexico? Why are the Germans leading the cutting edge technology in finding a CURE for cancer? Why is the world finding healing spots for individuals but America doesn’t WANT to find healing for the sick? I’ll tell you why I can’t find a HEALING practitioner in Nebraska, MONEY! It all boils down to where the money is at and HEALING is NOT where the money is, pacifying the Big Pharma corporations is and getting people suckered into a $315,000 YEARLY chemo cancer treatment, per patient is where all the money is! Keeping people addicted to drugs is where the money is located. And you’re wondering why I’m choosing God to treat and HEAL me? Because it is HIM whom I trust more than ANYONE!

In the coming posts, I will show the non-toxic supplements I’m using. I’ll let you into my wonderful herbivore world with the meals that are sustaining me. I’ll allow you to see the spiritual aspects of my healing from prayer to nature’s essential oils, from healing music to physical exercise and the new lease I have on life with my strengthened-everyday-willpower. You can't heal a portion of the body to heal the entire body. One must heal the WHOLE ENTIRE body; mind, body, and spirit! 

Gen. 1: 29 “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.”

I am winning the battle, although the road is still long, and the finish line is far off downstream, I’m visibly HEALING. At times when I see one set of footprints, it is then that God is carrying me! This week, with the clouds, rain, and dampness, God has asked me to rest. Not from writing, from walking. He knows how determined I am so He’s asked me to take a small break to allow more healing to take place. Today marks nine weeks—on we go friends. 

God bless every one of you on the journey He’s placed you! 

Rev. 22: 2 “In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”

*edited because it is important to the Grammar Nazi's that my words be perfect. 

Poetry Sunday~ Illusion

Ecc. 5:8 “If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.”

I tried so hard to simply take
A picture that’s real or is it fake?

Cheap camera in hand, I took a shot
The sunshine is real, the horse is not

Here they stand stellar in pose
Like riddles amid well-worded prose

Life sometimes is simply abstract
When digging among lie or fact

A political year wrought with lies
Manifested with a camera’s eyes.

Quotation Saturday

Pss. 25:5 “Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.”

FAKE

“A company of wolves, is better than a company of wolves in sheep's clothing.” 
~ Anthony Liccione

“What's the whole point of being pretty on the outside when you’re so ugly on the inside?” 
~ Jess C. Scott

“You will never find the real truth among people that are insecure or have egos to protect. Truth over time becomes either guarded or twisted as their perspective changes; it changes with the seasons of their shame, love, hope or pride.” 
~ Shannon L. Alder

“An open Facebook page is simply a psychiatric dry erase board that screams, “Look at me. I am insecure. I need your reaction to what I am doing, but you’re not cool enough to be my friend. Therefore, I will just pray you see this because the approval of God is not all I need.” 
~ Shannon L. Alder

PRETENSE

“That's what real love amounts to - letting a person be what he really is. Most people love you for who you pretend to be. To keep their love, you keep pretending - performing. You get to love your pretense. It's true, we're locked in an image, an act - and the sad thing is, people get so used to their image, they grow attached to their masks. They love their chains. They forget all about who they really are. And if you try to remind them, they hate you for it, they feel like you're trying to steal their most precious possession.” 
~ Jim Morrison

“Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth -- more than ruin, more even than death. Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habits; thought is anarchic and lawless, indifferent to authority, careless of the well-tried wisdom of the ages. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid ... Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.” 
~ Bertrand Russell

“You wear a mask for so long, you forget who you were beneath it.” 
~ Alan Moore

“After all, what was adult life but one moment of weakness piled on top of another? Most people just fell in line like obedient little children, doing exactly what society expected of them at any given moment, all the while pretending that they’d actually made some sort of choice.” 
~ Tom Perrotta

CHOICE

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.” 
~ Robert Frost

“In the space between yes and no, there's a lifetime. It's the difference between the path you walk and the one you leave behind; it's the gap between who you thought you could be and who you really are; its the legroom for the lies you'll tell yourself in the future.” 
~ Jodi Picoult

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking.” 
~ Marcus Aurelius

“Plant seeds of happiness, hope, success, and love; it will all come back to you in abundance. This is the law of nature.” 
~ Steve Maraboli

TRUTH

“The truth is messy. It's raw and uncomfortable. You can't blame people for preferring lies.” 
~ Holly Black

“Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.” 
~ Fyodor Dostoyevsky

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” 
~ Socrates

“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world would do this, it would change the earth.” 
~ William Faulkner

Do Your Homework

Prov. 10:20 “The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth.”

