12 August 2023 Most Important Thing

What is the most important thing to carry with you all the time?

Hello to you. How are you doing on this sunny hot day? It’s 88 degrees here right now as I write to you. Link and I are on the porch getting some vitamin D. Had trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep again last night so I checked for a movie to watch and Amazon Prime had the movie Megan. That movie about a little girl robot gone rogue. Another movie warning us about what is possible with the direction we are headed with robotics and AI. A lot of messages woven through it about raising children too. How many overworked parents have turned the care of their children to video games, television and smart phones?!

This movie made me think of movies like AI, Prometheus, Humans and Blade Runner. What if in all this that we are doing the quantum computers and robots develop consciousness and can’t be turned off? What if they decide to hate their makers? We will have to vote with our pocketbooks and not get sucked in to the hype. Once these cats are out of the bag there will be no way to stop it – kind of like people not wanting to part with their cars and guns. People develop emotional attachment – the Humans show did a good job of illustrating that with William Hurts character and his ailing robot. He didn’t want to replace him because he had so many memories stored inside of him….like our smart phones!

William Hurt as George Millican(series 1), a retired artificial intelligence researcher and widower who suffers memory loss and physical disabilities secondary to a stroke. He forms a special bond with his outdated caregiver synth named Odi.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org › wiki

Humans (TV series) – Wikipedia

Feedback

Todays prompt is tough for me as other than my phone most of the time there isn’t anything I carry with me all the time. Sometimes I will carry a crystal in my pocket but that isn’t very often as I’m afraid I will forget it and it will end up in the laundry! I like having Link with me most everywhere but he can’t be everywhere with me because he is a spoiled child lol!

You talking about me again?

Psalm 40:1-3New International Version

Psalm 40[a]

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

1 I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
and put their trust in him.

10 August 2023 Alternate Universe

Describe your life in an alternate universe.

Hello to you. How are you? I’m just back from my weekly prayer group and getting my blood drawn to check my Depakote levels. It was nice to be able to just drive up the road to get the blood work done instead of going all the way to Boise. Looking forward to this afternoon and helping out with a hotdog event for the church at Middle Creek Elementary School. I will be helping to serve the hot dogs.

Todays prompt provokes thoughts of a lot of “what if’s.” What if my birth mother had not taken her life- would I even be writing to you right now? I would not have met my stepmother and all her family. I wouldn’t of probably been as close to my Grandparents. Would I have ever been in the Mental Health system at all? So much of an alternate universe for me depends on the very beginning of my life and the subsequent choices I made growing up. In an alternate universe I’m pretty sure I would of had at least one child. I would probably still be married because I wouldn’t have the Bipolar diagnosis going on or if I did it would be under control.

I envision alternate universe where there would be no hunger, no poverty, clean affordable food and water for everyone, affordable shelter, clean affordable and sustainable energy to meet all our needs, flying cars with auto pilot functions, everyone would be healthier but if you did get sick, you would have access to affordable and trustworthy medical care. I think of so many science fiction movies and television shows that have healing chambers or hand held healing devices. In an alternate universe where the needs of the people were put before arms and war making – life would be great! I feel like we should be much further along in our development as a country – as a world.

Where is the Med-Bay from the movie Elysian?
Medical tricoder from Star Trek Next Generation

I still have hope in living to see the world I envision manifest into reality! Jesus was the divine physician.

Matthew 8:1-4New International Version

Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy

8 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy[a] came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

31 August 2023 Description of Self

How would you describe yourself to someone?

So how to answer todays prompt?! I would describe myself as a deep thinking, spiritual, funny and very sensitive person. I like to think I am basically a good person. I am a survivor. I have been through a lot of difficult things in my life – some of my own making and some not. I have been through and continue to go through the earth school of hard knocks! I am currently trying to get my medications right and find balance in my life. I get excited about things like the latest news about extraterrestrials! I could be considered gullible about some things but I am learning to keep myself in check though – keep a healthy perspective on things. It’s so easy to get lost in the hype of things in the news! To be a sheep!

Hello to you. How are you? I hope your doing well. We are living in weird and trying times – testing times and sometimes it’s hard to get through each day without reaching out for help. I am reaching out more and more to Jesus and I find comfort there. When everything in the world seems unsteady I find hope and steadiness in him and ambassadors of his words – way of life. Yesterday I was seeing more positive reviews of the movie The Sound of Freedom – another hit from Angel Studios. I haven’t seen it yet – I haven’t had the courage. It’s not a subject for the faint of heart! People are seeking new hero’s – real ones and actors like Jim Caviezel and Jonathan Roumie are coming forward. Both have portrayed Jesus – they answered the call and continue to do so in both their personal and professional lives.

