What Can I Do For You?

Dan. 10:10 “And, behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands.”

I asked Him, what can I do for you?

As I teeter on the brink of the beginning of the Lenten season, I asked what I could do for God. As in earlier years when I talk to God, He listens intently then gives me a softly whispered reply. This year his reply was ‘think about it’. What? Think about what? No, He’s not a God of confusion I knew what He meant but like so many other people who pray and want a simple answer, it is what it is, a simple reply.

You see, in years past I sacrificed by giving up meat, or Pepsi, one year I was told to blog for forty-five days straight. Since my illness has me sacrificing basically everything and He knows I’ve been a stoic woman strict in my protocol, God called for something different from me that I wasn’t expecting. Think about it. Now, you’re wondering, what, what did He want you to think about.

Here goes… He wanted me to prayerfully think about everything. Wow, that’s a tall order, you might say. Seriously, to me, it doesn’t seem like a sacrifice at all, and I wanted to do something grand, but there it is, ‘think about it’ plain and simple. 

Now you being on the outside looking into my window, reading my thoughts I put on my screen, you’re now thinking about it. Define ‘it’ if you can. Not so simple is it?

Before I write, I need to think of what I’m going to say. Before I pray I need to think what will be heard. Before I judge I need to think about the truth and if it will do more damage than good. Before I speak, I need to think. You might be saying that this is a quite simple task but not for me, the person still being molded into all He created me to be.

He knows me all too well, He knows I have a tendency to jump to a conclusion without thinking the scenario through and reacting to that too swiftly. Now He’s asking me to think before I act. You might be saying to yourself, “Oh I do that all the time.” Maybe you do but I don’t. Right there is a perfect example, I was going to write, “Yeah but you drink, eat, and fill yourself with toxins…” but I stopped and thought. Wow, He's quick! 

Yeah, it’s not going to be easy for me to think first. Luckily I have two more days to tell you what I really think. I’m kidding. I always speak my mind and sometimes, or so I’ve been told, I can be brutal in my honesty. I need to think before I speak/write and put my words more softly on the page before tapping out my aggravations. I can save my aggravations for my private pages of writing but even then, I will filter my thoughts and think first. You don’t know how challenging this is going to be for me. 

Now many of you might be familiar with the ‘Daniel Fast’, Lent is not the Daniel Fast. Lent is the season of remembrance of the days leading up to the Crucifixion of Christ, forty-five days to be more precise. They are similar in their purpose, to become spiritually closer to God, hunger for Him, physically and mentally in everything we do.

While some of you younger Christians, new to the faith, might misunderstand all of the activity surrounding lent and anything to do with fasting, let me try to explain it, gently. 

Let’s say you’re a new driver, what do you do to prepare for the exam? You study, you study your heart out so you pass, right? No, Christianity is not a test or the preparation for one, get that out of your head right now. New to the faith, you will read and read, and study the bible over and over until you feel comfortable with where you’re driving your life.

God is not a God who wants you comfortable because comfort causes complacency. God is a God of growth, we can only grow if we give new life to the skills we already have. We’ve studied and learned, we’ve passed the test but now we’re comfortable driving, in any kind of weather, we are in the driver seat. There it is, you are NOT in the driver seat. As a weathered Christian, you’ll learn quite quickly that God is always in the driver seat.

With your license in hand, well versed in driving the open roads, you need to learn something new that will enable you to drive on an ice skating rink. This is where fasting comes in; to spiritually grow we need knowledge and to fill up the tank for the long drive. Since we’re smug in our sense of security, if you’ve lived in Florida all of your life and you move to Colorado, you’ll quickly realize there is more to learn with your driving skills. There is always more to learn as a Christian. God does not like conceited Christians.

Fasting humbles the soul. I’m reminded of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:3-12

Blessed are the poor in spirit, 

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

Blessed are they who mourn, 

for they shall be comforted. 

Blessed are the meek, 

for they shall inherit the earth. 

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, 

for they shall be satisfied. 

Blessed are the merciful, 

for they shall obtain mercy. 

Blessed are the pure of heart, 

for they shall see God. 

Blessed are the peacemakers, 

for they shall be called children of God. 

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, 

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." 

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

The Daniel Fast (Old Testament) is the epitome of the Beatitudes (New Testament). God wants us to draw spiritually closer to Him. He knows we don’t have much time left. He calls each and every one of us to be filled with the Spirit and He also knows the only way for humans to appreciate all that we have is by taking something away, hence the fasting. It brings about a spiritual closeness to God that we may have never comprehended. We allowed our egos to drive our car and control our every step for far too long. Now I’m going to ask you, my friends, to ‘think about it’, plain and simple.

Eph. 6:10 “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”

Luke 22:43 “And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.”

Faith: Your Gateway to Health

Luke 4:40 “Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.”

Faith: Your Gateway to Health

Faith, support, determination, and change, all adds up to HEALTHY!