As a writer I was taught to do my research; research into facts before writing so that people can believe and trust in my words. A classmate in a nonfiction course recently said that he was writing a ‘creative nonfiction piece, embellishing a little here and there’. Well to me that is clearly fiction because it isn’t the truth. It is embellished truth. Just like facebook posts, embellished truth that no one cares to do research on.

I have two facebook accounts: one for family and one for my community of writers. On both pages I see people posting stuff just to cause dissension to the masses. Do they do their homework first into what the truth really is? No. They love the commotion and the hate swirling pool so they feed the fish that are hungry for anything to be angry at, seeking some sort of unified agreement into their hate; their unified hate, I might add.

What is ironic is that they post these lies in a let’s unite and fight manner but these same folk are the seemingly Christians who need PROOF of the living God? Wait, they can post lies without doing any research but need proof of God and His Word? We can all find the truth that we WANT to believe. Kind of makes me wonder if we don’t have a bunch of Jim Jones followers among the living. They are the folk that will follow any wind of doctrine handed them and try to pull in like-minded folk.

As I said before we don’t live in God’s world, we live in a political world where people are living and breathing politics and everything being politically correct and then squeeze in some time for God, for good measure I imagine.

This is going to be a year where we have a race for the Presidential finish line and everyone will be caught in the stampede not unlike the running of the bulls. Attacks will be bloated, lies will flourish like a streaming waterfall, causes will be heightened, illegals will be pressed like grapes in a winery, every agenda under the sun will be exasperated and the silent will fall.

Here we are living in the End Times and political issues are all that people care about, really? I don’t see anyone shouting from the rooftop that Jesus is returning. I don’t see them digging into their homework on THAT matter. Nope, satan has them wrapped around his little finger and they are engrossed in politics, being caught unaware no less.

A lot of people think I’m a closed-minded fool not caring about the world around me. What a false belief yet again. I care so much I just saved a beetles life that was drowning in a pool of water. Care? I care that people would rather focus on the negative aspects of life instead of focusing on the positive aspects thus bringing about a positive change.

I see people drowning in the pool of hate and I want to save them but unlike the beetle that will see the extension of a branch as a life preserver, humans would rather flail their arms and fling splashing water all around than grab onto the Branch of the Living that could possibly save their life.

I look out my window to see the pivots circling the field with nurturing water for the crops to be replenished day after day. While some humans would rather wait for the rain and do nothing to replenish their soul, there is Living Water out there that will fulfill you to no end. If you do nothing but see the negative hate in the world, you are missing out on the positive that the living, breathing Branch extends to you to restore your soul and prepare it for eternity.

The CHOICE is YOURS whether you do your homework or not. Live a lie or live the Truth.

John 15:4 “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.[5] I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Technology - This Day and Age

Dan 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

This Day and Age

This day and age we are bombarded with the virtual world. Kids are being raised to think it is cool to post ‘selfies’ of themselves nude; after a murder they take shots of themselves with their ‘kill’; college kids post pics of sorority pledge rapes and the unthinkable list continues.

Are we such a naïve nation to think that these pictures are our property and no one will see, get in trouble or even steal these works? Just recently a friend of mine had her facebook account hacked and they stole all her beautiful flower pictures and did who-knows-what with them.

In this day and age I keep my information as private as possible and even as such I’m still vulnerable to attacks via internet, cell phone and snail mail. Nothing is private any more and the sooner we realize this the sooner we can learn to raise our children with this knowledge that privacy is in place for a reason. Modesty is necessary in this cold-run viral metropolis.

I became very modest after my father told me one time that exposing myself (cleavage, butt-bearing tight shorts) was a window for the wrong kind of man to lust after me. He was right. All the catcalls and whistles were not because I was a pretty girl; the men were more likely thinking what they’d like to do with this little lady, and it wasn’t good.

So I became extremely modest to the point of being too tightly wound and being called a prude. Ha! I’m a pretty prude, but a prude nonetheless. I’m okay with that. Now when I’m gawked at, whistled at or complimented, it is a more respectable man admiring my beauty not my body. Lesson learned.

I sure wish the kids today could understand this. I know where they’re coming from; ‘I can do what I want’ attitude and today’s kid is basically raising themselves doing just that, what they want. This is why we’re in such a virtual-living world. Kids today have lost human physical contact and they are drawn to the illicit, inappropriate, seemingly private world of the internet.

