Spent much of the day trying to start some art and craft projects I hope to list and sell. :-) After finishing a handmade card for one of my sons, and then another one for my mother. Money is very low for me, so stamps have been an issue. I was rummaging for some of my craft supplies and found some... that was a present for me! :-) Found some card envelopes to use, too. Hopefully, I will be able to get them ready to mail tomorrow or Saturday.
I use to send out homemade cards with the news of the year...then I went to regular cards. The number decreased as the years went by and money problems were a seasonal issue. I barely send out any now... but I hope to rebuild my list before I go (to heaven). I think I will work on a stencil design for next year. I have been wanting to do stencil creations for some time. With Etsy, I can make sets to sell, too.
Found some things to list at eBay today, too. I will do that later. Right now I am catching up with my computer tasks. I entered my daily verse early this morning.
I don't know that I want to comment on the racial issues America is facing, and its associated police issues. I would have to write pages of opinion and experience. I am close to watching the news, maybe I will save this as a draft (at approximately 5:45 pm PST) and finish it later. I am sure there will be something to comment on.
Talk to you then.
=================================
=================================
Here I am again... didn't hear a lot of news... checked my Facebook, emails, etc. Most of the talk is the same -- police associated deaths... immigration and the President... Not sure why I don't get more info from groups I have liked. Will have to check on that. :-)
I answered a post by the Hagee ministry... asking for comments on the economy for their coming radio program. Here are the questions, and then my reply. I suppose it is worth sharing. You will need to prepare for the future, too.
-------------------------------------
John Hagee Ministries
We are preparing for next week's Hagee Hotline with Pastor Matt, and he has asked us to get
your opinion. So let us know what you think about:
1. What are your concerns about your personal finances? How are you planning for your
financial future? Is it more difficult to plan for your family today than it was 10 years ago?
2. Are you concerned about rising prices globally, locally? What concerns you most about the
global economy and how it might directly affect your family?
3. What concerns you most about our national (or global) financial status?
---------------------------------------------
[My comment, with the errors I made in my terrible typing and lack of proofreading. :-) ]
1. I start early social security retirement in 2015 and don't get my first payment of $375 until
the end of February... My only income for some time has been less than $200 a month in food
stamps... and I think it was 2 cash gifts of about $150 for all of 2014. -- 2. I think the hidden
crisis is famine... growing in the USA as well. GOD judges nations by drought, famine,
pestilence, and war. I think America is deep into all of them. My opinion about the End Times
(now) is that the churches need to prepare for the change in support, from receiving to giving
to the needs of their congregations and communities. It may start as a trickle, but it's going to
be continuous and grow as the years pass by. The loss of money to give to organized charities
is going to affect the world. We support a lot of people in a lot of places... and we won't be able
to do that anymore. 3. -- America's huge debt/defidit is our greates issue, and Obamacare is
causing a ripple effect that will grow and destroy many other government programs. Medical
costs cannot be contained... only regulated by not paying for them. Christians are going to
lose everything they have built up and invested in, and depend upon, if/when the US
economy falls... who will there be to help them? How will the churches they have supported all
their lives be able to support them? --- In the market crash of 1929, people lost at least half of
their wealth, if they had any left. Retirement funds are all realated to stocks, bonds, gold,
commodities, etc. --- We may have GOD, but the numbers of needy and the seriousness of
their needs are going to have to be prepared for. http://work2gather.us
------------------------------------------
I'm sure you could comment on the questions, too. Find them on Facebook, or maybe you can reach them online at http://www.jhm.org
3 DEC 2014 :: Getting back into focus
I started getting to my artwork ... finally. Last night I tried to think of things to draw, and to make them small for my shipping plans. Small is hard. :-) I need a separate workspace for my art and my crafts... I end up doing computer work all the time, and can't move around to change my activities easily... and some projects need to sit between the parts that make them. It is a challenge I have had in all my living spaces for many years.
I am getting some kind of order figured out, though. That is good.
I am praying through my current situation, and trying to find the right attitude for the process. It is easy to quote verses in the Bible, to say that we need to be one way, and very hard to actually find that place in our mind and life. I believe that GOD is sovereign...and that He has a purpose in all that happens to us, in our world, etc. Finding that purpose has always been my challenge.
