Queen of All Things

Sister Christy Rose surprised me this morning by sharing this award: "Queen of Alll Things". "Awe-summm" as it says on the bottom of it.

I view my life as a big puzzle, with different pieces strewn out on this floor of life. My puzzle [life] is not awesome until the last piece is placed by the loving hands of my Lord.

I am thankful to your friendship sister Christy and to others I had met and have not met that the Lord brought into my life through this blogosphere. You continue to inspire me with your blog that reflects your deep love for the Creator, "the secret life of an American wife and mom", which is not a secret anymore as you chose to share your walk with the Lord. For those of you who haven't met sister Christy, I encourage you to check her site and be blessed the way she blesses me every time.

I know through these blessings [awards], it's not about winning or recognition, but as we share it, we have that opportunity to meet many others who are also blogging for the Lord. And through blogging, by doing so, we are able to share what the Lord had done and is still doing with each of us.

The rule of the award is to:

- List 7 things that make you "awe-summm" and then, pass the award on to 7 bloggers you love.

-Make sure to tag the recepients and let them know they have won!

- Link back to the "Queen" that tagged you.

"I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand." - John 10:28

1. My life that is a "puzzle" is not like other puzzles that are hard to solve. The verse above reminds me that my life is awesome since giving my heart to the Lord. It has meaning. It has directions.

2. "Awesome Lord" gave me an "awesome husband who is a godly-fearing man himself, always there beside me, encouraging me in all ways. He is the definition of "for richer or poorer, in health or sickness, 'til death do us part..."

3. "Awesome Lord" made me an "awe-summ queen" because He blessed us with an awesome son who is thoughtful and sweet in his ways, very respectful of the Lord and of us and others.

4. I love to write for the Lord so thanks to Him that I learned how to blog. He blessed me with awesome brothers and sisters in His Holy Name who also write for His glory!

5. Inspired by Him, I love to compose songs that I use to worship Him in return. It's awesome, He gives me songs so I can praise Him with my guitar! I don't care if I don't have a nice voice :) My Lord says otherwise.

6. I used to be an Orthopedic Nurse for 10 years. Out of the blue, I sustained a neck injury. The doctor told me to get out of this field. But I love it - to help others in their sickness and healing process. "Nothing is impossible with our Lord!" He brought me to a correctional facility, took away my fears and guides me still always. It's not an easy transition, but don't forget that there is no problem bigger than the Lord. I am praying that I am His "awe-summm" tool in sharing His light in that dark place. To God be the glory!

7. I am contented with things. Just love simple things and quiet life. Love to bless and encourage others because the Lord had blessed me and encouraged me first!

Yes, I am "Queen of All Things" but not "Awe-summm" yet, until the work marked for me is finished. By then, I am aiming to finish it and endure whatever comes my way [by God's grace]. I pray that when that time comes, Someone will say, "Rosel, you are AWE-SUMMM" as He placed that last piece of puzzle that would complete my life's journey.

It's hard to pick just 7 bloggers that I love because honestly speaking I have more than that, so I think I am going to break this rule and would love you guys to check out these wonderful sites.

They are all awesome and on fire for the Lord! We can all learn from each other and different opinions we may have, but the bottom line is: we are all united by His love...

- you wanna smile? check out sister Mary

-need a youthful input? check out Cait

-need a laugh? go to sister Kat

-a great prayer intercessor, friend, lover of Jesus, and many more: sister Lisa

-a woman with a humble heart: sister Alleluiabelle

-she calls herself "crazy"....for Jesus : sister Beth

-she stood up to write for the Lord, owner of an awesome therapy dog: sister Andrea

-sister Christy had shared this blessing with her, but I want to still because when the word "transparency" comes, it makes me think of her: sister Cynthia

-she doesn't like awards but this sweet woman deserves it, too because no matter what, she keeps on walking on that narrow path that leads to life: sister Bren

-if you want a little bit of everything: tears, laughter, craziness, check her out: sister Heather

-passionate for Jesus, no matter what: sister Denise

-a great photographer who combines the pics with powerful Scriptures: sister Heather

-writing is her calling: sister Mary

You, all of you are "awe-summmmm" and that word doesn't even describe it. Keep writing for the Lord! God bless. Thank you sister Christy.

Got Spirit?

05/27/09- This is an immediate prayer request for our dear sister Alleluiabelle. Please take a moment to visit her and pray for her and her husband and family. Thank you and God bless.

