A New Year

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

A New Year

Winning! Victory! Health! Out with the old in with the NEW! 

This New Year is going to be all about health and what the mind can do to help you organize a mindset of winning, for your health. Healthy living is hard. Expensive? If you’re sitting there with cable television, internet, a new iPhone and other gadgets, is your internet use more important than your health? You say you can’t afford healthy food but again, there you sit with gadgets out the gazoo that you pay monthly for upkeep but why isn’t your health worth the same upkeep?

Then I see people trying to navigate their health with supplements. When this disease hit me I turned into a research guru on health and am certainly more knowledgeable than I was a year ago. 

Your health cannot be obtained by supplements and this year my journey is all about healing and health. This year isn’t about a disease or illness. It isn’t about how bad I’m doing, this year is about how GOOD I am doing! Not many people want to know about healthy living but if you do, join me on my journey.

You might be asking yourself where does my strength come from. I hope you know me well enough to know but if you don’t and want in on my little secret, again, join me on this wondrous journey of health and healing!

Many people are amazed at my willpower and I myself am kinda shocked at the will I have to want to remain alive and healthy. I assumed everyone was like me but as I’ve seen my husband struggle with giving up this or that I realized that not everyone has my iron strength. Don’t think this as me stroking my ego because I’ve said numerous times I don’t know where it comes from but I have a clue.

As the New Year unfolds and people are making fake resolutions that they know full well they’ll break in a month, try giving up something on a smaller scale. Not as a resolution to break but as a victory to gain your health! Make it a goal to finish by years end instead of in one night of wanting and wishing. This year I challenge you, strive to give up three things: sugar, dairy, flour/grains. I myself have given up these three things and more, like meat, unhealthy carbs, and toxic living.

My strength comes from what I think is a culmination of multiple things put together. Think of a brick, alone, it is just a brick but where two or three are gathered it becomes a protective wall one that the Wolf in The Three Pigs doesn’t easily huff and puff and blow down. So when asked where mine comes from I have to say, there is strength in the number of bricks I use.

Number one is faith. Walking a fine line between doubt and faith will not work. God was right, man cannot serve two masters. You either walk strong in your faith or you walk a line of doubt. Minimal faith doesn’t cut it when your life is on the line. Take the word ‘but’ out of your vocabulary. I ‘think’ I can do it with God, ‘but’. There it is, the fine line of doubt! Get it right to find success.

The second bit of strength I find is in support. If you don’t have support, anything you try, you will fail. When I was first diagnosed and told my friends I was going the holistic route and trusting in God and my faith, some were in shock and fled, others were extremely opinionated while others moved in closer to give me their full support. Unload the non-supporting crowd, they are not worth having in the first place.

The third portion of my strength is DETERMINATION! When you want to quit drinking, smoking, to lose weight and become healthy you MUST be determined to succeed! Have you ever taken diet pills to lose weight and they didn’t work? It’s because you thought the pill would do all the work for you. That’s not how it works. Your determination is the WORK you yourself put into your eventual victory.

Number four is CHANGE! To become healthy, lose weight, quit drinking or smoking you must change! Change your diet, change your habits, change your routines. To SAVE your LIFE, CHANGE your life! In the beginning, my husband was an obstruction but to me I saw it as a challenge. When he reached for a smoke, I took a walk. When he reached for a Pepsi I refilled my glass of water. When he ate candy I ate fruit! Over time, the weight melted off like butter in the sun and I felt healthy and the best I've ever felt in my entire life. I started feeling better, eating better and living better. Guess what happened? I was having an influence on my hubby and others. In just two months he has given up sugar and is actively changing!

His health is changing, his weight is changing and this wasn’t because he made a resolution in the New Year it’s because he was determined to stay alive! Isn’t that what we are all striving for? In the coming year, the majority of my posts will be about health, eating right, exercise, strength and determination! I might even toss in a few recipes. Live or die!  I wish someone had said that to me more bluntly in my early years, maybe I wouldn’t have shrugged off healthy living for the lusts of the flesh. A Happy, Healthy New Year to you! 

Gal. 5:16-17 “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”

The Sacred Plant

God's Sense of Humor

this flourishes in my backyard

Ecc.  7:3 “Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.”

