GREAT ARTICLE I FOUND ONLINE - How to Show Your Family You Love Them Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
JOY AND GRATITUDE:
Last summer, I got sick with community pneumonia, a highly contagious bacterial infection and ended up in the hospital emergency room when I couldn't breathe. Since I have several hidden disabilities like asthma and a compromised immune system, I try to stay away from sick folks, cause everything I catch goes straight south to the lungs and it takes me a long time to get well. I'm thankful that I have the ability to sew and create a mask that I can wear out to help prevent me from picking up any other bugs like the coronavirus. We've been taught since childhood to share, but in this instance, it's good not to share, so out of love, kindness and goodwill for your fellow man and woman, please wear a mask and let's not share coronavirus. It's the enemy, not the government.
Since coronavirus lockdown began here (3-23-2020), I'm thankful for Alexander Graham Bell's telephone and the internet (ie. texting, email, blogs and websites like mine, Zoom, Facetime, and Videos). I may be social distancing inside my home, but I can still be social via those tools.
I'm thankful that my husband has kept a promise as he has painted and fixed my favorite glider out on the front porch.
I'm thankful for my friends who care for me by texting, emailing, and telephoning me on a regular basis.
My husband participated in our Good Friday church service via video as a scripture reader.
We participated in an Easter telephone chain greeting; Pastor began and finished it. He called and greeted the next person in line after himself -- "He is Risen" -- and the person responded -- "He is Risen Indeed!" Then that person called the next person in line after themselves in the chain and said "He is Risen!" and so on down the line. There were some snafu's along the way such as the person who tried to contact my husband and apparently his mobile phone wasn't ringing through, so she called me and he got his greeting via my phone instead. smile! I enjoyed this novel Easter greeting!
Our pastor created an online service for our congregation at our church website and has preached via his new YouTube channel. And I've been continuing to offer a free coloring sheet to our congregation via a link on the church website. Just because difficulties come in my way to sharing my gifts and talents with other people, doesn't mean I get to quit trying. smile! Just have to find a different avenue to do so. smile!
I finished Part 3 of my video series: Doodling Through the Bible in Black and White. YouTube.
QUOTES:
OHIO - Only Handle It Once
Don't use storage to delay decisions.
"Just in Case" thinking is poverty thinking.
Can this stuff that I'm not using bless someone else?
To delay is to disobey.
"I say don't be ruled by expectation; draw what's in your heart, right now. Because that's really what the life of Jesus was all about. About being restored to a relationship with God so we no longer walk through these trials of life without hope and God walking through it with us." (~ Elizabeth Frantz).
"Research has shown that writing gratitude's in the evening using pen and paper for seven days can reduce depressive symptoms for up to six months. There's no research yet to say whether making a daily list for longer than seven days will have the same impact, though I can say that people who do this feel happier." (~ Frederika Roberts).
Say what You Mean and Mean What You Say
The church is not the building. It is the people.
Jon Troast's musical video turtle -- Slow and Steady Wins the Race! YouTube.
Today, I wish you a day of ordinary miracles!
MUSEUMS: I have a small list of museums we have visited in the past in my positivity journal, however, at the link you will find a much larger list than I was able to fit in my journal.
SCRIPTURES:
Documented Faith #13
Proverbs 4:23 = Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.
Jeremiah 15:19-21 = Therefore this is what the Lord says: "If you repent I will restore you that you may serve me; if you utter worthy, not worthless words, you will be my spokesman. Let this people turn to you but you must not turn to them. I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to rescue and save you," declares the Lord. "I will save you from the hands of the wicked and redeem you from the grasp of the cruel."
Matthew 5:37 = Simply let your "Yes" be yes; and your "No;" No; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
James 5:13 = Is anyone of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.
GOOD NEWS!
MSN For Good Videos
PETS THAT HAVE BROUGHT ME JOY!
A canary named Pretty Boy
One Siamese cat named Song
A black and white cat named Baby Cakes
Hunter, our Pomeranian dog
Ami, our Bishon dog
and Lily, our chihuahua
MORE GOODNESS from a Sister of My Heart:
You've Got a Friend in Me. By Randy Newman YouTube.
GUEST WRITER:
Christal Keith
Cincinnati, OhioPosted on Facebook 14 April 2020
WARNING: Long post ahead.
