Quotation Saturday ~ Faith ~ Strong

Rom 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

FAITH

“When God is going to do something wonderful, He or She always starts with a hardship; when God is going to do something amazing, He or She starts with an impossibility. ” 
― Anne Lamott

“Radical obedience to Christ is not easy... It's not comfort, not health, not wealth, and not prosperity in this world. Radical obedience to Christ risks losing all these things. But in the end, such risk finds its reward in Christ. And he is more than enough for us.” 
― David Platt

“Having faith in God did not mean sitting back and doing nothing. It meant believing you would find success if you did your best honestly and energetically.” 
― Ken Follett

“In order to have faith in his own path, he does not need to prove that someone else's path is wrong.” 
― Paulo Coelho

PROMISE

“Men promise freedom while establishing laws; God promises laws while establishing freedom.” 
― Criss Jami

“Make a promise to yourself that you will always choose growth over safe and dreams over fear.” 
― Brittany Burgunder

“Love meant hope. Without love, life held no promise.” 
― Christie Craig

“The promise you attract is determined by what you seek” 
― Sunday Adelaja

HEALING

“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” 
― Rumi

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

“Our wounds are often the openings into the best and most beautiful part of us.” 
― David Richo

“Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason.” 
― Novalis

STRONG

“The one who falls and gets up is stronger than the one who never tried. Do not fear failure but rather fear not trying.” 
― Roy T. Bennett

“She made broken look beautiful
and strong look invincible.
She walked with the Universe
on her shoulders and made it
look like a pair of wings.” 
― Ariana Dancu

“So he tasted the deep pain that is reserved only for the strong, just as he had tasted for a little while the deep happiness.” 
― F. Scott Fitzgerald

“My scars remind me that I did indeed survive my deepest wounds. That in itself is an accomplishment. And they bring to mind something else, too. They remind me that the damage life has inflicted on me has, in many places, left me stronger and more resilient. What hurt me in the past has actually made me better equipped to face the present.” 
― Steve Goodier

Happy Birthday to ME!

Pss. 118: 17  “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.”

Happy Birthday to Me...I am Special

I had a dream last night with my brother-in-law, M, and sister-in-law, B, in it; they crept into my dream to point out that I am special. In the dream, he said I couldn’t go to the store he goes to because I wouldn’t be allowed to register. M went on to say that I was above that store, meaning I was too good to shop in the store. At first, I was offended but my S-I-L was saying that he meant it in a good way. He said that I was special in my thinking and very rare and that the people wouldn’t allow the likes of ‘my kind’ in their store. Geez, I never even got to see what kind of store I was too good for, but since he is an avid member of agriculture and all things Monsanto, it might have been a feed store, in my mind anyway.

I have to admit, I am kind of special. I came into this world on my Mother’s twenty-ninth birthday, the last of six kids. Every year on our birthday my mother gives each of us kids our birthday story and of course, my day was special for different reasons than theirs. Besides the special day, the thing that stood out to me the most was her doctor had told her she had plenty of time before delivery and to relax. He left the room and within minutes I popped out! As the nurse called the doctor back into the room, I was already in her hands, covered in ooze for the doctor to clean up. 

Ironically, in my twenty-ninth year, I gave birth also. It wasn’t on my mother’s birthday instead it was three days before my dad’s birthday, both right after Christmas! And my doctor did the same exact thing, he said I wasn’t ready to deliver; I was hours away from delivering. I said to him, “Stay close because that is exactly what my mother’s doctor said when I was born and made a hasty arrival.” The doc left the room chuckling and bam! I was so ready to push! He wasn’t minutes out the door, he didn’t even have time to put his scrubs on, hurrying back to the scene and there my son was, arriving in a hurry, my after Christmas special surprise.

Then there is the fact that I’m the baby of the family. My mother always treated me special and my siblings made sure I knew that she treated me more special than them. 

Then there’s God. I woke this morning to gusty winds and clinging cloudy skies. I sighed. But it’s my birthday, I’m special remember I uttered softly to the morning. As I continued on in the quiet of the morning reading my scripture I could see light outside the window meaning morning was near. I opened the curtain a little because I love looking out at the sunrise. It sure didn’t look like I’d get one today with all of the clouds.

Then it happened, the clouds parted just enough for me to see a glimmer of sun streaking its rays out of the clouds. There it was, God said to me, “You ARE special!” I hurriedly snapped a picture. Then I sat down and the sun burst momentarily through the clouds so bright I had to close the curtains a little! I looked at the weather for the day: windy, clouds and chance of storms later. 

3 23 18 Sunrise

Yes, I am special! A thunderstorm this evening will be icing on my cake! No, I didn’t have cake, I don’t miss it either! I had a glutenfree pizza! That’s my Friday treat. It’s been five days without the use of my cane. I went shopping yesterday on a sunny 65-degree day and am almost (not 100%) myself again! I’m special!

I have wonderful friends who all took time out of their day to wish ME a Happy Birthday! I thank them from the bottom of my heart! My sister called, my husband was home as was my son, my mother-in-law gave me a beautiful card and an enormous fruit tray! And to finish off the day… A thunderstorm! It is well…with my soul! 

God Bless you ALL! 

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,

It is well, it is well with my soul.

Refrain:

It is well with my soul,

It is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,

Let this blest assurance control,

That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,

And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!—

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:

If Jordan above me shall roll,

No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life

Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,

The sky, not the grave, is our goal;

Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!

Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!

And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,

The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;

The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,

Even so, it is well with my soul.

One of my favorite songs!

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”

My Inner Strength

2 Sam. 22:33 “God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.”

My Inner Strength

I remember as a child my sister would always tell my mother, “Let Joni do it, she’s the strong one.” Even now, with this diagnosis, my sister told her daughter, “Joni will beat this, she’s the strong one.” This is the reason I’ve yet to tell my mother anything about this, she’s not the strong one. 

I always felt like my older sister looked up to me because she sees me as the strong one. She always turned to me whenever she had any problems whether physically, emotionally, spiritually, or psychologically. I’m the baby and my family always looked up to ME because I was deemed the strong one, the one looked to in a time of need, the one once depended upon.

That’s a lot of weight for the baby of a family of eight, including my mother and father. I was the one full of courage; the thread that kept the blanket together and when I left the family unraveled one string at a time. They more than likely wouldn’t admit to the downfall of the family to my leaving them but honestly, if they look closely they’d see the total demise coincide with my leaving home.

Job 4:4 “Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.”

I wonder now if I wasn’t led away from home and my family to build up that inner vitality because God knew I would need all my strength for right now, this place and at this time! When God told me to leave all of my possessions behind I did, going to Texas with the clothes on my back and some toys and clothes for my son. 

Looking back now I see God’s handiwork as He molded and shaped each instance to bring about an inner tenacity that I would need for this exact time in my life. He was building a solid palace and what I left behind was a shell of a straw hut. My family had drained me and I needed this stability to carry me through all that I’m enduring now.

Pss. 40:2 “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.”

When I was diagnosed I could have crumbled, fell to my knees and allowed the doctors to carry me away in handcuffs and lead me to my death. Instead, I found this amazing inner muscle to stand firm, rise and announce that I was going to heal with the Lord’s handiwork. Was I crazy? What was I thinking? Where on earth did I find the willpower to fight what I deem the strong arm of the law, the doctors? 

Let me tell you, when I was a child I had to fight off sexual predators on a daily basis. I had to fight with superhuman brawniness and stand up to my parents for my faith when they were of a completely opposite religion. When I lost my first child many wanted me to fall; when the Lord and I overcame drug addiction and alcoholism they wanted me to buckle. Depression? Fought and won! I was supposed to do everything the way they were normally done with doctors, medication and follow along in life on a leash like a nice little puppy.

2 Sam. 22:40 “For thou hast girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up against me hast thou subdued under me.”

Instead, I busted through the ashes, I stood with the Rock of my Salvation after fifty years of struggling against what the world wanted me to be, normal. I was in no way normal and I’m not ashamed or embarrassed to make such a statement. Nothing about God or Jesus is normal; nothing about the Omniscient Lord is normal, and I’m honored to not be normal with Him!

So when people look at me and ask where I find the ironclad strength to go on, I tell them, God. Where and how do I stand against what is ‘expected’ of me, God. God has NEVER put a leash around my neck to lead me astray. He’s never fed me lies so that I looked good to the people. He has made me abnormal for all the world to look at, laugh and scoff, and tempt me with lies and feed me the poisons of a system gone wrong.