I have been very affected by the Thankfulness Journal I shared about earlier, from a Focus on the Family program last week. I tried it out in a prayer posting at one of the Christian Teams at Etsy. This is what I ended up with.
==============================
Thank you, Lord, for this great and wonderful day... thank you for all the blessings that you provide for us...especially the ones we don't really know about. Thank you for food, shelter, clothing, shoes, freedom, money (if we have it :-) , time, health, the ability to see, the ability to hear, the ability to speak, the ability to feel, to love, to think, to read, to eat, to walk, to touch, to make things, to have access to the internet, to have a computer, a smartphone, a telephone, a lamp, a bed, warm blankets, pillows, and all the other things that we may have or not have, depending on our situation.
Help us to trust you more today, no matter what happens.
Everything in our world has somehow been created by You,
help us to take better care of it, and of each other.
This is the season of giving for Christians, Lord...
help us to share as much of our bounty as we can.
Amen.
==============================
==============================
I was quite impressed by what happens when you start listing all the "small" things you take for granted as you focus on the pain or need in your life. It doesn't solve the immediate problems, but it does help you see things in a different way.
I guess it is the old problem of establishing priorities. What really matters?
Today I decided to enter another prayer/praise posting at Etsy's Christian teams and threads. I was thinking about the sovereignty of GOD in the events of our lives... so this started out with questions about that fact.
==============================
==============================
Is GOD sovereign? Yes. What does that mean to us as we go through our lives?
Lord, Thank you for being my LORD, my SAVIOR, my FRIEND, my GUIDE, my TEACHER, my HOPE, my PROVIDER. Help me to always keep my trust in You. Help me to see the lessons you have in the events of my life. Help me to find the direction you want me to walk in. Help me to see the people you are trying to reach.
Provide for me the things I need to accomplish Your Will for my life.
==============================
The theme of the Bible is that GOD provides for our NEEDS... they seem to be minimal needs, basic needs, things that are required for survival.
I have always believed that GOD provides what we need to accomplish His Will for our lives... for our task/s in the Kingdom, our part of the Body of Christ.
I have problems when what I think is needed doesn't seem to be GOD's idea of what is needed. :-)
I am getting some kind of order figured out, though. That is good.
I am praying through my current situation, and trying to find the right attitude for the process. It is easy to quote verses in the Bible, to say that we need to be one way, and very hard to actually find that place in our mind and life. I believe that GOD is sovereign...and that He has a purpose in all that happens to us, in our world, etc. Finding that purpose has always been my challenge.
I have been very affected by the Thankfulness Journal I shared about earlier, from a Focus on the Family program last week. I tried it out in a prayer posting at one of the Christian Teams at Etsy. This is what I ended up with.
==============================
Thank you, Lord, for this great and wonderful day... thank you for all the blessings that you provide for us...especially the ones we don't really know about. Thank you for food, shelter, clothing, shoes, freedom, money (if we have it :-) , time, health, the ability to see, the ability to hear, the ability to speak, the ability to feel, to love, to think, to read, to eat, to walk, to touch, to make things, to have access to the internet, to have a computer, a smartphone, a telephone, a lamp, a bed, warm blankets, pillows, and all the other things that we may have or not have, depending on our situation.
Help us to trust you more today, no matter what happens.
Everything in our world has somehow been created by You,
help us to take better care of it, and of each other.
This is the season of giving for Christians, Lord...
help us to share as much of our bounty as we can.
Amen.
==============================
==============================
I was quite impressed by what happens when you start listing all the "small" things you take for granted as you focus on the pain or need in your life. It doesn't solve the immediate problems, but it does help you see things in a different way.
I guess it is the old problem of establishing priorities. What really matters?
Today I decided to enter another prayer/praise posting at Etsy's Christian teams and threads. I was thinking about the sovereignty of GOD in the events of our lives... so this started out with questions about that fact.
==============================
==============================
Is GOD sovereign? Yes. What does that mean to us as we go through our lives?
Lord, Thank you for being my LORD, my SAVIOR, my FRIEND, my GUIDE, my TEACHER, my HOPE, my PROVIDER. Help me to always keep my trust in You. Help me to see the lessons you have in the events of my life. Help me to find the direction you want me to walk in. Help me to see the people you are trying to reach.
Provide for me the things I need to accomplish Your Will for my life.
==============================
The theme of the Bible is that GOD provides for our NEEDS... they seem to be minimal needs, basic needs, things that are required for survival.
I have always believed that GOD provides what we need to accomplish His Will for our lives... for our task/s in the Kingdom, our part of the Body of Christ.
I have problems when what I think is needed doesn't seem to be GOD's idea of what is needed. :-)
2 DEC 2014 :: Social Media, the Internet, and Online Sales
Been trying to go through my Facebook page/s... looking for important news and events. Seems to be the same thing every day... not really worth a lot of attention. I still haven't figured out a way to log in and check the pages I want to know about.
I went to Etsy earlier. It is becoming my first stop because I enter a daily Bible verse, check on my shop's needs, and browse the forums for information I might want to know. I shared with someone that I am trying to decide what teams are about in the online (Etsy) environment. Connecting and accomplishing and growing in the Internet world is not the same as the real world. I think it needs to be an option, not the whole focus... but that isn't always possible, and the world is being taken over by the computer and its forms of communication.
I have pages on fiverr.com as well... and they have forums, too. A lot of marketing goes on in the forum pages because it has your avatar and a link to your page/s. Etsy is the same.
There are over 10,000 teams, and I think there are millions of shops and buyers... or maybe there are millions of listings. I can't remember right now. It's all big numbers. Finding your customers is not a simple task.
Every website is protective of their place in the online economy. I am becoming aware of a need to build a separate presence for all the sites I sell on... BUT, they can all meet at my personal/business website somehow. Working out all the details of that connection is the challenge for me... as one person, too poor to do what I need to do, I have to keep waiting, look for alternatives, find ways that will work in my situation, and pray a lot.
The online community has its own forms of prejudice and bias and manipulation and crime. It is just a larger community, global, and without regulation. That is why the international government will be a necessity soon... and the Antichrist will be right behind it.
Everything is a tool for good or evil. I choose to follow good, follow GOD, and follow my dreams within those limitations.
I went to Etsy earlier. It is becoming my first stop because I enter a daily Bible verse, check on my shop's needs, and browse the forums for information I might want to know. I shared with someone that I am trying to decide what teams are about in the online (Etsy) environment. Connecting and accomplishing and growing in the Internet world is not the same as the real world. I think it needs to be an option, not the whole focus... but that isn't always possible, and the world is being taken over by the computer and its forms of communication.
I have pages on fiverr.com as well... and they have forums, too. A lot of marketing goes on in the forum pages because it has your avatar and a link to your page/s. Etsy is the same.
There are over 10,000 teams, and I think there are millions of shops and buyers... or maybe there are millions of listings. I can't remember right now. It's all big numbers. Finding your customers is not a simple task.
Every website is protective of their place in the online economy. I am becoming aware of a need to build a separate presence for all the sites I sell on... BUT, they can all meet at my personal/business website somehow. Working out all the details of that connection is the challenge for me... as one person, too poor to do what I need to do, I have to keep waiting, look for alternatives, find ways that will work in my situation, and pray a lot.
The online community has its own forms of prejudice and bias and manipulation and crime. It is just a larger community, global, and without regulation. That is why the international government will be a necessity soon... and the Antichrist will be right behind it.
Everything is a tool for good or evil. I choose to follow good, follow GOD, and follow my dreams within those limitations.
1 DEC 2014 :: Christmas shopping is really here...
Cyber Monday is pretty much over now... we survived Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Sunday (actually the first Sunday of Advent).
I was devastated to lose my internet access on Sunday afternoon and evening. I don't know what happened this morning... I didn't get on the computer till mid-afternoon. I have been catching up since then.
Made some bread today. I am working on my own recipe for one loaf of bread. Trying to make it with different ingredients each time. Today I used sunflower seeds. I tried to make a crust of flax seeds, but they didn't stay on. :-) Will have to knead them in next time. I took the temperature of my bread loaf this time... to see if it was done. I watch America's Test Kitchen a lot, and they said that bread is a certain temperature when it is done. Mine was 180 degrees, but I couldn't remember what it was suppose to be. I haven't checked on that yet. :-) [While looking for the link, I did several search terms and couldn't find the temperature that way... I will continue my effort another time.]
