My Day Started Off with Tears and Will end in Tears.

    My Rosary I love so much broke into so many pieces, Carter (my two year old wild thing) got to it while I was getting ready for the day. I didn't get mad or fuss or spank because I left to where he could get to it without thinking twice, I should know better he is two years old for crying out loud, I just cried and cried. And of course I was heart broken and thought well this day just sucks... Little did I know what was about to happen to me

 

   This morning I was in the store shopping for some simple ingredients to make a cake this weekend. Down the baking isle I saw this little old lady on a one of those electric carts. She looked like she was having a hard time getting what she needed, so I offered help to get her something off the shelf, she was so appreciative. I kept on walking but I kept on looking back at her, I have to admit I spied on her for a few minutes and she just looked so lost. And I never do things like this, I will offer help to someone that needs it but I will keep moving on, but I just couldn't help myself I had to go back and see if she needed more help. I could tell she needed help, she had no one around to help her, so I told her I had no plans for the day, that I would love to help her finish shopping it was the least I could do for her.

   I did notice however she could not talk, all it sounded like was baby talk. She handed me her grocery list which look like a toddler wrote out, so I knew something was off. All the while we were shopping she kept telling me she loved me that's about all it seems she could say. Struck with so much compassion for this woman and seeing how thankful she was for the help, I just told her I loved her to. Didn't matter if I didn't know her I still loved her.

    As we were going down the isle to get the last of what she needed and it was so hard to interpret what she was saying but some how we worked it out. Her electric cart battery started to die, and her basket was getting so full, so I put the rest of her groceries in my cart, and I walked with her to a check out line, I helped her check out and put all her groceries in my cart and walked her to her car. I loaded them in her trunk and I asked if she had anyone to help her unload this at home. Looking at me with sorrow and tears in her eyes she shook her head and mumbled no. Pain struck my heart, I couldn't let this woman go home and have no way to unload her groceries. So I told her to sit tight and I will return her cart and bring my car around and follow her home and I will unload her groceries. As I brought the cart to the door greeter she informed me that while she didn't know the woman personally she said she knows her from the store, and she believes she had a stroke (would be the reason she cant talk normal) and that she had no one she knows of to take care of her. A whole knew pain came over me and I wanted to cry so hard. But I pushed back the tears and went got my car and pulled it around and told her to lead the way. I followed her to the next town, couldn't believe she drove that far. Got to her house and unloaded her groceries and she excitedly showed me her lovely home. Which from Pictures I could tell she has one son and I am assuming her spouse is deceased.

     The whole time we unloaded groceries she kept hugging me so tightly and telling me she loved me. I could just see the appreciation in her eyes, and she signaled me to write my name and number on a not pad. So I did, and I told her to call me any time she needed something especially when she needed to go shopping. In that moment she began to cry and hugged me again so tightly and of course told me she loved me so much.

 

   I cant tell you why God brought me to this woman, I haven't figured it out myself, but I promised her I would not just leave her and not come back. I made myself a promise today, to visit that woman once a week from now on. No one should be left alone, the amount of love that woman has is amazing. And the sheer fact she cannot say anything but the one thing she can say is I love you says so much. I feel like I looked into the eyes of Jesus today, and a day that started off in tears will end in tears only tears of joy.

 

I thought my day started off bad, can you imagine waking up, with limited ability to talk or communicate with others, not to mention having no one to help you. Some where out there someone always has it worse. But I am so thankful that God brought this woman in my life, for whatever reason I am humbled by it.

Verse of the Day

⁷ He is not afraid of bad news;
    his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.
⁸ His heart is steady; he will not be afraid,
    until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.

~Psalm 112:7-8~

 

Or We Protecting Our Children Or Condeming and Hurting Others?

