27 April 2023 Risk Taken

April 27, 2023 by saymber, posted in Home, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, Nature, photography, Spirituality and Religion, trust, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

Describe a risk you took that you do not regret.

Hello to you. How are you? I’m doing pretty well on this sunny Thursday. I walked over to our prayer group meeting and back. We had five including Pastor Jason. I think it’s cool he joins us. Prayer is so powerful. It reminds us that even if we think we haven’t a friend in the world, that nobody cares, somebody – a complete stranger- is praying for and expressing love for us being on this earth. Imagine all the people who pray for others all over the world!

Todays prompt is a good one but hard to nail down just one incidence of taking a risk and not regretting it. I have taken many leaps of faith in my life. A big one that my second husband Kyle and I took was finding and buying a house in Texas. My father-in-law was waiting to hear if he got a job in Texas. Kyle and I took a leap of faith that he was going to get it and found a home, our first, and bought it. We didn’t know then his dad would be in a horrible car accident and end up convalescing in our home before starting work at his new job! Risk well taken. Divine timing. The most recent leap of faith (risk) was coming to live here in Idaho. I never thought I would be divorced again but it happened – so much fell apart at once for me in Texas. My family here in Idaho gave me a safe and soft place to land – lots of support and unconditional love. I don’t regret choosing to come here. It was divine timing again as I found and bought my little house just in time before it got scooped up by another buyer.

My life has been full of taking risks – leaps of faith. When I have surrendered my will to the will and care of God a path has been made clear for dramatic things to happen. Right now I’m in a in between spot in my life. I am suppose to be doing something and gradually I’m finding it.

Some Bible verses:

2 Corinthians 5:7 ESV

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Hebrews 11New International Version

Faith in Action

11 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. ²This is what the ancients were commended for.

³By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

View out the back door – the fruit trees are blooming

23 April 2023 Social Media

April 23, 2023April 23, 2023 by saymber, posted in Bipolar life, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, Social media, Spirituality and Religion, trust, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

How do you use social media?

Hello to you. How are you today? I’m doing ok – just back from church, eating part of my traditional Subway sandwich and walk with Link. It was starting to sprinkle while we were out.

Todays prompt is a good one. I use a lot of social media platforms to connect with the world. Some of the ones I use are WordPress, Facebook, Twitch, Tik Tok, Discord, Messenger and Clapper for examples. Using these helps me not feel so lonely but they can’t take the place of real life connections with people. That’s why going for walks and seeing some of my neighbors and going to church are so important. Today I got to hug one of my friends I made through church and see her beautiful baby girl!

I am grateful to have family living nearby and I cherish the time we get to spend together. All of those real life moments are so important. I love it when my Aunt and or Uncle or cousins will ask if I want to get out of the house and they come over and we go for coffee, breakfast, lunch or ice cream. Sometimes my Aunt invites me over for a meal and we watch a show together. All the social media I mentioned and those I didn’t can’t take the place of making memories with loved ones. Fellowship with those we care about and love is powerful:

Acts 2:42-47New International Version

The Fellowship of the Believers

⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. ⁴⁴All the believers were together and had everything in common.⁴⁵They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. ⁴⁶Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,⁴⁷praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their numbers daily those who were being saved.

Picture I took when my Aunt and Uncle came and got me out of Orofino, the hospital, last November. My Aunt and Uncle are more than just family – they are earth angels – they are dear friends that don’t hesitate to help me when I ask (and when I don’t.) They passed this on to my cousins who are much the same. I’m so grateful.

22 April 2023 Henry (prayers)

April 22, 2023April 22, 2023 by saymber, posted in animals, Art and Poetry, Health, Home, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

Jot down the first thing that comes to your mind.

Hello to you. Today begins on a somber note. The first thing I’m thinking of is Henry. I just found out Henry, another one of my ex families dogs has cancer and probably will only be with us a couple of months. He has rectal cancer – a big tumor. Henry is one of those dogs that you just love at first sight. He is a Yorky.

This is the last time I saw Henry – 25 May 2020 what a sweet boy!

