Tuesday, 24 July 2018

I discovered the NOTEPAD option on my new (used) computer this morning... which led to making "instant access" files on my desktop!  YES!  Such a great change.  I hate searching for files when I have to go into the main storage pathway.. this will help my daily process.

I already created my shopping list file, my monthly budget file, and a daily meal file (so I can work on my portion control issues in eating).  I also created my ongoing to-do list file and a file to make a long list of things I want to get done sooner or later... just a main list, I guess.  It should help.  I hope to plan my day with these as a quick-access reference points.

I made the daily meal file printable, with a daily goal limits at the top.  I hope it helps.  I am getting better with my choices, now I need to work on my total consumption.  I keep remembering that statement from Dr. Lustig :: "A calorie is a calorie."  How much we eat is as important as what foods we choose to eat.  In the long view, having my beloved treats will not matter, just so I make the bulk of my calorie choices in the healthy ranges.  Lessening my animal-related foods helps me a lot.  I think the process is taking me to a better place in healthy eating.

It is a good day already!  :-)

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I was awakened at about 5:30 again, so my current duties were done... even a little faster today... only one hour and a quarter!  I tried some "short cuts" today... hope they were OK to do, nothing critical.

Focus on the Family has another program on today that is noteworthy.  It is part one of a recorded message by a comical person (Ken David, I believe) who shares some deep topics that can really be difficult to deal with in the normal process of family and church life in a way that even teens can benefit from. It is hard for teens to navigate our secular world, especially when they get to college.  I went to college as an older adult and I was astounded, and that was back in the late 1980's.  I can't imagine how hard it is now.

One of the goals for Focus is to have this program shared with teens.  In checking the web link, it seems to be a DVD option for the entire presentation.  I would share it with as many teens as I could, if I had the money.  I have accessed their free resource program in the past, with items I still remember, so it has always been a giving goal for me to return the blessing when GOD allows me to... so others can ask for the items from Focus they need.  Keep that in mind as you order... it might be a life-changer for your youth groups... or just some individual teens GOD has put in your life.

I listen to KPDQ almost every day, so I hear these programs often.

Family Life is part of the Campus Crusade for Christ organization... renamed CRU, I guess.  That is what I understand it to be.  They have an author on this week that is also dealing with young women going off to college... and how to handle the problems they might encounter.  This would be a book gift, if you have someone to share it with.  I think the principle that we become like those we hang with is so critical to remember... and it has been stated in one of their two programs for this presentation.

This is why GOD talks so much about being careful who you associate with, who you marry, who you become yoked with in any way (friendship, partners, business, etc.) - schools can also be a minefield of problems if you don't think about your future before you get there.  Secular institutions are in a war with godly principles, but I hear that Christian institutions are also being overcome with the values of our world.

It is really hard to work through the lonely times of moving to a new place.  When people are drinkers, it always seems easier to go to a bar or night club and meet new people, especially with the false bravery of drugs and alcohol inside your body.  It really is a stupid choice.  You meet people that base their lives on addictions, and no one is really themselves.  Going to a Christian group has problems, too, but they are completely different in the need to find good people to be friends with.  I have searched out both, and I would say you are much better off with a group of Christians and a commitment to GOD, patience for the process of making friends, and wisdom to work through the false fronts everyone has as they search for their future, too.

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I guess that was enough seriousness for now.  I came across an obituary this weekend, of a young man who took his own life, a Catholic young man, a struggling young man who had a great future in GOD's Kingdom.  We needed his talents.  I don't know how the issue of suicide works in our planned existence in GOD's realm, but I know it is a great loss, and I wish we could stop it.  Emotions are hard to work through.  Sometimes the future takes too long to get to us and the pain we are living through is more than we can bear.  I keep searching for some way to stop this process but it is part of life, it seems.  Young people are easy to victimize.  I hope we can find ways to protect them as we go to the future.

Until next time,
In Christ,

Deborah Martin
work2gather.us

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May GOD watch over those we love and care about, who have not found Him yet, and keep them safe until they can find their place in His Body here on earth.

May Christians gather and support one another.
May our future become shared, powerful, supportive, dedicated to the things of GOD, and blessed.
May we discover a new way of being Christian together, and fight the battles of our secular world together.

May GOD have mercy on the suffering.
May we see others in need, and find a way to help them.

Amen.