Well, at least there’s that...

I sent this picture to my kids with the comment, “Daniel wants to play, but I’m a little hung up,” lol   Courage is not being brave, it is not denying the problem, it’s not seeing the problem as less of a struggle than it is. If courage could be gained doing any of those thugs courage would lack it’s greatest advantage,”faith.”  Have you ever felt like the struggles have been so hard that you start to believe the struggle is the outcome? In other words , struggling just to struggle more.  The problem with the conclusion that the struggle and the reward are the same is becoming battle weary. Suddenly everything is a struggle.  I’ve been there  Over two years ago someone told my mother that they believed wouldn’t be on oxygen for the rest of my life. The struggle to breathe was hard and I had no courage or faith to believe one day I wouldn’t need it anymore.  became  very angry with God. The only thing that’s bad about being angry with God, is not a...

 This is Daniel, my service dog. Is it normal for a dog that’s two years old to wear a t-shirt and shoes? This may be hard to hear, but it’s part of a story that needs to be told. I pray that it helps you learn to protect yourself and your children.  Pedophiles and abusers have one thing in common; they choose their victims carefully. Once they have gained trust and access to their victim they can actually “abuse “ them in the middle of a crowd and no one notices. These people are trained to tell you “ he/she” is just trying to show you they love you , or “ pray for them” or, “ that’s just the way they are “.  Meanwhile the victim stands frozen in place confused and full of shame because the predator says things like “ how could you think that of me?  I’m your (father, brother, uncle, family friend.,.) and you know that I love you.” The biggest weapons they have are secrecy, shame, and keeping their victim off balance by accusing them of being irrational .They victim...

 Call to action!  The scripture says that we should be :Wise as a serpent (that sees everything on its belly. ) It sees the dirt, the earth, the obvious. And tells us to be as Harmless (wrong word) as a dove! Doves master what the serpent sees! We’re doing this wrong! Reptiles live a lot longer than birds. Eagles rise! Snakes have had centuries to shed skin and become something else. If we (Eagles) crawl the ground with them, they will always win.  Here’s my call to action. Eagles rise! The view is delusional from the serpents angle. They see everything in front of them. They manipulate their environment from the filth of their own creation.  We’re doing this from the wrong angle. One snake yells to the other “snake “ then laughs .  They laugh because it’s obvious to them .  The Eagles are screaming “snake “ and trying to point those snakes out to other eagles . We’ve been trained to think that if Eagles are aware of snakes others eagles will join the band ...

 “ yeah though I walk THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death ”’. Ps 23.  I’ve heard this scripture and totally missed the point.  I had an interesting revelation.  I read it again and realized that the scripture doesn’t say “ yeah though I get over the valley of the shadow of death because death doesn’t matter, it won’t make any difference in your future . “ Jesus never told anyone to “get over it “ He said to go through it, he said not to be afraid only because He’s there.  Wow! Jesus is in the Valley of the shadow of death!  He himself didn’t avoid that valley at the cross. Wow! You know what else he didn’t do?  He didn’t dismiss the Valley, he didn’t tell his disciples it was no big deal! He told them to remember his death, burial and resurrection. Two of the three above mentioned were horrible. If he denied the first two the third wouldn’t have made a difference. What did Jesus do with grief? I was reminded that Jesus, at the tomb of Lazerous we...

https://pin.it/41j24Zw Being raised in church has a lot of advantages. However there is a problem. There are some scriptures that I heard so many times and so many ways that those scriptures became “sayings”.  They sound good, even churchy, but they don’t mean anything. I don’t have televisions. 😱.  It’s not a religious or moral decision. I limit things that terrify me.  Have you read the news lately? Jesus come quickly. Anyway, this gives me more time to just think.   I’ve heard the saying “don’t cast your pearls before swine,” that became a “saying “. Yes it’s a scripture.  This thought never made sense to me.  What are pearls and who the heck are pigs and how do you recognize a pig ? I mean, we’re taking about people, right? The pearls part was always pretty obvious, until I thought about it.  But I missed something very important about oysters and even clams   Do you know how these crustaceans make pearls? Here's the process I read onlin...

