Halloween Costumes

Halloween, named “All Hallows Eve,”  Was first celebrated by the ancient Celts in Ireland in the fifth century B.C. on the night of October 31, then the official end of summer.  All would gather outside the village around a huge bon fire to honor the sun god for the past summers harvest and to frighten away furtive spirits.  The Celts believed that on October 31 all persons who died in the previous year came to choose a body of a person or animal to inhabit for the next year.  So families dressed up to frighten roving souls away.  Families were as loud and destructive as possible.
     
Irish immigrants fleeing their countries potato famine in the 1840s brought Halloween customs to America with them. 
     
Halloween these days are thought of as a demonic thing.  It really is what you make of it.  If you think it’s a bad thing and you participate in it, it is a bad thing.  But I believe that if you are out to just have a little fun, no problem, so much is what you believe.    
      

Kidney Infection

e-mail me at lyricoc@yahoo.com

In April of 1990, I got a kidney infection.  I had a fever of 104, and my back hurt so bad that my husband, Mark took me to the emergency room.  They prescribed antibiotics.  For two days, it was a struggle just getting out of bed, and I wasn’t able to work for a full week. 
     
I was saved in April of 1992.  I felt full of faith and I totally believed Jesus healed.  Shortly after that, I got another kidney infection.  As before, Mark wanted to take me in to the emergency room.  I said, “No.”  I asked him to pray for me.  We agreed that if he prayed and I wasn’t better in two hours, I would let him take me to the emergency room.  I had a 104 fever and I could hardly walk.  I felt totally desperate for God to heal me, and I had no doubt that He would.  
     
Two hours later, Mark took my temperature.  It had gone down and the pain was subsiding.  The next morning, the pain was all gone.  I was completely healed!  In fact, I never felt better.  I felt so good, Mark and I went to work, sign painting.  We worked more than eight hours that day, up and down ladders, painting windows and I felt great.
     
That was a real miracle, but soon after, I did something totally dumb, I started to doubt.  I started to think maybe it was the garlic, I took and the cranberry juice that I drank, thinking that way was a big mistake. 
     
Wouldn’t you know it, April of 1994 I got another kidney infection.  I was pregnant at the time.  Mark said a prayer for me, but I didn’t feel as desperate as before, because I was taking garlic and drinking cranberry juice.  I was putting my faith in that cranberry juice and garlic instead of God.  Over the next week, I got worse until I had a fever of 104, and I was now desperate for God to heal me.  I asked God to forgive me and I knew that If I was going to get better I was going to be because of Jesus and what he did on the cross.  
     
God did heal me, but it wasn’t that dramatic total I feel 200 percent better, healing .I did realize at that moment that the cranberry juice did nothing the last time, it was God in all his glory.  Soon after, I had to see an OB because I was pregnant.  She asked if I had any health problems since I became pregnant.  I told her about the kidney infection.  The doctor asked how I got rid of it.  I said, “Cranberry juice, garlic and God.”  She said that it must have been God because there is no way that cranberry juice and garlic would get rid of a kidney infection.

1 Peter 2:24, “He Himself bore our sins, in His body on a tree so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness, and by his wounds you have been healed.” 
     

Joyful Obedience

e-mail me at lyricoc@yahoo.com

My kids say, “Thank you” all of the time.  They also tell me how much they appreciate me.  I like it when they say these things, and they mean them.  They make me feel that what I am doing, as a mother, means something to them.
     
I feel that I appreciate the things that Jesus has done for me.  I try to keep my eyes open to all the answered prayers, in my life and I thank Him for everything.  I have always felt that appreciation is so important.  But I recently learned something else that is important, something that I’ve never given much thought to.
     
I was in my last month of pregnancy, with Michael.  Elijah was just a baby.  With six kids at home, I had so much to do and I was tired much of the time.  I started asking my older three kids to help me out with more than their usual chores.  They weren’t used to me asking them to do so much work, and at times I would over hear their complaints, “Why can’t someone else do it!”
     
I did know that they appreciated the things I did for them, so when they started to grumble, I realized that along with appreciation, comes joyful obedience.  They are good kids, so they did do all of the added, work, but they complained the whole time and I felt hurt.  I felt that I do so much for them, they should be happy to do something for me when I needed them to.  Joyful obedience, that is what I was hoping for from my children.
     
I knew God was talking to me when the very next Sunday at Church, the pastors sermon was on, joyful obedience, to God.  He talked about making a promise to God and keeping that promise with a joyful heart.  That message touched me and I had to examine my relationship with God.  I asked myself, “Am I joyfully obedient?”
     