Take a game system away, an Ipod or Ipad, or computer privileges; you’ll see a child thrust into the throes of withdrawal just as when an addict has his drugs taken away, they become lethal. We are raising addicted children and not seeing it as such because the child seems happy. So we ignore the addiction and instead feed it by giving them hours upon hours of non-communication with the physical world. We are in the depths of running to and fro as technology has increased.

Just today a kid was shot by police officers in Baltimore, Md. It was found out that back home in Kentucky he had killed his mother, father and sister. The article stated: “the teenager was angry at his parents for taking away his computer privileges days before the slayings.”

One day we’ll realize our mistake and try to intervene and actually help these lost in the system addicts. Intervening with an addict is not an easy task because children addicts need to see that they even HAVE a problem, which they don’t, so parents are left on their own in fighting the child, oftentimes growing into addicted adults.

We have intervention programs for the alcoholic and drug abusers. We have help for the over eater, the anorexic and bulimic but we have nothing for the Dependent on the Virtual world programs. Someone who can’t go an hour without texting or checking their facebook page or posting a tweet or just the need to interact virtually are at the mercy of their obsession that has over taken their life. While technology can be a good thing, it has been abused, and will continue to be abused, until we all wake up and see the problem facing us.

The virtual world is consuming humans in the record numbers and as we adults stay fixated on it, our children are learning that it is an okay way of life. My neighbor texted me the other day and I had to call and tell her that text cost money, money that I don’t have on a plan that doesn’t have free texting. Everyone assumes that everyone else is in the text freak world. Everyone else assumes everyone is an addict too.

While my son was in school, all of his friends had phones but my son didn’t. Besides being poor he just doesn’t need another thing to fixate on. I try to teach him the value of the net and it isn’t on facebook or twitter or texting. My prayers are that when he goes out into the world, he sees the difference in reality and falseness the internet can lead to.

In this day and age, we are living in the Prophecy foretold in the Bible but people are so busy running to and fro, that they don’t see or don’t even care, they are sleeping. As you can imagine, my mornings, afternoons and nights are all consumed with prayer. Prayer for the people who seem lost in the chaos.

God be with you all!

Isa. 5:21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

The False World

Ex. 23:1 Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

The False World

Did you know we live in a false world? A world that is made up of artificial people, with fabricated faces and bodies, walking around pretending to care what is going on around them; a simulated world that we create to our own likings. You know, where people buy into fake pics, laugh at people who aren’t in perfect conformity with them or their way of thinking, make fun of the less fortunate and again buy into the falsity?

The pictures you see on my blog are the things I’ve seen with my own two eyes (unless otherwise stated). I find it kind of funny how people are so quick to use fake-doctored photos to make a point at poking fun of people, all the while spewing lies. 

This is the new (or not so new) beguiling wave sweeping the nation. Women with altered breasts are swooned over while the natural woman is there to be laughed at standing in the corner being taunted. The ill-conformed butt is commercialized, liposuction is applauded, and a brutally fake tan is swooned over. We have become a world of convenience; everything we want right at the brush of our fingertips.

What is wrong with this country that we can sell ourselves out to the demon possessing this type of mockery? Please don’t justify this disgusting nature by saying that it has been this way since man was created.

The beautiful woman was once lauded for her inner beauty as well as her outer God given beauty, not this fake stuff that the media and its little followers buy into. Also, we’re left to live in a viral infested state of clicking. The once beautiful man/woman is now gone from the map, they have been relinquished to a viral video clip gone wild.

We click upon click news stories, hoping whoever is doing the reporting is being truthful, that is. We have become a nation of texting, sexting, selfies, and lies; men becoming women, murderers with alibis; we have religious hating religions and atheists hating God. We have satan running rampant and people scooping him up by every delectable deceiving mouthful; quite literally I might add.

Then we have Christians claiming Christianity and determinedly setting out to destroy the very foundation of Christianity. We have law against lawless; we have walls where they mock with deceptive lies, our bodies being used for graffiti markings, we choose to abuse rather than use nature and all it was intended for.

Ex. 23:7 Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.

No longer are words used as a form of expression. A pic or an emoticon have all replaced the written words of empathy. It is so much easier in this world to not appear to be human. We kill before settling; we accept before investigating; we abuse before understanding. We thrive in a fun-filled virtual world instead of facing the reality that is right on our doorstep.