A methamphetamine-induced "high" artificially boosts self-confidence, many users are overcome by a so-called "superman syndrome." In this state, methamphetamine abusers ignore their physical limitations and try to do things which they are normally incapable of performing. Meth is highly addictive because people often continue using the drug to avoid an inevitable crash that comes when the drugs' positive effects begin to wear off. Even first-time users experience many of meth's negative effects. [Source: Clearhavencenter.com].

I didn’t see “self confidence”when the Highway Patrol Officer led this young man into the chair inside the Nurse’s Clinic at Intake [where arrestees first get searched and processed in prisons]. Bowing his head way low, his chin almost touching his upper chest, he wouldn’t dare look me in the eye. I saw some beads of tears fall as he constantly rubbed his eyes with the digits of his left hand.

“Sir, it’s okay. You can talk to me. I want to help you. What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know…I don’t know.”[as he kept hiding his face from me].

“Do you drink alcohol?”

“No.”

“Do you use street drugs?”

“Meth. I use 8-ball everyday, whatever maximum amount my hands could get,” he mumbled under his breath.

Vital signs were: Pulse: 110, Blood pressure: 109/69. So, the pulse was slightly racing.

“If there was nothing wrong, how come you couldn’t look me in the eye?”

“I’m seeing people. They are not even there. I don’t want to see them. And sometimes, I hear voices.”

“What are the voices telling you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you feel like hurting yourself because of that?”

A forced “Yes” was given. [I placed him on Suicide Watch].

How sad that there are so many young people hooked up on drugs at such an early age. They like the “sudden thrill” that the illegal substances give them, without thinking of the drugs’ adverse effects, specially on their health. The substances control their lives. Like a bug trapped in the spider’s web, their bodies are ensnared with the habitual use of drugs.

It is a scary world out there as peer pressure or just out of curiosity, children are prone to being tempted to use illegal substances. Instead of the “high” they get from these drugs, as parents, we can help our children avoid the use, as we start by building up their “self esteem”. If they have a positive image, children have a better way of standing up against peer pressure. We must remind them that they are God’s special creation [Psalm 139:13-16] and worth of dignity and respect. Kids might think that “using drugs are cool” but we must warn them that they are truly dangerous.

As parents, we can monitor the kind of friendships they have outside our homes. It helps to know the other friends’ families. Unsupervised, it is a temptation for drug experimentation. If we provide our children activities, their minds would be busy doing something productive instead.

Prayers and a closer walk with God will help them live by the Spirit. The Spirit is God’s gift to all who will believe in what Jesus had done. It indwells all believers permanently. [2 Corinthians 1:22 –“and who has also put His seal on us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”]. When we allow the Spirit to freely occupy every part of our lives, then He will guide and control us.

So…"got Spirit?”

“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.”
–Romans 8:5

“For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live” – Romans 8:13

“Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?”
- 1 Corinthians 3:16

“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” –Galatians 5:16

“We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” -1 John 4:13

We Have The Mind of Christ

I was a new nurse at that time and was assigned to one of the prisons in this County I worked for. Not being familiar with most of the custody staff and lay out of that jail, I just trusted in the Lord that I wouldn’t be afraid because He would be my guide in that new place.

Feeling confident every night that I used to work, I heard the radio paging for the Facility Nurse to go to a “mandown” [medical emergency]. I answered promptly and had asked the deputy who called to keep clicking the electronic control that would open the cell. That way, I could follow the sound and be able to reach the fallen inmate.

The man was young. I had found him unconscious on the cold floor. He was diaphoretic but I felt the carotid pulse beating and he was still breathing. According to other cell mates, he spoke of Spanish only, which would make my assessment even harder if he was conscious due to language barrier. Fumbling for a tiny pen light I always carried in my lab coat’s pocket, I started flashing the non-blinding light to both of his pupils to check his neurovascular status.

I saw the deputies surrounding me started talking with their eyes as if I wasn’t doing anything to help out the downed inmate. They probably were anticipating for me to start an IV right away or whiff that ammonia by his nostrils to try to wake him up. They didn’t understand that what I was doing was vital in my over-all assessment prior to me calling the ambulance and the ER doctor. Without hearing any word, I could tell by their gestures that they were making fun of me. But that wasn’t important because I had a life I needed to save that moment that mattered the most!

