God is in Control of your Storms

LINK "God is in Control of the Storm" - Joel Osteen at YouTube


Love Laura-Lee

Who Do You Turn to When You Are Complerely Alone ?

There is an old saying, "Every man's your brother, until the rent is due."

There are going to be times in your life when the going is the toughest and you won't be able to find the help of one other person. That's when we learn just how much Jesus truly loves us and how far He is willing to go to prove that love. Not just on the cross 2000 years ago (although that would be enough), but in the every day of the here and now.

If you are feeling the raw pain of living and you need to get a dose of  "rubber meets the road" faith, then this video will make you feel better and teach you the truth of what you are really worth.

It took me many years of experiences and a lot of pain to discover what Joel Osteen says in this video is all true.

(You can click on the LINK below)

"Don't Rely on People" YouTube Channel LINK

Chronic & Terminal Illness for the Healthy

I have endured being called "lazy" or "not trying" for the last time by people who neither ask nor care about my illnesses. I simply no longer have the strength or stamina to endure their ignorance and I don't choose to spend my dwindling time saying it again.  
(I spent my Mother's life explaining it for her too.)

I found this article and I'll let it say it again for me and for all those who are surrounded by people who just don't "get it" because they don't HAVE to or don't WANT to.

But there are some who DO understand. If you are living with Chronic or Terminal illness, please click on the LINK at the bottom of the page if you need some help and encouragement.

My thanks to Stan Goldberg for letting me reproduce this article  and for writing what so many people cannot say, because they haven't the ability, strength or are simply no longer here to say it.

Sincerely, Laura-Lee Rahn


Word of CAUTION: The human race carries a 100 % Mortality Rate. Before you skip this article consider that some day YOU might need it.


A Guide to Terminal & Chronic Illness for the Healthy

A client who was dying once said to me, “Every day I feel as if I’m on one of those exercise boards that rest on a ball. Just when I steady the damn thing, it starts moving and I’m struggling again to balance myself. Why don’t people realize that’s what my life has become?”

I’ve heard similar descriptions for thirty years from clients and patients living with chronic and terminal illnesses. Many believed that not only did they have to deal with the effects of their illness, but also the unskillful acts of friends and loved ones who didn’t understand what they were experiencing. And that’s the purpose of this article: to explain it.

Lack of Control

Imagine for a moment that your attitude about living is heavily shaped by people, objects, and activities. It could be an abusive boss, a landlord intent on evicting you, or a car that constantly breaks down. While oppressive, you could act. You could move on to another job, find a new apartment, or use public transportation.

People who live with chronic or terminal illnesses constantly experience a lack of control. If I have an advanced case of CPOD (chronic pulmonary obstructive disease), I know that without proper medication and the constant use of oxygen I’ll die. On one side of the scale is death. On the other, the side effects of the medication, minimal movement, and oxygen. No contest. I’ll choose the medical protocol—not because it’s something I desire—but rather because it’s something more acceptable than the alternative.

Loss

The feeling of losing something that gave your life meaning is profoundly upsetting. And it happens often with chronic and terminal illnesses. Unfortunately, the magnitude of loss is often thought of in terms of someone else’s sense of what’s important. An active person might think that no longer being able to walk is tragic, but the inability to knit is inconsequential. Yet for someone with rheumatoid arthritis whose entire life centered around knitting, the loss is devastating. Many chronic and most terminal illnesses result in life-changing losses. The ability to knit may disappear, but its memory is constantly present.

Uncertainty

For many people with chronic or terminal illnesses, predictability may be an illusive state of being. One day, the illness is controlled either by medication or who knows what, the next day it comes on with the power of a sledgehammer. On good days, although there’s jubilation, there’s also the fear that the reprieve will end. On bad days, there’s the fear that it will persist and never relent. Wondering if the pain will ever stop might make it difficult for someone to be supportive when a friend complains how his wife never lets him choose the movie they’re going to.