   Okay so today I have noticed on the social media main stream this article floating around, on how this mother wrote FYI ( If you're a teenage girl ) and I will repost what she wrote and then the link to it so you can see her pictures (which I don't agree with at all) and tell you my views on it because its chapping my behind because maybe she just doesn't understand the reasons why some girls do what they do. And I know not everyone will agree with what I say, and that's just life. I just want to shed some light on the situation from my point of view.

 

 

Dear girls,

I have some information that might interest you. Last night, as we sometimes do, our family sat around the dining-room table and looked through your social media photos.

We have teenage sons, and so naturally there are quite a few pictures of you lovely ladies to wade through. Wow – you sure took a bunch of selfies in your pajamas this summer!  Your bedrooms are so cute! Our eight-year-old daughter brought this to our attention, because with three older brothers who have rooms that smell like stinky cheese, she notices girly details like that.

I think the boys notice other things. For one, it appears that you are not wearing a bra.

I get it – you’re in your room, so you’re heading to bed, right? But then I can’t help but notice the red carpet pose, the extra-arched back, and the sultry pout.  What’s up? None of these positions is one I naturally assume before sleep, this I know.

So, here’s the bit that I think is important for you to realize.  If you are friends with a Hall boy on Facebook or Instagram or Twitter, then you are friends with the whole Hall family.

Please understand this, also: we genuinely like keeping up with you. We enjoy seeing life through your unique and colorful lens – which is what makes your latest self-portrait so extremely unfortunate.

Those posts don’t reflect who you are! We think you are lovely and interesting, and usually very smart. But, we had to cringe and wonder what you were trying to do? Who are you trying to reach? What are you trying to say?

And now – big bummer – we have to block your posts. Because, the reason we have these (sometimes awkward) family conversations around the table is that we care about our sons, just as we know your parents care about you.

I know your family would not be thrilled at the thought of my teenage boys seeing you only in your towel. Did you know that once a male sees you in a state of undress, he can’t ever un-see it?  You don’t want the Hall boys to only think of you in this sexual way, do you?

Neither do we.

And so, in our house, there are no second chances, ladies. If you want to stay friendly with the Hall men, you’ll have to keep your clothes on, and your posts decent.  If you try to post a sexy selfie, or an inappropriate YouTube video – even once – you’ll be booted off our on-line island.

I know that sounds harsh and old-school, but that’s just the way it is under this roof for a while. We hope to raise men with a strong moral compass, and men of integrity don’t linger over pictures of scantily clad high-school girls.

Every day I pray for the women my boys will love.  I hope they will be drawn to real beauties, the kind of women who will leave them better people in the end. I also pray that my sons will be worthy of this kind of woman, that they will be patient – and act honorably – while they wait for her.

Girls, it’s not too late! If you think you’ve made an on-line mistake (we all do – don’t fret – I’ve made some doozies), RUN to your accounts and take down  anything that makes it easy for your male friends to imagine you naked in your bedroom.

Will you trust me? There are boys out there waiting and hoping for women of character. Some young men are fighting the daily uphill battle to keep their minds pure, and their thoughts praiseworthy.

You are growing into a real beauty, inside and out.

Act like her, speak like her, post like her.

I’m glad we’re friends.

Mrs. Hall

 And here is the link:FYI (if you're a teenage girl)

 

  

  Okay while I'm rubbing my temples here, let me just say, I am a young mother, maybe not as experienced as this mother, but I have two small boys and they will be teenagers one day. And while I know as mothers we try so hard to protect out children, you cannot protect them forever and from everything. I applaud what you are trying to do, but you are bashing and degrading these teenage girls and you don't know the reasons they are acting in this way. You don't know what's going on behind these pictures.

 

   Not to long ago I was one of these so called "teenage girls." Look I understand what you are trying to say here, and I agree its so important to respect yourself as a woman. But let me tell you how I came to be one of these girls.