You might ask why would a loving God do that to a person? So you can SEE Him, all his Healing Power, all His Glory, and all of His Saving grace. He didn’t whip me into submission; I followed Him willingly on my own because I found an inner strength and serene peace there, in His arms. I could have bailed at any time for an easier life but I chose the hard road because the hard road was going to make me STRONG and THIS is where I find my Inner Strength! 
All praise and Glory to God! 

1 Chron. 29:12 “Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.”

The Well Is Dry

“The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” 

– Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

The Well is Dry

After writing yesterday, I prayed about what I wrote and the reason behind why on earth would I share such a pity party post? Well, I know why, because even I have my bad days. People think because I laugh and make them smile that there is nothing wrong in Joni’s world, well let me tell you, there are things wrong in my world! 

Is it possible to focus too much on the Lord, therefore alienating yourself from the rest of the world? Am I to blame for all the angst in my life? I sometimes think I am. 

I’m trying to get back into writing and my well is dry. I woke this morning with a renewed faith when cool air kissed my cheek in the middle of summer. It was 6o degrees and a storm was about to erupt when all of a sudden, a poem came to my mind. The rain began falling, the thunder cheered with lightning displayed across the sky.

Was this God cheering me on? Was He letting me know He was right there and hasn’t left my side? It is as if He was filling my well with water to drink and words to write. The poem I wrote was, God is Crying. I normally write a poem, let it rest a day, then come back to the poem and fix anything that doesn’t work for me. Through the thundering morning and cool rain showers egging me on, I felt the need to post the words right away, so if you see something wrong with the poem, take it up with Him.

Proverbs 16:9 (NIV) “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.”

I sometimes wrongfully think I’m in control of my life when I know full well God is in complete control. When I whine of the pain I’m in and cry about the reasons my disability hinders me from doing what *I* want to do, I have to remember who it is I work for first and foremost. If anyone remembers (you have to go back to my posts from 2011-12) my disability hit me after my hubby got his sight back after being blind for two and a half years. The many hours behind the wheel driving to and from Omaha, sometimes two times a week, (6-8 hour trips) took its toll on the lumbar portion of my back.

Had this happened while he was blind, I would have never been able to do the work that I felt God had called me to do and that was to take care of my man. Yes, that was basically the job I signed up for when I met my beau but it was so much more than that. God had His hands in the stew the entire time and he decided to whip it up a bit to see how I handled the situation. 

I’m allowed a day or two to feel sorry for myself, by dagnammit, no one else will or does for that matter so I feel I have to have my bad days or I’ll never rise up and be more than the pain that defines me.

It’s weird how me having a bad day warrants hits on my blog out the gazoo! My happy, joyful posts might get 13-20 hits but my woeful, pained posts near the hundred and over hit mark, how odd is that? When I began this blog, it was all about the writing craft and when I decided to make it about God, I no longer wrote for other people, the hits or the followers, I took on the challenge to write what God wanted me to write and what I felt that He spoke to my heart to say to the world.

I no longer write to satisfy everyone else, I never LIVE to satisfy others; I only live for God, pain and all. I realize that God has me this way because my heavy lifting, hours upon hours of driving, snow shoveling and overworking myself days are over. I would have never stopped so God made sure I stopped, maybe so I wouldn’t further damage myself, after all, He did see ahead of the steps I take, this is His plan and not one of my own selfish making.

Sure I would love to be able to walk normally again, to dance while dusting, to skip while vacuuming, to meditate while mowing the lawn but that is not God’s plan for me. His plan is for me to rest. Maybe he has something big planned or maybe not, maybe the walk in the cornfields is His plan for me. Nah, I know that is not His plan, He told me so. Now you’ll have to tolerate me a little longer!

I’ll end this post on a happy note. While my husband is complaining that the 61 degrees and rain is too cold for the month of July (he LIKES the 100 degree days), I am relishing the dampness of an eight-hour rainfall accompanied by a dark overcast sky with stormy weather erupting every half hour or so. I have washed clothes, dried clothes, and folded them all because my back loves cooler temps and affords me more mobility than normal. Praise be to God.

I have written two blog posts today and all is right with the world…for today. May you look at God’s plan as the master plan for your life and your own plans as selfish fodder. Life is already too short to be giving up when YOU are done, always remember it will last until God is done!

“We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.” 

– Mother Theresa