  https://pin.it/2RvpPde Here are some random thoughts... First, please subscribe. I enjoy sharing my thoughts with you. I hope you'll add your thoughts. It is no fun thinking all by myself. 😢  So, first thought...."God, why am I still here?" Do you ever wonder? I have suffered from depression for most of my life and that thought has reoccurred to me FOREVER. I love that people have such wonderful answers (they think). "God has you here for a reason." "There's a purpose to all your suffering." "God has something big in store for you." I have one question. WHY? If that's all true, then, if God loved me wouldn't he tell me my "purpose"? "I'll do it!" Sometimes I just get angry, this is ridiculous! One thing after the other...wash, rinse, repeat.  I was not seeing the upside of this equation. So, I tried to "manage" my reasons; to play the piano, to sing, to inspire people to... fill in the blank.  ...

 I’ve often heard the saying “ keep the peace”. How do you do that? Recently I encountered an unacceptable situation. One person was disturbing the peace of many. It really made me angry.  I’m 1/2 Irish and 1/2 English. For the most part the English keeps the Irish in check. So, I don’t get angry very often.  When I do get angry it’s best to leave me alone. Anyone else?  Don’t try to talk me out of it and certainly don’t try to prove your point.  This particular situation caused me to get so angry that I wrote a complaint and signed a petition. I know, how horrific… not.  I started thinking what does keeping  the peace mean? I had it in my head that keeping the peace meant keeping quiet; tolerance.  I think our world is full of peace keepers that just don’t cause or point out trouble.   My source for reason is always the Bible.  The beatitudes do not say “blessed are the peace keepers” That was a stunning thought. The blessing comes to t...

 Maybe it’s just me, I’ve been thinking about my life. I’ve been a “fill in the blank” person. In ministry there’s a saying “buy one get one free”. I always knew when I was the “free” part when the hiring committee asked me “do you play the piano” when interviewing my husband for a job at a church.  I don’t know what that has to do with anything, but it strikes me as ironic. Would any other kind of work pose that kind of question to a potential employee?  Like “Ok. We’re going to hire you as manager of this restaurant.” “Does your wife cook?” “Great! You’re hired. . Back to my point. Did Thomas Edison need a light at night? Did Alexander Graham Bell need to talk to people that weren’t in his immediate location?  Did David “in the Bible “ need to be king? I don’t know the true answer to the first two. I do know they had a strong desire to solve a problem.  It had to be a strong desire because they failed over and over, until they didn’t.  David is a little e...

 Have you ever believed something for so long that you didn’t even consider another option?  I’ve heard and even sung about “ seeking”. You know , “seek and you shall find.” It sounded so simple.  I envisioned myself knocking on doors in a room full of doors until I found the right one.   I’ve given that a lot more thought lately.  I was looking back at patterns in my life. Someone would give me a solution to a problem and in my heart I’d say “that’s not it” and move on.  I think I’ve gotten better at moving on when the door isn’t the one I need.  For the longest time I’d go to one door and knock and knock and even though I was getting undesirable answers I kept returning. Let me take you back to my bout with cancer.  I knew something was wrong. I went to the Dr and he gave me antacids and told me I was fine. I went back to him and told him I was in a lot of pain and he said “cancer doesn’t hurt “. I went back again because I couldn’t sit up by my...

Patience has been given a bad rap! Let me start with what patience is not: tolerating bad behavior, accepting abuse, keeping silent when others are overreaching the boundaries you have placed, waiting in denial that something or someone will rescue you. It is not passive.  I have heard many people say “don’t pray for patience because you’ll get stuck in traffic.” Hmm. So, praying for patience will put me in situations that cause me great anxiety and “tolerating it” gives me patience ??? No, it makes me angry and at that point “patience” becomes my ability to control my anger ? Which leads to another subject : self control, which I will not discuss here.  So, what is patience?  Patience takes guts. Let me give you some examples. Training a child does not mean that I get hostile or angry or tolerate bad behavior.   Patience in this situation requires the ability to communicate in a way that can be clearly understood. Patience is work .  A child has no reference fo...