The Sacred Plant

Used for centuries as a medicinal plant that has healing power. It is sad to me that the stigma surrounding this plant has us, the people, brainwashed. I at times feel like a part of a herd of cattle in a pen all waiting for slaughter. I’ve used this term metaphorically before but I can’t bring it home enough for people to understand and let it sink into their head. 

When I say I am all for the legalization of Cannabis for medicinal purposes or other, I’m called a pothead, even jokingly, the term hits hard because I’m suffering and the oil is out of my reach. As of right now, if being a ‘pothead’ would heal this disease, then bring it on. If I were to ask a doctor to help me retrieve medicinal cannabis to heal this disease, they would tell me there is not enough scientific proof to back up what I’m saying. Yet there is proof, and no one wants to aid the healing of a human race smothering in disease and illness. This plant above is called 'Ditch Weed' and it grows wild in Nebraska.

Legalization is allowed in a few states but the other states are behind on the cattle drive. If cannabis could be harnessed, we’d have no national deficit, but the high and mighty powerhouse, Federal Government, and the pharmaceutical companies only think of the billions that they can be made. The doctors would rather prescribe oxycodone, methadone and morphine and other drugs than to SAVE LIVES. Are you brainwashed by them too?

Endocannabinoid system - The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is a group of endogenous cannabinoid receptors located in the mammalian brain and throughout the central and peripheral nervous systems, consisting of neuromodulatory lipids and their receptors. In other words, our bodies are wired to the healing of cannabis 
You'll have to copy and paste this link because, for some odd reason, blogger won't allow it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endocannabinoid_system

God created a beautiful system that makes up our bodies as a whole. To heal the inner body we would need to touch the Trinity aspects of the mind, body, and soul. You cannot just heal the body via drugs, you cannot heal your soul of sickness without healing the mind. While my aunt (by marriage) stated clearly that it was pharmaceutical drugs that have kept people alive. She holds confidence in the medical field. I hold no confidence in them. They want to kill me, drug me, and lead me to slaughter.

The past five days I’ve been pretty much down in the dumps. Depression had me in its grip and I needed to claw my way out through mud sliding through my fingers as I neared the top. I didn’t want to write, I didn’t want to express any joy or sorrow, I hit a roadblock and there I was in the grips of desolation.

Honestly what hit me was seeing people so happy. Freely living life content and sound. My mind plays tricks on me and I see those people living a false life because no one has a perfect life but that is what they portray. They’re not sick with a disease that threatens to take their life. Some are, I’m not minimizing your suffering. I see them eating, drinking and being merry, and me, I’m out here fighting for my life with herbal supplements and being shunned because I’m not in the same pen as all the rest of the herd of cattle.

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.”

Cannabis is a gift from the Creator for us to heal ourselves. Before big pharma came along, people treated ailments with herbs. Ancient cultures have healed for thousands of years before drugs were used, so telling me I’m ‘off my rocker’ for wanting to heal holistically, I’ll call you quackers for wanting to heal with drugs. Drugs don’t HEAL, they pacify, herbs HEAL! They are natural God given healers taken away from us and replaced by thoughts that DRUGS heal, herbs are for ‘quacks’.

Advocates for the Sacred Plant:
Julius Axelrod - 

Dr. Sanjay Gupta - 

Alice O’Leary Randall
Robert Randall - 

Irv Rosenfeld –

Cannabis patented by our government – the same people patenting cannabis are the same people filling our jails deeming it an illegal drug, the same people feed the herd toxins to survive.

Deception, greed, and fear are what rules this nation. Our choices in what we do will determine not only our future but the future of mankind. I’m watching a new series (yes, I’ve watched many in these four months) titled The Sacred Plant, this was the first one with a serious disclaimer:

“Disclaimer: This message is confidential. If you are not the intended recipient please either destroy this e-mail immediately and don't rely on its contents, or return it immediately to the person named above. Thank you.”

It’s pretty sad when there seems to be a healing potential being repressed and kept from us in the pen so we’re not released to our own will of free thinking. You might think you’re a person with your own free will and thinking capabilities but you were programmed to think and believe that. The ones out here taking seriously our own free will and acting on our own, are being met with stigmatization until we’re thought to be ‘whacko’ because we don’t follow the massive herd being led to slaughter.

