While I am Lay Recovering

Shalom:
Right now, Mark and I  are at Mark's parents' doing laundry.
We are going through a very difficult time, so for those who do, I ask for your prayers.
But when I am home, laying in bed, trying to get well, I am either sleeping or reading.
I return to one of my favourite books, Hinds Feet On High Places.
In this most difficult place in our lives, I myself returning to the story of Much Afraid, servant of the Good Shepherd.
Much Afraid longs for the day she is able longer fellowship with the Shepard, longs for the day her crooked feet and mouth are made straight and whole. She dreads marriage to her cousin Craven Fear, who delights to abuse her.
Sharing the desire of her heart with the Shepard one day, He surprises her that He too longs for her healing and offers her the change to be made whole.
But it wouldn't be a Benny Hinn miracle; where she is slapped silly and someone man cries "HEAL."
No, she, Much Afraid must do the work for her feet to be transformed into "hind's feet." To do some, she would have to walk the path of the hind and face and overcome the fears that whole her back.
  Our life of faith is liken to the path that the deer and hind travel. In order to take those breathtaking leaps, they must learn to leap over the stones and branches along their path. A young buck is insecure and nervous when taking those first leaps. But he has the best teachers in his parents, who show him how it is down, First the dad takes son to easy paths, easy branches and rocks to jump over. As his legs get stronger, the young buck is able to take on steeper paths with ease,
It is the reason we go through trials, to strenghten our faith muscles so we can leap over the stumping blocks that are thrown in our path.
The past few days, I have found myself battling the rise of my blood pressure, the stress that briefly left our lives, returning into weeks of our move and has settled in.
So as I recover, this is a good time to revisit my friend Much Afraid and the Shepherd.
This is a rather steep path.

Slow Recovery

Shalom:
Well, friends, I am still alive.
Though there are times I wonder.
Friday morning as the sun rose, so did the pain in my head. Having had a headache all week, I knew it as blood pressure, the stress in my life continues.
Fearing I was heading for another blood pressure crisis, when Mark came home, I had him check my blood pressure.
And it was as I feared, quite high.
I wasn't able to reach my doctor, she had left for the day, but Mark's doctor was free and willing to see me if we could get there quickly.

Once there, I was tested for and found to indeed have the flu. And was told my blood pressure medication would be increase to help get my pressure back to normal.
So I returned home with medication for the flu, orders to take in plenty of fluids which includes chicken soup and orange juice and to bed rest, for that I can fully recover from the flu and get rid of the stress.
Of course, that is easier said that done.
So I have been doing as the doctor said, Monti resting next to making sure I obey doctor's orders.
And though I am receiving excellent care, I still feel like a truck hit me.

The Flu Comes to Visit

Shalom:

I had plan to do a follow up on my last post, but since then, I have been hit hard with the Flu. A few days ago, I thought I was doing better. But last night, it doubled back.
So until I am back at the keyboard, everyone remain well and happy.
Blessings to all,
Laini

The Invisible Thread.

Shalom:

The Invisible Thread  is the title the book on top of my got to get list. It is the amazing true story of Laura Schroff and a then eleven year old boy by the name of Maurice.
I only heard about this story on the Mike Huckabee Show over this past weekend, when Mr. Huckabee interviewed Laura and Maurice...
Like so many,  Laura Schroff brushed by a young panhandler on a New York City corner one rainy afternoon, but then she stopped and  turn back. Laura said she had never seen a child pan handle before. Instead of giving him change, she took the boy to lunch at the McDonald’s across the street that day.As the story goes, she continued to go back, again and again for the next four years until both their lives had changed dramatically. Once Laura asked what could she do for him. Maurice asked for a brown papered bag lunch, because that bag was filled with lunch; that someone cared about him enough to make him lunch.I sat there, crying, for well I remember watching my mother making lunch for my sister and I. How I would draw on my paper bag as I ate my sandwich. While my son was enrolled on the free lunch program, I remember field trips when he would ask me to pack his lunch. Even today, Mark will ask me to make lunch for him if he can't make it home. Nearly thirty years later, that young boy, Maurice, is now a man, married with a family of his own, working to change the lives of disadvantaged kids, just as Laura had done for him. Maurice was destined to a life of poverty; until a harried sales executive was touched by his request for change .How often do we hurry pass such a person on the street, refusing to make eye contact. "They could get a job if they really try...""I beg their use the money for drugs..."And in some cases, this might be true.But what if, what if the person we pass is a Maurice, all he or she needs is a meal and the feeling that someone cares..."When you have done this to the Least of my brothers, you have done it unto to Me."       


