Saturday, March 31, 2018

March 31, 2018

Greetings My Friend,

I met Jesus 20 years ago, really meant Him. I could say I was a cultural Christian prior to that, I went to church, I even volunteered, went on short term mission trips although I can't say I really knew Jesus. After my divorce though I had hit my lowest point, had nowhere else to turn so I started talking to God about the pain I felt. I did not always understand it was God working good in my life, today I can look back seeing God's handprint all over my life even as a young child. A few years ago I discovered God was opening up my spirit to receive His. I found as I read the Bible daily I kept stumbling across the fact that God is Spirit, that we need to meet Him in our spirit. I then in very tiny steps began recognizing the Holy Spirit's touch on my soul. Through the year's I learned to be thankful for all that I have, understand God truly provided all things in my life. Today as I look back I see how He ripped me out of my very dysfunctional, abusive marriage. Once He opened the door I ran as fast as I could in the opposite direction. More recently I have realized 21 years after my divorce I am finally healed emotionally, I feel a strength I have never known. God had to move me from the state I grew up in to Virginia, I joined a church that required water baptism by immersion so I chose to be baptized in the Russell Fork river. As I was preparing to be baptized I felt God give me a word picture, I was crossing the Red Sea of my faith journey much like Israel crossed the  Red Sea when God freed them from bondage in Egypt. In Virginia I have been able to begin to fully heal from a lifetime of abuse, at one point God showed me I needed to take medication in order to be able to quiet my mind, hear His voice. As I have grown I have also begun to see God's awesome miracle's in my life, of those I love around me. Even though I grew up with a father who lived when doctor's thought he would die, walked when doctor's said he would never walk, I had not seen the miracle's God has been doing around me. Last week our good friend Boogie needed to go the ER, her leg was swollen from when her cat scratched her. She has been treating this for 3 weeks with antibiotics, she woke up after a nap, her leg was swelling again so her daughter Debbie took her to the ER. Before Junior and I showed up, I put a request into our One call church system asking for prayer, I also asked my Facebook friends to pray for her as Debbie her daughter asked her friends to pray. Before we got there Boogie had some blood drawn for lab work. Later Boogie had an ultra sound looking for a blockage. The doctor's had told Boogie she was going to need to stay overnight at least so they could determine what was going on. Later a specialist came in, looked at Boogie's leg, there was not swelling in her leg. God was listening to the prayers of the people. I was amazed how God took care of the swelling. The next day I read of an old high school friend Marla whose knee was swollen, she needs a knee replacement, the bone is bone on bone. She was helping out with a birthday party for one her grandchildren, was very concerned. Marla went grocery shopping, met an old friend, they chatted talked about the aches and pains of life. Her friend walked away, came back a few minute's later told Marla that she felt a nudge from God she needed to pray for Marla's knee. The selling went down, Marla could now do what she wanted to in helping with the birthday party. These two back to back instances reminded me that sometimes we need to open the eyes of our heart to see the work's of God going on all around us. For me I started seeing God's hand on everything when I learned to thank God daily for the provisions of life. I had a fear I would wind up living out on the streets, I am 64 years old and never have been close to living on the streets. God gave my childhood family a place to live after polio when Dad's parent's refused to help us. God provided a church family who helped feed us, cloth us and even worked with Mom in getting a mortgage when women could not get mortgages, Mom was able to go to work so she could support our family. I pray the eyes of my heart will continue to thank God for all He has done, be open to His work in my life, the lives around me. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet

Thursday, March 29, 2018

March 29, 2018

Greetings My Friend,

One of my favorite pictures of Jesus is when He stops and asks the woman at the well for a drink of water. This woman is considered the scum of society, she was married 5 times, was currently living with a man so she came to draw water at the well when the other women were not around. The woman was shocked Jesus would even speak to her for a few reasons, first because of her low status in society, also because He was a Jew and she was a Samaritan whom the Jew's despised. Even so Jesus spoke to the woman, asked her for a drink of water then told her He was the true living water in which she would never thirst again. Jesus reached out to the unwanted, gave them the hope of eternity in heaven. I find a lot of comfort in this beautiful act of love and compassion. I have felt this low, this stained in sin and I have felt the acceptance and love of my Savior who died for my sins. It was easy for me to be lost in this beautiful loving aspect of Jesus although as I read the Bible I also meet the firm, direct side of Jesus as well. If I am honest I too have those tender sides within me and the not so tender sides as well although I want to be the tender Jesus reaching out to the lost, the lonely and the hurting, I would rather not be the "in your face" part of Jesus, I have even convinced myself that I am a woman, women are nurturer's in general so I think I adopted the tender, caring compassionate part of Jesus by default of my birth. God reminds me that there have been strong women in the Bible as well. Deborah was a judge when judges ruled Israel, she told a man to go to war and save Israel, he was afraid of loosing so he wanted Deborah to go with him into battle alongside of him. At the end of the successful battle, a woman killed the king that was oppressing them which was an insult to the man who made Deborah go with him to war. Since I have been with Junior who is a very rough and tough man, I have met the very tender compassionate man he is as well so hiding behind being like Jesus' tender nature is a false belief. I see Jesus is also a very direct to the point of person as well. In His life He told religious leaders what He thought as we draw nearer to Resurrection Sunday, I see a toughness as He endures the pain of betrayal, the scourging, the beating, the mocking and the nails. He endures with a quietness that takes my breath away, the only time He cries out in anguish is when God turns His back on His only Son. As a believer Jesus also warns that those who follow Him will face persecution, because He did as well. I hear that I am to be tender, to reach out to the lost, the lonely, the hurting and the unseen just as He did. I learn I will face persecution as He did because the world hated Him first, it is scary to say the least. The Bible tells me "God will never leave me or forsake me, the LORD is my shepherd and I shall not want, God knows the plans He has for me to prosper me not to harm me." God won't take away all the pain of life although He will take me by the hand and walk with me through the trails of life. I have found these things to be true as God has used the pain of abuse for reaching others, He has given me a heart for compassion and a heart to be bold even if I am not liked. I used to want to please people, I am learning and have learned that I am not alone, God will help me when I am scared unsure. When the struggle ends I will be amazed at what I was able to do all because I knew God was with me. As I look to Resurrection Sunday, I am reminded that I am not alone I will over come. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

March 27, 2018

Greetings My Friend,

A popular saying a few years ago was "What would Jesus do?" This thought comes to mind as I hear believers say that social media is a bunch of garbage, I am tired of all the fighting about politics and yet complain. I think this thought when believers have decided that what the world teaches "Politics and religion should not be talked about in public because it is sure to start a fight. I admit I would like to keep quiet, it is easier, then my heart pricks me I think about Jesus. We all know Jesus had a lot to say to the religious leaders of His day, most not smoothed over with kind gentle words. Jesus was willing to stand against those pride filled leaders call their vanity to account. Junior and I were talking the other day about how conservative's have had leaders speak to their values only to be elected then find their wants and needs never addressed. Finally conservative's had someone who truly heard their needs he was elected, still the politician's have not aligned themselves with our President. For too long we have allowed the feel good Jesus to take precedence in our teachings not ever showing all of Jesus. Jesus often got angry, we all know about Him cleansing the temple, calling the religious leaders a brood of vipers. The Bible talks about hell more than heaven but we focus only on heaven. When Jesus came He talked about judgement day, about hell yet we have decided to ignore the parts of the Bible we do not like. It seems to me that Jesus talked about more than love and peace... We are in the last of the last days, although the last days began shortly after Jesus ascended into heaven so is it right for us to sit in our little cushy corner's wait for Him to come get us. Again I look at what Jesus did, He knew that the last days were coming although He did not know the hour or the day. He still went about telling people the facts of God's love and judgement, so should I sit wait or should I make known my disdain for what our government is trying to push down our throats. Should I avoid pointing out what I believe, Jesus would not like in our government, abortion, taking away our rights and so on? I believe it is my duty to let congress know that they are hired by the people, represent the people not special interest groups. I believe that God has allowed us to be in the shape we are in because we assumed we had His favor. If we look at our founders they were willing to die for what they believed in, are we? I was not for most of my life, today as I see our country go from a democracy to socialist I am concerned for my children and grandchildren, I know I can fight if I am called to.  I get a good idea that Jesus would stand up for the people as He did all those years ago when the religious leaders were putting heavy burdens on the people's backs, much like us being taxed so heavily today. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet

Saturday, March 24, 2018

March 24, 2018

Greetings My Friend,

We have had too many appointments for me to handle so my energy what little I have has been next to nothing. I found myself with two free days last week and I slept a whole lot, Friday we had a trip to Bristol which found me drained again, the joys of Chronic Fatigue that seems to be a  part of many chronic diseases. Today found me tired from the long day yesterday again, for lunch I made tuna casserole, while it baked in the oven I decided to catch up on the morning dishes and yesterday's morning dishes. We ate lunch and dinner on the run Friday which meant no lunch and dinner dishes. I began to grow irritated with the few inches of space on the butcher block cart we have because a few weeks ago I piled all of Junior's piles he was making on the end of the table, on the butcher block cart
 that  was invading my space to work into a laundry basket. I set it in Junior's chair thinking he would empty the basket that day, he did not fully empty it placed it on the cart where we pile dishes to be washed. While attempting to empty the sink of dishes so I could put clean soapy water in the dish pan I had next to no space to stack dishes and my irritation grew. I had been trying to be patient because of the amount of running we were doing, Junior having to run more do to physical therapy but today I found myself angry. Junior came into the kitchen and as gently as I could I explained my anger to him. Earlier during my quiet time I asked God if I could explain to Junior how to manage his time to get things done easier more timely. I am an organizer, I learned this with my career in Commercial Loan Processing, we had to get what work came in to our desk each day processed, at night if we were out of balance, the whole team had to stay until the out of balance was found. Early on I learned I could not take one more loan payment, because that meant the team stayed late as I finished up, often they would gather around my desk until everything was balanced. Junior needs to move from job to job because of his back pain although he has not found a way to manage his work schedule around the house. I managed to explain the system to Junior then I felt bad, Junior is very sensitive to upsetting me so his silliness came out, he was giving me a few extra hugs. I asked him if I scared him  he said "yes." We kissed and made up, I took myself to the couch,  put myself in time out, I took a nap which I needed. God has taught me to speak in an even quiet voice, I no longer yell at the top of my lungs peppering my words with some choice swear words so I find it hard to see with a calm voice I still can hurt someone's feelings. The nice thing Junior has taught me that once we have words, we can be friends again, there are no days of no talking. I also learned in all of our relationship classes couples that are healthy do have arguments, they learn to fight fair then they find a way to resolve the problem. We do this in our marriage as the years have gone on, we fight very little. Still when you have a neat person and a messy person, an organized person and unorganized struggles are bound to happen. As I wake up we are friends talking as if we had no fight, Junior knew I had a point so there is no need to figure a way to resolve the problem. I am less neat, he is more neat  we work out our struggle with love. Tomorrow is a new day we will continue to learn to accept each other, to help each other and love each other as God teaches us to love. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet

Thursday, March 22, 2018

March 22, 2018

Greetings My Friend,

My strongest desire as I progress through the stages of Parkinson's Disease is that I stay strong in the Lord. God has guided me through a lot of my first stage struggles such as my natural tendency to hunch over because of a weakening spine. With the walker I have straightened up and continue to stand straight, sit straight. I may hunch over later, but for now I am able to be straight. The same for my sleep, I have started sleeping in a recliner at night so the pain and stiffness I had when sleeping in bed is not there again for now anyway. My biggest concern is many PD patients can get severely depressed, right now medication helps me and I pray that all throughout my disease progression I will be able to skirt around the depression. My hope is in Jesus, I desire to give the hope of Jesus, live the hope of Jesus until my very last breath. I am thankful for the things God the Father has been showing me so far to maintain a sense of normalcy in my life. I make a to do list each week, mark off the items I accomplish which shows me I am active, helping Junior maintain our home and keeping him fed with healthy meals. My heart is content with this, I also have been able to be physical around the house, walking while shopping and finding kindling in the yard, a bit in the woods off of our home is helping me a lot. Again God pointed me to do these things and I feel fairly healthy despite the fact I have PD. I have also learned my limitations such as traveling is no longer in my life, I am tiring out so I stop, take a nap, wake up do more physical activity so I can go to sleep at night. Instead of working for an half hour, rest for an hour I work for a couple of hours, take a nap for a couple of hours then when I get up I work again for a couple of hours. At night I unwind watching TV before going to sleep. If anything I pray my testimony is my trusting God will help others to see God in my life. God always convicts a heart, I am a seed planter, I water some seeds by living and being an example of God's grace in my life. For those that have come beside me I also have a testimony of abuse, cancer, a child rejecting me for staying with her father, a second marriage that is working because we invited God into our marriage and now PD. God took me from a broken scared woman and has made me feel loved, given me confidence and joy, even with my past and with PD. I pray God has many more years for me to live for Him and to plant the seeds of a faith walk with Jesus. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

March 20, 2018

Greetings My Friend,

Recently I have been thinking about the long journey to where my faith is today. As I was sharing my thoughts with Junior, he fussed at me that if I would have listened to God and stop worshiping my children 18 years ago, life would have been better. I had much the same problem as I went through Divorce Recovery and Single Point, people felt I should be further along than I was. The thing I love about Junior is when I tell him to stop he does. God had finally laid on my heart that I was doing fairly well with my faith growth. God also revealed to me that sometimes those tiny steps we take are hard for others to recall in their own faith journey, how long it took them to get to where there right now. I told Junior when God told me to quit worshiping my children, when I was not counseling newly divorced people in Single point, I was a newly divorced women and just starting out in my faith journey. He understood. Fast forward to today, my friend Brenda has been a challenge to love. She has major mental health issues, physical issues along with she is dealing with cancer. I have been Brenda's friend but have felt clueless, frustrated the whole nine yards. This past week, Brenda spent the night with us, was in one of her very gloom and doom moods and with my Parkinson's I found myself very anxious to the point I had spasms, my hand tremors were more pronounced. Ironically Brenda cooled down, came back to spend the night with us and attended a health fair. At the fair she ran into a mental health person who told Brenda her medication was all wrong for her mental health issue. As she told me this I realized that she has been doing the best she could on her faith journey and her tiny steps she was taking were not seen by me, others. She is working very hard and I finally understood how difficult it is for others to grasp the tiny step process to develop our faith. May God bless you and keep you. Love Janet

Saturday, March 17, 2018

March 17, 2018

Greetings My Friend,

Learning to trust and obey is a constant learning of how to let go and let God. Junior and I were talking about some of the lessons we have been learning from helping others. One issue I have worked on for years is my anger. As a young child, young adult I gave into my anger, with my fists after I was married for a few years to my 1st husband I finally met my bully that was bigger than me. At first the drama of fighting and making up seemed exciting, as the years wore on, it grew tiresome, I began to seek counseling to learn how to stop being angry over everything. First I had to learn that there are other emotions besides "That made me made." I learned emotions like mad, sad, glad, happy, excited and hurt and when I started to see that being mad did not have to be the only feeling word I reacted to, I started to learn to think about why I was mad. For many years now God has allowed my anger to stay in check, I hardly fussed about much, Junior will tell anyone don't let the girl get hungry though it brings the tiger right out of her so he keeps me fed and whenever I say I am hungry when we are out, he finds me food immediately if not sooner. Recently though God has allowed my anger to service over a few things which usually put me into a fight or flight mode, I chose the flight mode. The more I ran from my anger the more angry things placed in my path so I had to learn to ask God to help me respond without anger. the other day when Brenda was here and started with her constant barrage of complaints I started singing. The next day I had heated responses to some of my conservative approaches which God has been leading to me to post. The weird thing is I responded calmly not me but the Holy Spirit seemed to be helping me respond with clear concise thoughts. I would only allow myself to respond to a point then I moved on. As I finished writing the last sentence I sighed a sigh of relief which means I am still a bit anxious and I know I have much more to learn. God has made me a strong personality now He is equipping me and I need to keep letting go and letting God. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet

Thursday, March 15, 2018

March 15,2018

Greetings My Friend,

I have bread rising in the kitchen, so I decided I needed to rest for a bit, more than likely the rest of the night. With the snow outside I decided to make the day a pajama day. When I first retired I found myself living in my pajamas, in the last few years I like getting up and getting dressed so that at the end of the day getting into my pajama's is a treat. My camera shows me flashbacks of pictures I have taken anywhere from a year ago to three years ago. As I was looking at some flash back's I noticed that by this time in March everything was in the process of greening up. I did notice last week as we were in Tennessee about 3 hours from us I saw the first buds of green on some of the undergrowth in the woods. I am waiting expectantly for the greening process to begin in earnest but instead we have snow, a couple of snow days this week. Junior has been working a bit on cleaning up the porch which excites me. I am longing to get outside in my new hiking boots to look for kindling and wood for Junior to chop up for the wood stove, I have been looking on Pinterest in search learning how to sew a gathering apron. I found one pattern using an old pillow case. This way I can put the apron on to go in search of berries that grow wild on our property, later maybe I can bring in the chestnuts, pawpaw's even black walnuts. Junior has planted some seeds to grow in containers on the porch my mind is anxious for the chance to get outside. Brenda came by for a visit so we are having fun talking about all that is going on with her. After we talked and I walked her through my prayer with Jesus going to the cross and on the cross up to His resurrection the tone of her visit is a bit different. I am also pleasantly surprised that her son and Brenda have had some conversations about faith. They have discovered C. S. Lewis's books about the Chronicles of Narnia. Brenda for sometime has stopped watching her horror flicks, I can tell that her dreams aren't as awful. Even better, Brenda managed a visit without her beloved cola drink. Brenda's asked God if she could live long enough to see her son settled into his own place since he comes to her place when he is home for a few days off from his truck driving job. My heart is at peace, I believe her commitment to Jesus may be real this time. I pray it is. I asked her about her cancer, she has not been given a time frame but she now has cancer in her lungs which means it is spreading. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

March 13, 2018

Greetings My Friend,

Lately my focus has been on keeping my body in shape as much as I am able. As a younger person I believed "If I took care of my body, my body would take care of me." Today I see that taking care of my health is a way to honor God and by being healthy I have better energy to do the work He has for me. I wish I could get back near my high school weight, I can't although that does not mean since I can't loose the weight I might as well be self indulgent. In the last several years I have transitioned from eating fairly healthy to eating healthy more often than not. I also attempted to do some form of exercise most of my adult life, starting with using my babies by holding them and twisting at my waist etc. Today I use my housework as a form of exercise, I do squats as I pick things up from the floor, pet fur children, I find myself twisting and turning throughout the day as I reach for things or stretch to retrieve something off of a shelf. For a couple of years now God has been teaching me to put up a year's supply of food each summer, which means I am eating food more from the source as opposed to processed foods. I have learned how to dehydrate, freeze food and I love eating it. We are also buying our meat from local meat grown in the area so I feel healthier as I eat better, exercise my body. One of the first lessons I learned with having Parkinson's is how important a balanced diet and exercise is for me. By doing these things I am able to prolong some of the symptoms giving me a better quality of life since I may be living with this disease 20 years or more. Along with my PD medications I take a variety of supplements like vitamin C, fish oil, L-Trosine, Rootology for my allergies and calcium for my bones. God has led me to many of these steps for my health so I am grateful and I feel my quality of life is giving me a chance to tell other's about God's goodness to me. Finally since asking Jesus to be my Savior I have gotten my spiritual faith with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit on track. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet

Saturday, March 10, 2018

March 10, 2018

Greetings My Friend,

Several times a week my prayers find me praying through Jesus' last hours on the way to the cross, I linger at the cross for awhile before I finish praying. Of late, the walk through Jesus' life, death and resurrection hold me for a long time. I can see me throughout Jesus' ministry following Him around soaking up all that He teaches, amazed at His miracles and totally in awe. By the time Jesus is facing His accusers, I can me there as well, betraying Him, condemning Him and I cry as I see the cruelness of sin lashed out on Him. I also see the ugliness of sin as His body is battered, torn and disfigured, I want to cry thinking I may have been an accuser of Jesus, in reality I know that there have been those times as well. I even hear Jesus cry out in anguish "My God, my God why have you forsaken me!" At this moment the reality of hell hits me. In all of eternity Jesus is separated from God for a brief moment and He is pained, then I understand the horror of hell.  Strangely enough I also see the confusion, grief of the Disciples as well, running away, scared, angry.... As I am about to give up hope, I can see the empty tomb, Jesus talking to Mary and her face light up, the Disciple's joy at seeing their beloved teacher. I feel true hope well up inside of me and I know that I know my Redeemer lives! As I look at Jesus my hearts desire is to be like Him, to love like Him oh the joy of Jesus teaching us and yes I want to go forth making disciple's of every nation and tribe. At the cross though I hesitate, can I face what Jesus faced, I ask myself this often, I am unsure until I remember Jesus' not wanting to "take the cup of suffering." God sends His angels to comfort Jesus then He goes to the cross obediently, in strength and dignity He goes and endures. I realize I will never face pain on my own only with God's hand on me. I have to trust and obey, somehow I think I will and can. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet

Thursday, March 8, 2018

March 8, 2018

Greetings My Friend,

Sometimes I come on strong, state my opinion then I grow tired of the boldness, back down so I can blend into the woodwork. Lately God has been challenging me to be bold and stay in the boldness. The boldness is okay for a minute then I grow weary as I run against those who can't or won't hear what I am trying to say. Recently I sense God wanting me to speak about the rights many in our country are handing over with no qualm to the government. Those who believe as I do often believe but are tired of repeating the same thing over and over so they wait and watch. Lately I sense God is wanting me to speak about things so that when a disaster strikes people will know what they did wrong, much like at the end of time people will recall the times they have been told about Jesus and disregarded the invitation to believe. Many people feel that social media is a bunch of garbage, although for me I have found some good friends, had many laughs, been able to open a door to discuss two illnesses I thought I had and I do have, Chiari Malformation and Parkinson's disease. I am meeting people with other types of chronic illnesses and I see we share some of the same journey where people form opinions of which they know nothing about, like we are lazy when in reality we are not but are fatigued extremely badly. I see God has had me speak about my chronic illness and I also see that an awareness is starting to take place. I have met a few new believers and I have been able to help them along in their faith journey. And now I am attempting to point out to a few generations of people how America looked 60 years ago as I grew up and the downward slide we are on now. Many on the left think the right has no compassion, the fact is we do, we see many of our own suffering and we believe they should come before any illegals. Many on the right think guns are the problem but have not grasped that if legal people have no access to guns then only the criminals and the military would own guns making us vulnerable. Because I love God I will do as He calls me to do even if it is uncomfortable, I know Jesus will give me courage, defend me and guide me to do the work the Father is directing me to do. If I am offensive maybe you need to check within your spirit to see if God is pricking your conscious. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

March6, 2018

Greetings My Friend,

I am grateful for weeks where there is little need to run to doctor's appointments. Since retirement I find going to the doctor's is fairly much like having a part time job. The more that goes wrong with my body the more doctor's seem to work with all of my illnesses. Living in a rural area many of my appointments are two to three hours away which makes a run to the doctor an all day event. With both my husband and I we can be traveling back and forth to our appointments on average one or two days a week, although it is more bunched up, we go for several days for a week or two then it is quiet for a week or two. I gave up driving, I find my cognitive abilities could not handle the challenge of quick thinking, I am not familiar with driving in the mountains which makes me unsure at times so I felt for everyone's safety it was time to give up driving. On Sunday we had another potluck, which I love to attend. Junior and I get up go to Sunday school, attend services then come home take a nap to go back for Bible study. At the potluck, I was hardly able to stay awake, my friend asked me several times what was wrong, I was needing to take my nap in a huge way. I am at a point where I need to decide if I should attend the potluck. Our church always has containers for people to take leftovers home so we could go through the line, make a take out container then enjoy the food at home. I know what I need to do, I now have to do it and it hurts. One more activity one that I love needs to stop. Parkinson's is a progressive disease, these small things taken away starts to hurt. I can still do much so my thinking is focused on all that I am able to get out and do still. May God bless you and keep you. Love Janet