The man’s pupils were so dilated. They were not constricting or reacting the way they were supposed to when I shone the light over each of his eyes. The cell mates denied him falling and hitting the head. They didn’t think he was on any medications.

I called for the ambulance and they came immediately to take this young man to a hospital. I was off for a few days and when I went back, the same deputies who was there with me that night were smiling as they said “hello”. I felt so much respect with their tone of voice. My co-worker who was an LVN was the one who told me that I was indeed the talk of the deputies on my days off because they didn’t understand why I kept shining the pen light over the eyes of that inmate when he was unconscious and it seemed like I wasn’t doing anything. To make it short, they were making fun of me! Not until they found out with what happened with the inmate when he got brought to the hospital…

The inmate ended up being hospitalized and never woke up. He was put on life support. Diagnostic x-rays revealed he had a big tumor in his brain. When I sent him out, I had written in the note for the ER doctor that his pupils were not responding to the light. Obviously, that meant there was something wrong with his neurovascular status. That was how they ordered whatever necessary scans that discovered this huge tumor and treated him accordingly.

Those who don’t know the love of God are acting in the same way as those deputies. How often have we heard this favorite verse from 1 Corinthians 2:9 –“No eye has seen. No ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.”

If we open our Bibles, let us not stop in that verse alone. Let’s keep reading further…

Verse 10: But we know these things because God has revealed them to us by His Spirit, and His Spirit searches out everything and shows us even God’s deepest secrets.

Verse 11: No one can know what anyone else is really thinking except that person alone, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit.

Verse 12: And God has actually given us His Spirit [not the world’s spirit] so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

Verse 14: But people who aren’t Christians can’t understand these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them because only those who have the Spirit can understand what the Spirit means.

Verse 15: We, who have the Spirit understand these things, but others can’t understand us at all.

Yes, we can’t imagine what God has in store for us. But for now, because we have His mind as the Holy Spirit works in us, He comforts and guides us. We know what we are hoping for: an eternal future that awaits us and encourages us to press on in this life and endure any hardships.

Even the wisest person would not be able to grasp God’s wisdom, unless they accept His message.

"Tear Down This Wall"

Ephesians 2:14 –“For Christ Himself made peace between us Jews and you Gentiles by making us all one people. He has broken down the wall of hostility that used to separate us.”

Ephesians 2:15 –“By His death He ended the whole system of Jewish law that excluded the Gentiles. His purpose was to make peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in Himself one new person from the two groups.”

Ephesians 2:16 –“Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of His death, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.”


Who would have forgotten President Ronald Reagan’s speech challenging the then General Secretary of Russia’s Communist Party, President Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down the [Berlin] wall?” I love Ronald Reagan. He had that guts to propose to end this wall that separated one country!






That wall was a symbol of communism built in 1961. As Russia supported the communist Eastern part, a little after, President John F. Kennedy stated the support of United States for the democratic Western side.

Prior to his famous “Tear Down The Wall” speech, a lot of Reagan advisers had objected for him to say this phrase for fear of tension between the East and the West and for the potential embarrassment to Mr. Gorbachev, with whom Reagan had built a good relationship. But the President liked the draft of this speech upon seeing it. He said, “We’ll leave it in.”

As he finally said this speech, he added much later, “As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner, 'This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality.' Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom." –[Source:Wikipedia].

At first, the Soviets were unimpressed and accused Reagan of giving a war-mongering speech. But 29 months later, Gorbachev allowed the Berliners to destroy that wall. Ironically, as the wall collapsed, so did the Soviet Union.

There are also many barriers that divide us, Christians: age, appearance, intelligence, political persuasion, economic status, race, etc… Christ is also inviting us to destroy the walls or barriers that we build between us. If we listen to Christ’s invitation to do so, we can have real unity among ourselves. God wants us to have a true reconciliation. Because of His death, we are all one and our hostility should have been put to death. His cross should be the focus of that unity.

Christians share a unity that is deeper than that of “blood brothers and sisters”. We are all part of God’s family. Yes, we can have opposing views but we don’t have to be divisive. We must remember that despite our differing opinions, the only thing that matters is that Jesus Christ is our LORD!

So, let us destroy that wall among us believers before we can truly share unity with non-believers. Let that wall collapse!

P.S.

Let's remember in our prayers those who risk their lives everyday to fight for our freedom! Everyone in the military and law enforcement! And for those who already lost their lives doing so. They not only fight for freedom, they tear down the walls of injustices and oppression! God bless all of you and thank you.