Hebrews 12:1-3New International Version

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross,scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

I was looking for scripture about turning to Jesus and found this song:

https://youtu.be/CtSpOIpD_A8 – Katy Nichole Turn to Jesus

Turn To Jesus

Lyrics

In the morning when I rise
I lift my head and turn my eyes
To the window where the light is shining through
When my feet hit the ground
I know a place where love is found
So I go where I know I’ll find the truth

I turn to Jesus
I turn to the One who knows my name
I know He walks with me and He talks with me
And He tells me I am safe
And honestly, I could give a million different reasons
For why
I turn
I turn to Jesus

When the night starts to fall
And I’m worried I won’t see the dawn
And my heart is afraid of what’s ahead
There’s a voice through the chaos
That comforts me and gives me rest
When I’m weary and I’m longing for a friend

I turn to Jesus
I turn to the One who knows my name
I know He walks with me and He talks with me
And He tells me I am safe
And honestly, I could give a million different reasons
For why
I turn
I turn to Jesus
Ooo ooo ooo

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace
Ooo oh oh

I turn to Jesus
I turn to the One who knows my name
I know He walks with me and He talks with me
And He tells me I am safe
And honestly, I could give a million different reasons
For why
I turn
I turn to Jesus
Ooo ooo ooo

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Jonathan Smith / Brandon Heath / Katy Nichole

Turn To Jesus lyrics © Centricity Songs, Be Essential Songs, Forbidden Island Music

29 July 2023 Now What?

Hello to you – how are you? I’m sitting out on my porch with Link right now. It’s nice and cool out. I’ve been waking up earlier the past couple mornings. I am no longer taking the olanzapine (zyprexa) and taking abilify instead. I am paying close attention to how I feel – being vigilant about mania. I have been sleeping so that’s good. When I have had mania in the past sleep was an issue.

Good morning! It’s another day! Now What?

So yesterday I wrote a lot about what we found out about aliens and through the day I watched several posts on Tik Tok to see what other peoples reactions were. A lot of them were the same. Clips of the highlights and this common thread – now what?! I still have to go to work, pay off student loans, inflation is through the roof for everything we need to live and our government wants us to think about aliens! How does this news change anything for the average American? Other posters brought up that our finding this out probably means there is bad news coming. For Christians we are seeing the end times playing out. The shit is hitting the fan all over the world environmentally – the oceans are hotter than ever before. What I saw in the responses yesterday is if it doesn’t affect their immediate life they don’t really care. Ironically all this IS affecting their immediate life. What isn’t being acknowledged is perhaps having help from extraterrestrials would affect their immediate life if we really reached out and were open minded. I believe they might have answers to help solve our day to day lives – especially the environment. It can’t be just about the military and national security that they are making themselves more and more visible.

I can remember watching movies like Close Encounters and the wonder I felt if meeting them would go that way – seeking to communicate peacefully. Then there are movies in recent times about scary alien encounters like Aliens, Thing, Predator movies and Prometheus where the first encounters are terrifying. Remember the television series V where the aliens wanted to eat us?! War of the Worlds where aliens wanted to take over the planet?! I personally want to see Gene Roddenberry Star Trek kind of world – a world where we evolve past what struggles we face today and have a world of peace. A world where we have peace treaties with species from other worlds.

Anyhew – it’s baby steps for now. It’s disappointing that the direction being taken is what’s happening is a threat and not an opportunity.

Luke 21:25 NIV

25 “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

6 July 2023 Romantic

What’s your definition of romantic?

Hello to you. I’m just back from meeting with our little prayer group at Grace House. We had a nice turn out! There were four of us. The walk over was nice yet tiring. I push myself even though I feel like a Weeble Wobble! Do you remember those toys?

Now to the prompt – what do I feel is the definition of romantic. I know this will seem weird but when I think of romance a couple movies come to mind and they both have to do with never ending love – Somewhere In Time and Brahms Stokers Dracula. There is something so romantic to me about love that transcends time and space. I can’t watch Somewhere in Time without being a mess afterwards! Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour did such a great job. The dinner date with absinthe and turning tears into diamonds in Dracula is just so romantic! Love the music for both films.

I can remember having an experience like this during one of my hospital stays. There was a young woman named Yamila I met and she seemed so familiar. I asked her if we had ever met before and she said “perhaps in another life.” Such an odd thing to say and it really stuck me. She reminded me of a girl I supervised in the military. Yamila walked, talked and did other gestures just as if I was with Eveline again! Eveline was Dutch and just such a sweet girl – my first troop!