Our veterans are being used as guinea pigs and that doesn’t upset you? 
But the Government is sabotaging those medical studies. Read this to see for yourself how they (the government) supplies bad cannabis to Johns Hopkins University for PTSD studies on Veterans. The government is having a hard time harnessing a weed that could make them trillions of dollars. 

Ditch Weed

Thank you to all of the advocates who stand up for what you KNOW and believe in! Thank you for staring in the face of the enemy (our government) and quite bluntly spitting in their faces. I pray that I have the strength that you have and can become a solid activist for a cause I believe in. I WILL overcome and be back to myself, I just needed a wake-up call.

To think, I could eliminate twenty supplements for this one highly priced, illegal healing oil that is a natural herb. Thanks, Nebraska, for nothing! 

Wake up people, we’re a brainwashed species being led to slaughter. “Heil Hitler”

Poetry Sunday ~ Sing-Song Spring

Mark 11: 23-24 "For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."

Sing-Song Spring!

The cardinals all sing

They sing to the spring

All the songs of joy they bring

Red will remind life to begin.

The robin happily bouncing 

around the ground a’ jouncing

Chirping out song all day long

To signal the season to come along

March is the month of birth

Where gracious gals greet the earth

To sing out a song of spring

Marking the seasonal swing

Sounds of spring fill the air

In the month of swinging flair

Songs give praise to longer days

Birthdays dance in sun filled rays!

My mother's birthday poem! Not a sad note on the page! Her birthday is on the 23rd, wouldn't you know, the same as mine! What a coincidence. And you all know what I feel about coincidences, right? No such thing! Enjoy and God Bless! 

Ten Things I Observed In 2016

Num. 16:30 “But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD.”

Ten Things I Observed in 2016

1) Every one of US is judge and jury.
(Think about it, you’re judging that statement right there)

2) Not everyone who says they’re a Christian IS a Christian.
(There is still tons of work to be done)

3) Every church is filled to the brim with sinners.
(As it should be. If all were perfect, there would be no need for a church)

4) Politics can destroy sanity and friendships.
(I see many people differently after this year)

5) Opinions are like an anus, everybody is born with one.
(I tried to be discreet here)

6) Life is filled with more questions than answers.
(Age old question, WHY?)

7) Not EVERYONE has all the RIGHT answers.
(They think they do but they are mere fools.)
Proverbs 18:2 (NIV) “A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions.”

8) Birds are the most pure in Spirit
(They weather below freezing temps, they know their place, have no opinions, and learned to soar with all that they’re given to survive!)

9) Death is just a transitional phase.
(Those who think otherwise need to do some deep soul searching)

10) IT’S OKAY TO GRIEVE!
(It’s okay to be sad for others who are hurting. It’s okay to be pained by a loss. It is okay to be sorrowful. There is a time to mourn and a time to move on.)

I’ve come to appreciate every second I’m alive, not just the days I make it through. Life is too short to judge the person sitting next to you whether homosexual or not, black or white, etc., these are your brothers that God wants us to LOVE! Love your neighbor as you love yourself. When you judge someone by their looks or sexual preference, the race, religion or color you are judging all the things that you yourself lack. 

Be wise in the New Year but most of all, BE BLESSED!

"There is more to life than what is in front of your eyes. May 2017 be the year that you embrace what you can't see." ~Joni

Half A Century

(google image)

Jude 1:2  “Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.”

All of my life I’ve lied about my age. When I was 16 I lied and said I was eighteen so I could get served liquor in the bar. When I turned eighteen, the drinking age was changed to twenty-one and wouldn’t you know it, I lied then too. Funny thing is, when I was nine and going to the bar with my mother and father I didn’t need to be a certain age and I was very good at being mischievously sneaky in getting a drink. 

It began earlier in life when I used to go to bingo with my mother and you had to be sixteen but at twelve I didn’t look sixteen and by the time I did look sixteen I didn’t want to go to bingo I wanted to go to bars. What a phase. 

Many people are ashamed of their dark past escapades but I can’t hold shame because it was the years that I was forming being shaped into the person I am today. Just so you know, I quit drinking at twenty-one because there was no more mystery and excitement and well I had already been married for four years at the time so life was steam-rolling ahead.