One by one, these will have their own individual topics along with exercise. Since HEALTH is our goal, I’m going to try and help you achieve a goal. Set yourself a small goal. A hurdle of sorts. No need to tell me what it is, maybe write it down on a piece of paper so that you can overcome the hurdle then tell me about how well you did. I want to be a person of support so please feel free to ask me questions or tell me about your success (or failure). I want to rejoice in support of you!

I know you’ve all heard the term ‘born again’ and biblically that means being born again as a new person in the Spirit of Christ. Well, by the end of the year I’d like to see friends renewing their health and feeling born again physically! I want you to feel the regeneration I have felt since last January. I don’t feel like a person of ill health, I feel the best I have in my life. Still a way to go but you’re all with me; we can do this together! 

Today I’m going to talk about faith. Now don’t go running away because you’re a non-believer, I have something for everyone, I don’t want you to be left behind. I want you healthy! The only way to become healthy is to have faith. While my faith is based solely on God, yours might be tied to a Higher Power, Mother Nature, the Universe or a spirit realm, whatever you hold to be bigger than you at times of doubt and fear, now is the time to turn and hold on for dear life because change is never an easy task to undertake.

Task, you might say, YES! You have to work for anything you want in life and if you don’t want to be sick and at the doctors all the time, now is the time for CHANGE! It looks to me like we live in a world of people who are content, content with being overweight, settled in their ugly habits of overindulging, regretting mistakes but not knowing where to begin. I’m here to tell you that faith is where you begin.

When people feel disgruntled they immediately look for a comfort food. When someone has hurt feelings they hide behind the mask of feel-good eating and drinking. They don’t try and resolve the problems of being hurt, shamed, or ridiculed they turn to something to make them feel not so bad, and food is usually the go-to culprit. For me I didn’t turn to food, I turned to drugs and alcohol but later learned to trust more in God and my inner self than an outside physical feel good vice. I don’t know if I’ve ever come right out and told you all this but I was bullied as a kid. I’m a survivor of being excruciatingly bullied!

From an early age the name-calling, hair pulling, the punches and being chased down the street, being bullied was my life. Whether it was my sister and brothers doing the bullying or my (non) friends at school who literally pushed me from their circle, I was bullied. I was teased because I was too thin, too pretty, my teeth weren’t aligned right, my clothes were from the ‘cheap’ store, my shoes were worn, my hand-me-downs evident. 

I did overindulge on candy and sweets as a child, maybe that is why I never cared much for them as an adult. They were vices to hide my pain. Heal the pain the vice is no longer needed. I turned to alcohol and drugs, other vices to hide pain and the more I turned to my faith, I no longer needed those indulgences to get by in life.

With my faith, I overcame my addictions to drugs, alcohol, and sweets. Yes, just with FAITH. Not meds and doctors, not patches and pills, not even vitamins. I thought I was healthy except for my psoriasis, the embarrassing skin affliction of which labeled me as unhealthy. I did have the chronic ailment under control at one time but you add stress and upheaval (divorce) to the mix, your ailments react and resurface.

Then January 25, 2017 hit me with a cannonball to the gut, a disease that was known around the globe as a ‘killer’. While I had lost numerous friends and family to the disease, I didn’t feel that this disease was as devastating as it was made out to be. My faith grew ten sizes too big that day as I was cradled in the arms of the Lord and told that I’d be carried along with my faith. Rely on your faith, the whispers called out. Depend on me and the strength I give you, I heard aloud in my head.

While for a brief moment in time I felt scared, I had to rely on my faith to shake any fears. Faith has never let me down once in my life, why would it now, because the odds are against me? When I was young and being bullied I felt helpless until my faith carried me through. This was not unlike those times being bullied as a child, the doctors were trying to bully me into submission but these were adult bullies. I, as an adult, have the ability to fight back. With my faith intact, I mounted an army of angels that would whisk my fear, doubt, and pains away. Almost instantly, once I moved the bully mountain, God's Light shone through and carried me once again.

Matt. 21:21 “Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.”

Your faith is your strongest asset in life. Faith being the belief in the unseen, whatever that means to YOU! Use it, trust it, and listen to the inner voice. Faith will do all the fighting for you, you just have to trust and obey. Obeying is the hard part because it is essentially giving your life over to something bigger than you that you can’t control. YOU, my friend, are never in the driver seat, you’re a passenger along for the ride of life. This gift is yours to take care of, not destroy. Your HEALTH is the gift and new batteries to regenerate you are needed if you’ve ‘let yourself go’. Have faith that you can overcome the obstacles in your way; EARNEST faith, not a passive faith. I may need to do another post on faith… it is THAT important to your HEALTH!

Matt. 9:21-22 “For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.”

The Rains Came

Job 21:18 “They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.”

The Rains Came…

Throughout April we had a lot of rain. Endless days of clouds, drizzle, cold, and darkness lay over the land. We even had snow late in the season, which is usually rare, but the way the weather has been for the past couple of years, I guess it is the new normal.

Lucky for me, I have a flurry of friends who lift my spirits on a daily basis, except when I’m in a withdrawn mood and have no contact, then I’m left on my own with the elements I’m dealt.

I like to switch things up so my daily exercise routine doesn’t become mundane and boring. I had to make the switch of having my stationary bike being brought from the basement and I placed my Health Rider down there for Adam. Since the rains came and put a damper on my daily walks, my bike has been a blessing. 

I still do my twenty-minute walks when the weather allows but when it doesn’t I hop on my bike. The other day I pulled the mower out thinking I’d do twenty minutes but I wound up out there for an hour. The weight-loss and workout does wonders for my arthritic knees. 

When my M-I-L gave us the bike eight years ago when we moved to Nebraska, it was placed in the basement. Hubby, when blind, used to go down there daily to break up his days that were filled with darkness. I bought a Health Rider at a garage sale for twenty-five bucks and that was my nice piece of equipment for me before arthritis set into my bones.

Doing all the research that I am, exercise is an important part of my healing. I didn’t know how detrimental something as simple as a cold was to me so my walks on the cold, blustery days came to a halt. Inside equipment was going to become a new part of my daily routine in my healing.

Then there’s the sun, another pivotal portion of my healing since it holds non-fabricated vitamin D! I have obtained a supplement also but the sun, that which I can’t control was what I needed. Not only for the warmth and lifter upper elements it carried, but the nutritional value people often take for granted.

The rains came…along with that, days on end of no sun. That alone is enough to drag you into the trenches of a depressed state. March and April were so filled with ominous clouds and winds, my spirit was being put through a whirlwind as if I was in the center of a tornado being sucked through the vortex drinking in all of my energy. 

May has allowed a couple of warm days, some sun with no winds; a couple of days, not a lot. Again, the storms and rains have washed over the fields and this month we’ll see once again (as in April) record low temperatures and a lot of rain.

As in life, storms come and storms go but what normally happens after a storm is the sun comes out in all its brilliance and shines allowing a rainbow to pan across the sky. Since this diagnosis, I’ve seen rainbows in the darkened clouds, swirling in the winds, and vaporized in every breath.

Is that normal? Scientifically people will say you need the sun’s reflection to create a rainbow, but let me ask you this, has anything that has happened in the storms of your life been explained by science? Do we really live so science can define us?

When I was diagnosed I had four doctors (yes four) ask me the questions they ask all victims of this disease. They were looking for the ‘normal’ symptoms, none of which I had. They looked perplexed, scratched their heads with furrowed eyebrows and said, Hmm… interesting. 

Pss. 83:15 “So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm.”

Again, when I was not ‘committing’ to their way of doing things, they looked perplexed. Their science was telling them that there is only ONE way to go and this woman is NOT committing to our way of doing things. They threw fear around like putting candy in a child’s bag on Halloween, toss it here, toss it there, these kids love their candy, note: handing them the disease! But the thing was, I didn’t like the candy they offered.

Back in Texas when my son was little, we would take him trick-or-treating. I didn’t believe in having a child beg for candy, but all of his friends were doing it, so being a homeschooled kid, we took him. When he got home he’d go through the candy and pick out what he wanted. He’d pause a few times when there was a small bag with a note attached. The note would have a Bible verse printed. I had never seen this before but then again, I didn’t do the Halloween thing but I thought it was a great idea that this dark holiday had one ray of Light in the evening. 

Do you see where I’m going with this? In the darkness of the dismal diagnosis, I SAW THE LIGHT! Instead of seeing it as a raging storm, I saw it as an offering of Light. This was a time to heal, to change and to grow! No one said a change was easy and quite often it will be one of the most difficult tasks in your life. Change is necessary to grow!  But if you never weather the storms of life and see rainbows, you are committing yourself to stagnation of an over-flowing society based on science. 

God is not science. He does not exist to be proven, He exists to be felt, known and loved. My God is not a God of confusion and perplexity, He is a God of certainty, surety, a solid rock! So when men and women of science ask me to commit to their way of doing things I have to stand firm and declare my faith to be based on Solid Ground, not sinking sand. Let the rains come, let the storms rage, let the winds blow and let the dust move. Me…I’m standing on solid ground. All praise and Glory to Him! 

Isa. 4:6 “And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.”

Nurturing The Seed Within

Pss. 72:7 "In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth."

People are going to ask, how do I nurture the seed within?

Well, I can only tell you what works for me. I think every individual is different and will react to His blessings differently as they begin to nurture, continue to feed, and discipline themselves to receiving all of the knowledge the Lord has to offer. Through good and bad, the seed is within you just waiting for the water so it can blossom.

If you think God handpicks the perfect in society, boy are you ever wrong. He doesn’t choose the most beautiful to guide, He doesn’t ask the strong to come to Him, He doesn’t want the saint that man appoints, nope, he wants the ugly, downtrodden, dirty muddy sinner. Why? Because He sees what is deep inside. If he knows every hair on your head, you can bet your bottom dollar he can see the mud built up on your feet from going barefoot for long walks at a time.

