November 15 2014

November 15 2015 Greetings My Friend, One of the things I find by reading the Bible daily is when “a teacher” teaches me something that is not in the Bible I now know it. To be honest I’d rather hear the “feel good messages” more than the reality of what God says at times. I have been taught that “hell and Satan” don’t exist. I’m sorry but Jesus talked about both. He even spent time in the wilderness with Satan. Satan kept tempting Jesus with things of this world and Jesus rejected those gifts for God’s truth. Jesus also taught from the O.T. and I find so many rich lessons by reading the O.T. I meet King David each year as I read the Bible and I learn that he messed up big time. He slept with another man’s wife, had her husband killed and when Nathan the Prophet called him on his evilness, King David repented with a sincere heart. King David had to pay a price for his actions but he stayed close to God and God stayed close to King David. To me King David is very real and in that reality I find peace. I find that God loves me, will keep me and also show me how to walk away from things that truly can hurt me. I do have to have a sincere heart to grow and learn and even to face my faults. I learn this lesson in both the O.T. and the N.T. When God says He doesn’t like certain things I know He means that. I also learn that if I agree with God no matter my sin that God will show me how to walk away from those things which hinder my relationship with Him. That means He does not like an adulterer but will forgive and adulterer if they seek forgiveness and walk away from that choice. It is hard for sure but over time the need to commit adultery goes away and a life of seeking to walk a more Godly life begins to consume the person. God doesn’t like the sin but He will forgive the sin if you are willing to face it, admit it and seek to walk away from it. If you justify it then you will find yourself knee deep in the ugliness of it. God has given us a choice to do life His way or our way. There will be a time you will have to pay for the choice you make. I learn these things from reading my Bible. I also learn how to be Junior’s wife by reading the Bible and prayer. If you read the Proverbs 31 woman it can be intimidating. Through the years I find that no two women have to be exactly the same. We need to care for our families in ways that work for us and with God. The norm in my childhood years was for women to stay home. In my family Dad had polio. Mom went to work to support the family and later when Dad was able he found a job he could handle. He made less money but he worked to help support the family. In the Proverbs 31 woman I see a woman who will work to provide for her home also. So staying home with a family works for some families and both parents working also works. I am grateful that Mom did go to work to support our family. I learned to let go of only one way of doing life, the wife at home and entered into the workforce as needed. Today I am a wife retired and at home. I can’t do the amount of work I’ve done in the past but I am able to keep the house in order, a warm meal on the table for Junior after he works hard. My time as a wage earner is not needed now. My health won’t let me either. So I work for my family in a way that I can. I also learn that I want to be “loved” and my husband feels loved when I am respecting him in the work he does. The Bible teaches me the things I need to learn and to ask God what He wants me to be and do. When I am in tuned to God’s Word I hear him so much more so. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet

November 13 2014

November 13 2014 Greetings My Friend, The sheets are in the washer and this days work starts for me. This week I’ve added to my routines a 2nd meal each day. I’ve been making two make ahead meals every few days and it works out rather nicely. This week lunch is meatloaf and dinner is homemade chicken and rice soup. So I am only cooking a few day during the week which works out rather nicely for me and we are still eating fairly well. I am slowly starting to use the elliptical again since my fall the other day. Since I have not been using it I find myself attacking a few more projects around the house which enables me to exercise a bit. My desire is to honor God with my mind, body and soul. I am trying to be as healthy as I am able which means not only working on my thought life, my daily walk with God but also keeping the body I’ve been given in as good of shape as I know how. Along the way I’ve learned to look a bit at alternative medicine For me I believe there is a balance between modern medicine and going back to nature to find healing. For centuries people found cures in God’s creation and I believe many of those cures are there today. Junior is my example. He worked in a chemical factory making paint for 38 years. Most of the men in that shop developed some serious illness’ throughout the years. Junior has also had struggles like he was choking a lot near the end of his career. When Junior was in his 30’s he started using supplements to clear up his acne and to help his daughter clear hers up. In the process Junior also has been fairly healthy and when illness’ came he moved through them rather quickly. After a couple of back injuries at work Junior also started weight lifting to strengthen his back. He does have his struggles but he is moving about fairly well. He tires easily, he has days of severe pain but overall the exercises have helped him to keep on moving and doing. We allow Junior to slow down and not work as he needs to rest. He takes his afternoon nap most days so he isn’t home free by any means but he is accomplishing renovating of the house. As menopause hit my dry skin got even drier. We learned that flaxseed oil helps with dry skin and so I take that regularly. When I get a cold I take extra vitamin C tablets and in short order my cold is gone. My mother’s health was bad due to years of smoking. Mom’s remedy was “give me a pill and make me better.” For me I did not see where that helped Mom all that much. Her symptoms were lessened but I did not see her work past her illness to the point of having a quality of life. I have Chiari Malformation and COPD along with Gerds and Osteoporosis which means these can be hard on my overall health. I do notice though that exercise, supplements and essential oils are helping me maintain my health to a degree that I am enjoying day to day life. I am able to keep house, to write, to exercise and all of this allows me to be somewhat active. I am grateful for the activeness I have. I can’t run like I did as a young woman but I am doing well in my older years which makes me happy. I also am learning to live within my limitations. After the fall off of a ladder recently I realize that I should not even attempt to be on one much less a stool due to my balance issues. I have learned to rethink how I’ve done things in the past and I see a more creativeness in me that was not there before. All the limitations have made me sit more and I find myself doing studies on the internet searching for an understanding on the meanings of words in the Bible. I have a blast researching and learning. God has taught me much and in that I find a usefulness in my world. I truly believe I have many good years ahead of me yet, the Lord willing. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet

November 11 2014

November 11 2014 Greetings My Friend, YouTube and the sound wasn’t working for some reason so I went to plan B. I wanted to study the word “humble” and it’s meaning in the Bible. So I googled the meaning to find that humble in the dictionary means: “not proud and not thinking you are better than other people. It also means simple and with only basic equipment or features. I then went to a thesaurus and the meaning grew deeper for me. I learned that it is” modest, unassuming, unpretentious, undemanding and a low profile. With that information I started to absorb the depth of this often used word. I was ready to read what the Bible says a bit more because I had a better idea of the word itself. Psalm 34:2 states “My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. The next reference was 1 Peter 5:5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility towards one another for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” I am off and running with this word now. My attention span is short so I will dig into this word for a bit and learn as I grow. I heard a small portion of Joyce Meyer’s teaching on humble and that continues to stick with me also. She taught that it means “obeying” and for me I get a little huffy with words like obey and submit. The dictionary and thesaurus helped me put it in a better perspective and I find my heart desiring to be humble and to submit. When Joyce taught I saw a picture of a student and a teacher in my minds eye. The student sits under the teacher so they can learn and use this knowledge in their own life. I saw God as my teacher and He knows all the best things for me to learn. I heard again “God wants our best” and in that I find comfort and strength to go out of my comfort zone. I think the hardest lesson for me to learn is to fully “let go and let God.” It is my deepest desire but I also have “pride” telling me to “pull myself up by my bootstraps”. I believe somewhere in this thinking that “God helps those who help themselves” which means I must try first on my own. The longer I walk in faith though I learn that these things aren’t what God is teaching me at all. Some days I bring the most insignificant things to God and at first I was so embarrassed to bother Him. Today I know that God wants to guide each area of my life and it is not a bother to Him. I believe God rejoices when I “just do it” per His instructions. Sometimes I struggle to understand why He has me going in a direction and recently I have found myself saying “not my will Lord but Your will.” I tell Him where I am confused and He gives me enough information to help me to step out in faith. As I step out in faith I see God’s best working out in my life for me. Learning to humble myself is a journey also like my faith journey is. It is one step at a time and one day at a time that I grow more in the likeness of Jesus. In my heart I believe we are in redemptive time here on earth and we are learning the lessons we need to learn so we can live in eternity with God as the person God wants us to be in eternity. I feel humbled when I realize God is truly working out my best for me in this life and for the life to come. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet

November 8 2014

November 8 2014 Greetings My Friend, Coffee has been drank, breakfast ate, Facebook looked at and Bible study has been done. So goes my morning routine. I am writing at present and when this is done I will enter into the day of cleaning and cooking, living and loving. It is almost noon when I finish my morning routines. Today I was awake at 7:00 my times vary but not like they were a while back. Somedays I’d be up at 7:00 and some days it was 11:00. Today the latest I generally sleep is 8:ish. I like being morning oriented to be honest. I have always loved the freshness of a new day and all the adventures that await me. Since I can’t get myself moving and doing the first thing these days I have fallen into a routine of waking up slowly and entering into my day’s activities later than sooner. I saw someone online that wrote they now tell themselves that they are living their “new normal” and that phrase has opened my eyes to the fact that I am living a new normal also. In talking to my Chiari friend I also learn that it took her a while to realize that she would have real good days and days that she could barely move. I am entering into that realization. I am starting to accept the fact that I’m about as good as I can be and that is okay. I won’t be able to run a marathon but I will be able to do more than I had been doing. I am learning to keep up with exercise, eating healthy and living a slower paced life. The more I enter into this thought process the less anxiety I feel. Next I watch Junior. He has lived his disability for decades now. It is 2nd nature for him to slow down and stop from time to time. He does not beat himself up for those days he does next to nothing, it is what it is. I also see finished projects so he keeps at things until they are done. I learn from Junior to keep at it instead of giving up and giving in to my limitations. I now feel that God has given me a gift with my disabilities instead of having a punishment due to bad behavior or such. Once more I learn Paul’s teaching and I find myself content in all things. I love the study times I now have in God’s wonderful Word. I love my quiet prayer times and a physically able “Janet” would not slow down enough to dig as deeply as I am digging these days. In all things I am learning to be thankful and grateful. I think back to an Aunt that was diagnosed with COPD twenty years ago and she worked hard at doing all she could to maintain a quality of life by being proactive. Today she is involved with her grandchildren and loving life even if some days are a bit harder. I am thankful for the generations before me that took old age by the handles and lived life to the fullest they were able. They give me hope and I pray my life will also inspire another generation to live life and to love each day of life. I also pray they see that I am handling all things by turning my life moment to moment more and more over to God. To me “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet

November 12 2014

November 6 2014 Greetings My Friend, I know a retired couple who are now missionaries overseas. I met a lady missionary yesterday that retired from her lifelong career and is now overseas doing mission work. There is Kerner Sanders who took fried chicken to another level in his older years. I hear these stories often and it starts to soak in that because I’ve hit my 60’s does not mean that it is time to sit in a corner and wait for life to end. A friend wrote about Spiritual Gifts yesterday and how to know yours. It is a process of talking to God and stepping out in faith. For me mine began in a small way. I loved writing and wrote Junior notes each day before I left for work so when he got home he had a “hug” from me since our shifts were several hours apart. He started encouraging me to write and I began asking God where to use my talent. A friend mentored me and then I helped write a newsletter. Along the way Junior and I hosted a workshop for the remarrieds so we learned and grew in our marriage and also how to reach out to other remarried couples. As I retired I started writing in earnest and I feel like I’ve been on a journey of growth and purpose. As a young woman I tried teaching Sunday school and that just wasn’t my calling. Later a minister asked my ex and I to be advisors to the teens in the church. That time period was wonderful. I grew and learned much during those 15 years. The older I got though the less energy I had. I knew it was time to move on. Even today I long to work with teens again but my health just won’t let me so I don’t. I do write though. I love writing and sharing my journey and how God has brought me peace and purpose and these days life is sweet. It is sweet even with health issues that slow me down a lot. God’s work is a life long journey and what I did back years ago does not mean it is what I will be doing tomorrow. I like learning to do new things so I am grateful that God continues to call me into service for His glory. As I learn to listen to God’s promptings I find myself immersed in ministry for Him. The changes are often a process of learning and then stepping out in faith at God’s promptings. For years I admired my mother-in-law’s homemaker ways. I loved watching her cook, she did teach me a lot, I loved watching her clean, she did it with a sense of pride. I longed to be a homemaker and I was but I was also a working mother. Retirement has allowed me to be a homemaker again and I love it. I love making Junior healthy meals. I love putting the house in order on a daily basis. I can’t whip through housework like I did when I was younger but these days that is okay because I’ve learned to do it on and off all day long. Some days we run so I play catch up again on the days we quit running. I like that too. As I sit and rest I write and my writing career takes shape rather nicely. At first it was a weekly blog, then I started writing 3 days a week. My cousin set me up a 2nd Facebook page to help me advertise my book and to begin a journey of writing about my day to day walk on a day to day basis. With this page and my blog I have just enough writing work to do for the Lord. I feel like I have a purpose a direction in my life. From time to time Junior also find ourselves reaching out to people within our community and I also love ministering to Junior. Ministering isn’t always an upfront important type of work. It is sometimes the quiet unheard of work and the longer I live the more I love the behind the scenes work a lot. I learn that ministering is an ongoing endeavor taking on many different looks and sizes. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet

November 4 2014

November 4 2014 Greetings My Friend, Today I regroup and work my way back to a decent energy level again. The two days of running have wore me out and now I start over again. It is discouraging to start over all the time but when I do I am able to accomplish so much and enter into life loving, learning, giving and sharing all for God’s glory. The fatigue overtook me both days we ran. When we got home I slept a lot and yesterday I even slept while Junior was in the dentist office getting his cavity filled. We got done what we needed and again when we got home I took another nap. Getting my haircut and highlighted was a bright spot in the two days of running. As I read a few statuses on the help groups I hear of pain and fatigue so much greater than mine and my heart breaks for these people. I understand that this disease is progressive. I was in my late 50’s when I got diagnosed so my prayer is I won’t need surgery etc. I do deal with many of the symptoms they just aren’t as painful. Now that I understand that I will need this time to regroup I am not beating myself up like I was. I can’t and hard as I try I can’t so I am learning to go with it. I am learning that some days will be better than others. This is a fact of Chiari Malformation and I can let it get me down or I run with it. I choose to run with it. COPD plays into this and I’ve found many of the triggers that cause me to have bronchitis. I am learning to stay away from the triggers and bronchitis isn’t overtaking me as often. As I continue to exercise I am seeing that my goal in having a quality of life is much like working at exercise. The more things I do to deal with my health the longer I go without going down as far. So for a day or two I will work slower and nap if I need one. In a day or two I will be back to moving throughout the day in a more energetic way. These days I’ve learned that I have a lot to offer for the good of others still. I am able to write, to clean house, to cook, to pray and I am a friend when need be. That feels good. Alongside of that I am crafting like working on a tee shirt quilt, refurbishing furniture and working on a collage project of pictures I have taken. Being thankful for the health I do have even the struggles I have helps me a lot. In the struggles with my health I continue to lean on God for guidance and direction and I feel His presence. I find new ways to do things and that feels rather good. My brain is learning to do new things not a bad thing. My energy level also matches Junior’s energy level and we both are patient with each other when we need time to regroup. We encourage each other to get back up again. The comments from friends on Facebook encourage me as I show pictures of our works in progress. My community of Chiarians helps me to keep on going and I am able to be an encourager to someone else. God creates us to be in community and the more I enter into the community the more I find a fullness to life. Thank you Jesus. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet

November 1 2014

November 1 2014 Greetings My Friend, We haven’t had the run days like we had today and yesterday in some time now. I like that our medical issues are now getting under control and we need to be checked just not as often. My heart is asking God to help me be patient and kind today as I may feel frazzled. I am asking God to help me to have “ears that hear and eyes that see.” As I enter into the business of being busy I tend to go on autopilot more. I tend to be focused on getting the job done and not on being sensitive to needs that may present themselves to me. I am also asking God to continue to teach me to seek Junior’s highest good. That means if he gets turned around with the directions and has a few harsh words that I don’t fuss back in a harsh manner also. I need to keep asking God to guide my words and my thoughts so that the rush of the moment doesn’t override the true need. Now that we’ve settled into a quiet routine at home doing our own work it is easy to feel a bit more stressed as we go from one appointment to the next from one store to the next. We head out comfortable and relaxed but I also understand that traffic may back up making us late or we make a wrong turn and have to retrace our steps and these minor irritations can begin to wear on us. Being teachable is important to me. I love to learn things but I tend to like learning in a study session the most so when life is handing me some difficult moments I need to be open to the lesson that is in that moment also. I am learning when I feel that anxiousness building inside of me to start talking to God. I used to hate taking up God’s time when there are others that have such important struggles to work through. Today though I know that God does want that little insignificant struggle of mine as much as a big struggle I may have. God likes walking me through boredom and my inane chatter when I need to talk for the sake of talking. He doesn’t mind me asking Him to give me patience when I feel irritated. One of my favorite prayer requests is asking God to teach me to love those that I find unlovable. A few times God has opened my heart to a real prickly person. Sometimes I sense God teaching me to let go of a hurt and let Him deal with what was done. Nothing feels better than knowing I’ve been hurt and accepting that hurt. I don’t go back to get hurt again but I can truly let go and let God. In my thoughts though I am not angry and I don’t have a need to get even anymore. When we get home today I will fall into my comfy chair and more than likely take a snooze. I will know I’ve put in a full day. Tomorrow I will wake up knowing that it will be a at home day where I will move more at my pace than being rushed as we go from one appointment to the next. I will clean, exercise and cook. I love that life gives us varying types of days to deal with and I am learning to relish the good moments to accept the hard moments and in the end life is truly awesome because God is always right there taking me by the hand when I need it and watching me toddle off when I am able to go off in His will. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet