Memorial Day

 I just finished watching a replay of the DC Memorial Day Tribute.  I usually watch it every year, but the last few (with COVID) I don't remember.  I think they were cancelled, but I can say that for sure.  Sometimes I miss the day.  This year I cried almost the whole way through it. 

They showed a lot of pictures of each war, starting with Vietnam.  I remember Vietnam from the few TV news reports I saw.  I remember sharing somewhere that it was the first war put on TV.  It was horrible.  I remember some of the movies about it... anti-war media in movie formats.  

I guess they had newsreels for WWII.  I don't know how much death they showed on those.  Vietnam was terrible.  New weapons.  Really terrible battle strategies of the enemy in their familiar territory.  Lots of drugs and suffering.  

The fear of nuclear war I suppose. 

I joined the Women's Army in 1973 and was the last group through Basic Training under Vietnam.  I got a small medal for being in the military at that moment in time.  I didn't understand why.  I thought medals were for doing something extraordinary.

I didn't do too well in the military because of other issues.  I wish I had been wiser at that age.  I learned some important lessons by being in the military but I was so not ready for other parts of it.  It is still a memory of regret.

I cried watching all the stories of soldiers who died. I cried because of our country right now.  I cried because America is not the great country it was.  I cried thinking about what it is becoming.

Knowing the Bible it is hard to watch the destruction of this nation, and wondering if we can slow it down or if there is no hope for us.  I always saw the eagle as America, as a strong and majestic bird, powerful, a warrior for what is right and good and godly.  

Now I see that all the countries of the world are struggling to survive.  We are among those.  Our economic problems make us weak and vulnerable to our enemies.  Our political parties are so embattled for power that it is destroying us.  Paul Harvey has a speech on YouTube called FREEDOM TO CHAINS and says that all the great nations that fell after being in power for a long time did so because of the disintegration from within, not the attacks of outside enemies.  We are destroying ourselves.

In my years of pondering the problems and possible solutions we face, I realized morality IS the key to our greatness.  As we have slowly lost our godly morality and viewpoints, we have slowly eroded into what we are today.  GOD doesn't promise to protect our nation when it doesn't honor Him.  Like He did with Israel, more than once, He judges sin.  I see it as taking away His protection and allowing judgment through other sources, like 9-11.

Because prophecy tells us the world will become filled with sin and its consequences, I don't know that we can stop what we are headed into.  I wonder if we can keep it at bay somehow.  Then I wonder what we could do to accomplish that.

For myself, I have nothing.  I don't know how I will survive the June budget crisis.  I dream of things that could be done, but I am not able to even start them... to find others to help.

What could you do to stop the consequences of years of political mayhem, misjudgment, and even crimes... on both sides?

I cry for America and I cry for Christians.  

I wish I could have done more.

24 MAY 2023 - Checking in on my way to better.

 I am in the process of trying again.

Been working out a path to get everything updated and some kind of plan to keep moving forward with my online selling efforts.

Selling sites.

Blogs.

Social Media.

A lot of places I haven't been able to keep up with.

Now I am learning videos and how to use YouTube to link with all my spaces.

I am hoping I see results before GOD calls me home.

This week I have been posting, updating, and thinking.  I made some new planning sheets to work with, real paper ones.

I read a lot of materials about apps that people use for business, creating, keeping organized, to reach their version of "success."  Not sure I can do all that.  Learning to set reminders on my devices will be enough for me.  Using the calendar options would be helpful.  Maybe later I can decide about all the apps available then.

I send out monthly prayer letters this year.  It's not always easy to see GOD's answers to our prayers.  I keep praying... because I know GOD is the only one who can help me in some things.  Life hasn't turned out the way I thought it would, but there are still purposes in what I lived.  I see them down the line, not when life is in the middle of a bad time.

I hope you see the future with GOD is better than this world's troubles.  Keep your faith in Him, keep making godly choices, trust that there is a plan for your life and for the unexpected things you encounter on the way.

The Bible says the End Times we live in will grow very evil, very hard... so terrible GOD will have to end this earthly existence or no one will be saved.  We think today is so bad because we remember better times.  People in the future will say the same thing about our times.  Hard to believe that could be possible.