Henry came into our lives as a stray. My mother-in-law Beth saw him by the side of the road. She opened her car door and when he came to her she called him Henry. He responded to the name and got in the car with her and that was that! Henry and my dog Spot love each other. I can remember dog sitting Henry and he and Spot played on our bed for like an hour straight. Spot got a bump on her lip for it lol! They were making out!

I remember what it was like losing my Sam, Blondie, Amber and May. This poem really speaks to this:

This applies to cats too for me! I had wonderful cats.

If you pray, please keep little Henry in mind and Beth and Tim his owners. Henry is the third of my exes family dogs to get sick. We lost Smokie, Jack and most recently Titan. When we had family gatherings we had lots of dogs! They would line up at Beth’s pantry for treats. I just hope Henry is comfortable and doesn’t suffer. I feel sure Tim and Beth will make sure of that. They love their dogs like I do – they are family.

I’m grateful Link is in good health. We went to the vet yesterday and other than his teeth and being a bit chubby all is well.

18 April 2023 Positive Thing (Daily prompt)

April 18, 2023 by saymber, posted in animals, Bipolar life, Health, Home, human rights, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

Describe a positive thing a family member has done for you.

Hello there. How are you? Todays prompt is a good one. It gets me in a gratitude space in my mind. When I think about this I have trouble limiting to just one family member. It has taken a village of family and friends ( and a dog) to get me safely to where I am today! The area of most help looking back over the past couple years is with panic attacks and anxiety.

When I was still in Texas I experienced some of the worst panic attacks and anxiety I have ever had. Some of that carried over to Idaho for a time. My cousins wife, my cousins, my Aunt and Uncle all helped me via telephone and with their actions. It’s been going on four years this coming a July that I’ve lived here and they continue to help me! My ex and his family have helped me too – when Link got loose from the dog sitter and was in the shelter, they helped us get him out.

It’s hard to break the help down into just one thing! My cousins wife really helped me a lot when I was in Texas. I would have panic attacks and severe anxiety and she would talk me through it on the phone. I can remember all the times she helped me with just eating a meal. I would talk to her while I ate shaking the whole time. If she wasn’t able to talk, my Aunt or another cousin would. I can remember my cousin Laura helping to get me to the grocery store- talking to me the whole way! I use to walk and talk on my cell phone for hours to work through the anxiety I was feeling. I’m so grateful for my family and friends! So much patience!

Here is a little passage about helping the weak:

Acts 20:35 NIV35 In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive. ‘ “

26 April 2023 Ten years – A Time For Everything

April 16, 2023 by saymber, posted in animals, Bipolar life, Health, history, Home, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Todays prompt is making me do something I don’t normally do anymore and that is predicting or and projecting my future. Ten years is a long time! If time goes at the rate it’s going I see myself still here in Idaho and possibly having met a nice man for companionship. I am a little slow when it comes to doing things! Sadly I will have to deal with the heart break of Link probably passing on in that time and I don’t know if I will want to go through another life cycle of a pet. Not something I’m looking forward to! I can’t even really talk about it without getting upset. He’s the first dog I have known since he was a newborn puppy.

There are other potential losses I may experience in a ten year life span – it will be crushing. My generation is one where the generation ahead of us, Baby Boomers, are aging out. I think of family photos where so many of the people in them are no longer here with us. God willing, what is coming in the next years will be bearable and not all at once. When I get overwhelmed with grief is when I have had my breakdowns in the past.

A interesting passage from the Bible about time and being human:

Ecclesiastes 3New International Version

A Time for Everything

3 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²    a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³    a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴    a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵    a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶    a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷    a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸    a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹What do workers gain from their toil? ¹⁰I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. ¹¹He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet^[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. ¹²I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. ¹⁴I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.¹⁵Whatever is has already been,
and what will be has been before;
and God will call the past to account.^[b]¹⁶And I saw something else under the sun:In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
in the place of justice—wickedness was there.¹⁷I said to myself,“God will bring into judgment
both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity,
a time to judge every deed.”¹⁸I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. ¹⁹Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath^[c]; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. ²⁰All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. ²¹Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”²²So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?

15 April 2023 Happiness

April 15, 2023 by saymber, posted in animals, Bipolar life, Food, history, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, Nature, Spirituality and Religion, trust, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

What are 5 everyday things that bring you happiness?