For someone with a terminal illness, there is certainty, but it’s not desirable: there’s the knowledge that the illness will continually progress. The uncertainty involves the course it will take. People with terminal illnesses often wonder how much pain they will have to endure or the extent of reduced abilities until the body just gives up.

copyright 2010 Stan Goldberg, stangoldbergwriter.com

This article can be reproduced and distributed without charge for any non-commercial project if the source is provided.

LINK to Above Article & Website

Throw Open the Doors

Let's be broken ... together.

Jesus rolled back the stone. I'm sure the real one was chucked out  and never to be found again.

Just like the veil to the holiest of holies was torn - never again to be repaired or stitched shut.

Mark Lowry (Christian Comedian & Singer)
- "Brokeness" is required.

POEM: "The Misunderstanding of 1978"

NOTE: The following poem I wrote is a conversation between me and Mom. She is questioning me and when I respond it is in the different font.
REMEMBER: It's always better to read a poem OUT LOUD. Love L-L

POEM: THE MISUNDERSTANDING OF 1978

(by Laura-Lee RAHN)

‎Saturday, ‎April ‎02, ‎2016
Edmonton, AB, Canada

How'd it go? Did you "have-it-out"?
I see it took some time to find the whole truth out.
So mistrust was planted and lies were spoken
Just to get cheap thrills from watching love lines broken

Misunderstanding over? So why still pained?
Oh. To cure the hurt she had to be restrained

{What about the future, when we're both older?
And I'm too small to physically hold her?}

By then your faithful love will demonstrate to her
And her own dear heart won't under rate the cure.
We'll pray on that future day she'll discern what's true.
Between now and then ...
                           your heart has work to do.




(Thanks again, Mom, for your wisdom and being a living example of who Jesus is)

Contemplate Psalm 91 this Sabbath

I've been quite obsessed with Psalm 91 lately. (If  "obsessed" is the correct word).

I especially like verse 4. Whether I read it in the New International Version (NIV) or the King James Version (KJV) of the  Bible it is equally lovely:

"He shall cover them with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler." KJV

OR

"He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; ..." NIV

How can we not picture God as a big Comforter full of down that we can find rest under? 
There is so much about God and heaven that we are simply  unable to comprehend while we still live on earth and in these finite bodies, but He shows and explains to us as much as we can understand.

Here comes another Sabbath, direct from the hands of God. Do yourself a favour and accept this, not just as an "order" or "commandment" from the Almighty, but as one of His many gifts to His children.

Thank you, Lord, for caring more about me than I even care about myself.

Love Laura-Lee

God knows ...

 and will never leave you.

"He will call on me and I will answer  him."  (Psalm 91)

Poem "What I Learned From My Cat"

NOTE: As with all poems, I suggest you read it OUT LOUD. It helps you to enjoy & understand it (and my poetry can use all the help it can get). L-L

"What I Learned from my Cat"

~ by Laura-Lee Rahn

I learned something while watching my cat.

I discovered where my heart is at.

For years we've shared our home

But part of me is still alone.

 I can't make It love again,

my Heart who knows no friend

And I don't know why.

But I do know I try.

Yet part of me's been made

To only be afraid.

From those who went away? 

From those my heart was betrayed?

You shouldn't pay the cost

for those I loved, then lost.

That's so unfair to You,

Who's been nothing to me but true.

Even though not fair

maybe You will my heart repair

when You're making  "all things new"

My fresh heart I can give to You.

And to see in snowy tracks

No thing between us lacks.

Though now a closed door still

Oh, my heart; It's stubborn will.

Yet I know within my mind

There is love of a lifetime kind.

Inside I'm a stone grown cold,

But may I be so bold?

Knowing what others cannot see,

Because Someone gave ALL to me.

Once separated from my Brat,

I still learn from my cat.

Amidst the physical ache

I found lots of my heart left to break.

~~ January 2016

Alberta, Canada

Old Testament, Bible, Torah Characters in Pictures

Adam & Eve
Cast out of Garden of Eden

Cain kills brother Abel

People drowning during Flood
Noah & Family (and Animals) in the Ark

Tower of Babel

David against giant Philistine Goliath

The Bible isn't always "pretty"; just True. - Just like Life.

Faith and Hardship living side by side.