What’s the hardest decision you’ve ever had to make? Why?
Hello to you. I hope this finds you well in your world and if things are not going well that you have hope in your heart. Remember people all over the world are praying for you.
Today’s prompt calls to mind a couple hard decisions I’ve had to make. One was deciding to have a hysterectomy and never have children. We put my health as the priority. I had fibroid cysts that would have just keep coming back had I not decided to have my lady parts removed. The other decision that immediately came to mind was euthanizing our cocker spaniel Sam – we just didn’t want to let him go! He was so tired and weak when the end finally had to come. Sam was my soulmate and I don’t think I’ll ever have another like him. I’ve told God Sam had better be there in heaven when it’s my time to go!
Revelation 5:13New International Version
13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!”
Hello to you. I am writing to you after a wonderful day with family for Thanksgiving. I joined my cousin and his wife at her Mom and Stepdads place in beautiful hilly Emmett ID. My cousin Tony came and picked me up and we had a nice drive. Tawna put together a wonderful meal and I got to finally meet her parents for the first time since I’ve lived here. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberries, sweet potatoes rolls with butter and broccoli. I also got to meet their two dogs Dolly and Nora and they are definitely her mom’s fur babies! There was also a dove who had recently lost her mate. I felt bad for her. Tawna’s Mom is so sweet! She loved getting hugs from all of us. She’s a great hugger! I felt so welcome and like I already knew her before we met. Everywhere in the house were Bibles and Bible verses. One sign she had in the kitchen I liked was “Jesus is my healer”
Tawna had us each say what we were grateful for which I really liked. You can tell how much Alice and her husband Al love Jesus. She has a lot of scripture committed to memory. After we let our stomachs settle a bit, cleaned up and looked at some old pictures there was lemon merengue and pumpkin pie with a cup of coffee for dessert. Yummy! What a wonderful day!
Something really sweet happened while we were cleaning up. I heard whistling and thought it was Tawna as she whistles a-lot when she is in the kitchen but no it was her Mom Alice! Alice said whistling helps with whatever she’s doing go much easier. I loved seeing where my sweet friend Tawna gets her sweet nature and unwavering faith from.
Last night I watched The Ten Commandments starring Charleton Heston free with ads on YouTube. I can remember watching it when I was in grade school. After I saw it I have a memory of imagining myself to be Moses when I was doing road guard duty. The winds were violently blowing me around and I can remember stretching out my arms and trying to command the winds to stop! I didn’t have a staff and don’t remember if I was successful or not!
Remembered Dad today and our big Schmidt family gatherings on Thanksgiving – tomorrow we would have decorated the Christmas tree and went early to JcPenny for their Mickey Mouse snow globes
Hello there – how are you? It’s nighttime and close to bed time as I write to you. I was just looking at the stats for my blog for the past couple of days and was delighted to see how many different countries were lit up! I’ve always said that even if my words reach one other person and help them I’ve done a good thing. Sometimes reaching out is just to myself- getting out of my own head the thoughts that tumble around in there. Since I have become more active in my faith, I have been using my blog to reach out. May be something in my posts touches a part of you that needs to be touched. May be Jesus has found a way for me to be useful after all!
If Jesus wants to capture your attention, he will find his messenger to reach you. He uses the most unlikely of candidates to do this work. Lord knows I’m about as broken as you can get but he hasn’t given up on me yet. Once you say yes to Jesus you can never say no again… not without consequences.
Our little miracle Link with his momma Tippie
What is keeping you from Jesus? Sometimes things happen in our lives that make us mad at God. We want to blame someone for our misfortunes. If I were to tell you that for everything that happens in our lives is for a reason even if at the time it seems senseless would that help you to reconsider your relationship with Jesus? I think of each of our lives as part of an extremely complicated board game. So many pieces of this game have to be moved in just the right order by God for even one prayer to be answered. For example after my dog Sam died I spent three years grieving and begging God to bring him back to me. Well his answer came when I found two parts to a Christmas ornament from the Choctaw reservation announcing the arrival of a little drummer boy. I initially thought my friend Erin was pregnant as she is part Choctaw but no her dog Tippie was! We had said that if Tippie ever had a boy we’d adopt. Well Tippie gave us not one boy to choose from but three! Dutch, TJ and Link. God answered my prayers in the time it needed to take. He heard my cries and Link was that answer but so many things had to happen for him to exist. My God is a mighty God who even though I wasn’t a Christian at the time loved me.