Saturday, March 3, 2018

March 3, 2018

Greetings My Friend,

This past week has had a few hard days which set my Parkinson's off. I had an MRI afterwards for some reason when I sat up then got on my feet to walk, it was difficult even though I was using a walker. My guess is since I have low blood pressure that was more than likely low, which was why I was dizzy and walking difficult. Afterwards we did a quick stop at Wal-Mart's, then at Lowe's I waited in the truck with Daisy. Next a friend of ours has a son who has a dog so while the son is not able to care for the dog, he is ours which maybe for a long time. He is a big German Shepherd, we have 7 other dogs ranging from a boxer, a redbone and 4 mixed breeds weighing up to 40 pounds then there is little Daisy who is a toy poodle. The German Shepherd, named Cato, has a cage to sleep in so he is in that for the most part for now until all dogs get acclimated. Our dogs have taken turns barking at Cato, the boxer, Brendy was upset the most. She egged Cato on in the cage, boy can he move that cage around even though he is inside. Later Brendy took after our alpha dog which turned into a rather nasty dog fight, Junior was outside on his way back in so it was up to me to break them up. That was a job, first I filled up a small container with water, threw it at them, seeing that did not work I tossed my cup at them, finally I grabbed the broom and started hitting them, with the bristles side on them. As you can see, I have not had to break up fights before. By the end of the day I realized with all of the craziness of having a visitor come spend the night and the dogs fighting I had not done my quiet time with God, so I sat down to do my quiet time. I journal my thoughts first, then I journal a prayer to God all before I begin my study time. While reading I write down passages that hit me, when I am finished I ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to me the lesson I need to learn. With all that writing before hand I am ready to quiet my mind, afterwards I am able to absorb what God is wanting me to take from that day's reading. I write that down then I ask myself how can I serve others, I answer that question and then my quiet time is ready to come to an end. That night after my study time I found myself settled from all of the upsets of the two days, I was entering into my routines slowly and feeling rather good. I was amazed at how I was able to let go of the upsets, then begin back with my routines. I need to stick to routine's since it helps my Parkinson's disease, keeps my tremors down and brain fog at a minimum. Later Junior showed me how to use the broom to break up the kids when they are in a heated fight. Later as they tried to get testy all I had to do was show the broom at them they quieted down right away. They rarely get in these disputes, Val egged Brenny once too many times so she will not let him correct her anymore. In any case I am grateful that I did not allow fear to rule me, God showed me how to settle down and how to let go. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet

Thursday, March 1, 2018

March 1, 2018

Greetings My Friend,

As I think about using my toy poodle Daisy for reaching out to others I again learn that lesson we learned as children, "Actions speak louder than words." The same could be said in regards to my faith walk, the desire to give Jesus to others. Why would someone want to come to Jesus because we tell them "He is the way, the truth and the light of the world." Those words are wonderful even powerful but unless we are willing to live as if He is the way, truth and light" these words have no meaning. I often feel inadequate speaking to others about the need for Jesus, I do find giving gestures of my heart felt love much easier to do. As I have wrestled with witnessing I have slowly come to understand that witnessing is words for one person another may have acts of love for their way of witnessing. We all have different talents and different ways of being one body in Christ. My wonderful husband now comes to mind, Junior speaks rather roughly, bluntly. He will tell someone "You are going to hell unless you accept Jesus as your Savior." Those words are hard for many people to swallow although I have seen Junior speak those words to a rough crowd of people and they listen to him, converse with him, because they understand his demeanor since at one time he was one of those people. My heart's desire is to be soft, straightforward but soft. I do offend some people because I am rather honest. I also find many people accepting my acts of love, my fact of the manner speech so those are the ones God has directed me to minister too. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet

July 16, 2018

Greetings my Friend, As I write I have been waking up for several hours already. With Parkinson's I don't roll out of bed anymore ...