This contains entries to Take up Your Cross, Space Blog, Blog City PF and BC of Friends |
Thank you, Sum1's Home Courtesy of Blogging Circle of Friends Monthly challenge winner March 1, 2021 ThirteenTime Blogger of the Week on Blogging Circle of Friends Last was December 6-December 12, 2020 Best Group, Best Blog |
"March 28, 2019" "Prompt: Jesus said we are to forgive our brothers in order to obtain forgiveness. What is hard for you to forgive?" It was hard for me to forgive the locomotives that kept me awake last night. My home is close to a set of three railroad tracks and a side track. Last night after I went to bed at least five trains went by blowing their horns at every intersection. I was two hours late getting to sleep with an early morning. Clothing designer and sustainability consultant Tara St. James says the fabrics or the cloth preference we choose to wear tells our life story. What does your clothing choices say about you? Is your preference the same as it was ten years ago or has your preferences evolved with life style changes? My clothing hasn't changed. T-shirts and jeans are still my favorites with a pair of boots. I doubt it will change. |
"March 27, 2019" Prompt: "What are you praying about?" I have been praying that the major depression and anxiety I have been suffering will lift. I have no idea why I am depressed aside from having bi-polar disorder and just going through a normal mood swing: this time to depression. I prayed about it and went to see a sleep specialist, who also happened to be a psychiatrist. She took one look at me and asked how long I had been depressed. I told her it had been going on for a month. She looked over my list of medications and determined that the mood swing had been triggered by a medication called buspirone or buspar, which the psychiatrist I had been seeing had prescribed. This was the second doctor who identified buspar as the issue. The first doctor reduced the dosage and this doctor discontinued it altogether. She also started me on another medication to supplement what I am taking and advised me to fire the doctor who insisted that I take buspar. The new doctor and one other doctor said that buspar is known to cause depression and anxiety in people with bi-polar disorder and should never have been prescribed for me to begin with. I give the glory to God for He is the one who sent me to see the doctors who identified the issue. My answered prayer was a solution to the inexplicable depression and anxiety I was suffering. God is good all the time and He knew what my issue was. He seen to it that I went to the right doctor to find out. I still have a way to go before I am well but I started the new medication last night. My doctor said I should feel better within a week and if not I was to return. So given a few days I should be back on track. The point is that depression is real. Generalized anxiety is real. God knew I had both and He knew the cause. He saw to it that I did not follow with my regular psychiatrist because she had a hand in triggering this episode. So He sent me to the clinic on a day she was not working and I saw another doctor who started the process of treating her mistakes. Then God sent me to my sleep specialist for a medication refill and my sleep specialist took over my mental health care as well and added the final touches to fixing the problems caused by doctor incompetence. Under normal circumstances I would have followed with my usual psychiatrist and things would have spiraled downward. Thank you for intervening Lord! Prompt: "Discuss something you didn't know about Wednesday..." As of Wednesday I did not know that people who suffer from bi-polar disorder, a major mental illness that affects millions of people, should not take buspirone (buspar) for bi-polar related anxiety. Apparently the psychiatrist I was seeing did not know either because she had me on high dosages of buspar for several months. My diagnosis is bi-polar disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. Two doctors told me she had made a mistake so I am no longer seeing her. I did want to warn everybody that if you have bi-polar disorder not to allow your doctor to give you buspar! Having bi-polar disorder is not a sin or a crime. I know there is a lot of stigma attached to mental illness. Mental illness does not make anybody a freak or second rate citizen. It is not due to being "crazy". Mental illnesses are caused by chemical imbalances in the brain and are very treatable. The real sin is in suffering with one. I hope my experience helps somebody else. If so my suffering is not in vain. |
"March 25, 2019" Prompt: "What did Jesus mean in John 7: 37 when He said that streams of living water would flow from those who believe in Him?" When Jesus refers to "living water" He is referring to the Holy Spirit. When Jesus was preaching the Holy Spirit had not yet been given so the people had no idea what Jesus was referring to. Jesus knew and the disciples would find out but most people were clueless. The Holy Spirit is God. He is not an "it" as a lot of people believe. Instead He is the third person of the God head and equally God. He is the dove at Jesus' baptism. The Holy Spirit dwells in Christians where He will remain until the day of redemption. |
