October is beautiful

What’s your favorite month of the year? Why?

I live in a country where the seasons change the prospect. Spring is a renewal of life. Summer has great energy and heat. Winter is cold and harsh with just the right hint of the promise of spring.

Then there is fall; cozy and pretty with a chill that nips at your feet as you move forward.

I love the month of October with all the changing colours of the leaves and the weather turning colder with every passing day. The cozy feeling as you pull on a thick sweater to ward off the bite of cold air.

I love to taking pictures in the early morning of the frost that clings to the ground while the sun rises slowly to brighten the day.

I know with fall time is moving into winter and the plants are dying, but I do not think about death; I think about sleep and the promise of a new day when spring breaks through with all its hope and vibrance. 

How do I know God? I call Him by His Name.

Names are labels to identify individuals. We are given a name before or after birth as a personal tag. As names can point a person out among a crowd, they can also be a symbol of that person’s character; they are an extension of a familial tradition.

With Jehovah or God, this is different. His names speak to his power and his glory. It can prove our faith and strength in various situations.

For example:

We call him, Jehovah Rapha, God our healer.

Going through physical sickness with nowhere to turn or trusting in him, we can say with assurance he will heal me because he says to ask anything in the name of his son, and he will do it.

We have some financial hardship? We can ask him to heal our finances and wait, believing because he is Jehovah Rapha.

In the book of Exodus 15 verse 26

, it says, I am the Lord your God who heals you.

Psalm 103 says he heals all my diseases.

Psalm 30 says he cried to God, and he healed him.

He is a stronghold in the day of trouble.

These are only a few words of comfort and acknowledgment concerning his name as the healer.

Can you say the same as Jehovah Rapha, my healer?

How do I know God?

In any relationship, the name of the other person is very important, too.

How we call that person is an indicator of how we feel about that person.

Is there anger or affection. Is there familiarity and intimacy.

When we think of a relationship with God, what do we call him?

God.

Father

Almighty.

Are we close enough to him to call him Abba Father?

Abba is a form of little children addressing their father as Papa or Daddy.

It is not something that most will favor because of His position as Creator.

It shows a closeness that goes deeper nearer than anything ever can.

It is a position of love and security.

Who is God to Me and How to get closer to Him

As a christian, a close relationship with God is something I need to strive towards by praying and reading the Bible daily.

As this year comes closer to an end and a new year begins to rise on the horizon, we all begin to make resolutions to do things better in the new year. We look forward to a fresh start.

I am here to say why wait for that new year.

Now is the accepted time.

We have no way of knowing what will happen tomorrow, let alone in a new year we have only today.

We have now and we need to live in the present.

My advice is to start now and get things right with God. It does not have to take hours on end praying and reading but just start small.

Read a verse one day and think about it. How does it work into your life.

Repeat it over in your head throughout the day. This will cause you to memorize it. 

Write it down. This, too , helps to secure it into your memory banks. When the time comes, you can recall it without difficulty.

Where do you start?

A wise man once told me to start in the  gospel of John.

Or if you want to see the first works of God, start  with the book of Genesis.

And like the John one verse one,we are again back at the beginning.

Life comes in a full circle.

Morning, by morning, he awakes up my ear so I can hear his instructions. ( adapted from Isaiah 50 verse 4)

When I had to be responsible

When was the first time you really felt like a grown up (if ever)?

Being an adult can be overrated because, as an adult, you need to be responsible.  You have to work to live and live to work. You have to take care of other things and people not just yourself. This could mean financially, physically, and  emotionally.

As a kid, the world revolves around you. You are the center of the universe. Cool. There are no worries.

I try not to be an adult with my limitations, but I sometimes see the world as a kid without filters or limits. Life is what you make of it.

I became an adult, I think, when I started working in my present profession. I deal with the elderly and mortality is a second word.

I wish that every day i can be a kid  again.

Exercise

What’s a topic or issue about which you’ve changed your mind?

I felt pressured to exercise hard all the time. Then my schedule got jammed up, and I had little time to devote to this craft. The harder I worked out, the more I hated working out, and the more I felt guilty about skipping my workouts.

Covid hit, and I started working and looking at exercise as movement not only in a gym but to stay active at all times. Of course, we all know that but do we really know it, really.

I walked almost every day and did some workouts in the basement. The routine was great. Then, I had to go back to work with my long communes and little time for myself.

I hate working out.

I got a leg injury and found a chair workout online. The instructor was so encouraging. I began to work out every day checking my fitness tracker to record my steps and my sleep pattern.

That instructor got me thinking that long sessions in the gym are good, but how about short sessions too. I began to stagger my time and enjoy my quick, effective workout outs that were low impact but so good. As a result, I spend more time moving and making better choices with my time and my food intake.

My advice is to just move, and as my Dad would say, keep moving.

Who is God to me? The Giver of All Good.

I serve God Almighty. The true and living God. Who loved the world with a great love that he sent his only begotten son.

He gave his only son.

Jesus is the son of his love.

He is the greatest gift of all.

My Health

What details of your life could you pay more attention to?

Sometimes, when life gets busy, I forget to look out for myself. I keep going and going, not pausing for a break. For a long time, I would not notice anything until, wham, I am exhausted to the point I want to crash both physically and mentally.

I am learning to take breaks from time to time. My Mom always said, “Put it up. Tomorrow is another day.”

I am not a slacker, and with Christ in my corner, I will get it done.

Health is wealth.

Never Give Up

What’s the trait you value most about yourself?

I have never been tenacious in my everyday life until after the passing of my Dad. It hit me hard because even though he was getting up in age and slowing down, he always seemed to me as larger than life full of energy. Unstoppable. But he died, and I had to learn to rely on myself and my relationship with the Lord.

Some say it is all me. I say God is my source, and my traits are my resource.

I have five sisters, and there are two who stand out when it comes to encouragement. They never stop. They never give up. They are amazing. When I want to call it quits, they are there for me pushing me forward.

I admired them, and I started thinking like them. Pushing forward, not looking back and never giving up. If I don’t make it, I dust myself off and move on. They taught me this. And I used it in my grief with our Dad. Then late with our Mom.

The problem is that one of the two is going through a rough spell, and it is my turn to comfort and encourage her. Unfortunately, I am a sledgehammer where words are concerned.

Now, I have to learn to be gentle.

Oh…the trials of life.

Writer, Photographer, and Painting

List three jobs you’d consider pursuing if money didn’t matter.

I am a writer. And a published one who is not making money, but I love the craft.

I also love mixed media sketching. I love to capture life on canvas. I like to take pics using my cell or my digital camera, and then I edit them. That is just as much fun to do. Nature, with all the textures and colours from any season, is mysterious and beautiful.

Can I make money doing any of these professions? Yes. I need to market myself. I need to put myself out there.