Hello to you. It’s late as I write to you. I can’t sleep so figured I would write to you. How was your day? My day was long but uneventful. I got Link out on a walk today. He’s been willing to go lately and I like that!
Yesterday was prayer group day but because of fog and icy roads we did a conference call and were still able to pray together. We have a lot to pray about. My prayer request was for my sweet cousin Heidi who is recovering from a burst brain aneurysm. We also prayed for our dear friend Cheryl Hargan who had surgery today – a double breast mastectomy. We also prayed for Pastor Jason’s daughter Harper. We are a growing church so lots of leadership spaces need filling. Our time praying isn’t just about needs but also giving praise. Local police and fire departments are picking up their bibles and more are coming to Christ. In a time of great turmoil in our country and world there is much comfort to be had in following Jesus.
Dear Jesus please be with our leaders at all levels. Please help them navigate this increasingly violent and confusing world. Let your will be done in all these affairs. Please be with all our friends and family going through health and wellness challenges. Please be with the people of Iran and all parts of this world who are in turmoil and chaos right now. I pray you would help those who give sanctuary to animals. . I pray all this in your name. Amen.
Good evening. It’s from bed that I’m writing to you. I want to acknowledge the murder of Renee Nicole Good by ICE agents – this has to stop! I feel really sad about what is happening in our country. I’ll leave it at that!
This murder should not have happened!
I was sick recently so I didn’t feel up to writing. Thankfully it didn’t last long! I had loving family and friend support. I have an appointment next month to try and do something about the pooling sensation in my ears. I hope something can be done.
Today was a day of praise and worship. Even though I was having the pooling sensation in my ears I went to church this morning and a prayer and praise gathering at Grace House this evening. It did my heart good to see my church fam! The service today was about the prodigal son parable Jesus told out of Luke 15: 11-31 niv:
The Parable of the Lost Son
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
Dear Jesus I bring before you this broken world and thank you for the good that is within it. People like Renee should not be murdered! I pray for her wife, kids and dog that are left behind without her.
In the midst of tragedies going on all over the world people are gathering together in your name- singing your praise. Let the light, the good outshine the darkness. Let there be healing for those who need it. I have loved ones who are going through trials – please be with them. Wrap your loving arms around them and assure them that everything is going to be ok.
Hello to you. Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe we are in a new year already. The past couple of days I have been having trouble with the pooling sensation in my ears. It makes me feel anxious. Writing helps take my mind off of it.
I was brainstorming with my friend what I should write about today. She suggested memories of when I was growing up in South Dakota. I had mentioned to her about us getting so much snow we tunneled through to our neighbors house! I can remember having snacks with Marie and Wayne to pass the time. We use to get so much snow my parents couldn’t get to work which was rare. The snow was thick and crunchy when you walked on it. I learned how to drive on snow – Datsun 210 with stick shift!
The other place I have got snowed in was base housing at Peterson AFB Colorado. There was so much snow it blocked the door to the house. It went from the roof to the ground! The other places I lived – Germany, Delaware, Texas and now Idaho have all gotten snow several times. We never got snow in Florida. I don’t mind snow except driving in it!
Links paw print in the snow
Dear Jesus I ask for your continued care for our family members and friends right now. Please send your healing love to us. I ask for your wisdom to guide leaders at all levels of government. Please help the people of Washington State and the Philippines with their recovery from natural disasters. Thank you for hearing our prayers.
Hello and good evening. It’s the end of the day as I write to you from here. Today began with a blessing of friendship. My friend Jeannie and I met for breakfast at the Sunrise Cafe here in town. We had a good visit and got caught up on family, church and world affairs. She shared a strange dream she had that I was in. I was the best part of the dream. I wasn’t much help in deciphering it!
Jeannie is one of the only people in my life that I can talk to about political matters. We both are pretty disillusioned about the cluster of a mess Trump has made! The only good thing I can see about what he’s done is people buying less cheap plastic things that end up in the landfills.
I have been recovering from a cold since before Christmas so I stayed away from everyone. My cousins wife showed her friendship and brought me chicken soup, juice and losenges and my Aunt brought some food by on Christmas Day. All I wanted to do was sleep! There has been a super flu going around and even as isolated as I am I still caught some of it! I am not feeling 100% but will stay positive! I am so blessed to have family and friends that are looking out for me.
Mark 9:23New International Version
23 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
Hello to you. It’s early afternoon as I write to you after my therapy session through the VA. I am blessed to have a really good therapist. Today we talked about how my physical symptoms affect my life. She came up with something that resonated with me. She said imagine you are hosting a party and your neighbor Joe shows up. He isn’t the most pleasant smelling or behaving person. He is the uninvited guest that you have to keep tabs on the whole party so he doesn’t ruin it. She likened what’s going on with my head and lower back pain to Joe. If I focus on these things like I would focus on Joe, the party will always be ruined for me. I have to find a way to not let these thorns to my life stop me from living my best life.
Are you struggling with some kind of physical and or mental condition that won’t go away? What will you do with your Joe?! As for me, I’m seriously considering whether Joe ever gets invited in the first place! 😂
Oh how I wish Jesus would heal me and all those I do and do not know! It must have been amazing to be healed by him:
Matthew 4:23New International Version
Jesus Heals the Sick
23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.
Drawing I did of my birth mom Jeannie many years ago
Hello to you. I’m home from spending some quality time with my Aunt and Uncle. I really was feeling like I needed some company today! I went over earlier in the day before it gets dark. I got the one thing I really needed and that was a hug from my Aunt and Uncle! Living alone I don’t get physical contact with humans very often. It’s such a simple thing but means the world to me! I am so grateful to have them in my life.
We watched King of Kings: An animated Christian film from Angel Studios, based on Charles Dickens’ The Life of Our Lord, telling Jesus’ story from the perspective of a young boy and his father. We all thought it was really well done.
My Aunt made spaghetti for dinner and it was really good. She even got me to eat and like cucumbers in my salad! She is one of the few people in my life that can get me to try and like things I normally don’t eat on my own!
1 Timothy 6:13-15New International Version
13 In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you14 to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
Hello to you on this cloudy Sunday afternoon. I’m just back from church and breakfast at the Sunrise. I should have gotten groceries but decided to put it off. I really dread grocery shopping!
Today we had a guest speaker named Toby Slough. He is an author of the book Not Yet and a children’s book Toby the Goby. When they post his sermon I’ll share it.
Toby Slough
He spent time in Mark 6:30-42:
Mark 6:30-42New International Version
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31 Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
32 So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. 33 But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
35 By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. “This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. 36 Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
37 But he answered, “You give them something to eat.”
They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages[a]! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?”
38 “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.”
When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”
39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied,
The message from his speaking that resonated with my current journey was about how pain is not the problem. It’s what pain does to us – it makes us a narcissist- everything becomes about us. The two things I have going on sometimes keeps me trapped inside myself. Just where the enemy wants me! The other message today that spoke to me was about focusing on what we have not what we lack. Pastor Jason has put a goal before the church of raising $30,000 for the charities we support. I have not been tithing for quite some time but am thinking I need to be more generous. I need to stop worrying about not having enough money. I will pray about this issue.
Hello there, how are you as you visit me here? Today was long and kind of lonely but we have pushed through it. To be honest I have been missing having someone to come home to me. Link has me to look forward to coming home. I think of him as home as he rises up on his back legs and frantically taps at the front door waiting for me to come in. I miss my ex everyday but I know that ship has sailed. We were communicating a little bit but if I don’t initiate the communication there is nothing from him. He has moved on and I always hope he’s happier now.
The rest of this post is me reflecting on where I’ve been and where I hope to go:
I miss having a husband but don’t like what you have to go through to get one these days. I tried Tinder and that was a cluster you know what. I ended up with someone who wasn’t good for me and wanted more from me than I could give at the time. I just wasn’t attracted to him and that made him nuts. My taste is what I had in my ex and I totally blew it with my manic episodes! He just got fed up with the person I became when I was in untreated mania.
I always said that if I couldn’t make it work with Kyle I wasn’t going to make it with anyone. He wasn’t a perfect husband but pretty darn wonderful and I blew it. Some say he shouldn’t have divorced me but they don’t understand the spiral that happens with mania. When we were first together he knew I had mental health issues but I was being treated and was on meds that kept the mania at bay. When mania happened the last couple of times I was really doing things that hurt and or upset him. We were breaking things. He got physical with me a couple of times out of extreme frustration and it was after that he went to stay with his parents. When he could see I wasn’t going to get the help I needed he decided a divorce was the only answer. I didn’t take that decision very well! I felt so lost and alone. My everyday was like living in a haunted house. Memories of Kyle were everywhere I went from the house to the neighborhood. I wasn’t plugged in to Jesus yet but thankfully had people who were to talk to. I thank God for my Idaho family who were there for me – praying for me. They are the reason I am where I am today! Jesus used each of them to help me escape the nightmare I was in.
It took me awhile, even after I was out of Texas, to fully recover from the nightmare I was living. My Aunt Ruth and Uncle John handled me with tender care the 6 months I lived with them. I didn’t want to shower with the door shut. I didn’t want to eat meals at the table. I didn’t want to watch television. I walked constantly to combat my anxiety. I had nightmares. I saw versions of Kyle everywhere I went. Everything was a trigger to my thinking of Kyle. We had been married 12 years and I was married 16 years in my first marriage. I had grief and remorse over my first marriage too! Kyle and I committed adultery and I really felt bad about that as did Kyle. I just unraveled after he left me and felt this pulling sensation in the back of my body all the time. It was like the enemy had a hold on me and didn’t want to let go.
