14 October 2023 Grown up

When was the first time you really felt like a grown up (if ever)?

Hello to you today. How are you? I’m having that weird feeling in my ears again which makes me freeze up and not want to do anything. My cousin is coming over for a visit and I know that will help!

The first time I felt grown up is when I joined the military and left home 13 August 1986. I had to fly to San Antonio Texas and go to Basic Training. Prior to this I had been a child cared for by my parents. I was scared and nervous as I didn’t know what to expect. The military training instructors were not especially friendly! They were not there to be our friends that’s for sure. I was my training instructors “house mouse” they called it. I made sure to keep her quarters clean. Her name was Barbara Washington and she was a powerful black woman. I can remember drill with her saying “I want to hear you say pop! “ The sound of us pulling our heads out of our butts!

Ephesians 4:15New International Version

15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.

13 October 2023 Million Dollars

If you had a million dollars to give away, who would you give it to?

If I had a million dollars to give away there are so many people and agencies I could think to give it to. For example my family, friends, church, ASPCA and Music and Memory. it’s hard to nail down just one! There is a part of me that would want to buy a plot of land and make it in to a nature preserve or park. I’ve always wanted to do that. One million dollars doesn’t go as far as it use to! Homes here in Idaho are selling for half a million!

Luke 6:20-21New International Version

20 Looking at his disciples, he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.

12 October 2023 Guaranteed Success

What’s something you would attempt if you were guaranteed not to fail.

I would write my biography if I thought I could be a success at putting it together and publishing it. I have an interesting story to tell but am overwhelmed at the thought of trying to go through everything like journals etc. I would want an objective outside person to put things together and help me do it.

Joshua 23:14 (NIV)

Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.” If we fall off the path God has set for us, we should not worry about not fulfilling God’s plan.

9 October 2023 Favorite Past Time

What is your favorite hobby or pastime?

Hello to you. How are you? I am feeling anxious today. I’m planning on spending the day with my Aunt after I get my laundry done. Feeling bad for the people of Israel and all that is going on over there. The world I’m living in is so surreal right now!

My favorite past time that I have held on to over all that I’ve been through is writing. Everything else I used to do – drawing, painting and crocheting has all but shut down. Being on the medication I am on really has closed my creative juices off. Honestly I would rather not be manic and have my life in control than be out of touch with reality.

Psalm 122:6-9New International Version

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be secure.
7 May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels.”
8 For the sake of my family and friends,
I will say, “Peace be within you.”
9 For the sake of the house of the Lordour God,
I will seek your prosperity.

8 October 2023 Lost Possessions

What would you do if you lost all your possessions?

It’s hard to imagine what my life would be like if I loss all my possessions. I think of all the natural disasters where people have lost everything and have to file insurance claims. It can take a really long time to return to some sort of normal and nothing is ever the same again. So much in the way of memories is lost! I think I would be in a severe case of shock! I would, as with anything happening like this, lean heavily on my faith in Jesus and my family, friends and church family. I would have to accept nothing was going to be the same again.

Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

7 October 2023 Topic Change

What’s a topic or issue about which you’ve changed your mind?

The topic or issue I’ve had the most change about in the past couple of years is spirituality. I have more of a Christ consciousness than I did before. In the past it was simply just God I believed in not so much Jesus. Now after time and experiences the focus has narrowed down to Jesus. I can remember a couple scary lucid dreams I had and the one name I was barely able to say got me free was saying the name Jesus. I have always believed in God but for the longest not just Jesus. I have only just recently declared my belief. Once you say yes to Jesus, you can’t really say no!

I just want to give thanks for my family and friends today. I had something scary happen yesterday and they helped me get through it. I am so blessed to have such a support system!

Psalm 142:7New International Version

7 Set me free from my prison,
that I may praise your name.
Then the righteous will gather about me
because of your goodness to me.

5 October 2023 Prayer

Hello to you today. How are you? This morning was our prayer group and we had five of us. We each brought forth our own prayer needs and the needs of those within and outside of our church. There is power in prayer! We hope to speak positive energies into what seems like attacks on members of the church. A lot of people are struggling with sickness and mourning loss of friends and family members. It’s possible to make a foothold for the enemy in resentment and the lower energy vibrations of grief and sorrow.

Psalm 30:5New International Version

5 For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may stay for the night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning.

3 October 2023 Factor meals

Hello there, how are you? I just had my first Factor meal and it was so good! The pork chop was tender and the broccoli was cooked just right. If this meal is any indication of the quality of the rest of the meals I’m in for a treat!

Mark 2:13-17New International Version

Jesus Calls Levi and Eats With Sinners

13 Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him.

15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

1 October 2023 Hard Work

In what ways does hard work make you feel fulfilled?

The way hard work most fulfills me is physically. When I think of this prompt I think of manual labor being like exercise. When I used to cut my lawn, weed whack and edge it I would get pretty tuckered out but in a good way. I liked having a Shiner Bock beer afterwards or some carbonated drink.

Matthew 20:1-16 International Version

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

“About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

“‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

“The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius.10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

30 September 2023 Best Trait

What’s the trait you value most about yourself?

The trait I value the most about myself is honesty. It’s a trait I value in others as well. I can’t stand being lied to. This was something I grew up with. If I got caught lying to my parents there were repercussions. I got caught a couple of times as a teenager doing things I wasn’t suppose to! I can remember saying I was at track practice but really I was going over to a friends house. There was an older guy there who I witnessed get into a fight. The cops had to be called and our parents had to give permission for the witnesses to give testimony. That’s the only way my parents found out what and where I had been! Boy did I get in trouble!

Colossians 3:9-10

9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.