 

Susan Gratia: American Gun Control Testimony

The Difference One Year Makes

A year ago, a little papillion by the name of Monti came to stay while his family were for the holidays.

A year ago, we were still living in our own home, Mark still in a Reserve Unit, we were blessed to attend Strong Bonds and The Yellow Ribbon programs; offered by the Army to strengthen military marriages and help returning soldiers reenter the civilian world.

 All the while, still holding to the "job just around the corner,"
A year ago, we arrived back home to learn my big brother David Walton was back in hospital, and the dance between life and death had begun once again.
A year ago, I was dealing with major depression, wondering why G-d didn't care enough to heal me, to give my husband a job.
To make my sewing machine work again.
Oh, what a difference a year makes.
Today, Mark, after receiving training as a Carpenter, is now working for a local Military community, making sure the homes of our service men and women, along with their families remain in good condition. While it is half his pay, he loves the work he does.
On January 15th, Monti joined our family, bringing joy, laughter and at times sanity to our lives.
We held yard sales to try to pay off mounting bills, but it did not good.
We still ended up having to be evicted.
And my brother, my dear sweet David, stopped to go me a kiss on the cheek, on his way to heaven.
The month of October will go down as the month of miracles for us.
While we did receive a eviction notice, within ten days, we were moved into a new home, Mark was in a new job and Monti had a new friend in our landlord.
One week after we moved in, Hurricane Sandy blew through, flooding our shed and ruining some many of my things; rare cook books, the quilt I was making for my niece and my new sewing machine, a gift from a friend to replaced the one that died, destroyed by the water.
What a year it has been. Through it all, we have had friends who have stood with us, supporting us, praying for us, others who have walked away.
And through it all G-d has remained faithful, has been there through the tears and the heart-ache. Through the hard times and the good.
I still feel like Job these days, I still look around and shake my head.
But after I stop shaking my head, I lift it up.
"For I know my Redeemer lives."

Psalms One

Shalom:

1 אַ֥שְֽׁרֵי־ הָאִ֗ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֤ר לֹ֥א הָלַךְ֮ בַּעֲצַ֪ת רְשָׁ֫עִ֥ים וּבְדֶ֣רֶךְ חַ֭טָּאִים לֹ֥א עָמָ֑ד וּבְמֹושַׁ֥ב לֵ֝צִ֗ים לֹ֣א יָשָֽׁב׃ 2 כִּ֤י אִ֥ם בְּתֹורַ֥ת יְהוָ֗ה חֶ֫פְצֹ֥ו וּֽבְתֹורָתֹ֥ו יֶהְגֶּ֗ה יֹומָ֥ם וָלָֽיְלָה׃ 3 וְֽהָיָ֗ה כְּעֵץ֮ שָׁת֪וּל עַֽל־ פַּלְגֵ֫י מָ֥יִם אֲשֶׁ֤ר פִּרְיֹ֨ו יִתֵּ֬ן בְּעִתֹּ֗ו וְעָלֵ֥הוּ לֹֽא־ יִבֹּ֑ול וְכֹ֖ל אֲשֶׁר־ יַעֲשֶׂ֣ה יַצְלִֽיחַ׃

The unhappiness of the ungodly

4 לֹא־ כֵ֥ן הָרְשָׁעִ֑ים כִּ֥י אִם־ כַּ֝מֹּ֗ץ אֲ‍ֽשֶׁר־ תִּדְּפֶ֥נּוּ רֽוּחַ׃ 5 עַל־ כֵּ֤ן לֹא־ יָקֻ֣מוּ רְ֭שָׁעִים בַּמִּשְׁפָּ֑ט וְ֝חַטָּאִ֗ים בַּעֲדַ֥ת צַדִּיקִֽים׃ 6 כִּֽי־ יֹודֵ֣עַ יְ֭הוָה דֶּ֣רֶךְ צַדִּיקִ֑ים וְדֶ֖רֶךְ רְשָׁעִ֣ים תֹּאבֵֽד׃

¹ Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
² but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.
³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.

⁴ Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

⁶ For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

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