We escape instead of being imprisoned; take the easy way instead of the hard route. We set about to live in this fantasy world created for us. I care when I shouldn’t and don’t care when I should.

Life has become a mangled heap of bones, mere shells of what was and will never be again. Skeletons clickety-clack all about in a deafening sound to be absorbed by the bogus beings that pass themselves off as humans.

I lay at the bottom of the rubble suffocating, struggling for a breath of fresh air that is not to come. An outcast in society, I’m alone and bewildered caught in the mire of pretense. I await the day I’m lifted from the ashes and taken to a place filled with light and love, where I’m a wanted participant embraced by the living spirits that will surround me. Thank you oh heavenly Father for the promise of eternity.

Isa. 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

I'm Alive

 I'm Alive

Yes siree, I’m alive and well and writing! Thirteen posts so far (this one makes fourteen) and my New Year is off and running in the right direction. I say the right direction because I’m not wasting my time sitting endless hours on facebook just waiting for some kind of activity for me to like. Nope, I’m writing!

Don’t get me wrong, if you’re retired and enjoying the Golden Years of your life, by all means use facebook for what it is good for, games. If you’re disabled, facebook and socializing can be great therapy. If you’re wealthy and don’t need to work, facebook can be a great form of relaxing or if you’re sick and in bed seeing some familiar names to chat with can sometimes make you feel all better.

I always seem to come down hard on facebook maybe because I am dead to facebook and facebook is dead to me. I’m getting back into what God intended for me to do and this is to write. I think if He intended for me to twiddle my fingers and thumbs, He’d see to it that FB was a joy in my life instead of an idle/idol distraction.

It’s taken me a while to realize that facebook is an actual lifeline for folks and by me always negatively harping on it, may do more harm than good. My son almost slapped me upside the head and told me to stop ragging on facebook; that some people actually LIKE it. Okay sure, whatever. I notice HE is never on facebook but then it’s just not for him. To him it’s a retirement community for old folks. (remember, he’s a kid!)

Maybe I should stick to being lonely in the confines of my mind. I notice that no legitimate, successful author ever made a name for himself by sitting on the walls of facebook becoming oh so popular. Nope, his/her writing is what spoke volumes and that is where I’m at, at this juncture in my life; making my writing stand out!

I think this is the year I need to focus more on the seriousness of writing. Not just spitting out blog posts, I mean some serious writing. It might mean spending a lot of time inside my mind and that could be quite dangerous. It also means focusing on courses that will move me forward with my writing.

I often wonder if I died tomorrow, would all of those so-called friends miss me? Would they say what a great friend I was and how they’ll miss my whining, loving, caring words? I don’t think so. I think they’ll wipe me off the bottom of their shoes and continue on in their Mardi gras life, whooping and hollering about all that is wrong with the world and doing absolutely NOTHING to make a change. All talk, talk, talk and no action, except a facebook post.

May I walk with God all the days of my life and may His light shine ‘round about me. Amen!

Rom. 1:21-32 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.
  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
  For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
  And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
  Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
  Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
  Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
  Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Quotation Saturday

1 Tim. 6:20 “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:”

FAKE

“The difference between my darkness and your darkness is that I can look at my own badness in the face and accept its existence while you are busy covering your mirror with a white linen sheet. The difference between my sins and your sins is that when I sin I know I'm sinning while you have actually fallen prey to your own fabricated illusions. I am a siren, a mermaid; I know that I am beautiful while basking on the ocean's waves and I know that I can eat flesh and bones at the bottom of the sea. You are a white witch, a wizard; your spells are manipulations and your cauldron from hell yet you wrap yourself in white and wear a silver wig.”
― C. JoyBell C.

“I despise the rituals of fake friendship. I wish we could just claw each other's eyes out and call it a day; instead we put on huge radiant smiles and spout compliments until our teeth hurt from the saccharine sweetness of it all.”
― Jody Gehrman

“You will never find the real truth among people that are insecure or have egos to protect. Truth over time becomes either guarded or twisted as their perspective changes; it changes with the seasons of their shame, love, hope or pride.”
― Shannon L. Alder

“Being kind to someone, only to look kind to others, defeats the purpose of being kind.”
― Shannon L. Alder

SINCERITY

“Sincerity - if you can fake that, you've got it made.”
― George Burns

I am an extremely sincere individual. I am sincere, to a fault. One of the many things that I have come to realize, to learn, is that sincerity must be reserved and given only to those who deserve it. And one must save one's emotions, channeling them only to the people who are worthy of it. One must not throw one's pearls to the pigs.”
― C. JoyBell C.

“Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles.”
― Confucius

“When pure sincerity forms within, it is outwardly realized in other people's hearts.”
― Lao Tzu

CHARACTER

“The worth of a person’s thought is measured not by the quantity but by the quality of the support that it has got and this quality is defined by a single factor, which is only people’s human character.”
― Anuj Somany

“A modern philosopher who has never once suspected himself of being a charlatan must be such a shallow mind that his work is probably not worth reading.”
― Leszek Kołakowski

“A company of wolves, is better than a company of wolves in sheep's clothing.”
― Anthony Liccione

“The steady soul and the ego pretender / walk with their arms round each other's shoulders / through the mirage.”
― Jay Woodman

“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters”
― Albert Einstein

“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
― John Wooden

“Character is like a tree and reputation its shadow. The shadow is what we think it is and the tree is the real thing.”
― Abraham Lincoln

ALONE

“It is better to be alone than in bad company.”
― George Washington

“Have you ever heard the wonderful silence just before the dawn? Or the quiet and calm just as a storm ends? Or perhaps you know the silence when you haven't the answer to a question you've been asked, or the hush of a country road at night, or the expectant pause of a room full of people when someone is just about to speak, or, most beautiful of all, the moment after the door closes and you're alone in the whole house? Each one is different, you know, and all very beautiful if you listen carefully.”
― Norton Juster

“Alone, I often fall down into nothingness. I must push my foot stealthily lest I should fall off the edge of the world into nothingness. I have to bang my head against some hard door to call myself back to the body.”
― Virginia Woolf

“Suddenly this defeat.
This rain.
The blues gone gray
And the browns gone gray
And yellow
A terrible amber.
In the cold streets
Your warm body.
In whatever room
Your warm body.
Among all the people
Your absence
The people who are always
Not you.


I have been easy with trees
Too long.
Too familiar with mountains.
Joy has been a habit.
Now
Suddenly
This rain.”
― Jack Gilbert

A Conscious Decision

Picture by Elaine DeBaucher

Matt. 15:17-18 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.

On a daily basis I wake and find that I have to make a conscious decision of doing right instead of wrong, being good instead of bad, listen without jumping in and breaking the train of thought that goes into making a conscious decision.

Here lately I’ve been feeling like I’m browsing the streets at Mardis Gras. I’m wandering around people I’ve known for years but only from a virtual standpoint and they are wearing lavish masks. They are wearing make up, their hair is adorned in barrettes and baubles and beads are slung around their necks and the smile, they carry an eerie smile.

Why is it an eerie smile? Because when the mask is lowered, the windows are opened and you glance at their eyes, the doorway to the soul, and you glimpse the true them that they were hiding.

What I’m saying is that some people think of the Mardi Gras as a lifetime event carrying the mask with them wherever they go. That is all many people get a chance to see. They like what they see, the cloaked character is then happy being disguised this way because he/she is liked and almost worshiped.

We’re a people who accept the masks, make light of it and clings to whatever is spewed forth from the mask, never doubting the wearer. But I myself oftentimes see under the mask and all that is hidden and sometimes it scares me immensely because I too at one time was fooled by the mask wearers. Under the mask isn’t so pretty.

As a Christian, we make the conscious decision to not lie, cheat, steal or hide behind a mask. There are some who call themselves Christians and make a conscious decision to lie, cheat, steal and hide behind the mask, they’re happy there; in that place of fooling the onlookers. People are deluded and that makes the mask wearer happy. Then there are non-Christians who could care less what conscious decisions they make.

Recently I made the conscious decision to get back into writing. Not on my blog necessarily but writing and honing a craft that has been trying to elude me. I made the conscious decision to focus on the wrong things like facebook and whatnot and now it’s time for me to slap myself upside the head and regroup.

It’s not as if I have an amazing following or anything, nobody follows a non-mask wearer. They’re looking for fun, beads, excitement and a parade of activity. Me, I just spit out the truth; I don’t hide no matter how ugly the truth is to look at. Pride will be the death of many.

We live in a country that has a bountiful stock of food. How is it that a parent is proud when their child comes home happy with a kill of squirrel, deer or rabbit? How are people reveling in committing illegal acts? No matter how big or small, killing is killing, illegal is illegal; there’s no way to sugarcoat a conscious decision to make you feel better about yourself.

I have to go and reflect on what this world is coming to and what people accept as the norm. I have REAL issues to sort through and no longer will my blog be a place for my exposure of me. Just after two weeks of The Personal Essay course I’ve learned the difference between personal and private essay writing.

I am making a conscious decision to focus on my family, my faith and ME. Have an abundant Christmas full of love and beauty and may the Light of the Lord be with you all. Godspeed!

1 Kings 8:61 Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.

Poetry Sunday ~ The Idols of Darkness

Ephesians 4:32-33 “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”

The Darkness of Idols

An icy chill blankets the globe

It seeps right through the ground.

Man allows his soul to sleep

To earth forever bound.

Silence is truly golden

or so the masses say

I will not leave you blinded

In the stillness of the day.

I will put my eyes on love

and the fullness that there is

Our life is but a mission quest;

That many fail the quiz.

By seeking out the ruins

That all false idols be

An aching pain erupts inside

Never setting you free.

You become an idle source

Of possessions that you hold

Your treasure lay in your hands

The truth of you be told.

An icy chill comes over you

Uncovered bones do tremble

You follow idols in the dark

With a life you disassemble.

1 John 5: 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

 

 

Weary Among Men

Job 39: 12 Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?

Weary Among Men

My heart is growing weary

My eyes are drawing dim.

I cannot find the laughter

In man who’s wrought with sin.

My legs are turning wobbly

My arms they hurt to raise.

I cannot find the joy

In man who gives false praise.

My mind is set to wander

Away from a faulty place.

I cannot find the happiness

In man who wears false face.

My body’s nearly broken

I’m aching all inside.

I cannot live in sanctity

While man is full of pride.

Dear Lord come and take me home

Where I might find some peace.

I cannot stay where I don’t belong

I cry out for sweet release!

Prov. 7: 19 For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey:

Photoshop - Believing is Seeing

Have you ever seen a photoshop picture? They can be pretty realistic can’t they? 

I was thinking about writing and how we embellish the truth, make up stories, color it with vivid imagination and call it fiction.

How come people can take beautiful pictures and get away without telling others that the photo is photoshopped? Is photoshopped even a word?

What IS photoshop?

“Photoshop is the leading digital image editing application for the Internet, print, and other new media disciplines. It is embraced by millions of graphic artists, print designers, visual communicators, and regular people like you. It's likely that nearly every picture you've seen (such as posters, book covers, magazine pictures, and brochures) has either been created or edited by Photoshop. The powerful tools used to enhance and edit these pictures are also capable for use in the digital world including the infinite possibilities of the Internet.”

With today’s technology, there are numerous things you can do with photoshop. I’ve seen pics of elephants walking on water, I’ve seen clouds turned into a monster storm-looking thunderous cloudburst, I’ve even seen Jesus in toast, clouds, trees, you name it, all thanks to the artists who can work photoshop.

If a writer took someone’s work and twisted it, and worked it into a totally different story, I do believe a lawsuit would ensue. But with pictures, it seems the norm to take someone’s picture and embellish it to their liking, put a caption on it, and maybe the original photographer doesn’t even recognize the pic as his/her own!

Now I’m not talking about someone re-inventing the Cinderella story, I think every writer has dappled with that tale as well as Snow White and many other fairytale's passed down through time. But when I see Lord of the Rings taken and re-invented into a “similar” story, boy it grates on my nerves!

We’re writer’s and we have our very own creative genius in our brains. We can create stories that might be general matches to other stories like say vampire stories. They should and WILL all be different from what is on the shelves now.

I’m so glad that photshop hasn’t found a way to doctor MY work, although, sometimes it does look like it needs a doctor. I’m just saying, as a photographer, a person works their tail off to capture beauty, the same goes for writer’s , we work very hard at our words so that we capture the beauty to tell a riveting story. A doctored pic to me says the photographer is too lazy to capture the REAL beauty and has to embellish it to make it shine.

If you’re a writer, you will not settle for anything less! You will make your work stand out and preferably stand alone. Sure magazines abuse airbrush, novel covers need a tricky photo to grab you, but writer’s? They walk along with only the English language (or whatever you speak) to carry their words.

Don’t photoshop your writing. Remember, you’re an artist of a different caliber. No technology is going to assist you in making it better. Use your talent accompanied with your mind to airbrush and dazzle, with WORDS!