Finding a lot of memories today...

 

Today I have been sorting through my many saved records.  It has been another walk down memory lane.  

So many things to think about.  Dreams that didn't work out.  Failures.  Pain.  And God through it all.  People I knew through all those years are remembered in notes and photos.  Ministries I care/d about.  Information I kept for different reasons.

A lot of things don't matter anymore.  I am shredding everything that is too old to keep, or something I won't ever use in the future.  I have already filled 6 or 7 paper shopping bags, I think.  I didn't count so I can't be sure.  It will be a full container for pick-up this week!

Normally I would share my old ministry materials with local missions.  I'm not sure what to do anymore.  There seems to be hostility towards sharing things that are good if they are about GOD, even at Christian missions.  Oregon is a very active LGBT state.  The whole west coast maybe.  

Years ago, I discovered all the Bibles disappearing from the Salvation Army Thrift Stores.  I knew there was a problem back then.  I didn't know what it was, but I think it was the volunteer staff.  The Salvation Army is struggling to stay alive now.  I suspect there is activism we know nothing about and cannot fight.  The Sweet Cakes bakery was around here somewhere.  

Their community is very aggressive and deceptive and hidden.  I suppose it would be a hate crime if they were found out.

It is a very huge battlefield for Christians.  GOD is the only opposition they have.  It makes the war very focused on us.  I don't know what their logic is, or their rationalization for their actions, but it is like any sin -- we justify whatever we want to do.  

I have been finding reminders of many things I always hoped to do.  I am saving some of these reminders for the GOAL book I am putting together.

I am also going to be going through most (maybe all) of my Working Together records.

The goal is preparing for my death.  I am hoping to sort out the most important records for when I die.  

Who knows what GOD might provide for the end of my days.  :-)  I am always hoping for more.

This seems to be a month of change.  I am still working on my budget and food plan.  I need to get my decisions done.  It is quite a challenge.  

There is a channel on YouTube called The Biblical Nutritionist.  I have been watching a few of her videos that come across my feed.  This one I discovered today.  It is kind of scary to see a lot of the foods you eat in her lists.  I have been trying to go organic/non-GMO for years.  I just cannot afford it.  I am trying to check more labels, but I tend to forget when I am at the store.  I don't want to go completely meat and dairy free.  

Finding that acceptable place in the middle of all the food issues we face is very difficult, especially when you have to deal with poverty budgets.  At my age it doesn't matter as much, but there are many people who still have their lives ahead of them... depending on how fast the End Times reach the Antichrist.  

This is a link to the video I watched:  https://youtu.be/x31_u9cpnZQ?si=XLyLWAz8KfW7gJpi

Watch it an decide for yourself what you think.  Try to explore your food choices and financial options.  If you find any good answers, share them as comments so we can all find a better path.

May GOD help us to find our way through the world as it changes.

Tuesday, 16 January 2018

Today was a short walk to the past... I was sorting through lots of old articles saved for their topic and information... lots of recycling today!!!!  :-)  It was hard to remember some of the details of what I discovered.  The Haiti quake, elections, homelessness, and lots of other things... too many to go through.  I am passing on as much as I can, for the generic inspiration they have in them.  I hope they bring someone a little more thought before they go to the waste pile.

I will be continuing this long process tomorrow, the next day, and for as long as I can stand to do it.  There are still boxes to go through.  It is a great feeling to finally get to it.  It's been on my "list" since moving.  It will help to clear out more space in my room.

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I am finding the supplies for projects I have planned, too.  That is all getting sorted and put where I can find it easier, get it started or finished, and ready for whatever its life will become.  I may take some breaks to finally create some art or jewelry or ???  It is really a matter of getting the space cleared and organized to do the things I have been gathering supplies for.  Things that are easy to ship are the top priority.  Keep watching my Etsy shop, possibly my eBay store, and maybe my Fiverr site.

Finding one project to do with Fiverr has been a long goal.  I joined Fiverr with the hope of just selling something at $5... they turned into a creative site where that doesn't seem to fit anymore, so my thrill about them is gone, but I am still working on my goal to find the BEST thing I can do with their format... ONE thing to sell.  If my efforts get better, maybe I will go to two.  It takes a lot of time to create new things... I am looking for good things that duplicate easily.  Maybe even wholesaling some of my creations (like supplies, if I create something that will fit that requirement) at Etsy.

These are long goals right now, but in time they will be ongoing.

By the end of the month I should know where I am with all this.  Most of my sorting will be done and I will have the space, my supplies, and time to get something done.  God willing!

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No TV today, mostly... I did go up to rest and eat popcorn for the News... then back to my room activities.
I didn't really turn the radio on, much, if I did.  I don't even remember it!
I get really involved in reading when I need to concentrate.

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I do hope to start posting more photos... soon.
Not sure how much I want to share anymore...
I need to decide what is personal, what is business, what is worthy of sharing...
It is all a learning process.

This seems like the best of my blogs to keep going at a personal level, for the long-term.
I keep thinking about what I want it to become... and whether it will develop on its own as I age and keep "journaling."  I suppose it is like a journal, and I have been thinking about starting a yearly book (journal) of my day-to-day activities and thoughts.  It may cause me to change the direction of my public writing.  I don't really know.   Videos are on my mind, too.  If I get skinny again... that may just become the online choice for me.   :-)   We'll have to wait and get that figured out.

