Death

I've seen death before, many times in fact.  Young and old alike, death comes to all.  There was the 18 year old shooting victim(we coded even though he was brain dead), little old ladies whose bodies are riddled with cancer yet their families want us to do CPR on them and when we do it breaks every rib that they have and more recently an 83 year old man.  Some have family and friends around them; some die all alone.  I hold their hands, those that have no one else, sing religious songs from long ago, all the old favorites, On a Hill Far Away, In the Garden, Amazing Grace, even Jesus Loves Me.  My father died at only 53 years of age.  My step mom, my brother, half the church members of his congregation and me surrounding him, reading Psalms 23, choking when someone said, "yea, tho I walk through the valley of the shadow of death..."  Dying and death really don't bother me all that much.  I can empathize with the family members, they seem to appreciate my feeble attempts to console them. Of course it's always sad and it makes me cry, but a hug and a box of tissues goes a long way. Then there was yesterday:  I was making my normal rounds.  It was time to chart how much people had drank and how much they had eliminated during the eight hour shift.  I's and O's we call it.  I walked into this gentleman's room to empty his Foley.  He was standing up talking with me about wanting the catheter out so he could go home, he was feeling much better.  I suggested that he sit down so that I could change his sheets and empty the catheter.  It was one o'clock.  As he sat down he began to have a very short seizure.  I called for help and three of us got him back to bed, where he promptly passed out again. By 1:56 the doctor pronounced him dead. Medically we did EVERYTHING that could possibly have been done for him, that's not what bothers me.  His family did not make it in time to tell him goodbye or that they loved him, that bothers me.  The shock of such a relativley young man who was suddenly gone, he seemed to have been in relatively good health, he looked strong, but what bothers me the most is not knowing if this man had a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  Was he saved?  In one single hour he went from looking healthy, strong and ready to go home to the doctor saying those fateful words, "time of death, 1:56pm".  How much time do we have to get our lives right with God?  What is holding us back?

"freedom in America"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkDrrKhPB7M

http://www.naturalnews.com/035301_Obama_executive_orders_food_supply.html

http://www.kcra.com/r/29847063/detail.html#.T2UXDS_sen8.facebook

http://www.naturalnews.com/034323_National_Organization_for_Women_TSA_illegal_searches.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/034291_SB_1867_war_on_terror.html

F-False E-Evidence A-Appearing R-Real=fear

A long time ago when I was a little girl growing up in North Dakota, I just "knew" that God was coming back any day!  I grew up as a preacher's kid and every Sabbath on our way to and from church I would scan the eastern horizon for that one small black cloud that would be the sign of Christ's coming. You know the one that grows bigger and bigger until we see Jesus and all of His angels in it?! My love and trust for God was so innocent and real.  I knew God answered prayer. I had read and reread the Bible. I knew all of the famous Bible stories of faith, God's leading, and healing still time moved on and the cares of this world sprang up to try to choke the life out of me. Matthew 13:22 "He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful."  When we have had new people come into our church and they are so on fire for the Lord and they have received one blessing after another and you can really tell that God is real to them it began to make me feel jealous. Their testimonies have been so encouraging to me and I wanted that feeling back.  Our church began a 40 days of prayer campaign 25 days ago, and my son and I have been reading a devotional and praying together.  Let me tell you something,  I have begun experiencing God's grace all over again in my life!!!  Are my trials gone?  NO! but I have seen God's hand moving through these trials!!!  So in the job of "recreating" my heart the following song is so inspiring to me.
(based on Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.")

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3O0BfTOkGK8

How great is our God!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zWKm-LZWm4

3-15-12 "coincidences"

It was a normal day. I got out of bed and went through my normal routine. After walking my dog I sat in front of the TV for some relaxation before I had to go to work. Just as I sat down and glanced over at my fish tank, a cord running underneath it caught on fire!!!!  Now this fire could have started at any time.  It could have started when my kids and I were still asleep; it could have started when nobody was home.  Either way there COULD have been loss of property and maybe even of life, but the fire started at the exact moment that I was there to  see it start! I just about panicked though.  I my mind's eye I could already see myself getting up and throwing water on the fire, but a still small voice in the back of my head said to me, "Don't panic!"  So instead I looked at the flame for another second(it seemed like minutes), I got up slowly and deliberately, I walked over to the extension cord put my hand on the on/off switch and shut the power off!  As I shut the power off, the flame went out!!!!  I called a friend of mine later and she prayed with me thanking God for His protection over me.  As she prayed and also asked God to lead in other circumstances in my life that still small voice came back and said, "Now, Lisa if I can control the circumstances of this morning don't you think that I can also control these other things in your life that you are so worried about?"  I just couldn't stop balling after that.  I told God that of course I knew I could trust Him and I thanked him for that reminder.

Two wolves

This is probably the best I've ever heard life explained!

TWO WOLVES
One evening an old Apache told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.

"One is Evil - It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

"The other is The Spirit - It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

The old Apache simply replied, "The one you feed..."

Geode

Precious stones only get nice and shiny through being brought into contact with rough sand.
Sometimes the hurtful things of this life bring us down, but remember God is using the hurtful things to polish us into precious Gems for His kingdom

What Love really means

Music by JJ Heller pics arranged by me. http://youtu.be/CJ9dk84iesE