Even when I first entered this windowed world at thirty-seven I lied and said I was twenty-nine figuring I was the older woman to younger people, and the younger woman to older people, if that makes any sense. Even a few years ago, my nephew (by marriage) asked my age and I instantly replied closer to forty than I am to fifty. 

Even at CHURCH I told my friend whose wife is the same age as me that I was over forty and not near fifty. He replied, “Good because once you hit fifty, it’s all downhill from there.”

So why do we lie about our age? I have my guesses but the reality is, we are all too eager to be older then when we get older we miss being younger. Reality has a hold on me now, I’m NOT getting any younger and yes I’m getting older, just like everyone else. Maybe I’ll finally catch up to my friends who are all nearing sixty or older.

My friend said that it’s all downhill from here but darn, I’ve never started climbing uphill or had that moment of an uphill so why do I go downhill from here? I don’t. I stay myself and take what is tossed at me in the winds of change and embrace it for what it is, change! 

The year of change is taking on different hues and as I celebrate 50, and my mother celebrates the day back home with me, (yes, I was born on my mother’s birthday) and we keep climbing UPHILL to that stairway of heaven that awaits us at the end of this journey, I embrace the odyssey. 

To all the people who wish me a happy birthday, I thank them from the bottom of my heart. I have never in my fifty years had a birthday party for myself, my mother always had a cake that said happy birthday, Del and as a side note the cake would have ‘and joni’. My birthday was never a celebration of me and I learned to accept that. A birthday is just the day you mark yourself and shout out to the world I MADE IT ANOTHER YEAR! People are happy that you’ve made it another year and thanks to facebook many people get to celebrate your day in some way with you. 

While my life continues on and I can rejoice living another year, I’m not done climbing yet and the hill seems steeper and steeper with each step. I will move onward and upward no matter what limitations my body has and now when people ask my age instead of saying ‘over the hill’ I can say ‘still climbing’. I’m okay with that.  Teeheehee

As Holy Week this year includes my birthday smack dab in the middle, I will continue on the path of sharing all that God has filled me with in my life and through me you will see a spirit-filled woman who is truly blessed in every sense of the word. 

God bless each and every one of you as He has me!

Angel always…godspeed!

Jude 1:3 “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”

Angel Always... Godspeed

Pss. 104:4 “Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:”

Have you ever had one of those really good weeks where you wonder when the bottom is going to drop right out? It’s been that kind of week. 

Let me take you back two weeks when a dog, a yellow lab rounded the corner of the big blue barn-shed beside my house. Timid and scared, she made her way through my garden, around to the front of the house only to come back and sniff me out to see if I was an evil master or a good angel that she could trust. Anyone who knows me, knows she found a good person to trust in, right? 

I put up signs the next day looking for the owner, I searched lost dog sites and Facebook Lost Pet society to see if ANYONE owned this beautiful but scared dog. The one dog I saw on FB was named Reilly and this dog, for some reason, was responding to that name, but after posting a pic, the lady said it was not her dog. 

I own a dog, a pretty sizable female dog, so keeping Reilly is not an option but every day I’d wake and find her on my front steps or curled up in my garden. The days pass by and she’s still here letting us know she isn’t going anywhere. 

She has one of the deepest barks I’ve ever heard and keeping my neighbors and myself awake at night was going to be a serious problem! I bought a leash to hook her up to in the evening for when she goes on her midnight romps of chasing deer, skunk, raccoon or whatever she can bark at and it is working. She fell silent the nights hinged (a long chain with a collar) to a tree so I’ve since let her off to allow her the freedom, she barks it’s back on but this intelligent dog knows, just knows what I’m doing or trying to teach her. 

I posted a pic and my niece, Sara, right away said she looked like a dog I used to own named Shannon and that I just HAD to keep this dog. Another friend said that I HAD to take care of her because, Angel always? (my signature from way back) And that God would never turn ME away (yeah, the guilt card) and I’m kind of buying it but my husband has not softened up to her, yet. My sister said the dog was an angel sent for me. Oh my…

This was right around the time my husband lost his job but also right around the time he applied for a new job and got a call right away. Now, we can’t feed this oversized dog AND our oversized dog AND feed the family since well, no job and the time it will take to get money from the new job. Everything is stacked against me, or so it seems, from keeping this dog.