It’s been over 5 years now that I’ve been here in Idaho. I am much better than I was. It’s been about 2 years since I decided to accept Jesus as my savior. I finally made the choice that God had been patiently waiting for me to make. With this choice and my saying yes some doors have opened. I have gotten more involved with my church and that has made me some friends. I even got baptized which I didn’t think I would do. Now if he would only heal me from what’s going on in my head and lower back I could be of more use – a better vessel for the Holy Spirit. These conditions have prevented me from volunteering as much as I could be.
The other thing missing is a companion to share the rest of my life with. I have kind of resigned myself to my ending up being alone the rest of my life but I don’t know Gods plans for me about this. If I do fall in love again I want him to share in my love of Jesus and of course Link must approve of whoever he ends up being!
Thank you for reading!
Dear Jesus I pray for this world as fallen as it is that more of the lost will find their way to you. I pray for the poor, sick, mentally and physically in decline. I pray for all leaders in positions of power and influence that your will be done through their words and deeds. I pray for an end to all animal cruelty. I pray for an end to all wars that there would be peace. I pray for all children especially those being abused and or neglected. I pray for the children suffering in war ravaged parts of the world. Thank you. Amen.
For a long time, for most of my adult life, Christmas has been a hard holiday for me. Christmas Eve is the anniversary of when I lost my birth mom to suicide. I was only about 10 months old so I didn’t really get to know her. My Dad and stepmom always tried to make the holidays special and it helped me not dwell on things. My Dad and I would decorate the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Dad loved Christmas or at least he made a good show of it! I have not decorated for Christmas for several years now and hate the materialism that Christmas often becomes. I live in a tiny home so I don’t like getting stuff to have to find a place for and I don’t like shopping. That is why I like Thanksgiving – the focus is on food and family! Now that I’m living near family with little children to celebrate with, I’m thinking may be my heart will be softened! Kind of like the Grinch story. Our families little ones the Cindy Lou Who’s in my life!
Luke 24 NIV – scripture from Sunday
On the Road to Emmaus
13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles[a] from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.
17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
19 “What things?” he asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulershanded him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”
25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Mosesand all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther.29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
Jesus Appears to the Disciples
36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
Hello to you. It’s the end of the weekend. Today was a good day. At church my friends were there to include Jeannie and a healing Roy. You could see he was healing on his face from the fall. After church I had breakfast at the Sunrise which is always good – got my Emma fix! She and the other staff are so kind to me. My Aunt Ruth invited Link and I over for chili for linner (lunch and dinner) and we watched a good movie based on a true story called The Stray:
The Stray is based on the true story of director Mitch Davis and his family. The film recounts how a stray dog named Pluto wandered into their lives when the family was facing struggles, saving their youngest son and helping to heal their family bonds. Davis stated that Pluto “saved my life and my family in more ways than one.”
It was as we feared as it goes with stories about animals – especially dogs! I won’t ruin it for you but I recommend you have Kleenex!
A good true life story
The second part of my topic today comes after watching a livestream of the Bishop James Long on Tik Tok this evening. He explained really well why there is evil in the world. God created everything but he did not create evil. Evil is a product of free will – choice. He used the example of a knife. A knife is created as a tool to be used for good. The knife doesn’t choose to be used to kill someone. The person who uses the knife for an evil purpose is to blame for what it’s used for. We are created for good but have the free will to make choices that are evil in nature. God is not responsible for our evil intentions. It’s so easy to want to blame God for the evil that happens in this world! Why does he not stop it? If he stopped it all then we would be automatons – mere puppets with no mind of our own. There is justice – we may not live long enough to see it but it will come. We all are responsible for making good choices and taking responsibility for bad choices.
AI Overview – question about where in the NIV Bible is free will mentioned
The term “free will” does not appear in the NIV Bible, but the concept is addressed throughout Scripture through passages about human choice and responsibility. Key passages that illustrate choice include Genesis 2:16, where God gives Adam and Eve a command, and Joshua 24:15, which presents the people with a choice of whom to serve. The Bible also mentions “freewill offerings,” like those described in Exodus 35:29, which were given willingly without coercion.
Passages illustrating human choice and responsibility
Genesis 2:16-17: God gives Adam and Eve a command, presenting them with a choice that has consequences.
Joshua 24:15: Joshua tells the Israelites, “Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve…”.
John 7:17: Jesus states that “Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God”.
Galatians 5:13: The Apostle Paul writes, “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love”.
Passages about “freewill offerings”
Exodus 35:29: “All the Israelite men and women who were willing brought to the Lord freewill offerings for all the work the Lord through Moses had commanded them to do”.
1 Chronicles 29:6–9: The people made freewill offerings of jewelry and other materials to help build the temple.
Ezra 2:68 and Ezra 7:16: These verses mention freewill contributions for rebuilding the temple after the exile.
To be 