Is staying faithful like a goal, like a path to success?

I wanted to share a note I found as I was again sorting through my many "piles" of papers.  It is on "grit," which is about the process of staying faithful to the end.

A couple definitions I copied from the FORBES video I watched, from Angela Duckworth (a psychologist), about who succeeds, are these ::

TALENT  x  EFFORT = SKILL

SKILL  x  EFFORT = ACHIEVEMENT

"Grit is the ability to persevere, to be resilient, passionate and hardworking."

Trying to imagine all the hardships we might face as the future becomes less godly and then the domain of the Antichrist is very hard.  I don't know how we are going to make it.  The prophecy that many will "fall away from the faith" seems like it is going to happen very easily... and is, really, happening now.  We listen to the news and are amazed at what some churches are doing.  How will we who have a strong faith be able to stand, especially if we are alone in our beliefs and alone in our lives.

I started the quest for saving as many Christians as possible when I discovered poverty, government assistance, homelessness, and more.  I knew others in the church would not know how to deal with it.  I could see there would be a lot of "shock" and chaos and fear and pain and hurt and loss.  There wouldn't be enough benevolence funding to really help anyone.  This was way back in the late 1970's and 1980's, and it continued through the 1990's and 2000's and 2010's and up to the present.  The problem has only gotten worse. 

There were things in the early years that I never would have considered.  There are even more unexpected changes now.

What would be the best path to our future as believers in GOD and Christ?

The answer to me is still the same, but the path has changed.  It has become more urgent.  We need the basics.  Food.  Shelter.  Work.  These can all be combined into making spaces for our protection.

Rural seems better, but there will be many in urban areas who will need these basic resources without the ability to farm and grow livestock.  They will need a different kind of organizing.  The main issue is preserving our resources and protecting our vulnerable.

Alternative energy options for power will be necessary, whether urban or rural.  No money means we have to have everything we need to survive.  I think we need to work on options for each dwelling.  Solar on our roofs and possibly our housing materials.  Water collection and power through our gutters.  Wind energy in small sizes, like old-time well fans or weathervanes, even the new small versions for roofs.  Wood for heat in small, tiny-house stoves or large cooking stoves.  Electric blankets that are low energy users.  Propane for cooking and heating.  

We see "Preppers" and think they are crazy, seeing disasters everywhere.  In truth, they are trying to find a way through what is ahead.

One of the best statements I heard from a prepper on YouTube was "It's better to be ten years early than one day late."  

The only way to live without money is to have these preparations already available.

We don't know what is ahead, or how it will affect us and those we love.  Our churches are not prepared to care for their own.  The government is not prepared to take care of anyone... it is living on a credit card (the debt) and will soon reach the stage of bankruptcy.  Then everyone who depends on the government for their money and their life will be left with nothing.  Who knows what will happen in our country or the world.

Martial law means we lose all our registered weapons.  Violence in our streets means we can't protect ourselves.  Our families are separated now, because of jobs and surviving life.  We will only have local resources to access.  Preserving what our people already have is just as important as creating food pantries and clothing closets.  There are so many things we could be doing right now but aren't.

Food.  Shelter.  Work.

We really need to make prepping our goal.  

Can we Save America?

I have been sorting through a lot of old papers.  I came across one set of notes about the political process and decided it would be good to share with you.

I didn't save the source information, or the date it was created, but I have a title :: Marginalize the Population.  It's labeled page 10 of my original note packet.  I think it might be a chapter title.

The quote I wrote first is quite difficult to deal with but I already know it is true.

70% of people have no way of influencing policy

This issue gets bigger and bigger every year.  Lobbyists influence what gets passed, contributions become the reason, and we only hear the lies that make it possible.  I write letters when I can.  Mostly I add a few comments to online posts.  I'm not one who makes phone calls because I don't feel I can create a record of my efforts.  Printed matter is my "voice of choice" because I can try to keep a record for my own purposes.

There's really no way to know if my letters actually reach anyone who needs to hear what I want to say.

A note added under my quote above says the lack of being able to influence our political processes "equals a public that is angry, frustrated, and hates institutions."  I see why we have all the unrest in our nation.

More notes about this state that activism moves in very self-destructive directions, like

• unfocused anger
• attacks on one another
• attacks on vulnerable targets
• corrosive of human relations

"And that's the point -- to make people hate and fear each other, and look out only for themselves, and don't do anything for anyone else."

It's hard to know what all my notes mean after a long period of time, but the things I saved from whatever I was taking notes on, and only the few pages I have left, are meaningful.  

I was not and still am not great about history details.  One note I have is referenced to ADAM SMITH.  I don't remember why he is important to us, or this record.  What I have written about him in my notes is his opinion of our future, that we will become "a society in which normal human instincts and emotions of sympathy, solidarity, and mutual support are driven out."

These are serious in any society.  They make us people who care.  The Bible tells us the love of many will grow cold in the end days.  It says people will become lovers of themselves.  It says cruelty will grow towards family members.  And more.  The things that make a society great will no longer exist.

We never think about how our world is becoming what GOD has warned us it will become.  I know I have had a very hard time seeing it, not wanting it to happen, and wondering how we will live through it until the Antichist fulfills what he is going to do.

I don't know how much we can do to stop the downfall of our world, but everything in history and life is done, for good or evil, when "people organize, struggle for their rights, and win."  Satan has goals, too.

At the end of my notes is a quote by Howard Zin about our ability to create what becomes history.  I hope we all remember it and do our best to make life better.

"What matters is the countless small deeds of unknown people who lay the basis for the significant events that enter history."

I am a fan of James Clear's ATOMIC HABITS.  The idea is that small changes add up.  We can change ourselves in small ways to become the person we want to be over time.  This is how good and evil work... small steps that lead to the future.

We have become less godly in small steps over time... all leading to what GOD has already told us would happen.  

We create our lives by our choices, small and great.

When all of our lives are added together, we create our world.

It was my hope to gather all the Christians together so we could become that power for good our world needs, and what we will need to help each other.  I still hope we have time to make that difference.

In Christ,

Deborah Martin

https://work2gather.us

Think about your food supplies!

I recently signed up (again) for emails from Jeffery Smith's group, IRT, Institute for Responsible Technology.  You can sign up for them at the main webpage, under SUBSCRIBE.  They come into your email titled, Live Well Be Healthy (.com) but I didn't find the website when I tried to.

He also created the documentary "Genetic Roulette" -- which was an earlier documentary about Monsanto and GMO's (Genetically Modified Organisms).  It was one of the first DVDs I purchased on food issues.  

I found my way to a list of foods we don't realize have GMO ingredients.  On the main page, look under "LEARN" to find "SHOP HEALTHY."

I was surprised by a video I found at the main page for "Shop Healthy."  There is more than one video available so I don't know if it shows up first every time you reach the page.  It's on their YouTube channel as well.  It's called HOW TO SHOP HEALTHY.  It startled me to hear that organic farmers spray their fields with Round-Up right before harvesting, and wine growers spray between their rows, and both of these actions put the main chemical in Round-Up in these foods.  We don't know about it because no testing is done to show what is happening to our food supplies.  

Another page I found that is important for you to see is under the SECRET INGREDIENTS square on the Shop Healthy page.

Secret Ingredients - Institute for Responsible Technology

SECRET INGREDIENTS is also the name of one of his books, but the page has a list of foods to think about when you are shopping.  Many are ingredients in foods we buy and make and eat, but we wouldn't notice them as GMO foods.  Some are ::  cornstarch, baking powder, tofu, soy flour, milk powder.  There are many more.  

I have already realized any food with corn could be suspect.  It looks like all the sugar made from sugar beets is included.  I was under the impression that wheat, soy, and more grains we use are already GMO, but I haven't found a good list to share yet.

I can't afford to buy all organic and non-GMO foods.  I do the best I can with my shopping budget each week/month.  It is easier as a single person, but if I still had my family and was on a government budget, I would not be able to buy what I already stretch my budget to get in organic foods at the store or local farm foods at a Farmer's Market.

The primary motivation for all these issues is money, at some level - whether business, government (legislation or taxes), or other financial issues.  

We, those who buy these foods, thinking they are safe for us and those we love, are the ones who suffer most.

I don't know where all this will lead, or how long it will take to become public, but this is how it seems to go in all of history.  It's different now because of the End Times and the Antichrist and the move to create digital currency the government can control.  Those who are poor or vulnerable always suffer most.  What GMOs will create in our bodies and lives is still not known or connected.

I hope we can find our way to providing the food we need for ourselves.

In Christ,

Deborah Martin

https://work2gather.us