My neighbor has two small terrier dogs, a miniature Chihuahua and Reilly seems to think they’re her play toys. One day she played with them all day acting like the puppy that she is, not hurting them mind you, just jumping all around them telling them to play. Being older dogs they wanted nothing to do with Reilly. It brought back some unsettling memories of me as a child wanting to play and no one wanting to play with me because I was annoying or just the riff-raff type that their mothers wouldn’t allow their kids to play with. (Thanks Reilly)

Just so you know, I HAVE been feeding Reilly and giving her food and maybe THAT is why she won’t leave. When a thunderstorm hit the other night I was totally nervous for this dog being outside and I tried so hard to get her into my shed but she just shied away from me. Yesterday’s rain had me calling her again but she sauntered off and went under my neighbor Lisa’s trailer that she keeps as a doghouse for her dogs. It is just a trailer full of junk like old books and papers, magazines, old rugs and stuff. Reilly is one smart dog!

That brings me to today. Yes Reilly is still here wandering around this big old run down Turkey Ranch and greeting us when we walked out the door this morning to take my son to get his driver’s license. He had to take the same test that he failed three times before. But today would be different yes? YES!

Different from the other times was Adam’s optimism and confidence. I allowed him to wear my thumbprint necklace, which is a thumbprint of my deceased father. I wanted a part of my dad to be a part of this day. When Adam walked out the door of the DMV with a MALE who was going to test him, I knew, I just knew that this would be the day he passed! I even said, “He’s going to pass.” Just by seeing whom the tester was.

The other times he had a female to test him and Adam was not confident with them. This time was different Adam left with a smile and returned with A SMILE! A smile that signaled to me, he passed! I cried! I didn’t bawl my eyes out but tears began trickling out of my eyes. He came out the door with his temporary license in his hand, a smile on his face and I gave him the biggest hug ever! 

The week has been richly full of blessings. My mother has seen to it that we can make it until we get a real paycheck again by sending me ‘a treat’ which will buy me food and me taking care of Reilly is essentially ‘paying it forward’.

May the week continue to be joyful and prosperous as I head into my birthday week!

Angel Always, Godspeed.

Ezra 5:31 “Now when I had spoken these words, the angel that came to me the night afore was sent unto me,”

Reilly

A Friend to the End...

John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

A Friend to the End…

I first met Benning in 2003 during my first F2K class. We were not supposed to wander the rooms but the rebel in me had me wandering and I run into him. He called me ‘toots’ our very first meeting and I’ve liked him ever since.(an endearing name he calls many)

He didn’t chastise me for wandering, instead he said I’d make a good mentor and that is when my mentoring days began and a friendship blossomed! My writing was taking off but I was finding more joy in teaching, helping and learning along the way.

I eventually became a lifetime member of WVU thanks to Mr. Hembree and by this time more and more friendships were just the seeds I needed to add to my flourishing garden. Benning and I were mentor’s on many levels, sharing tips, pointing out each others wrongs and rights but each day, each passing week, our friendship was growing forming a special bond.

Something happened a few years back that I won’t regurgitate, but I was no longer a mentor and instead of Benning just letting me go and wallow in my own self-pity party, he joined me and stood by when it was one of the most difficult times in my writing career. That’s just the kind of guy he is though. I thought I was special but guess what, each and every person who knows him thinks they’re special too, and I bet they are to him, in their own way.

Through PM’s, emails and facebook we never let our friendship go sour. We’ve had bickers and bites, and many food fights, but at the end of the day, we each wished each other well and rose the next day to banter all over again.

I never took him for a ‘bible’ toting kind of guy, but a year or so ago, like me he began posting scripture. I always got on him about before you post it be sure you live it first. You know, a sort of practice what you preach kind of thing? I think this was his way of getting in tune with God. I was really glad to see this growing change in him.

I remember a time when he went almost a year without the internet, did THAT hinder our friendship? No way. He’d go to the library almost everyday, to get a book of course, AND to drop me an email asking me how I was doing and letting me know how he was doing. Yup, our friendship just kept growing and growing.

So here I sit today missing my friend and his banter. You see, he had a heart attack a little over a week ago and it called for immediate surgery. A week after his surgery he is still on oxygen after being incoherent for a week and just yesterday he was taken out of the Critical Care Unit and put into his own room.