1 Sam. 16:7 (KJV) “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”

Going barefoot is like a man who never knew or wanted to know the likes of Christ. He’s washed his hands of everything to do with God and is living the life that he has planned for himself. You know what? That is the kind of man or woman that God has set His sights on even when you think there is nothing, there is something calling you to Him. You might not acknowledge the pull, but you know, deep in the night as you try and fall asleep, the stars are out there twinkling and you wonder.

You might think He’s washed His hands of you but I can assure you, God did not create us to dispose of us because we don’t fit His bill. No siree, God has his eyes on you when you think you’ve ridden yourself of Him. Even when you shun Him and don’t seek him he has landed his eye on you and is deep within you pulling you toward him, to an eternity with Him. 

Samuel chose David over all of Jesse’s sons, the ones who were taller, smarter and better looking for small little David who was out in the fields tending the sheep. Did God overlook David? No, he saw in him a King and that is what David would later become. 

If you read the book of Samuel you’ll see, David, the one who would one day be king, is the same boy who fought Goliath. Was it an easy task? Did he just walk up to him and say Boo, be gone? No, I do believe David struggled all of his life to be accepted by his family, fought to want to be included as a warrior but was overlooked by man and was tread upon and ground into the dirt but overcame a giant! HE was the one chosen by God.

This is the God I love and praise, One who sees me in all my tattered clothing, broken body, dry crinkly skin, He sees in me a King, so to speak. As I realize this, I begin ACTING like a king, in character and dignity and carrying myself for the entire world to see God IN me!

He sees something in each and every one of us no matter how small we think of ourselves, He’s choosing us to come to Him. That is how we nurture our Spirits. We fill our lives with everything God. From animals to plants, from flowers to trees, from the clouds to the moon, He is all, living in all and once you start seeing Him in everything you begin to want to know more and more about this God.

Does this mean He’ll heal you of your pains and illnesses? No, they’ll become bearable. Will He pay your high electric bill for you? No, but you’ll have the means to do it. You have to be willing to SEE the blessing instead of seeing a coincidence. Sometimes we have to sacrifice our WANTS for our NEEDS to be fulfilled. That right there is God working in you. You are important to Him. As with anything that is important to you, you take care of it, you nurture it until the seed becomes you, the you God intended. 

When you finally accept that science will never find Him or ‘prove’ Him and live with the faith that KNOWING Him is well enough for your soul, blessings and miracles fall like sparkling confetti and you see them and know they are from Him, the Him you didn’t even believe existed. May the Spiritual seed that God planted in you be nurtured until you bond together, grow, and flourish.

Praise be to God!

1 Samuel

Quotation Saturday ~ Choose Wisely

Proverbs 13:3 (NIV)

“He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.”

SHAME

“We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known, and when we honor the spiritual connection that grows from that offering with trust, respect, kindness and affection.

Love is not something we give or get; it is something that we nurture and grow, a connection that can only be cultivated between two people when it exists within each one of them – we can only love others as much as we love ourselves.

Shame, blame, disrespect, betrayal, and the withholding of affection damage the roots from which love grows. Love can only survive these injuries if they are acknowledged, healed and rare.” 
― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

“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

“I am ashamed of anyone who has eyes and still can't see.” 
― Kathryn Lasky, The Journey

RESPECT

“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

“How would your life be different if…You stopped making negative judgmental assumptions about people you encounter? Let today be the day…You look for the good in everyone you meet and respect their journey.” 
― Steve Maraboli

“The truest form of love is how you behave toward someone, not how you feel about them.” 
― Steve Hall

“We live in a world where people hold no respect for others, only for what their ego or love of self, allows them to embrace as to what is right in their minds. Shaming people makes them feel good about themselves and in the process, they lose respect for their own self. Tis’ better to love all than to love self.”
- Joni Zipp

LABELS

“If you want government to intervene domestically, you’re a liberal. If you want government to intervene overseas, you’re a conservative. If you want government to intervene everywhere, you’re a moderate. If you don’t want government to intervene anywhere, you’re an extremist.” 
― Joseph Sobran

“I'd be a conservative if I'd never met any. They're selfish, mean-spirited, egocentric, reactionary, and boring.” 
― Pat Conroy

“When the focus becomes ‘What would Jesus do?’ instead of ‘What has Jesus done?’ the [conservative/liberal] labels no longer matter.” 
― Michael S. Horton

“In essence, I find that the foundation of modern conservatism is driven by a clinging to God in fear of the world, whereas the foundation of modern liberalism is a clinging to the world in fear of God; albeit, the true foundation should be one's clinging to God in fear of God.” 
― Criss Jami

“Words can be twisted into any shape. Promises can be made to lull the heart and seduce the soul. In the final analysis, words mean nothing. They are labels we give things in an effort to wrap our puny little brains around their underlying natures, when ninety-nine percent of the time the totality of the reality is an entirely different beast. The wisest man is the silent one. Examine his actions. Judge him by them.” 
― Karen Marie Moning

“And I came to believe that good and evil are names for what people do, not for what they are. All we can say is that this is a good deed, because it helps someone or that's an evil one because it hurts them. People are too complicated to have simple labels.” 
― Philip Pullman

Free Will

“You hold the power within you to change, it’s a CHOICE. You either choose to remain the same or you CHOOSE to change. The CHOICE is yours to LOVE or to HATE.”
~ Joni

“God created every man to be free. The ability to choose whether to live free or enslaved, right or wrong, happy or in fear is something called freewill. Every man was born with freewill. Some people use it, and some people use any excuse not to. Nobody can turn you into a slave unless you allow them. Nobody can make you afraid of anything, unless you allow them. Nobody can tell you to do something wrong, unless you allow them. God never created you to be a slave, man did. God never created division or set up any borders between brothers, man did. God never told you hurt or kill another, man did. And in the end, when God asks you: "Who told you to kill one of my children?"

And you tell him, "My leader."

He will then ask you, "And are THEY your GOD?” 
― Suzy Kassem

“Have you ever stopped to consider the number of choices you make daily Paradoxically speaking, every time you have a choice to make and you don't make it, by default, you are making a choice not to make a choice, which is, of course, a choice. You have no choice in the matter. This is an important question because the more conscious you are about your choices, the more likely it is you will end up where you want to be at the end of your stay on this planet.” 
― Dennis Merritt Jones

The Crusades

Image from google

Jer. 30:24 "The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it."

I have to admit most of my blogging ideas are from what (mainly BS) people post on Facebook. I like reading their stories (lies or truth), then researching them on my own and dig into what the truth really is that they might have missed. People laugh if I use Snopes because they know where the REAL truth is at another site. I won’t say I use Google either because my way of research is old and outdated. So are my paperback encyclopedias if you MUST know.

I sure wish everyone sought out the truth and researched a little before they post ‘THEIR truth’ because one person’s truth is another person’s lies. Take for example Pink Elephants, no, not pink skinned pink tusks. That poor post is almost as old as me (not) but you get my meaning right? Lies go viral quicker than truth and so I’m left digging and digging for posts on the internet to see what everyone else says on the matter. If I find ten pages in agreement I tend to see it as truth, however if I find as many pages that disagree, I tend to find a person disillusioned.

The Crusades picked my interest for some reason. Maybe because I’m always touting that I’m all about LOVE and I see surrounding me a world full of HATE. It’s not just about blacks and foreigner hate, it’s about Muslim hate. The Crusade happened centuries ago and I had to research what they were talking about. 

Ah, the Holy War. 

Some info from Wikipedia:

What were the Crusades?

The Crusades were military campaigns sanctioned by the Latin Roman Catholic Church during the High Middle Ages and Late Middle Ages. In 1095 Pope Urban II proclaimed the First Crusade with the stated goal of restoring Christian access to holy places in and near Jerusalem.

What is the purpose of the Crusades?

In 1095, Pope Urban II proclaimed the First Crusade with the stated goal of restoring Christian access to holy places in and near Jerusalem. Following the First Crusade there was an intermittent 200-year struggle for control of the Holy Land, with seven more major crusades and numerous minor ones.

Who fought in the crusades?

Jews and Muslims fought together to defend Jerusalem against the invading Franks. On 15 July 1099 the crusaders entered the city. They proceeded to massacre the remaining Jewish and Muslim civilians and pillaged or destroyed mosques and the city itself.

The History of the Crusades.

Some things are really standing out to me as I read about the Crusades like this one:

“crusading was an act of Christian love and piety that compensated for and paid the penalties earned by sin.”

Wow! I had a flashback to my youth when in Catholic school I was told I HAD to do penance, tell a priest my sin to be forgiven by God. I adamantly stated at 13 years old, that ‘NO MAN can forgive my sin! Only God can do that and HE already has. I have no sin to repent of!’ That didn’t go over too well and I was not allowed to be ‘confirmed’ therefore halting the seven sacraments I HAD to do to become Catholic. As a note, this is when I converted to Christianity, against my father’s wishes.

Upon reading about the Crusades and who fought in the wars, I see a part of me that let go of a religion that has consumed centuries of time and wars. Why did the Popes believe the Holy Land belonged to THEM? Did they think that they alone own the rights to Christ? I understand that they wanted safe passage to visit Holy sites but does that give them the right to kill, just to visit a piece of land; God’s land?

As my (spiritual not Catholic) Lenten season continues to amaze me with more and more awakening I find that man is still full of hate because he alone is claiming Christ and those that don’t share their belief should die and be banished from touching ANY part of the earth. Man sees Muslims, Jews, blacks, anyone not of ‘their’ belief system an enemy. 

This struck me too:

“Christ is concerned with the political order of man, and intends for his agents on earth, kings, popes, bishops, to establish on earth a Christian Republic that was a “single, universal, transcendental state’ ruled by Christ through the lay and clerical magistrates he endowed with authority.”

While Christ may be concerned, we lost the battle when His magistrates allowed greed and hate to rule the reason they did what was and IS being done. I’m not buying what people want to sell me. What I myself have learned from Christ was that He was all about LOVE, while he got angry once (tax collectors, greed?) He never carried a testimony of HATE! Man has twisted the bible to suit their needs and wants, and fills their being with hate that they THINK is what Jesus wants them to carry and relay to the world. 