Appreciating God and all that He has done for us is important, but along with that, we should wholeheartedly  be filled with joy when we have something extra to do.
     
Romans 6:16- 18, “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-weather you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?  But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you who whole heartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.  You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.  

Prayer Line

     When I was in my thirties, we were going to a Church where we were able to really get involved in things.  I felt that I was supposed to pray, so my husband Mark and I went to our pastor and asked if he would sponsor a prayer line.  He liked the idea so we got a second phone line installed in our home and the Church put an add in a local Christian magazine.  Phone calls came in, day and night.  I would listen to the caller and then pray with and for them. 
     One caller’s name was Beatriz, and she had a story and prayer request that I couldn’t forget.  Beatriz told me that she just happened to come to work early that day.  She said she saw an old friend on the way, but she could hardly recognize the woman.  Beatriz went on to tell me that she knew that the woman had full blown aids.  Beatriz didn’t acknowledge the woman she kept walking, ignoring her friend.  But she told me she had a strong feeling that to go back and talk to her old friend.  Beatriz didn’t want to go back but said that if she didn’t she would see her friends face all day.  So she said a little prayer, “ God give me the words”  
     The first thing that Beatriz asked the woman was, “Do you know about Jesus?”  This woman could barley talk anymore but she nodded, yes.  Beatriz then prayed for her friend to receive Jesus.  When they were done praying, the woman’s eyes were glowing then the woman got down on her knees and thanked God for her salvation and for God’s grace.  
     Beatriz knew this was not a chance meeting but a work of God.  Beatriz said that she knew it, because she was never early to work, so this special meeting was arranged by God.
     Another caller’s name was Michael.  He called because he was homeless and suicidal .  I talked to him for nearly two hours and ended up finding him a place to live for six months, and the best part was that I was able to pray with him to receive Jesus into his heart.  Romans 10:9-10 says “Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead then you will be saved.”  
     It is for us as Christians to go out and make disciples, we know that but we should also know that being obedient also mean to stay open to Gods voice, to stay open to the lead from the Holy Spirit.  If I wouldn’t have been listening, Michael wouldn’t have been saved.  If Beatriz wasn’t listening, she might have gone to work at her normal time, or she might have passed the woman on her way to work but because of obedience, there are two more people that Jesus can call his own.  Stay open to God, be obedient.
     

Problems

I think all the newest problems started about a year ago, when we moved into this very small apartment.  Finances made it impossible to stay in the much bigger apartment that we had lived in for the last ten years. We did find a little two bedroom apartment that looked nice, and we could afford.  

The first month we were here we had three broken pipes in the walls.  The first broken pipe was in my boys, Elijah and Michaels room.  It soaked a lot of the boxes that were in their room, and the carpet.  Maintenance came over quickly and pulled up the carpet, cut a hole in the wall and fixed the problem.  So after that, we had the same problem in our room, twice.  Maintenance came quickly both times to fix each problem.  

We had several small problems, not worth talking about.  The next thing that happened was a car accident.  I crunched the front of my car up on the way home from taking my son to school.  It ran for a few weeks until the transmition mysteriously went out.  We couldn’t afford to fix either of the problems so we got rid of our car.  

No car meant a lot more problems.  I have medical issues with my back and neck, and I ended up having to walk or take the bus everywhere I had to go.  One of the good things is that walking improved my back pain.  Thank God he still works even when we think he’s not looking.

Elijah graduated, which was another good thing.  But the bad thing was that him graduating hurt our finances even worse.  I hate to admit it because some are looked down on, but because of our disabilities we are on welfare and SSI, part of our welfare was cut off for Elijah.  So we had to tighten our belts even more.  

I couldn’t make it to my pain doctor anymore, no car, no medicine for my back.  My pain doctor was 45 minutes away in the car so there was no way I could make it to him.  

I also ran out of antidepressants and my anxiety medications.  Instead I thought I would see how I fare without all the medication that I had been on for many years.  Big problem!  Withdrawal from all of those meds at the same time left me depressed anxious and in much pain.  I started spending most of my time in bed and Mark and the boys took over most of my work.  

We found a wonderful church in walking distance but we got another broken pipe, this time in the floor, on the day we were getting ready for church.  That got fixed but I slipped into a deep depression.

Mark was in and out of the hospital this year many times.  Every time he went in he came out a little worse.  He is an end stage renal patient, he has hepatitis C and he had open heart surgery in 2006 and only 35% of his heart is working at this time.