   Most of my life and still to this day, in fact I heard it the other day. I have always been told I was the "accident child" that my parents were trying to avoid having another child and then I came along. And then I always heard how my little sister was the "Miracle Child" because my mother had her tubes cut, tied, and burned, and she said I was playing on the floor one day by myself and she told my dad that they should have had one more for me to have someone to play with. (I have three older siblings but there is a 8,9,&10 year age gap between us) And so my mother said God must have heard her because shortly after she got pregnant, some how her tubes grew back together. So I spent most of my life hearing and like I said I still hear it to this day, that I was the accident, and my sister ran around saying she was the miracle baby and she still says it to this day.

    I spent half my life walking this earth thinking that I was a big mistake, there have been times I wondered why was I even bothered to be put here? On top of that I never had the sex talk, I didn't have a good relationship with my parents at all. In fact I dressed inappropriately and carried myself in a manner that caused me to be deemed "easy" when I was in high school. I had rumors going around about me having sex before I even lost my virginity, it was all in the way I presented myself. But this is why, instead of trying to talk to me or teach me how important it was to respect myself and my body, I was told that I dressed like a whore, I act like a whore, so instead of trying to find the root of my problems, I just had something pinned on me, thus I turned around and I just acted that way until eventually I became easy.

    All the while I know that was not the intentions but pushing to much will make a person do the exact thing you are pushing to much on.

    I became a horrible person as I grew up, and I did NOT respect myself. I kept looking for someone just anyone to love me and care for me. So I gave myself to guy after guy, kept trying to attract attention by dressing provocatively and acting flirty. I was also horrible and mean, I caused so much hurt and pain to people, number one being my little sister, because I thought she was that perfect child, the "miracle baby" she was the one good kid out of all of us, and I was the mistake, so I basically made it my life's mission to ruin her life and her positivity. And what I ended up doing was ruining myself, I ended up moving out of my parents home at 16 just before I turned 17, moved in with some people that took me in, moved to a new school and started new. It took a while to get out of my old habits but I'm so proud to say through the grace of God, He found me and turned my life around for the better. Now I hope to help others. I don't want anyone to have to live with the hurt and pain I went through. I don't want girls to act like I did because they are looking for some one to love them. When all the while there is one man who will love them for who they are, Jesus Christ.
  
   My point in this is take it from the person who was one of "those girls." A lot of it has to do with the way you are raised, loved by your parents, talked to. A lot of these girls have hidden issues that no one sees, people see the mirror image and make an assumption.
   These teenage girls are living in a world that rewards and praises women who act and dress provocatively. Sex sells right now and its a horrible and true thing. Teenage girls who aren't getting the wholesome love and teachings on how to be a lady are looking to the wrong people for inspiration. How I wish I would have been different, had different people I looked up to. How I wish I would have known about the love of Christ and how important it was to God for me to show myself in a manner that made him proud and showed respect for myself.
  
   But this woman here seems to be ONLY pointing it out towards girls. This makes me so mad because guys do the same. I know they say men are more "visual" but I am sorry I have heard it from the mouths of women myself how they think this man looks so good, has a hot body and talk inappropriately of a man with no shirt on and strutting his stuff. Just because he is a male doesn't make it any more okay. Boys and Girls equally need to be taught about respect. Please stop pin pointing out just the girls.
    What my biggest issue is, you are judging these girls without knowing first hand why they are acting this way. You do not know their reasons for putting themselves out there in this way. Some of them, more than likely more than half of them, are acting this way because they are having their own issues that they are keeping inside. These girls need a good role model, someone to sit there and listen to them and try and help them. If they don't take the advice, then go ahead delete them, but do you realize you can delete them from your sons social media, but you can not delete them from the real world.
   These girls are all over the place, your boys will see them outside of social media, sorry to burst your bubble. You can not protect them forever, and honestly sitting here and trying to tell a girl what to do is just going to make her turn around and do the exact opposite. Take it from an expert!
    Your boys will run into these girls no matter where they are, and so will your daughter for that fact, she will run into these types of boys. How long do you think you can go through your sons social media and tell him who he should delete? I do hope that he takes it upon himself to do this without you telling him who he should and should not be friends with. But I also would hope that maybe they see someone who might have an underlying story, a cry for help and maybe be a good role model for them, not just push them away because they don't meet your standards.