I am fond of County Fairs and when I started trying to enter things for the exhibits, I would look at the food items, including breads, and wonder how they judged them. They open a loaf of bread to judge it... I have no idea what it is suppose to look like to be a winning exhibit, yet. I want to see the fairs have samples for people to try... especially the winners. What does a winning entry taste like? I want to know...
I didn't have a Thanksgiving, but some years are like that. I remember one year, when I had kids, that our meal was stew. It was a good year.
I discovered the option to offer prayers at one (then two) of the Christian Teams at Etsy this weekend. I was impressed by a recent program on Focus on the Family about a Thankfulness Journal and decided to say thank you to GOD and then added a small prayer for blessing on those who love Him. I am wanting to add more prayers/praises now... this may be a good thing or a bad thing. It depends on what GOD is trying to achieve and who is reading them. :-) It helps to remember all the blessings we have in the middle of our hard times... it changes our perspectives.
I watched most of It's A Wonderful Life over the weekend.... need to see that again... and dig out more of my VHS tapes. I discovered that my DVD player doesn't work anymore. VHS is fine as long as the machine works and it doesn't eat the tapes. I like them... you can't flip through like a DVD, but it is still the movie. And it is relatively cheaper.
I love that movie. It is my all time favorite. It shares so many concepts about life and GOD and how important every person is to our existence. I don't think angels are like Clarence, but it is a nice movie. When we look at the changes in our society, we can see that America is becoming "Potterville," and that is not a good thing. I don't think we can change that direction anymore, that is what prophecy tells us is coming.
Christmas is really close... and I can't catch up. It will be another race to the finish.
Enjoy your holiday season... I have been hoping that everyone will find some good in the days ahead, share what they can, and find the love of GOD and the salvation of Jesus.
In Christ,
Deb Martin
I was devastated to lose my internet access on Sunday afternoon and evening. I don't know what happened this morning... I didn't get on the computer till mid-afternoon. I have been catching up since then.
Made some bread today. I am working on my own recipe for one loaf of bread. Trying to make it with different ingredients each time. Today I used sunflower seeds. I tried to make a crust of flax seeds, but they didn't stay on. :-) Will have to knead them in next time. I took the temperature of my bread loaf this time... to see if it was done. I watch America's Test Kitchen a lot, and they said that bread is a certain temperature when it is done. Mine was 180 degrees, but I couldn't remember what it was suppose to be. I haven't checked on that yet. :-) [While looking for the link, I did several search terms and couldn't find the temperature that way... I will continue my effort another time.]
I am fond of County Fairs and when I started trying to enter things for the exhibits, I would look at the food items, including breads, and wonder how they judged them. They open a loaf of bread to judge it... I have no idea what it is suppose to look like to be a winning exhibit, yet. I want to see the fairs have samples for people to try... especially the winners. What does a winning entry taste like? I want to know...
I didn't have a Thanksgiving, but some years are like that. I remember one year, when I had kids, that our meal was stew. It was a good year.
I discovered the option to offer prayers at one (then two) of the Christian Teams at Etsy this weekend. I was impressed by a recent program on Focus on the Family about a Thankfulness Journal and decided to say thank you to GOD and then added a small prayer for blessing on those who love Him. I am wanting to add more prayers/praises now... this may be a good thing or a bad thing. It depends on what GOD is trying to achieve and who is reading them. :-) It helps to remember all the blessings we have in the middle of our hard times... it changes our perspectives.
I watched most of It's A Wonderful Life over the weekend.... need to see that again... and dig out more of my VHS tapes. I discovered that my DVD player doesn't work anymore. VHS is fine as long as the machine works and it doesn't eat the tapes. I like them... you can't flip through like a DVD, but it is still the movie. And it is relatively cheaper.
I love that movie. It is my all time favorite. It shares so many concepts about life and GOD and how important every person is to our existence. I don't think angels are like Clarence, but it is a nice movie. When we look at the changes in our society, we can see that America is becoming "Potterville," and that is not a good thing. I don't think we can change that direction anymore, that is what prophecy tells us is coming.
Christmas is really close... and I can't catch up. It will be another race to the finish.
Enjoy your holiday season... I have been hoping that everyone will find some good in the days ahead, share what they can, and find the love of GOD and the salvation of Jesus.
In Christ,
Deb Martin
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