The ornament I found and notes I wrote to include a little song
For the director of music. For Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A psalm.
1 I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. 2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted.
3 I remembered you, God, and I groaned; I meditated, and my spirit grew faint.[b] 4 You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak. 5 I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; 6 I remembered my songs in the night. My heart meditated and my spirit asked:
7 “Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? 8 Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? 9 Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”
10 Then I thought, “To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand. 11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. 12 I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”
13 Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as great as our God? 14 You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. 15 With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
16 The waters saw you, God, the waters saw you and writhed; the very depths were convulsed. 17 The clouds poured down water, the heavens resounded with thunder; your arrows flashed back and forth. 18 Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked. 19 Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen.
20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Hello to you. Just back from a walk – it’s chilly out but not enough to wear a coat.
2 Corinthians 4:16-17 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.
Hello to you. I just finished watching Jesus Revolution and I’m so glad I finally got to see it! I was moved to happy tears several times. How I wish such a movement could live again in the people of our age. I loved seeing Jonathan Roumie as Lonnie Frisbee the charismatic preacher that Greg Laurie portrayed by Joel Courtney met on his journey to loving Jesus. I also loved seeing Kelsey Grammer as Chuck Smith – seeing his smile was so contagious! You could tell he really enjoyed this role- he was perfect for it. Seeing people getting baptized by the multitudes was so beautiful. My baptism was inside but still just as moving. The enemy definitely lost one that day! I can imagine how furious the enemy got during this movement. I think, judging by what’s happening in our church, more and more people are returning to Jesus. When Pastor Jason tells the young people it’s time for them to go to their classes so many file out! We have so many young people who love Jesus at our church. We need more volunteers! I have been thinking about seeing what I can do but am not sure I am qualified! I will continue to ask the Lord what he wants me to do. May be I am already doing a part of it by writing this blog! All said and done if you are looking for a positive movie – watch this movie!
Internet synopsis of the film:
In the 1970s, Greg Laurie and a sea of young people descend on sunny Southern California to redefine truth through all means of liberation. Inadvertently, Laurie meets a charismatic street preacher and a pastor who open the doors to a church to a stream of wandering youth. What unfolds is a counterculture movement that becomes the greatest spiritual awakening in American history.
Good evening – it’s before the nightly journey of bedtime. I have been getting some sleep and having some pretty wild dreams. Hope this finds you well. Tonight I learned a new word from a live streamer I watch named Maddie. She said her favorite word is sonder. Here is what AI says it means:
Sonder is the realization that every random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own, with their own ambitions, friends, routines, and worries. It is a neologism created by John Koenig in The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows to describe the profound feeling of understanding that everyone is the main character in their own life story, not just a background extra in yours.
If you think about it there are so many random people that flow in and out of our lives. So many stories to be told. I often think of this when I’m in the car and come to a stoplight with many other cars filled with people. I think of the multi-verse. How many worlds within worlds! Each car a world of its own and within that world passengers – each a world of their own. No one is insignificant. Everybody is somebody!
Psalm 8:4-6New International Version
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?[a]
5 You have made them[b] a little lower than the angels[c] and crowned them[d] with glory and honor. 6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their[e] feet:
Hello to you. I’m just back from a walk and fantastic free steak dinner at Texas Roadhouse with my cousin and fellow veteran Tony. When we got there it was really busy but we had a short wait. Lots of Veterans! You could tell by their caps. A lot of Vietnam veterans. We were really pleased with the service and the meal. Our server was Devon and he was very attentive. For a free meal we got quite a lot and the quality was really good. We got iced tea, fresh baked rolls, a salad, 6 oz steak and fully loaded baked potatoes. It was the perfect amount of food. Tony and I got caught up and swapped stories about our time in the service. He was in the Navy. We are both getting older and had lots to talk about with our bodies aches and pains! We don’t get to see eachother very often so tonight was a real treat for both of us.
Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. 2 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. 3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, 4 praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, 5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
Hello to you this sunny Saturday morning. Today, all over the world, no kings rallies and marches are going on. People are gathering together in numbers to voice their discontent over what is manifesting all around the world. Our ancestors here in the states left Great Britain and came to America to escape tyranny and religious persecution. We wanted a life of freedom and were willing to fight and die for it. We are now having to rise up again and hopefully our elected representatives will take notice. It can’t be just for a day!
There are some who are saying if things keep going the way they are, there won’t even be an election in 2028! With everything that has happened already that rumor isn’t too far fetched. They are finding ways, plotting ways, to make it more difficult to vote. Finding ways to stop certain voters. The upcoming primaries will be very important and will have an impact on what happens in the future.
The upheaval that is happening all around the globe is a warning sign for those in positions of power. We the people put you there and we the people can remove you!
Matthew 24:6-8New International Version
6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
Hello to you. I’m just back from a beautiful walk. The weather is just perfect! It felt good to walk off the lunch I had with Ruth and John at Burger King after Bible study. They are getting a new roof put on today. When I left them it looked like it was nearly done! Looked good!
Well my prayers were answered regarding yesterdays quandry about whether or not I should share my story here online. The answer from my family and Bible study was a resounding no. It’s just not safe or in my best interest to share so much personal information about myself online. I have already shared bits and pieces in previous blogs if people are curious about my journey. I think what happened when I got baptized was I had some layers of me stripped away. It really was a profound experience that is going to be with me for the rest of my life! It’s like being reborn in a way.
What’s interesting to note is how quickly Jesus answered my question of what to do. I have only been praying and my family has been praying about it for a couple of days. He used the people that love and care for me to give me my answer quickly. I truly believe from experience that believers are the bodies God uses to do his will. I also think the quick answer was to protect me and also give my Aunt Ruth peace of mind. She was really worried about me.
If it is only going to be like a journal it’s not handwritten- it’s on my phone using the notes application. My Aunt and I were trying to figure out if I should print it out or not. She thinks it should only be family that reads it. She is worried other people that aren’t family might treat me differently if they read it. I will continue to talk to Jesus about it as long as it’s on my mind.
Psalm 91:11New International Version
11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
Baptism- Symbol of New Life (Romans 6:3-4):Paul explains that being baptized into Christ means being united with him in his death and resurrection, so that, “just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life”.
Hello to you. I’m just back from a cool walk around the block. It’s really starting to feel and look like fall. Yesterday my Aunt and Uncle had me over for some cozy beef stew and a new episode of one of our favorite Britbox shows Sister Boniface. It was kind of sad as it seems like the show may be ending by how the episode ended.
The topic today is because I have finally, after many years, started putting to words my experiences as a Bipolar person. Specifically what has happened to me through manic episodes. I had started on it a year ago and picked it back up yesterday. It was like my brain just was dumping all kinds of memories. I could probably write a book there is so much! Anyhew I was talking about this thing I’m doing with my dear friend Tawna and she was wondering what I was going to do with it. I said I wanted to share it in my blog and she expressed concern. She suggested that may be I should get an impartial party to read it first – for safety’s sake. I just don’t know who. She suggested somebody like my Pastor Jason but he’s already got so much on his plate! What I need is an editor to read it and get it streamlined. I will continue to pray about it. I will say putting together all these things really stirred me up. Once I got started everything came back. I keep thinking that what I’ve been through wasn’t for no reason. I’ve been through so much these 57 years. It’s been about 23 years of those 57 of being Bipolar. Maybe sharing my story will help someone? How much is too much to share on social media? Your feedback is welcomed.
Matthew 24:27-31 (NIV):
“For the Son of Man will come with the glory of his Father in the company of his angels, and then he will reward everyone according to what they have done… “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory”.
To be 