Wow, what a year!  I haven’t written much lately and I haven’t posted anything new in a long time.  But praise the Lord, I got to the doctor.  I got on some medication, I got on much less of everything though to start and after a couple of weeks I started to feel better.  Our apartment hasn’t gotten much better but I feel more equipped now to handle all the little problems, and I know it wasn’t just the meds that helped me.

I have prayed so much, had many good talks with my boys about God, and I feel blessed to have wonderful kids and a wonderful husband that I know is there for me in the hard times.

And, today I got my hope back, hope for joy and peace.  I have also started writing again as you can see.  And I thank God for that.  I don’t know why I am going through all of this but, if you’ve ever read Footprints, that is how I see it.  One set of footprints in the sand because Jesus has carried me through this last year.  I know I could have never made it on my own.  

Just A Note

Linda, If you read this, I tried to respond to your nice comment to tell you how encouraging it was for me but I couldn't figure it out!  Anyway if anyone wants to leave a comment and can't or wants to get a hold of me write to lyricoc@yahoo.com.  Thank you so much for reading.

Pain

No one's listening 
    to the cries
No one's answering
    all the whys
A baby growing up
    in hate
Sex and violence
    Satan's bait
A father looks
    the other way
"Hey, he'll be okay
    someday"
Turn on the TV
    close the door
Turn off minds
    can't deal with more
A mother thinks
    her job is done
Out the door
    to have some fun
She screams at her son's
    violent ways
He walks away 
    in a silent daze
Looked at with
    the eyes of shame
Point the finger
    shake the blame
Cuts like a knife
    with words and looks
Carries a knife
    along with books 
        to school
A father asks what 
    he did wrong
Once again
    the same old song
"Then never mind
    I've got to go"
"I've got no time
    don't even want to know"
His child screams inside with
    pain
He should have known
    always the same
No one's listening 
    to the cries
No one's answering
    all the whys
        except
         Jesus

So Much More

If I have pride in myself, then I need to go through all of the painful things that I have been through.  I have no excuse for my way of life, it is because of my pride that I am suffering.

And when I am done suffering, I may be clean of the pride and I will be able to kneel before Christ.

And when it ends, I can say that I feel real empathy, not sympathy, but empathy for what others are going through because I have been there.  Just lately, I have seen that everyone has a story, and everyone suffers in their own way, I am not unique in my pain.

The one thing that bothers me the most about my situation is my kids.  I wanted to give them all so much more, but I have to know in my heart that all of this is for their good too.  And we will all be able to stand and not fall, we will all finish the race.

The Athlete

There was an article in the news paper about a top athlete that seemed very healthy but died at the age of twenty eight of a heart attack.  The article went on to say that research shows that a balance of exercise, diet and rest is needed to maintain a healthy body.  When we neglect one area we could become weak, or like the athlete, die.
     
Our spirit also needs a balance of things to stay healthy, and keeping a balance takes discipline.  Paul compares our lives as Christians to runners in a race.  Do you think that you could eat a diet of French fries and soda, exercise once in a while then win a marathon?  In 1 Corinthians 9:24, Paul tells us, “Everyone who competes in the game goes into strict training.”  A lot of us Christians are spiritually flabby, malnourished and tired.
     
If you eat unhealthy food and don’t exercise, you can end up flabby.  Too much rest and not enough exercise, and your muscles will become weak.  Even with a good amount of exercise and a healthy diet, and not enough rest, your body will suffer.
     
The balance of good health exists in the physical and in the spiritual.  Our spirit needs good food, exercise and rest.  When we get lax in one or more of these areas, our spiritual health could end up in danger.
     
Such a simple thing, but unless we train daily, like an athlete, it’s easy to get off balance, and not even realize it.
     
Spiritually, I thought I was doing fine, until one day I noticed that I was depressed and edgy, snapping at the kids and spouse, yelling at the dog and complaining about every little thing.  Then like a bolt of lightning, it hit me.  I said, “What is wrong with me?” I told myself, “I read my Bible once in a while, I go to church at least once a month, but it’s so hard to find the time, I have so many important things to do.”  It’s like saying, “Why do I feel so bad on this diet of potato chips and chocolate bars, I eat a carrot once in a while.”

Eat right + sleep right + exercise = Good physical Health

Reading and hearing the word + praise and worship + ministry = good spiritual health

Remember to keep your balance, and stay healthy.