7 Dec 2025 What Pain Does

December 7, 2025December 7, 2025 by saymber, posted in Bipolar life, Home, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

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.

He spent time in Mark 6:30-42:

Mark 6:30-42New International Version

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

³⁰The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. ³¹Then, 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.”

³²So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. ³³But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. ³⁴When 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.

³⁵By 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. ³⁶Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷But 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.”

³⁹Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. ⁴¹Taking 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. ⁴²They 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.

28 Sept 2025 Baptism

September 28, 2025 by saymber, posted in Bipolar life, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, Spirituality and Religion, Veteran Affairs

I was so nervous doing this but God lead me through it!

Hello to you! I’m home from breakfast at the Sunrise Cafe with family celebrating a big milestone in my walk to Jesus – baptism! I was so nervous taking this step but God surrounded me with his people to help me through it. When I sat down in the trough the water was very cold. I was shaking as Diana read my testimony and a part of me did not want to do what I was about to do. I felt the enemy trying to tug at me and question my decision but Pastor Jason, Diana and Jim helped me stay seated and be in the moment.

My testimony:

I love Jesus and taking this step today is so special to me. I was raised Roman Catholic and have always believed in God but have never truly surrendered to Jesus. Since getting here to Idaho 5 years ago I have been surrounded with evidence of Jesus’s love for me. My family and both the Nampa and Middleton Grace church’s have shown me the way! God is good!

3 Aug 2025 Thank You and Babby Farms

August 3, 2025 by saymber, posted in Animal Rights, animals, Bipolar life, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, Spirituality and Religion

Hello to you! Hope this finds you well. Today has been a really good day. It began with church and a message that gave us the opportunity to thank those who God has worked through to get us where we are in our walk of faith:

2 Corinthians 3:3New International Version

³You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

As we left the service we were able to take a notecard to write a thank you note. What was nice about this is after church I was going to spend some time with one of my earth angels and friend who along with her husband, my cousin, have been instrumental in my walk with Jesus. I wrote a loving note to her and my cousin and got to see the impact it made! I gave her something she can refer back to in trying times.

We went to the Sunrise for breakfast and it was good as always. Then we drove out to Babby Farms in Caldwell. The admission wasn’t bad we got a military discount. It was quite hot out in the open so we enjoyed the shady spots for a breezy sit down. They had horses and various livestock some you could hand feed and some not. The ones you could feed were really eager to eat out of your hands! They had two camels with double humps that we watched for awhile. We walked the enclosure that had kangaroos and Tawna wanted so much to touch them but we didn’t. The place had a whole inside exhibit with marmosets, parrots, bats and fish and much more. Just when you thought you had seen everything there was more! There was a gray horse Tawna fell in love with – she gave them extra loves!

The gray horse that Tawna fell in love with

It was so nice to get to spend time with my dear friend and see some place new. The drive out to where Babbys is located was very rural and nice. You didn’t see all the land up for sale and I hope it stays that way! Nice to see lots of fields of farmland.

26 May 2022 Walter and Being Grumpy

May 26, 2022 by saymber, posted in Animal Rights, animals, Food, Health, Home, human rights, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, Movies, Nature, photography, Social media, Spirituality and Religion, Television, trust, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

https://youtu.be/R7t0Ol6RtRY – Grumpy and Snow White

https://youtu.be/xmQfoAvlIQc – Frenchie arguing with his owner – Walter Geoffrey the French Bulldog

Hello. For the past couple days I have been feeling really grumpy. Sleep has been weird and my body has been hurting. I don’t like being grumpy or being pessimistic about my life so I’ve been trying to find ways to restore “happy Jackie.” One way I found was watching and listening to Walter Geoffrey who is a very vocal French Bulldog. Hearing and watching Walter’s meltdowns has been great therapy! Ohhhh how this boy tells how it is! Sometimes his rants sound like singing to me he just needs some brothers and a drum. What I hear from him is what I’m feeling lately. There aren’t words for it and that’s why Walters behavior resonates with me. There is an energy I’ve been sensing, especially when I go outside, that is just really tense and uncomfortable. I know part of it is myself and the frustration I’m feeling with my body but part of it is just the world I think! All of creation is going through some stuff!

I’ve been trying to do movement to music each day and singing which helps alleviate discomfort. I’m just really out of shape and have gained weight which puts more pressure on the spine and joints. I also listen to the chakra opening meditations and sing tones along with healing focused music like I shared by Mei-lan. I talk to God most of the day and sometimes I bet I sound a bit like Walter to him lol! I’m trying to eat better and drink more water. I’m trying not to be a grump! Sometimes mending pains in the body includes mending the mind and soul too. Intangible pain, the pain we feel emotionally and spiritually, can manifest tangibly in the body. Grief is a big one for that! If you are grieving it’s important to allow yourself to feel it….work through it. I try to remember that everything is a form of energy to include pain.

How are you doing? I hope something I’ve shared resonates with you… I hope it helps. I think a lot of us are experiencing some kind of pain these days. You are not alone! Like my neighbor and I talked about the other day, the only way we are going to get through these times is together. One of the mottos for Grace Bible Church is “Better Together.” When we are in pain and grumpy the tendency many of us have is to isolate ourselves.

God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world. C.S Lewis

17 May 2022 Missions

May 17, 2022May 17, 2022 by saymber, posted in Art and Poetry, Bipolar life, books, Food, Health, history, Home, human rights, In the News, Leading Life by Example, Mental Health, Movies, Music, Nature, photography, Spirituality and Religion, Television, trust, Veteran Affairs, Writing and blogging

Hello to you. How are you? It’s actually still the 16th for me lol but I have so much on my mind right now I can’t sleep yet anyway – may as well write to you and clear my mind.

I just finished watching a documentary about the late comedian Robin Williams and the disease that took his life, Lewy Body Disease which is a form of dementia. https://n.neurology.org/content/87/13/1308 – paper his wife Susan did about what happened to Robin. I’ll never forget how devastated I was when we lost Robin. He had been such a part of my life through his comedy and movies – he was a light in the world! I hope some day there will be cures for conditions of the brain.

I was really touched to see his message in his 12 Step book!
https://youtu.be/NcoNX1tF6nc – Robins Wish https://news.sky.com/story/amp/robin-williams-and-the-real-story-of-the-undiagnosed-dementia-that-took-his-life-12169663

Some messages from A Woman’s Spirit:

An active listener is to be prized above rubies. -Ruth Humlecker

Giving our undivided attention to a friend can be difficult. Even though we care deeply for her and value her friendship, we often find it hard to keep our own thoughts from intruding. As she talks, we take note of other people in the vicinity. We think about the tasks we have yet to complete. And we may pass judgement on what she shares.

Letting go of having these kinds of thoughts while in conversation with a friend is hard, but it’s worth the work. No encounter is an accident, and every exchange with a friend or even a stranger has its reward for us. We are God’s students every moment.

When we listen, we learn how to handle situations we might face in the future. We learn to show respect through our caring attention. We grow in our understanding of the value of friendship. Perhaps most important, we learn the value of cultivating a quiet mind. Only a quiet mind can hear the words of our Higher Power coming through the gentle voice of a friend.

I will be an active listener today. I am ready to learn whatever God has in store for me.

———————-

How about a walk?