Still not running the halls and causing a ruckus, (which I’m sure he’ll be doing soon!) this is a step in the right direction and I await the day I get an update from his family saying, “He walked and talked today.” Or better yet, “He’s out of the hospital and is resting at home.” Well he won’t be resting at HIS home but his folks’ place since he needs SOMEONE to take care of him.

This is a man who always goes out of his way to make everyone else smile, a man who shares happy faces and emoticons as if it was bread for the day’s meal. He’s a happy go lucky guy now in the hands of the Lord who is walking him through a healing journey. One we’ve all taken at some point in our lives but now it is his turn.

After he returns to the virtual world (six weeks or more) and he weeds through the many, many well wishes on his facebook wall, sorts through emails and Get Well cards, he’ll come here and read this blog post and know that I will not give up on him and allow him to wallow in any form of self-pity, I am his best friend and his friend until the end. It’s amazing to see what a little writing journey for me brought into my life for a lifetime. I miss ya, Ben! Get Well Soon!

Thank you Lord.

Mark 5:19 Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.

 

 

What a week

1 Peter 2:11  Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

***

Well the week began with a third trip into Omaha. Yes a third trip in a week. Upon arrival home, I collapsed on the bed and have awakened to today, Friday. Can you believe with all that rest, I’m still exhausted? I slept for eight straight hours last night and woke a few minutes late in getting Adam up for school. To say this experience has been draining is an understatement, but I made it!! :)

I’ll save the dramatics of the me me me and swing over to all that has been happening. Besides my face being in excruciating pain and all my limbs being numb, I’m good otherwise. But beau? He’s a blast. He’s returning to the old him and I don’t know whether that is good or bad but he can see and that is all that matters.

After watching him for two years slowly walk through the house, with his hands guiding him down the walls. He is now scurrying through here at record speeds. Yeah, Mighty Mouse has nothing on him. He’s actually seeing all that I haven’t done and fixing it to his liking. He cleaned up the filing cabinet, (the place I never entered until 2 and half years ago) and sorted through the mess I made. He likes perfection and where old bills are concerned? I could really care less. I mean come on do ya need bills from ten years ago?

He took on washing a load of his laundry. (I won’t let him touch mine.) What? Do I want to wind up with pink socks? Or have the only shirts I own covered in lint balls from sweat pants? Men are different, they don’t care. Rest the doc says, "How can I?" he spits back. Yeah...he's working in the basement today and I'm not even going to be the mommy and scold him. Whatever will be will be.

Now the world turns. As we’ve been kind of sitting in an idle position, the earth shifts and we move in a new direction. New things are happening, new things that will either bend us or break us, but they’re new so I’m kind of looking forward to seeing where this journey is going to lead us.

I’m sure it will all involve money we don’t have. With me having to make a dentists appointment, I know I’m looking at thousands, plays to attend, electricity to resume paying, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and lets not forget with this new sight, he’ll be cut off of Social Security as soon as it returns to his 20/20 and he can return to work. And no S.S. means no medicare, medicaid or any other financial help from the state.  Meaning, who pays for the much needed doctor visits?

Stressed? Me? Nah. Why should I be stressed? I’ve been let down by some close friends recently, hurt beyond returning, and I sit here and wait to roll off the axis that I’m trying to stand stable on as an earthquake erupts in my world.

The high point? I’m alive! He CAN SEE!!! And nothing else matters in life!!!

Praise be to God!

1 Peter 2 :9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:

War of the Worlds!

By now you have all read my current struggles and the blessings that have come along with it. I’m here to tell you more. You know I’ve been to the welfare offices, the Assistance for the Blind, Christian Community in Action (CCA for short) and you should know by reading my previous posts, nothing came easy.

It is a week before Christmas and I held onto my faith knowing that God was going to give me Christmas blessings. Satan on every avenue tries to bring me down, but I’m a here as a testament of the Reigning King of Kings prevailing!

CCA is a community outreach program that helps the needy. When I went to them for food, I was told that I wasn’t ‘on their list’. Imagine being turned away at a food bank! Trudging back to the main office to ask WHY we weren’t on the list, we found that the ‘worker’ had made a mistake. We had our voucher and were placed on the list. The following week we didn’t need them any more because God saw to it that blessings of food were abundant for me.