I don't know what it means to live in a politically oppressed country.  I know what America used to be.  We are falling into oppressions slowly, like the frog in the kettle of slowly heated water that kills and cooks it.  It already feels terrible.  I keep hoping it will change for the good but the Bible tells us it won't.  Maybe in small bursts of revival, but the global picture is in prophecy and it isn't good.

I have problems with my internet efforts, and other things.  I sometimes wonder if America is already like one of those oppressed countries where the leaders control everything on the internet.  I assume the Antichrist will control it all... and he is already alive somewhere.  In thinking about it, I see the deletion of all things Christian and Jewish, anything that opposes the governing powers of the Antichrist.  Then I wonder how people will hear about GOD, about Jesus, about salvation, about the Holy Spirit.

It is hard for me to even imagine trying to survive in an oppressive and evil world.  Noah had to do that.  We don't know how he lived in that kind of world.  I suppose that is why he was living somewhere he could build an ark, away from most of the people of that time I assume.

We have preppers.  

Being a prepper doesn't mean you are a Christian.  There are going to be a lot of difficult times for Christians in the middle of a disaster that involves using prepper supplies in a place where others have nothing to keep them alive.

Noah had that huge ark to protect him from all the people who died in the flood.  What will we have?

I suppose that is why the Antichrist will seek to kill all the Christians (and Jews).  We will suffer for a short time and then go to our eternity... not having to suffer the rest of the Tribulation judgments.

It is always a hard thing to think about what the Bible says and how it applies to our lives.

If I haven't already shared it, I saw some videos at YouTube about global governments heading in the way of digital currency as the future form of money.  I have already read about the financial microchip that is going to be put in human bodies - already tested on inmates and then others - which I assume is ready for mass distribution.  I realized that when the two are connected, we would have what the Bible describes as the MARK of the Beast.  The moment of no return, when each person  has to decide to follow GOD to their death or take the MARK in their body and be excluded from heaven.

How to prepare for that... At this point I don't know.  All my plans for Working Together and helping Christians were based on a cash society.

I still need money to survive today.  That is why I keep trying to earn online income.  At my age and in my situation, that is the only path I can do.

We have to trust GOD for all our needs, whether they are much or little.  I keep hoping for more than what I've had so far.  Not sure what GOD will do, but I keep looking for His blessings to finally reach me.

I can't help too many others when I don't have enough for myself.

Somehow, GOD will show us the way forward.

What do yo think we can do for the BODY OF CHRIST in these days?

Let me know in the comments.

Deborah Martin

https://work2gather.us

Trying to get back on track, again!

 It's been a long haul, but I am still looking for the answers to reach my many goals.  I feel like Edison, who kept trying until he found the answers he was looking for.  Or maybe Winston Churchill who said, I believe, to never, never, never, never give up!  :-)  Then there are the sayings about quitting right before you might have reached the place you were trying to find (success).  I decided to just keep trying until I can't do anything anymore (when I die).

I am keeping a Thankful Journal this year, but only listing ONE short entry each day.  As I am writing this I realize that recently I have been making short entries and listing several for some days.  Don't want to be lying to you.  The idea is not to be overwhelmed trying to list everything every day.  :-)  I tried that before.  Didn't keep at it because it became such a chore, and so repetitive.

I'm not working too hard at it this time.  Just listing something about the day that is worthwhile to me.

This is garden season now.  I'm working on my container garden options.  Been testing using plastic bags I have saved for my projects and shipping uses.  There are too many critters trying to get to my garden efforts.  I am trying to make little terrariums, noisy coverings that scare the wild creatures (birds), and trying to save the seeds I plant from animal thieves.  Some of my experiments are working, others are still being worked out.  :-)  

Finding the priority focus for what I am doing is always my biggest challenge.  I am trying to work out my goals right now.  Making goals is easy.  Getting them done can be hard.  I'm looking for the ones I can actually get done... not need too much money or supplies to do them... and be able to increase my income in the process.

Sounds like everyone else, right!  Yes.  Just looking for my path to them.

Well, just wanted to start making posts here again. Scheduling my activities seems to be the way to go.  I'm looking for a workable schedule.

Any ideas you might have will be appreciated.  Let me know in the comments.  Thanks.

In Christ,

Deborah Martin

Working Together, https://work2gather.us

Patreon, https://patreon.com/Art2you

Etsy, https://etsy.com/shop/work2gather

One of my newest designs.

I'm working on some more.

I post new art at PATREON and other items at ETSY.