a spoken tongue

When I moved to Japan with my family, I was a shy, 11 year old girl and I only knew the English language. I went to a school where they spoke English and everyone on the military base spoke English. When I stepped off the base to go downtown,  I visited the stores and enjoyed the culture. Yet everyone mostly spoke Japanese.  Yes I was a foreigner in the land.  When I would hear someone talk in the English language I could immediately understand it and I would perk up and listen. I knew exactly what they were saying. 

I did take Japanese language and Japanese culture classes in school, which I enjoyed.  Yet there is always something familiar when someone speaks your own language. It's comforting and it gets your attention when you aren't in your own place of living. 

Acts 2:1-11 "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: 'Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!'"

Can you imagine you hear something extraordinary? Something you will remember the rest of your life?  Say you are visiting a conference with like- minded individuals. There is only one person,  in this gathering, from each of the nations. You all hear sounds coming from a building. The sounds are of loud chattering.  Then you recognize someone is speaking your language and you understand what they are saying amongst other people.  You listen closely yet you are amazed.  Other people around you, who are from different places in the nation are stopping in the streets too,  doing the same thing, as you.  They are listening closely because they are hearing someone speak their language too. But it's not in your language,  it's from their own home town. Each one hears his own dialect.

Acts 2:16-21 "Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd...this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

''''In the last days, God says,

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
    and they will prophesy.
 I will show wonders in the heavens above
    and signs on the earth below,
    blood and fire and billows of smoke.
The sun will be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood
    before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
And everyone who calls
    on the name of the Lord will be saved.''''"

God has got everyone's attention after they heard things in their own language.  Now He's using Peter to witness to them and say:  "And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Now everyone goes back to their hometown and this news spreads to each country. 

Jesus wants you to know, if you call on his name, you WILL be saved. 

  

Traveling with pain

Here's a little bit of what I did to help me on my travels on a trip I recently took. You may not understand it unless you deal with daily chronic pain. If you deal with pain,  maybe some of this will be helpful to you. 

I went on a trip which was 2 hours ahead of California time. I was getting up earlier each day,  about 4 hours or more than usual.  Some days I felt like a zombie.  Yet there was a couple days I spent time resting. I spent some alone time, just resting, which I needed to keep going. We did  2 weeks of stuff in one week. So I basically had to pack 3 different times for traveling throughout one state.  And I tried to keep eating foods that kept my irritable bowl syndrome in check and didn't eat foods that would cause a fibromyalgia flare up.  My health was good there mostly and yet the humidity caused pain in the mornings. Thankfully hot massage showers took edge off and I kept biofreeze with me. I made sure I had a microwave and fridge in each hotel I stayed at.

I did take an egg crate cushion section that I cut enough to lay my body on, when I go to sleep.   Plus I brought my special pillow with me so that I could be comfortable in each bed.  My pain was so bad with first plane trip,  so on the way back I sat on the egg crate foam cushion which helped a lot.  I had originally packed it on the check-in luggage.  

Both ways I brought a tiny pillow with me on plane to help my back pain and posture. I didn't want any more new pain brought on by not sitting correctly on the plane. 

Plus I brought my regular mypillow with me in check-in luggage. I brought my ice and heat packs too. Each night I used my hot, moist pack that I could microwave to heat up and wrapped it around my shoulders and head. It all helped. I wish I could have traveled lighter but I knew what I needed to make the trip better for my body.  I have learned to do this and I even have a check list I keep in my computer so I know when I go out of town,  I don't forget my important medical stuff. 

Transform pain?

I was reading and something struck me. I know we live in our bodies and that we deal with groanings, burdens, and pain.... but sometimes I forget that our earthly tent (our physical body) so longs for our heavenly dwelling. 

We may deal with physical pain and suffering on earth yet we will be free from all of that when we are in our spiritual body, in heaven, if we are believers of Him,  Jesus. Our spirit may groan and be so desiring of our heavenly bodies.  I look forward to that day in heaven when my physical body is transformed into something new and am grateful, and find peace and joy when looking forward to eternity, forever, when we will no longer have a physical body that feels pain and suffering.

"For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling,  because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.  For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad."

2 Corinthians 5:1-10

thanks to these guys

To the men in different stages of my life,  thank you for treating me with love and respect like a father or big brother would.  I appreciate you for looking out for me when my father and family didn't.  Bob Boartfield Sr.  Marlin Hines. Rob Hodson  ,  Rick Pena (husband of Mary Pena ), the late Bill Thornburg, Daniel Cardenas,  Terry Henderson And big brothers Jon Llera, and the late Roy Vasquez (husband of Virginia Vasquez ), Joe Zichichi (husband of Lisa Zichichi ), Nick Thouas . And for the rest I forgot to mention. 

Happy Father's Day and Happy Big Brother's Day. (I know I made up the last one).

And to my husband Timothy Carroll  thanks for all you do. I appreciate your hard work and how you look out for me. We don't have a human flesh baby,  yet we have one well-fed fur baby cat named after your Rocky. Lol 

And thank you God for everything.  For showing me what unconditional fatherly love is and for bringing me people in my life the last 30 years to help mold me into what I am today. Thanks God.