Time to go.
Keep checking back.
In Christ,
Deborah Martin

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May GOD watch over us as we seek His Will for our lives and His guidance for our decisions.
May life be better for those who are suffering.
May the world find a way to be kind to one another.
May our problems get solved, and the answers be really what we need them to be.

May the GOD I have prayed to for so long about WT and all the things that have been needed, finally have mercy on me and provide the finances and provisions to prepare good things for His People... and others. 

In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

11 September 2017

Today is a day filled with tragedy and memories of tragedies.  Two major hurricanes have caused immense destruction throughout our southern regions; we are remembering the great hurricanes of the past, including Katrina; and this is the anniversary of the attacks of 9/11.  It reminds us of how little we control the world, and how vulnerable we are.  Life can change in a moment.

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9/11 is always an emotional memory for me.  Today I heard the early broadcast of a Focus on the Family program about a man who survived the twin towers and credited GOD with that blessing.  (http://focusonthefamily.org)  I cried a lot during the short testimony about that day, but I wasn't just crying for the program's content... I was crying because it happened.  I was remembering.  I was thinking about what it meant to our country.

For me, the attacks of 9/11 are a turning point in America's history... I call it the the day God's Hand of Protection left America.  We have been denying GOD in our national decisions, it was only a matter of time before God would stop protecting us from judgment.  Pearl Harbor was the only attack from outside sources I could think of as the last time we suffered like this...and that was so far away.  We might have lost our President or our Congressional leaders if Flight 93 had made it to their destination.  Our military was attacked via the Pentagon.  I don't know what was in those two buildings, but they had great meaning to the attackers... They went first.

The attacks of 9/11 changed the fields of battle, too.  Planes of any kind are now potential weapons.  Since that time, suicide car bombs in foreign nations have become backpack bombs left at big events here in the USA... or heavy trucks that roll over innocent spectators or holiday shoppers.  To avoid gun control issues, we are seeing simple everyday knives or cheap machetes become desperate weapons of terrorism against ordinary people in ordinary spaces.  Schools and churches are easy targets for anyone with a cause to get into the media.  We can never really be safe again... we are vulnerable in ways no one ever considered before.  Technology battles are a field of battle we don't know if we will keep winning.

Even if we were a police state, we would still be vulnerable.  How we continue our lives in the face of these growing threats will define us as a nation.  Fear may destroy us if we try to control every possibility...every person... every potential weapon.  Controlling every detail of millions of people's lives is an impossible goal.  The best we can do is to find a rational way to prepare... for prevention, fighting back, and recovery.  I guess my key word here is "rational" -- something reasonable... not becoming a police state, maintaining our personal freedoms.

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I was homeless when 9/11 happened.  I was living in my van in Oregon.  I don't remember how many days it was before I discovered what had happened, but it was years before I watched any of the video coverage of the planes hitting the twin towers.  I didn't have a smartphone, or internet, or computer, or tv, or radio.  I was too busy surviving being homeless.

For me 9/11 is a spiritual event... it is a turning point in our relationship with GOD.  I don't know if we can ever go back to our blessed status.  We were attacked on our own soil.  It is a sign about our place in the world, how things are changing, and a warning about what is coming.  I wrote "America" because of 9/11... You can link to it at my website homepage ::  http://work2gather.us

We need to change the way we do things, individually and as a nation.

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It's almost time to end this post, but I want to add that I have been seeing some of the destruction from the hurricanes in Texas, Florida, and the surrounding areas.  I heard on a news report somewhere that recovering from Katrina, which is still not done, cost over 100 BILLION dollars.  Some expect the bill to be that and more for these natural disasters.  The debt ceiling has again been lifted to meet these needs.

I see the debt as a credit card for government.  Basically, they are raising their own maximums... and the payments are going to rise with each increase.  We can't afford what we pay now.  Somehow, we need to get the debt down so we have an emergency cushion and our dollar doesn't become worthless, like the Confederacy dollars in the Civil War.  Detroit said it took them 60 years to reach the stage of bankruptcy.  How long will it take the US government?

I have been praying about these issues for years, looking for answers, looking for better ways of doing things.  I know we can find them, but how will they ever get implemented ?!?  The government controls the process, including taxation for their budget desires.  We cannot continue in these directions financially... It is really impossible.  The consequences will be devastating for every American, but our actions do affect the world so the entire globe will be affected.

I am in tears sometimes when I watch the pain of other people and there is nothing I can do.  We can't control the weather, or earthquakes, or fires, or any natural disaster... but we can control our budget, our wages to government employees, our programs for subsidies, our tax levels and sources, our program contributions, our priorities.  Government is just one source of funding.  We need a solution that creates opportunities for other community-level involvements.

I know we can find them, but is government really able to decrease its power, its wages, its control, its bargaining for benefits mentality.

In Christ,
Deborah Martin

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May God help us to find a way to change.
May our priorities be better than they are.
May we put our nation ahead of ourselves.
May our people find good solutions to our problems.
May we see the ability of the government to earn through other ways than taxation.
May our taxes be fair, to all Americans.
May America discover the protection of God again.

May those who are suffering find strength to make it through this difficult time.
May the water recede quickly, may power be restored soon, may food and shelter be available for all who need it.
May those spending the money we give use it wisely, frugally, as it is needed... saving what they can for later.
May those who can give money find a place to share their bounty.
May this Christmas season become a time of renewed joy for those who cannot see happiness in their future.
May we all remember the suffering for as long as they need our help.
Amen.