I’m going to try something, and I invite you to join me because I know I am not alone. Sharing this here (on Facebook) is about making a declaration and commitment to myself. To serve as a reminder of the step of the path I am on today. I also thought that someone else might benefit from reading this and be able to apply it to themselves and their own lives and situations. I have wasted far too much time with this and given up too much of my joy.
From here on out, I am going to do my best not to spend time hurt and upset by people who are intent on misunderstanding my heart and my intentions. I do not want to waste anymore of my time or surrender anymore of my joy to people and situations where it becomes evident that someone else’s life perspective is causing them to see me through a negative scope and alters my intent and maligns my heart.
I am willing to talk, discuss, evaluate and consider my actions where appropriate and am open to learning about the thoughts, opinions and emotions of others. I am a human and am, therefore, imperfect so I understand I have room to grow. I am also aware that many situations aren’t about “right and wrong” but rather about preferences. I know that, regardless of my intent, my actions and words will not always be received in the manner in which I intend them and I should never be so prideful as to assume that I am always in the right.
However, the season of my life where I lay in bed and cry because I am unable to convince someone that I am not the person they have perceived me to be must come to an end. I do not control and am not responsible for the thoughts and opinions of others. I am only responsible for my own thoughts and actions.
And I get it. I, too, have jumped to conclusions, misunderstood and misevaluated people and their intentions. I have been wounded and deeply hurt by actions and words of many people with or without their intention. It is especially hard when someone or something hits against an insecurity, fear or place of pain. This is a natural and normal part of life that must be dealt with through the course of any relationship. It is not my intent to demonize anyone who misunderstands me.
But, I have given away a lot of my joy and heart to people who, for whatever reason, assign motives and deeper thoughts to my actions well beyond what they actually are. They cast judgement based on surface information and ascribe negative character traits because of a faulty formula they have solved in their own minds.
Many times I am fighting invisible enemies and silence simply because I have no idea how a conclusion was arrived at. Other times, we circle the same mountain endlessly and I really just want off the ride.
So this isn’t about anyone else. This is a commitment I need to make to myself.
I will also no longer continue to defend myself against a thought or action that has been addressed on numerous occasions. If a problem has been confronted on multiple occasions and I have done my best to explain and evaluate what I am doing and I find myself back in the same loop then I am going to choose to honor myself and step out of the cycle as I am not the mitigating factor. If I have said many times that something was not my objective, then you are either choosing not to believe me or refusing to address your own perspective. Either way, I am respectfully out.
Why am I sharing this? I love people. I deeply want people to feel loved and accepted. I have rarely felt truly loved and accepted. I struggle with my own place in this world and have walked through a lot of rejection. I want to extend grace to every heartbeat of my life because I have needed much grace. I’ve learned that my heart isn’t everyone’s heart. I’ve wasted a lot of my life feeling like I was the problem. Trying desperately to figure out how to navigate life and relationships or hiding away in anxiety and depression when it became too much.
And a word of wisdom slapped me in the face last night.
Hard.
It was a much needed slap and I don’t want to waste it.
I have allowed my mental landscape to be wrecked at times by people who have already shown me their flaws and I am ignoring them and getting upset because I don’t want to lose the connections I do have. My grace needs to grow. My love needs to extend to freeing people to have the absolute wrong opinion of me without it stealing my joy or bringing me to guilt and shame. To not be frustrated at the universe because I couldn’t get my heart across. I’m in good company with a hall of people the world misunderstood.
It isn’t easy. Especially when it is someone you deeply love and want them to love and understand you. The desire for genuine love and acceptance is a core need we share as humans. Highly valuing someone who then turns and rejects you is wounding.
But from here forward, I need to try. I need to guard my heart and my mind and not take the brokenness of others as evidence of a flaw in me.
GOOD WORDS!
balm; dogged; good; joy; love; mask; miracle; welcome; whole
WASHI TAPE: I was planning to create something else for this page, however, not all the necessary parts came together for it, so instead, I came up with a FUN substitute - I made a collection page of about half of my washi tape. 💖😎 Amazing how a little roll of pretty tissue tape brings such pleasure! smile!
MISCELLANEOUS:
My Savior's Arms. by John Troust. YouTube.
MY FAVORITE COLORING SHEET:
Here is a link to my favorite coloring sheet for this month. You have my permission to print it off and color it -- click here.