"March 23, 2019" I already wrote this once and the system did not save it. I'll try again. I have been out of the loop for a few weeks due to illness. I would like thank QueenOwl ~ A New Day Dawns for taking over for me during my absence. I want to share with you what the problem was and perhaps somebody can avoid a similar problem. You see I am one of several million people diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. The medications you treat typical depression and anxiety are counter-indicated with bi-polar disorder. My doctor misdiagnosed me and started me on a medication called buspirone or buspar for anxiety. It resulted in severe chest pains and depression. I am also having a bi-polar mood swing toward the depressed spectrum,like I do every winter. So I have been battling brain chemistry for the past month. Things are improving and I'm following faithfully with my doctors. Fortunately it has not affected school severely and I'm doing good there. We are on spring break so I'm enjoying it. My church just finished a week of revival. Thus I have gotten in later at night and overslept in the mornings. I usually blog when I wake up. So that is another reason I'm out of the loop. I hope to catch up. College starts again April 1 and I will not be as faithful then because I leave for class at 7:30AM. Until then I hope to do my best. Prompt: Does your church do revivals? My church, The Salvation Army Huntington WV Corps, just finished a week long revival where we saw a real move of God. Souls were saved and miracles occurred this week. "Creation Saturday Prompt: The flower of March are daffodils and jonquils. Write a story or a poem that includes these flowers." I don't know my flowers. Dandelion and violets are up here as are buttercups. D A F F O D I L S |
"March 9, 2019" Prompt: False doctrine Saturday I want us to look at the doctrine we all hear preached about a rapture and a 1000 year reign, tribulation to come. etc. Are these doctrines true or man made? Based om Matthew 13 and the parable of the wheat and weeds I have to believe that the doctrine of the rapture is a man made doctrine. I do believe Jesus is coming back but when he does the first ones out of here will be the sinners. Matthew 13 has Jesus explaining "The One who sowed the seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world,and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age (some translations say end of the world), and the harvesters are the angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of the kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father..." Matthew 13: 40-42. It appears obvious based on this and the previous passage in which Jesus discussed it, Matthew 13; 24-30 that sinners will be the first to leave the world at the end of the age. They will be followed by the righteous then the world will be destroyed. Obviously the doctrine of the rapture, which is based on a few loosely interpreted scriptures, is incorrect. At any rate we want to be ready because we can all agree that Jesus is coming back! DAY 2302: March 9, 2019 Prompt: "In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours." Mark Twain Let this quote inspire you to write about Spring Weather. I've never actually counted the weather patterns in a 24 hour period or any length of time for that matter. I do know that yesterday morning it snowed two inches here and was melting in the rain by the afternoon. Tomorrow we are suppose to warm up to around 65 with sunshine all week. So the weather is really unpredictable here. We experience all four seasons for sure. |
"March 8, 2019" "Rejoice in the Lord always.I will say it again. Rejoice!" Philippians 4: 4. What are you rejoicing about today? I am rejoicing because I have another day to serve the Lord. I have lost many of my loved ones. Both my wife and my ex-wife have now gone to their rewards. My brother and sister are gone as are my mother and father. It has taught me to be very intentional about the way I live and to rejoice always because each day could be my last. |
"March 4, 2019" Image #2177637 over display limit. -?- Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- (image:1971183-33%} Image #2177637 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: What church do you attend and why?" I am a member of the Salvation Army. Yes the Salvation Army is a church. I attend the Salvation Army and am a soldier there because I believe being a soldier calls me to a higher standard of living. As a soldier I signed a covenant declaring that I would stay away from worldly behaviors. I do not drink alcohol, use tobacco or any mind altering drugs that are not prescribed by a physician. I do not violate the sanctity of marriage and if I am married I do not seek a divorce. I do not engage in pornography. I basically live to a higher standard and sign a covenant saying I will do so. I like signing the covenant because it gives me something tangible to look at and say "Yes, repentance is a way of life for me. Christ is my Lord and here is my evidence of my commitment." Image #1997652 over display limit. -?- "Prompt: March Fourth or March Forth." I like March forth because as a soldier in the Salvation Army I am called upon each day to march forth into spiritual war and serve on the front lines with Jesus Christ. I live in Huntington WV, which is caught up in an opioid epidemic. Opportunities to serve come along all the time. Daily I see people throwing their lives down the tubes. Jesus asks us to reach out to people. My ex wife just passed away a week ago and it reminded me of just how fragile life is. I am now making sure that each thing I do is intentional. Take nothing for granted because it may be the last thing you ever do. Image #1871183 over display limit. -?- Prompt: In what ways can you expose yourself to outside ideas, interests, and viewpoints to use in your writing, aside from your reading and the internet? I'm a college student. I'm constantly exposed to new ideas. I am also the owner of a shiny new blog.
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