Hello to you. How are you? I hope your doing ok. The world is kind of crazy! Todays prompt is a good one. When the world around you is seeming kind of chaotic a good way to get grounded is to focus thoughts on what’s good in your life – gratitude. Something I’ve done ever since I was in rehab many years ago was a mental gratitude list. Rather than sit and complain pull out your gratitude list. What’s fun about doing it is how quickly you go from just one thing your grateful for to a whole bunch of things.

I have many things that make me happy and that I’m grateful for. At the top of my list is family and friends. My family and friends have gotten me to this day! True examples of unconditional love. Next is of course Link. I love waking up to his sweet smile and wagging tail. Number three is good food – I enjoy food too much lol! Number four is my connection to God – having a church home has really been helpful to keeping that connection strong. Number five is nature – seeing nature wake up this spring just really makes me happy! The best florist in the world is momma nature!

My Uncle Bill shared a couple pictures this morning of a beautiful California poppy bloom. The rains made it happen! Something good out of something that has caused a lot of people trouble:

Poppy bloom picture from my Uncle Bill- what a beautiful sight. I can remember last year asking God about orange flowers and the first ones he showed me were these types of flowers growing here!

12 April 2023 Love

April 12, 2023 by saymber, posted in animals, Bipolar life, Home, human rights, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, photography, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

Hello to you. How are you? I hope this finds you doing as best as you can. There is so much going on in this world!

When I was thinking of a topic today, the first thing that popped in my head was the word Love. What is Love? To me it’s a feeling that emanates in the heart and cascades out. When I am in connection with God and the people and animals I care about Love happens. Some people have no idea what Love truly is or what it feels like – some are those people that end up in prisons or state hospitals and animals that end up in shelters. I have been fortunate to have known Love all of my life. My family has been a source of unconditional Love. When I was in the hospital this last time they were there for me. My dog Link is a source of unconditional Love each day. I look forward to seeing his sweet face and wagging tail each morning!

What Love looks like each day – my dog Link

Love is mentioned many times in the Bible. Here are a few passages:

1 Corinthians 13:4-5Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

1 Corinthians 16:14Do everything in love.

Psalm 143:8Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.

Colossians 3:14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Proverbs 3:3-4Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.

1 John 4:16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

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

1 John 4:19We love because He first loved us.

Ephesians 4:2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

1 Peter 4:8Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

Romans 12:9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

Ephesians 3:16-17I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love.

John 15:12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

I hope you know what true Love is – looks and feels like. You deserve it!

31 March 2023 What I wanted to be growing up

March 31, 2023 by saymber, posted in Art and Poetry, Bipolar life, Health, history, Home, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was five or so I wanted to be famous. I used to sing to the neighbor kids using a jump rope handle. I wrote stories to include one about vampires when I was in kindergarten. I also wrote stuff you might see in the Bible at a very young age. It was so good people didn’t believe I wrote it. I had that dream for many years beyond being five! I liked to draw, write, sing and dance. My Mom used to read my stories and something she said always stuck with me, “You don’t have to be famous to be somebody.” Her saying that truly helped me keep things in perspective! She was so right!

I grew up in the late 60’s and early 70’s. We didn’t have The Voice or America’s Got Talent. We had stuff like Solid Gold – I loved the dancing and would try those moves in our living room when I had the house to myself which was quite often as my parents both worked a lot. The other thing I spent a lot of time doing was drawing my favorite musicians like David Bowie for example. I can remember spending hours on just one drawing.

My dream to become famous never happened. I’m glad about it as I don’t think I would have survived to the age I am now! I see what fame does to a lot of people and it’s not pretty most times! With how sensitive I’ve always been I would have been a wreck. I look at people like Michael Jackson, Prince and Chris Cornell to name just a few. Their fame was a source of severe anxiety and public scrutiny.

30 March 2023 Understanding

March 30, 2023 by saymber, posted in animals, Bipolar life, Health, history, Home, human rights, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

What’s something most people don’t understand?

Mental healths connection to spiritual health.