   Look one day my two boys will be teenagers and I hope that when that time comes I have provided them with enough information to show them how to respect themselves and how to respect women, all the while also showing them that if something isn't right about someone, if it seems that there is another teen that is in trouble, that needs some uplifting, that needs to be taught how to respect them selves, I would hope they would either take them under their wing, show them the way, or find them some help, be it they say hey mom I have a friend whose acting in a way that isn't really respectful to themselves, I think they may need a good role model or some one to listen to them. Is that not so hard to teach also, rather then saying they don't act in a way that I like for you to see, you need to delete them.
   And like I said, I applaud what you are trying to do, your intentions, you seem like a close tightknit family and that is amazing. But degrading these girls, making them feel like they are worthless,  saying put on more clothes or your deleted, and all the while you have pictures of your boys in bathing suits in the same posts?? That I'm so sorry is so hypocritical.
   And do you know by telling these girls to put on more clothes or they will be deleted your kind of telling them they are not good enough for decent guys, thus they will constantly look for love in the wrong guys because they feel like they don't deserve a decent guy to be with. Shame on you for that. You have no right to do that to another person, how would you feel if there was a parent out there saying something towards your children that made them feel less then what they are? Its not a nice thought to think about. It pains me right now when my oldest son comes home from kindergarten and tells me he's being bullied or a friend made him feel bad. I constantly remind him how we must be nice to everyone because its not a good feeling when someone is mean to us, therefore we shouldn't make other people feel that way. And yes were only human we make mistakes but hopefully we have good family to teach us better, to teach us to uplift and take those on the broken path and put them on the path of righteousness with us. Not throw them away like trash.

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”
~Luke 10:27

³⁰ In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹ A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³² So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. ³⁴ He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he took out two denarii^[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
³⁶ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
³⁷ The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
~Luke 10:30-37

~Teach your children how to be good Samaritans~

 

"It is easier to build strong children, than to repair broken men."
~Frederick Douglass

 

 

Meditations From a Simple Path

 

If you are searching for God and do not know where to begin, learn to pray and take the trouble to pray every day. You can pray anytime, anywhere. You can pray at work - work doesn't have to stop prayer and prayer doesn't have to stop work. Tell Him everything, talk to Him. He is our Father, He is Father to us all whatever religion we are. We are all created by God, we are His children. We have to put our trust in Him and love Him, believe in Him, work for Him. And if we pray, we will get all the answers we need.

~Mother Teresa

Humanity's Destiny

 

Humanity's destiny is written in the heart and mind of God, who directs the course of history. The Father puts in our hands the task of beginning to build here on earth the Kingdom of heaven that the Son came to announce and which will find its fulfillment at the end of time.

~Blessed John Paul II

Lessons For Living ~ A HIDDEN TREASURE, AN OPEN BOOK

Lord, reveal to all of us the interior world of the soul, the hidden treasure within us, the luminous castle of God. Make the exterior world preserve the imprint of the Creator, and may it be an open book that speaks to us of God.
~Blessed John Paul II

 

 

 

You can get the book Lessons for Living Blessed John Paul II @ Amazon.com

 



Meditation From Mother Teresa

I always begin my prayer in silence, for it is in the silence of the heart that God speaks. God is the friend of silence - we need to listen to God because it's not what we say but what He says to us and through us that matters. Prayer feeds the soul - as blood is to the body, prayer is to the soul - and it brings you closer to God. It also gives you a clean and pure heart. A clean heart can see God, can speak to God, and can see the love of God in others
~ Mother Teresa

You can find the book Mother Teresa Meditations From A Simple Path @ Amazon.com

Why The Devil Attacks Us

Okay so it has been a while since I have posted, we have been going through a rough patch here at home. And as I pondered all the things that have been going on, all the negativity that was being thrown our way, I knew of course there is a lesson in everything that is going on, God allows things to happen to us so we can learn from them.