CCA sent me a voucher for the Christmas toys a few weeks ago and the date was Thursday the 18th. Imagine my shock when a week before Christmas I had very little for my son’s Christmas and to be told, “You’re not on the list.” I had my card that they sent me with my name on it and after twenty minutes of watching a woman run back and forth to see why I wasn’t on the list, she came back with the “O.k. let her through.”

I was allowed $75 dollars. (Supposed to be $100, but I was definitely not complaining! Give me SOMEthing and I’ll be on my way.) I had received $60 for mentoring a writing course and believe me it helped immensely! I purchased SEVEN games for my sons Gamecube system! SEVEN! But I didn’t get him that ONE toy that he REALLY wanted.

You know how us parents are, we need to see our kid light up because of that one special toy that we get them. In my son’s case, he wanted a $20 Bakugan. A six-piece set that we had seen at Walmart but I couldn’t afford. When I got my $60, that is the first thing I sought out! Walmart was OUT. “Oh well,” I said to myself, “he’ll be happy with games.”

At the CCA I looked and looked at the toys. I saw a Bionicle, Lego star wars things and there it was after scanning the aisles twice and not seeing it, I came back and heard a voice, “This is for Adam.” Chills ran up my spine as I looked; lo and behold, the Bakugan six piece set!!! Talk about amazing! Needless to say the tears were ever present during this visit.

I walked out with an entire Christmas for my son! He will be the happiest kid on the block, and most appreciative because he knows what we’re going through. I then went to a thrift store, everything in the store was either .97 or $1.97. Wow! I struck gold! Me in a thrift store is like a kid in a candy factory!

I can spend hours and hours in Kohl’s or JCPenny’s and walk out with nothing in my hands, but take me in a thrift store, you’d think I won a million bucks! I spent twenty bucks and guess what? Joni is going to have a wonderful Christmas! I found for me a 21st Century, Webster’s International Encyclopedia 10 volume set! For $1.97! WOW! Joni the reader is happy! And Joni the Writer is gloriously happy!

I even bought a basket for my neighbor. I’m filling it with fruit and giving it to her and her two kids. (That’s another story) WHEW! I’m blessed!

Did you hear me? I’M BLESSED! :::shouting from the rooftops:::

This Christmas could just possibly turn out to be the most richly rewarding Christmas that I’ll ever have. Not because of gifts, but because of BLESSINGS! I know so many people are struggling right now and if they only held out the hope and belief in miracles, they would receive the blessings to make all their NEEDS be fulfilled! (Notice I said NEEDS not wants?)

My son, Adam Omega, who turns thirteen on December 27 will have a glorious Christmas AND birthday!

*ALLELUIA AMEN!*

A True Christmas Story

A True Christmas Story

A tale was told one Christmas eve,

tis' better to give than to receive.

But I have no gift, my pockets bare,

I am but a poet, my poem I'll share.

I rose from my bed on Christmas Day;

the sun was peeking down where I lay.

I crept down the stairs so I could see,

had Santa left gifts under my tree?

I wasn't surprised, left unamazed,

I stood at my empty tree and gazed.

No gifts to give, my heart did ache,

but I would go on for Christmas' sake.

I threw on my clothes, rushed out the door;

just what is all this excitement for?

I have no gifts to give to thee;

no presents were left beneath my tree.

So how can Christmas be happy and gay?

What is the secret that makes this day?

I swung open the door, to my surprise,

my family was sitting before my eyes.

Greetings exchanged, hugs of embrace,

smiles that lit the entire place.

"We're glad you're here, accept this gift,

maybe then your spirits will lift."

I saw in their eyes a special glow,

that sunk my heart, and let me know,

that they were giving with deepest love,

for God had signaled from above.

The spirit of Christmas is a radiant gleam,

that shines through the soul, in a warming beam.

I have felt that warmth throughout the year,

by spreading laughter, joy, and cheer.

But a chosen day was set aside,

for all of our arms to open wide.

So the gift I give has no ribbons or bows,

I'll give you peace that warms and glows.

I'll tell you I love you, I'll make you smile,

I'll see that your visit was worth the while.

I returned to my house, I plugged in my tree,

there sat a star gazing down at me.

I looked at the star with wondrous sight,

for God had appeared that Christmas night.

I was given the secret of Christmas Eve,

tis' better to give, than to receive.