It’s important to attain balance in all things. Too much of anything can offset balance. I think it’s possible to be over religious and as in my case that can create imbalance. I think you need a healthy spiritual life to have a healthy mental life. I believe there is a void in each of us that only things of the spirit – of God- can fill. I believe there is definitely a connection – at least for me, can’t speak for everyone.

This past hospitalization to a mental hospital occurred because I was tired of waiting for Jesus’s second coming. I got too much into religion. I took it upon myself to initiate it and ended up getting tased by the police and sent to a hospital! The spirit world was talking through me and I enjoyed it but it messed up my mental health. It took over again like what happened in Texas a couple of times. The anxiety attacks were the worst part.

Thankfully I have loving family that have a balanced spiritual and mental life that are there for me. I don’t know if I would have made it in Texas if my Idaho family hadn’t been there for me. My cousins wife confided in me recently that before she and my cousin came and got Link and I, the prepared themselves spiritually as it seemed like other spiritual forces were at work with me. They put on their holy armor!

I think a lot of people try to get through life without a healthy balance of belief in God and self. There are things that nothing of this tangible world can fix. My ex and I learned this especially when we had to let our dog Sam go to the rainbow bridge. There was nothing that could fill the void his passing left inside of us. It was like losing a child! Even as much as Link’s arrival helped, only Gods unconditional love has really filled the void. Sam’s love and behavior towards us was like I imagine Gods love to be – unconditional. Our pets teach us so much that can’t be taught, and learned, any other way.

29 March 2023 God the Gentleman (free will quandry)

March 29, 2023 by saymber, posted in Bipolar life, Health, history, Home, human rights, In the News, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, Politics and Government, Social media, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

Hello to you. How is your today going? I am doing ok. My thoughts are on my quandry about God and free will. I brought this up last night with the ladies in my Bible study. The answers that came from them were all similar. God didn’t make us to be mindless drones and followers of his word. God is a gentleman who gives us choice – to choose to believe in him or not. Nothing is forced. Emily, the leader of the study gave me a good example. She said imagine you have this friend who every time they go out they do the same thing. Like getting drunk and being miserable for it. You know this about them and suggest they not do it but ultimately it’s their choice. Emily was kind of tackling the all knowing God in her example. God knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows what we are going to do and can put other options and choices – better choices- before us but ultimately we make the final call. When I think of the times I’ve been through with my mental health I got myself in a tunnel. I couldn’t see the better choices because I lost control of my ability to see them. In the Christian community they might say the enemy had hold of me.

I read this morning that the Nashville shooter had been suffering. When we are suffering and don’t have faith and trust in God and the enemy is “driving the car” we make, in her case, fatal choices despite what God wants for us.

I am still struggling with the issue of God allowing mass shootings to go on. I feel like there is a lesson we are supposed to be learning and we are not learning it. For example there is no red flag law in Tennessee to prevent troubled people from purchasing weapons or keeping current guns in their possession. May be this case is another example that lawmakers need to make better choices too. Something like red flag laws should be federal law not just up to each state. That’s just my opinion of course. There is just too much inconsistency when it comes to guns in America.

So I’m glad I was able to talk to Emily and the other ladies in Bible study last night about Gods Grace when it comes to tragedy. There have been all kinds lately to include weather related. The people in Mississippi who lost their lives and or homes to tornados. I wonder what God wants us to learn about that or is it beyond God and a combination of man -made factors – climate change for example. I don’t think anybody is completely ready for something like a tornado. I know when we had one when we lived in Texas it took us by surprise even with the weather service warnings! We were grateful for our lives being spared and minimal damage to our property. It’s got to be hard to have everything destroyed like happened to the already poor in Mississippi. What is Gods plan for these unfortunates? I know after the tornado we had it pulled all of us neighbors closer together.

At the bottom of all tragedy, no matter what kind it is, what good can come from it? What can we learn about God and ourselves? We can choose to crumble or learn and rise above it wiser. It really helped me to hear fellow believers explain God as being a gentleman. We are given a choice and we don’t have to wait for tragedy, reaching our bottom in life, to choose Gods will for us. With these tragedies we are seeing the perpetrators are self will run riot. In cases like these mass shootings, fatally so. Passion takes over reason. I wonder if that shooter knew she was unconditionally loved by God if she still would have gone through with her plans.