Whispering Hope

Taken December 2010   How has it been 11 years! October 20, 2013 at 9:03 pm, Paul,  the love of my life on earth went to meet his Savior, first of all and then others...  This year has by far been the most difficult for me in my grief. Not many would know it because I am still the same Lois- I like to look on the outside like everything is great and good yet the loss I feel is so prominent. I have wondered if it has been more challenging because after retiring, I now have more time – time to reminisce, time to work on a house that has lots of projects (which we loved doing together), and NOW there is time to grieve.     I always have thought of my grief as an ocean- probably because I love being close to water (oceans, rivers , lakes, streams, and brooks) all hold a special place in my life. You ask..."Why is grief like an ocean?"   Oceans have tides- low and high; there are waves that often swallow you if you are surfing (or kayaking); storms come on land ...

“The country is still in the firm grip of a pandemic with little hope of release .” – NY Times, May 5, 2020 The Plague of Corruption “The game is to prevent the therapies until everyone is infected and push the vaccines, knowing that the flu vaccine increases the odds [of getting the flu] by 36%. (based on a study done by the Department of Defense and reported in     2017-2018 in an article titled: Influenza Vaccination and Respiratory Virus Interference Among Department of Defense Personnel during the 2017-2018 Influenza Season (Greg G. Wolff) “Taking the vaccine we are more susceptible to the virus. Then put on a mask. Wearing the mask activates your own virus. You are getting sick from your own coronavirus reaction and if it happens to be SARSCOV2 (COVID19) then you have a big problem.” (interview with Dr. Judy Mikovits, YouTube post 5/4/20) What do we do? Mask no mask? Social distance no social distance? Fear the virus and the consequences or not to fea...

What do you do when you are ISOLATED and… You need food to eat?  …Find food- go to the grocery store, visit the farm stand, look in the cabinets, refrigerator, freezer and get something to eat to satisfy that frenzied need to eat. You are tired?  …Find a chair, couch, bed, beach mat, or lounge chair and sit, lay, prop your feet and head, and rest your tired mind, eyes, head, feet, and body. You need to hear a voice?  …Pick up your phone or tablet and FaceTime, Hangout, or Zoom in for a quick voice fix, hear a word of encouragement, catch up on the news- wait that’s not very interesting these days, so never mind that one  😊 .  You listen, talk, enjoy the company Zoom out - until next time.  You are on overload of energy? …GO RUN! Workout, walk in the park keeping good physical distance of course. Produce blogs, vlogs, sing- make that joyful noise. Ok just GO, find creative ways to get rid of all t...

IF...   only two letters, yet the word holds a wealth of meaning.  If only...  If there...  If it... If I... If we... If you... If they... What if... Maybe if... IF, IF, IF How many times in a day do you or I utter the word IF? Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem titled IF.  The word IF is used in the Bible more than 1500 times.  The word IF is a conditional word. IF is dependent on something else. It can also be replaced in some cases with the word WHEN.  Then the  Lord  appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.  When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people,  if my people who are called by my name humble themselves , pray , seek my face , and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin ...

Waiting is a fact of life. We wait... in emergency rooms,  in birthing suites for a precious bundle to make a grand entrance,  in doctors offices, lines in stores or boarding a plane,  a job to open,  a raise or promotion to be offered, and ... YES,  traffic, too. Webster defines wait this way - to remain inactive expecting something.  Waiting is not always the easiest to do.   At least for me it isn’t. It requires patience. It means I have to stop my busyness. However, on the positive side it requires me to be EXPECTANT! A surprise comes at the end of the wait .  So, THEN, how do I handle the ‘patience in the expectant’? When I am in traffic jams obviously I can take a picture. It’s a great time to check emails and text messages. This kind of waiting is not so difficult because I know fairly soon there’s an end in sight. I’m still moving- slower than I would like, but there’s movement.  What happens when it seems there i...

Acts 27:17, 20-26 NLT Then the sailors bound ropes around the hull of the ship to strengthen it. They were afraid of being driven across to the sandbars of Syrtis off the African coast, so they lowered the sea anchor to slow the ship and were driven before the wind. The terrible storm raged for many days, blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last all hope was gone. No one had eaten for a long time.  Finally, Paul called the crew together and said, “Men, you should have listened to me in the first place and not left Crete. You would have avoided all this damage and loss. But take courage! None of you will lose your lives, even though the ship will go down.  For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me, and he said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul, for you will surely stand trial before Caesar! What’s more, God in his goodness has granted safety to everyone sailing with you.’ So take courage! For I believe God. It will b...