Life in a Pandemic

2020. It was one weird and crazy year that I never thought would exist in my lifetime.  A pandemic was something I heard about in school in the history books. I never thought I would ever experience a global pandemic in my life, or how to live in one. And never thought I would understand the reality of a quarantine or stay-at-home orders.

Covid19 rolls off my tongue like something that seemed like it always existed, but it hadn't. Some people think it's a hoax and yet others know it's serious. Some because they have either had a bad case of it or knew someone who passed away from it. Through Facebook, I have actually seen people from my past, pass away in the pandemic, most of them were from the Covid19. 

We are in an uncomfortable world where our lives have changed. It feels like we aren't getting enough oxygen because of the face masks we have to wear everywhere we go. Yet we endure it to not spread this virus. I adjusted by keeping a hand-held fan blowing on my face so I don't feel like I'm going to pass out or get overheated. 

We have had stay-at-home orders and learned a new way of life with social distancing. People, like me, who are huggers have had to hold ourselves back with every ounce of our body so we don't reach out and give a handshake or a hug. I've learned if I extend my arms out from side to side that makes about 3ft. And if another person does the same of about 3 ft, that's equivelant to the 6 ft rule of not standing too close to people to not spread the virus if we had it and didn't know it. 

We go to restuarants where before we had taken for granted the enjoyment of eating in the dining area. Yet now we are lucky if they are open and have a drive thru or do walk-in orders where we can eat in the parking lot, in the outside makeshift dining area, in our cars or just take it home. I have adjusted. I bought a tray that I keep in our car so the experience of eating in the car is easier for me;  I don't drop chips and salsa on the floor like I did at the beginning. There are restuarants that allow people to eat inside at times. Most have every other table open yet sometimes they have to close because of how fast covid19 is spreading and what the government says to stay open or not. 

Even church and Bible study groups have changed. Most are doing their services online and little by little I've seen them open their doors to do service inside or even outside with the intention of social distancing...but that's not always easy. Watching church online has been easier for people like me who watched church online, before the pandemic, due to major health issues. Yet seeing people not be able to go to the actual building is heartbreaking. Their ministries changed or haulted temporarily until life gets back to normal. Again things we took for granted has made us look at life differently.

We go grocery shopping or other shopping and hope no one coughs or sneezes. When people get too close it gives some anxiety because we know we could then be exposed to the virus. Masks are to be worn over the nose and mouth.  At times I have even caught myself feeling overheated with the mask on, so I put it below my nose or hang it on my ear, one-sided, so I can breathe easier. And others do the same. I've learned me wearing a mask is protecting you, and you wearing a mask is protecting me. Or is my mask protecting me? and your mask is protecting you? No one seems to be a 100 percent positive in the way it works.

I worry about being near people especially my friends. I'm silently wondering Do they have the virus? Can I get the virus? Do I have the virus and not know it? Did I just give it to them? So again we aren't seeing our loved ones as much, or not at all, because of the unknown of the virus. We are told that there are so many complications that can lead to death with this virus or you can test positive for the virus, and be a carrier even though you don't have symptoms. The unknown has put fear in some.

Then there is the hand sanitizer. Before pandemic we were told not to use it as much because then we are becoming immune to the benefits of it. Now we are told to use it every time we go inside a store or touch someone or something, and to use it often. Actually we are told not to touch anyone unless we live with them. So we carry small bottles with us everywhere we go. We go into the store with our masks on and come out, putting hand sanitizer on, in the car; then we touch the bag from the store or touch the steering wheel. Did we just grab germs again? We touch the bottle of hand sanitizer and accidentally touch the lip of the container. Oh no, did we just unsanitized the sanitizer?  It's all so confusing. 

Some go home and Lysol their shoes when they come home from work. We can't touch our loved ones yet until they take a shower. That is still hard for me. Being newly married, I would greet my husband with a kiss and hug when he came home from work. But since the pandemic, I have to wait till he takes a shower, which is hard.

Then people put their work clothes in the hamper. Did we just expose our dirty clothes that were in the hamper already, to the virus?  We do our laundry and then realize maybe we should wash our hands because we touched the dirty clothes that could have been exposed to the virus. Then we put our clean clothes in the washer and dryer. Did we kill all the germs? Who knows? 

All I know is, I can't wait till this pandemic is over. Some say it might be a couple years. After that, I hope I won't be afraid to hug all my friends, give handshakes, freely eat at restaurants, and attend Bible study groups without any hesitation. I hope we will let go of the habit of putting on face masks and hand sanitizer all the time after this pandemic. Or should we let it go? Who knows?

my window view

I looked out the window at 6:05am and saw A beautiful, white, petite cat with brown and beige markings on it, sitting on our patio.
Then she looked like she spotted something. I saw a black and white animal, oh It's probably just Panda our neighbor cat.
Nope. it is waddling. It's a skunk.
Then the cat starts following it in a sneaky way about 5 ft away from it, yet hiding with each corner they turned.  I see the skunk's tail go up but he didn't spray just kept walking. And the cat just followed it until they were both out of  view. Someone's morning may not end well. Lol...