1 Corinthians 13:8-13New International Version

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

7 May 2023 Heart

Hello to you. How are you today? I’m just back from church – wasn’t sure if I was going but I did go. There are so many nice people that go and as I get regular with my attendance, the more people I get to know. The next event the ladies are having is a Ladies Tea on the 20th. My Aunt and I are planning on attending.

Todays message was more about the life of Abraham. The part we went over was when Abraham’s wife didn’t want to wait any longer for the God promised baby and she suggested Abraham conceive with Hagar the slave. The message about that was when we push our will instead of waiting can cause heart ache. The other message, and this has come up before, is how our hearts can’t be trusted. I wanted to put up my hand and disagree! One of my favorite sayings is from a 1920’s movie called Metropolis “the mediator between the head and hands must be the heart.” That silent movie was about how ruthless a business person can be without using their heart. As a woman and an empath I use my heart a lot! Sadly that’s probably why I have so many labels and mental health issues.! So much inner conflict between my brain and my heart.

I understand the intent of the message is to encourage us to get closer to God and not lean completely on our understanding but as I’m experiencing lately – God has been really quiet and without using my heart, I wouldn’t keep going to church and try to find a way to serve God and the community.

The world can be a heartless place – all you have to do is look at a news feed or talk to someone. It’s hard to find and achieve balance between using my heart and leaning on God. How can you love others as you should love God and yourself without using and trusting your heart?!

There is so much conflict for me with how we are taught to operate in this world. On the one hand we are taught to turn inward and find God and wisdom. There is emphasis on prayer and meditation which comes from within and then flows out. On the other hand we are taught that our inner selves are unreliable and inherently bad . We are taught to look outside ourselves for guidance and wisdom. This was what I learned in AA and all the church’s I’ve been to. I was taught I’m not trustworthy on my own. How can be turning inward to where the Holy Spirit is supposed to be bad? Where does the Holy Spirit within us reside? Where does our souls energy reside?

I am still learning and have to trust God will show me his truth.

I guess I don’t like to hear that on my own I’m not a good person. I have spent a lot of my life in therapy to deal with low self esteem issues! That’s probably not what is intentioned in todays message but that’s what I heard and keep hearing. That’s the tough job of a Pastor I guess – sometimes to tell us not what we want to hear but need to hear? Pastor Jason said it was a hard sermon for him to write and I can see why!

One of my drawings – this was during one of my more creative phases

Acts 2 : 2-4

The Holy Spirit Comes at Pentecost

2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them.

30 November 2022 The Chosen (theatre experience)

Hello to you – hope this finds you well. Woke up to a light dusting of snow on the ground and it’s cold. Definitely beginning to feel like winter here!

Yesterday my Aunt and Uncle treated me to an early Christmas present by going to see The Chosen Season 3 in the theatre. It was a good experience but I hope the rest will be on the app like before. Not everyone can afford to go to the theatre. When Jesus did his big sermon I was expecting the loaves and fishes miracle but may be that will be in another episode. The characters got more developed in these episodes and things are fixing to get tougher for them.

Alleluia clouds

There weren’t that many people besides us in the theatre but the showtime was when a lot of people are getting off work. I am glad we went. So grateful for my Aunt and Uncle. I felt like we were helping the cause!

28 November 2022 A Quest For Answers

Hello to you. Today I had an appt with a doctor at the VA about my swaying situation. He wants to persue a quest for answers through checking my ears and neurology. We brought up the fact I had been tased and want to see if that would have any impact on what’s going on. So we shall see. He’s doing a referral for me through the Elks – I hope they can help me. What pleased both my Aunt and I is that he didn’t just think tapering off medication was the only answer. He is taking the physical into consideration.

It looks like my Aunt and Uncle are interested in going to see Season 3 of The Chosen in the theatre tomorrow. It’s such a good show! By going we would be showing our support.

26 November 2022 The Chosen 2nd Watching

Hello to you. How are you today? I’m doing ok. The past night I’ve been rewatching The Chosen and it’s just as good as the first time. The scene when Jesus redeems Mary still brings tears to my eyes and when his mother helps him prepare for bed after working a long day. Another couple of favorite scenes is with Nicodemus crying as they prepare to leave town and Jessie at the healing pool. The writing and the music really pull it all together. If you haven’t seen it I highly recommend it. It’s neat that it competed with Hollywood for release of season 3 and 4.

41 July 2022 Faces

These are some of my drawings. The glory, the “payment” goes to God.