 

   I have been in a very sort of stand still in my Faith life, my prayer routine had been becoming more of a drag and I noticed I hadn't been saying all the normal prayers like I was doing. It was almost as if I was at a fork in the road on the path God wants me to take, and as if I was looking at signs that was saying short cut, or detour and I was just stuck. I finally today wrote to my Heavenly Father and said you know Lord, I don't want to take a short cut, I don't want a detour, I want to pass all the signs up and keep on going down this path no matter how long it takes to get where You want me to go. Just please keep leading my by the hand, I love the lessons God teaches me even if in the moment of the lesson I am not very fond of it. Every little thing even the sufferings and hard times are worth it.

     It all started I guess a few weeks to about a month ago, I noticed that things were slowing down in our spiritual life, and my husband and I do not have our marriage blessed and we have been discussing it here and there, and as a result we cannot receive communion in the catholic church, and for some odd reason we kept putting it off. Well I finally decided just to go make an appointment with our church parish's priest, I don't know why I didn't do it sooner he is a wonderful man to be around. Anyways when my husband and I made the decision, made the appointment and said "ITS TIME" this is our next step to growing closer to God, He needs to be in our marriage the right way.

    Well oh boy if the that didn't tick off the devil, see anytime you make a RIGHT decision, or choose the right step on your path, anything that gets you closer to the Lord, red flags go up for the devil, and he will come at you with a force like no other. It started off with health issues, and physical pain like something happened to my back, I don't know what but I was physically hurting to the point I could not walk, and I was having other pains. And it just happened over night, this went on for about a week before things got better, this was right before we met with the priest, and wouldn't you know I went to the Dr. the same day as we were suppose to meet with the priest still hurting but wasn't not going to miss this appointment. And well I'll be if I didn't walk out that meeting and look at my husband in disbelief and said my back feels A LOT better when we left the rectory. It was because I did not let the devil keep me from our meeting, I did not let him cause enough physical pain to me to stop me from moving forward.

    After that my husband and I each caught a bug, funny though our two children never caught this bug, and normally in our house hold once one of us gets sick it goes through all four of us, but I am so very glad that they did not get sick. But we both stayed down for a week. Right after I finished the bug, I caught this horrible migraine as to the point my husband got to work in the morning and had to turn around and leave on his first break to come home to take care of the kids so I could go lay in a dark room. And that is a big deal for him to leave work since he is the only working one in our marriage and I am a stay at home mom, we need that money. He had already missed a day of work from being down with the bug and had to miss another at the end of the week to come and take care of me. I am so very thankful to him though, he is an amazing husband and father.

    Of course shortly after that, we had a good weekend still recovering from the bug, but on the Monday I was so excited I was praising Jesus for finally feeling better and I could get back into my art studio and start working on some paintings. Well 2 days later I caught the bug AGAIN only 10x worse. So I think our and my health especially was down for 3 weeks in total, it was NOT very fun but I knew it was the devil throwing his all at us. And I hope that we passed in the eyes of the Lord, I only missed mass once out of the 3 weeks and it was because my back was so bad off I could hardly get out of bed and walk down the hall in our house. But I made sure to go the other times even if I had to run out of church from being sick, I was not missing another mass. The devil will try, oh he will try big time, you just have to learn to deal with the sufferings and remember to ALWAYS offer it up, offer it for the poor souls in purgatory or someone in need of a conversion. I try to remember this so anytime something is wrong, physically, health wise I try to remember to offer it up and join it to the cross of Jesus.

 

   Now my husband and I are still waiting on news from our priest about when we will be blessing our marriage but we are waiting patiently he is a very busy person and I think this whole month of September he will barely be around so I know patience is a virtue, but we took the right steps and now its time to wait.

    I have notice though the devil is not finished with us and he has been causing a lot of problems in our marriage now, but we are praying and praying, we know God will raise us up out of the hard times. "For better or for worse."

 

   I had also been asking God to give me a push out of my slump, I knew my faith and my prayer life needed a push, I still said my daily rosary but I just kept feeling so down and just in a slump, but I prayed and kept on going.

   One day a girl I knew from high school messaged me, we weren't friends at all in school but we just know each other from there, she was overdue on her pregnancy and the Dr.'s were concerned she was not making progress, she told me she was scared and asked because she knew I was close to God she asked me to pray for her. I felt so amazingly honored for someone I really don't know much about, just going to school together would ask me to pray for them. I knew this was the push God was giving me because I just was completely humbled and I cried tears of joy to know, that I am leaving a mark on people and I'm not the one leaving the mark on them Jesus is, what He is doing for me and my life. The whole gist of what I have been trying to do by helping spread God's word or try and get more people to build a deep relationship with the Father. It showed me people are actually listening and it made me so happy that I just could not contain my tears of joy.

 

    And of course because I have made more of an effort to write in my prayer journal daily, to praise God daily for all that I have, to say prayers through out the day, and always saying my rosary of course, but I also started saying a Divine Chaplet of Mercy and a Chaplet of Reparation not to mention I have started back on saying prayers out of my spiritual warfare book, I have been reading scripture again and reading back into my religious books. And praying for others as well. I feel so much better, I am so thankful that the Lord looked upon me and heard my prayers and gave me the push I was asking for. I love God so much because He cares so much for me and He takes such wonderful watch and care over me. He is an amazing Father and I am so blessed by Him everyday.

   

    But with the good comes the bad, you know a lot of times we have some activity go on in the house with noises and knowing when there is an unwelcome presence in the house. However, things have been pretty quiet but I really think it is because we were just in this slump and the devil was kind of happy that we weren't progressing, but we have been picking up the pace and making efforts to keep on getting closer to our Lord God.

    Just recently my husband had fell asleep right before me and he is quit the hard sleeper, so I was settling down for bed, and right when I laid down I closed my eyes for a few seconds and heard this loud bang in the house that sounded like it came from right by our bedroom in the hallway, I jumped it was so loud, I didn't see anything so I laid back down, and an all to familiar feeling came over me, my heart began to race and I became sick feeling, I can always tell when there is an unwanted presence in the house, I immediately went into prayer mode, saying my St. Michael prayer over and over amongst other prayers. And then I could hear as if someone was walking in our house and then in our bedroom and I was so scared to open my eyes, but I kept praying but it felt and sounded as if someone was walking around in our bedroom and around our bed, and felt like someone was standing over our bed watching us, look it was so scary I thought for a brief second that my husband left the door unlocked and someone got into our house. So I braved it and opened my eyes and looked up but of course nothing was there, closed my eyes again and there it went again as if someone was walking around our bed. It was one of the scariest feelings because I have always just heard noises, I never actually heard footsteps or the sound of a physical person in my house I mean I swear I could hear them breathing.

    Eventually through the power of prayer I was able to get to sleep. The next morning I was nervous to talk to my husband about it because I know he believes me but when you say it out loud you know you sound crazy so its hard to speak about. But I'm glad that I did tell him because he said he woke up in the middle of the night and heard what sounded like someone walking through our house and then our front door close shut.

 

   Explain that one right. I mean to an average person whose eyes have not been open to the unseen they would think you are crazy, but to the person who has experienced it first hand they will tell you it is the devil trying to scare you. He wants you to give up your persistent prayer and persistent relationship with God. So he will do whatever he can to throw you off the righteous path and if the first attempts don't work he will get more scarier and make life harder. But just remember Jesus had to go through hell and back to save us and to sit at the right hand of the Father. We now need to suffer willingly and keep on the path the Father has laid out for each and every one of us so we can be with Him and praise Him in Heaven for all eternity.