While I dislike much of what is going on around the world, I don’t find myself hating. I might disagree but I won’t vent my frustrations as a way of getting noticed instead I write and blog to clear my mind and to help me understand.

Let me tell you, when man/woman was created, satan had a job to do also. Good and evil were brought forth to wage war and we only account for the crusades of A.D not the wars on our soul in B.C. Think about that! God Himself was NOT about HATING people! (Go ahead, put your own spin on the message.) Reading and believing the Bible is one thing but reading and understanding is an entirely different matter. And just so you know, I am STILL eagerly learning. Praise be to God!

May God fill all who are reading this with understanding of His eternal LOVE!

God Bless!

Quotation Saturday ~ The Year of Change

Matt. 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” 

NEW YEAR

“Hope
Smiles from the threshold of the year to come, 
Whispering 'it will be happier'...” 
~ Alfred Lord Tennyson

“For last year's words belong to last year's language 
And next year's words await another voice.” 
~ T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever.” 
~ Neil Gaiman

“A bridge of silver wings stretches from the dead ashes of an unforgiving nightmare
to the jeweled vision of a life started anew.” 
~ Aberjhani

CHANGE

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” 
~ Mahatma Gandhi

“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” 
~ Rob Siltanen

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” 
~ Albert Einstein

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” 
~ Rumi

GROWTH

“The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way that we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw yourself.” 
~ C. JoyBell C.

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” 
~ Anaïs Nin

“Just because I liked something at one point in time doesn’t mean I’ll always like it, or that I have to go on liking it at all points in time as an unthinking act of loyalty to who I am as a person, based solely on who I was as a person. To be loyal to myself is to allow myself to grow and change, and challenge who I am and what I think. The only thing I am for sure is unsure, and this means I’m growing, and not stagnant or shrinking.” 
~ Jarod Kintz

“My turn shall also come:
I sense the spreading of a wing.” 
~ Osip Mandelstam

SPIRITUAL

“The moon is a loyal companion.
It never leaves. It’s always there, watching, steadfast, knowing us in our light and dark moments, changing forever just as we do. Every day it’s a different version of itself. Sometimes weak and wan, sometimes strong and full of light. The moon understands what it means to be human.
Uncertain. Alone. Cratered by imperfections.” 
~ Tahereh Mafi

“Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being.” 
~ Albert Schweitzer

“That which God said to the rose, and caused it to laugh in full-blown beauty, He said to my heart, and made it a hundred times more beautiful.” 
~ Rumi

“People tend to be generous when sharing their nonsense, fear, and ignorance. And while they seem quite eager to feed you their negativity, please remember that sometimes the diet we need to be on is a spiritual and emotional one. Be cautious with what you feed your mind and soul. Fuel yourself with positivity and let that fuel propel you into positive action.” 
~ Steve Maraboli

“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” 
~ Mother Teresa

“I sense it in the breath of the morning, the rising of the sun, the brisk cold that kisses my skin; this is the year of change.”
~  Joni

Quotation Saturday ~ A New Year is Coming

Quotation Saturday

SPIRIT

“We must become so alone, so utterly alone, that we withdraw into our innermost self. It is a way of bitter suffering. But then our solitude is overcome, we are no longer alone, for we find that our innermost self is the spirit, that it is God, the indivisible. And suddenly we find ourselves in the midst of the world, yet undisturbed by its multiplicity, for our innermost soul we know ourselves to be one with all being.” 
― Hermann Hesse

“Walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. Let their spirit ignite a fire within you to leave this world better than when you found it...” 
― Wilferd Peterson

“As I grow older, much older, I will experience many things, and I will hit rock bottom again and again. Again and again I will suffer; again and again I will get back on my feet. I will not be defeated. I won't let my spirit be destroyed.” 
― Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen

“There is a LIGHT in this world. A healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter. We sometime lose sight of this force when there is suffering, and too much pain. Then suddenly, the spirit will emerge through the lives of ordinary people who hear a call and answer in extraordinary ways.” 
― Richard Attenborough

LOVE

“We are not trapped or locked up in these bones. No, no. We are free to change. And love changes us. And if we can love one another, we can break open the sky.” 
― Walter Mosley, Blue Light

“In your light I learn how to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest where no-one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.” 
― Rumi

“It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” 
― Mother Teresa

“If there's a thing I've learned in my life it's to not be afraid of the responsibility that comes with caring for other people. What we do for love: those things endure. Even if the people you do them for don't” 
― Cassandra Clare

New Year

“Hope
Smiles from the threshold of the year to come, 
Whispering 'it will be happier'...” 
― Alfred Lord Tennyson

“A bridge of silver wings stretches from the dead ashes of an unforgiving nightmare
to the jeweled vision of a life started anew.” 
― Aberjhani, Journey through the Power of the Rainbow: Quotations from a Life Made Out of Poetry

“Let me give you a New Year message: Believe in yourself, because no one ever achieved anything significant without believing in himself and no one ever will! Believe in yourself powerfully, especially when there is no reason left to believe in yourself because the ultimate bottom is the best place to start a big rise!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“A year of ending and beginning, a year of loss and finding...and all of you were with me through the storm. I drink your health, your wealth, your fortune for long years to come, and I hope for many more days in which we can gather like this.” 
― C.J. Cherryh, Fortress of Eagles

This year has been long and sorrowful. My prayer for the New Year is that 2016 will be a better year, full of life and love! May the wind sweep across my face and breathe into me a new life, a new aspiration so that all of the world will be consumed in the love and Light I know to exist. God bless you all.
~ Joni

Growth Within

Rom. 4:13 “For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.”

