The Journey

I am a follower of Christ. Before you look at me and think Ugh, she just lost me, let me tell you what that means to me. It's a very simple, really, It just means I believe in the sacrifice Christ made for me. I am not some Bible thumping, cram it down your throat, preacher. I don't judge you, and I don't expect to be judged. This is MY choice, MY life, MY decision, I don't expect it to be yours. It's a personal walk, a personal decision, and a personal Journey. No one else can make it for me, but me. I don't go to church, because I believe we ARE the Church, and unfortunately, many, which I have found, don't believe this. I would rather show people, Jesus in my life, by my generosity, mercy, and grace. While I am not perfect at this yet, I strive to be better, daily. Someone once told me, I am a fisher of men. I was also told, on a different occasion,  that I have a warrior spirit. I truly never understood this one, because I always feel so weak, until ...

My free lance writing website is keeping me from working right now, so here I am again. For the past three nights I have slept in my own bed!! This is MAJOR progress for me. I did wake today in pain, however, it wasn't bad enough to keep me down. It's the first time in almost two years I have slept in my own bed for more than a night or two, and even though I woke in pain this morning, I plan to sleep in my bed again tonight. I sleep so much better in my bed, but until recently, I couldn't tolerate the pain, in which I woke. A pain free day will NEVER be something I take for granted again, this I know for sure. Pain does a lot to a person, besides hurting them physically. It causes emotional problems, relationship problems, and just overall problems. You lose a lot of yourself, when pain creeps in. You forget what's important, and focus only on relieving the pain. It's a losing battle if you don't keep searching for the answers. A friend posted, as his fac...

I was blessed with three daughters. The oldest two turn 18 and 16 tomorrow. Talk about feeling old, I will officially have a child who is an adult tomorrow. It's funny but the closer this day has come, the more I visualize her as an infant. Easter dinner, I pictured her sitting in my lap, sharing my plate when she was about 1 year old.  I remember when they were newborns, and I walked them around the yard introducing them to the trees and the flowers and even though they don't remember that, I instilled a value in them, and that young moment. I taught them that trees and flowers and even bugs are beautiful creations with purpose and cause. Sarah, my oldest, will be graduating soon and leaving me to go on to college. She thinks she will major in psychology right now, but as her mind grows and she experiences life on her own, that may change. Whatever path she takes I hope she follows her heart, uses the grace and mercy she's been taught, and uses the common sense that God ...

Pain and drugs seem to go hand in hand. Whether it's emotional pain or physical pain, there is a drug on the market (or under the table) to make it "better". The problem with this is, the drugs are as bad as the problem itself. I learned this when I was in my early 20's and diagnosed with a form of epilepsy. I don't have what most think of as a seizure: I simply zone out for about a minute, and sometimes actually pass out. They tried several medications on me, and the side effects were horrible. One actually made me stutter for weeks, before I told the doctor I didn't have that problem before I started taking that med, and I didn't care if it was a known side effect or not, I wasn't taking it anymore.....oddly enough 4 days after I stopped the medication, the stutter went away. Two months later (after I changed physicians) he called me and apologized to me, telling me further studies had proven that stuttering and speech issues were now a known side ef...

My minor setback last week, turned into a bit more of a setback than I anticipated. This is going to be a LONG road back to health. I still struggle with my faith, through all of this, and that bothers me. I had no idea how shaky my faith truly was, since it had never really been tested in the past. Faith is easy to have when life is going smoothly or with only minor bumps along the way, but let life throw you a real curve ball and even the most faithful has questions. I get so frustrated when I am doing well for so long, then WHAM!! One wrong step and I am off my feet for days or even weeks. This has to be one of the most senseless diseases to ever strike humanity. I am furious with myself for walking that extra five minutes last week (yes it only took five extra minutes of walking to do this to me), setting all of this into motion, I am fighting being furious with God for allowing this at all, and I am furious with everyone else, for going along through life, as normal, without me. I...

The thing about undertaking a life changing way of living, is if you want the benefits you have to continue this for life. For me that means giving up a lot of my beloved drink-sweet iced tea, and drinking a LOT of water. People think when you drink tea or juice or anything really, that you're getting water anyways, so it's a fair trade. Not so. Other drinks besides fresh water have things in which actually take the water from your body, causing you to be more dehydrated than before you drank them. My problem is forty years of habit is VERY hard to break. I know I should drink at least two to three quarts of water per day, more right now as I replenish my body's needs, but the problem is, for forty years I have HATED drinking water, and that is an extremely hard habit to break. My body is telling me to drink water, drink water, drink water.....my head is saying ewwwww icky. Between not drinking enough water, yesterday and this morning, and probably being over zealous in m...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpSmy4tnOWA   I was going to write this blog strictly on stress, and while this is a great topic for a blog (maybe later), as I was meditating on my daily verse and spent time in prayer, I feel trust is better blog for today. Actually the two go hand in hand. If you trust in God, how can you stress over the world?  Before I go further, let me tell a little about stress. According to the National Stress Institute (yes there is an entire institute devoted to studying stress-we will pay for almost anything now-a-days) stress causes or aids most things which ail our bodies. Stress alone can cause depression, high blood pressure, anxiety disorders, and heart disease. It has been known to be a trigger for asthma attacks, sugar influxes in diabetics, digestion issues, as well as, certain cancers!! That information alone is enough to scare me into developing a more stress-free lifestyle! The reason I say trust and stress go hand in hand, is if you...

Hi! I am many things to many people. I am a child of God's first and foremost, and no one can nor will ever take that seat from me. Otherwise, I am a mommy, mostly. Until three years ago, I worked full time as a Realtor, volunteered in the girls' schools weekly, ran my household and volunteered as a search and rescue worker. One day, literally all at once, that came to a halt. My left arm went numb, my left shoulder hurt constantly, and my stomach was in knots(probably from the stress of everything)...I thought I was having a stroke. I called my doctor and because of my symptoms, he worked me in within 30 minutes. He listened to my heart and lungs, sat down in front of me and said relax, you're not having a stroke. However, I think your problem is in your neck. After my xray, he said his new technical term for my spine is "icky looking" and gave me the long name of a spinal disease, a disease most people don't even begin to have symptoms of until they are in...