After yesterday’s post I found myself thinking of how much I have grown as a woman not only with marriage but as a woman in general; a full fledged spiritual woman. I’m no longer the woman that I used to be and every day I wake to outstretch my arms and strive to reach for the Son and grow a little bit more.

I read something this morning after I had already posted my growth post of yesterday and it really touched me. I DO have friends that share the Light from within them; thanks Debbie! I need to share it with you, my readers, as I think you’ll see why it is such a positive and heartwarming post; and with Billy Graham ministries, you can’t go wrong.

Nine ways to GROW in your faith, so inspirational!

Love – It sounds simple enough but I see so many struggle with this one because they are too busy balancing hate with love. To love God with your whole mind, body and soul there is no room to hate.

Joy – This one is a hard one too. How can you feel joy when there is so much wrong going on? Simply put, if you focus on all the wrongs you will NEVER allow joy to live in your spirit, hence there is no room for God to grow the seeds He’s planting.

Peace – Peace is not a political term. Not everything has political connotations, as some are mislead to believe. People are so focused on what is politically correct and what is not they lose the chance to actually acquire peace within their souls. They are missing out on a stillness that fills their souls with joy and love and thus missing out on peace completely.

Patience – I see so many intolerant people, I assume they are all anxious-filled to be wasting so much time and energy. Anxious people are not filled with peace and to me, if you’re not filled with peace, you don’t carry joy (or carry it falsely) and that means you sincerely don’t know love.

Kindness - Philippians 2:3-4 says, “count others more significant than yourselves” and “look to the interests of others.” This one really says a lot to the human race! Just like love and hate don’t walk hand in hand, neither does kindness and hate. If you are filled with kindness toward your fellow man, you don’t allow room for the hatred of your fellow man to seep in and shape who you are.

Goodness - God calls us to have true, right and pure thoughts (Philippians 4:8) God does not call us to hate or think negatively. Again, you’re playing the balancing act (and an act is just what it is) when you can place goodness and hate on the same path. Goodness is a part of loving your enemy as you LOVE yourself. If you hate your neighbor then you must also hate yourself.

Faithfulness – Faith-full-ness. Get it? You’re full of your faith and guided by the hand of God. By letting the dark one rule your thoughts and mind, you are not being pulled by the light of God. Being led down a thoughtless path of hate is not being full of God. Faithfulness is your commitment to the one and only Creator.

Gentleness – I really liked this one from Billy Graham: Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Build others up, don’t tear them down. Believe the best, don’t assume the worst. Distance yourself from harmful gossip.

This one really struck a nerve, in a good way. It helped me to see that I’m on the right path.

Self-control – Controlling the temptation. Another one that is harder than it sounds. So many fall into the pit and don’t even TRY to control it, they just let their crummy thoughts win.

Allow me to say if you can harness all of the eight above, you will have learned the art of self-control and how to utilize it throughout your life, in every aspect!

I have learned a lot as I grow from a young woman to a kinder, gentler, mature woman that it is only by the grace of God do I grow in love and plant the seeds that will refurbish the planet in the Light of the Son!

When people ask, “How do you sleep eight hours a night? Don’t you have any thoughts?”

My reply is simple, “Yes, I place them in God’s hands and find peace.” Know this friends, where there is peace there is rest.

Go with God and you can’t go wrong!

The Write Stuff

The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say. ~Anaïs Nin

***

Do you have the right stuff to write?

Well I put out three blog posts in one day yesterday, at over 500 words that's more than 1500 words. Wow! I sat amazed at all the writing I had in me.

I know I’ve been told that I talk a lot but I’ve been so tired and bogged down that writing never really grabbed hold of me like it did yesterday. I was in a writing frenzy like you wouldn’t believe. I could have posted this one too, but I did want to save something for today.

I think to write, you need the right stuff. A quiet environment, time, and support. If you have someone supporting you through your writing journey, it makes the trek that much more easier. This is why I surround myself with professional writers because they understand the journey better than anyone, and they’ll be the first to give you a leg to stand on.

Then their is the support of your friends. I have many ‘virtual’ friends who live in this windowed world and on many occasions they have lifted me to new heights. Since I’ve released myself of the ones who were wearing me down, trying to drag me through the mud to a hole where my headstone would be placed, I have moved on, happily.

I now sit here and look forward to spilling words onto the page that actually have some meaning to them, other than, ‘Have a great day’ and such as with the the social scene. No, the social scene is not for me. I’m a teacher at heart and I love to share knowledge in simple form. I don’t like all the scripted sounds of academia, I prefer straight up try-this-on-for-size skills.

I watch as people bumble around, looking like they have something important to say, or trying to look important or maybe even trying to make themselves feel important. All the while something is missing inside. Something burning them, making them feel that the only way to feel complete is live in a virtual world. That is sad. And those people have my prayers.

They should be writing something that makes them feel complete and whole. I try, when I sit down to write, to give you something that you will walk away with for the rest of your day. Whether you’ll be saying, “That spoke directly to me,” or perhaps, “I know a person like that,” or even you might think, “Wow she hit the nail on the head.”

Writing is my healer. Writing is my God given talent that I am putting to use. I’m not stuffing it on a social wall somewhere, I’m actually putting together sentences, that are coherent, legible and informational. I see that I have the Right Stuff. Now I need to see YOU have the Right Stuff. Have you written more than a paragraph today?

Write Right, and Write ON!

It's all about writing...

Those who are quite satisfied sit still and do nothing; those who are not quite satisfied are the sole benefactors of the world. ~Walter Savage Landor
***

When you come here, you expect to read about the writing craft, something, anything that my mind can produce about the craft. And usually that is what you get unless there is something really important that I need to tell you about my life.

They are far and few between which I’m sure you’re glad of; don’t need a woman ranting and raving now do you? Of course not, so I try to deliver tips and tricks of the trade, that maybe you can use in your journey to help you with your writing.

I often get sidetracked when diversity hits. Yesterday’s rant is a perfect example. I love f2k, that is a FREE Creative Writing course, that I have been an online mentor on, along with many other mentors, over the years. The diversity hit when things of the unexpected pop up in my face. We have eight classrooms, we had over 600 people register for the course, about 400 showed up, and in the first frantic week, well over 200 posted a lesson one.

Keep in mind, we mentors are all volunteer, taking our time out of our lives to lead writers in a new direction. So you can see my dismay when I am giving of my time, and some people ruin the learning experience, with taunts of food and smiley's.

I’d like to ask, when you were in school, did you have rules that you had to follow? Were you allowed to throw food around and whoop and holler when your friend went potty? The mentality has shifted.

I am all for a successful writing course, I’m all for leading and teaching newcomers and some really good writers, new stuff. But I am not a facebook fan, a social network person, or a child who has time to run around and play. I’m sure we’ll get the great learning experience back within our grasp, but right now, the Social aspect and chat chat chat, like like like, is what people want.

Out of respect to Bob Hembree, and all that he has done for me and more than likely will continue to do for me, I will continue on with this course that I started. I will remain in my room and balance the fruity and whimsical, like Carmen Miranda, all on top of my head, and just hope that the mounting fruit don’t topple.

Allow me to say, f2k has brought many writers into the PUBLISHED world and it is still a great course. I’m just a stiff shirt, who likes the academic side of learning and not the insane.

Day 3: A Lesson Learned

Acts 10:40 Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly;
***

Well today is day three of Adam going off to school. Guess what? I didn’t cry, he didn’t cry and we parted in a joyful, “I love you” as I watched him cross the lawn to go off into the world of knowledge.

I felt selfish the last two days crying and moping like a big baby, but then I thought, Crying because you love and miss your son is not being selfish, it’s pain being released. Selfish is not allowing him to grow.

It hit me the other evening when our neighbor, who is in the same school and rides the bus with Adam, had said, “I hate school. I’ve learned all I needed to and I don’t need it anymore.” I told him, “You never stop learning. Even me, I’m still learning.” God slap moment!

I realized that Adam needs to grow in knowledge that I can no longer give him. He needs to see and feel the world for all it is. I’ve taught him all that I can and now it is time for him to use what I taught him and go and learn from others. Last night as Steven, Adam and I all sat around doing Algebra (ugh) I realized so much of what Adam really needed.

Already surrounded by love, he will now flourish as a human being, and yes folks, I needed to FEEL this for myself. It’s like being told about God, but what a person really needs is to FEEL God in order to know the truth. No one person can tell you about God, you need to be shown.

This is still a writing blog about writing and I feel the need to share with all of my friends and followers the real me. I need to show you that there is a real human on the other side of this screen who is alive and willing to grow with all of you. I could have just started a new blog and made it all about Adams journey but I like to share the aspect of myself, that as a reader, you never connect with if I remain all about the technical field of writing.

You signed up as a follower, you signed on to me and all of me, not just what is nice and beautiful about me, but all the pains and heartache I, as a writer, go through. We’re on this journey together and always remember this, “You never stop growing!”

I know sometimes the day to day mundane crappola that we all go through might seem like we’re just robots functioning, but we’re humans. We think, feel, grow and live and we NEVER stop growing!

Thank you again for all your support! This is one writer who appreciates each and every one of you! ~~ Angel always...godspeed my friends!