Overcoming Life's Trials~

My mother felt that we needed a religious education with our secular schooling. Ever since I can remember. God was a part of my life.  Mom was a staunch Unitarian. But the only Unitarian church in the area was in the city at the time. So I was educated at St Andrews Presbyterian Church in Marin City from grade school until I graduated from high school.

I spent most of my life living with my mother. My father left us when I was seven and was absent from our lives. I was my mother's caregiver when she was terminally ill from cancer and sarcoidoisis.  I saw the catholic church as an outlet for my grief. I saw Mary as a second Mother; always there always comforting. I also found the prayers soothing. But I was a protestant catholic; I found the church to be conflicting to my more christian beliefs. That only through Christ, could we find salvation.

It was in 1994 that God found me. I was sitting in my office, when the Holy Spirit cam to be showering me with love. This was a love that I never felt before, it was total and unconditional. I started to cry. How could I be worthy of this love? I have many sins and regrets. Yet I was receiving total and forgiving love. God said, "I am here for you." From then on God became everything to me. I sought to find a church fellowship to be a part of. When I moved to San Rafael, I searched for a church to go to close to my house. I saw the sign for the Open Door Church. This was the church that my friend, Frank LaForge went to until his death. This was the church that transformed Frank's life and brought him comfort. I have been with Open Door church for five years now.

I spent most of my life fighting my demons. I had a nervous breakdown in 1994 and was diagnosed iwth schizoaffective and bipolar disorder. I took years to fix my broken life. I went into intensive therapy for four years and went back to Christ. I was hospitalized four times. I was homeless for two and a half years and in poverty for seventeen years. Yet joy and gratitude filled my life as God led me to having my own apartment and security. Through Christ, I have found the strength to confront and confess my sins. I began to feel the bitterness and paranoia that I was for most of my live leave.  I started counting lives blessings and Gods grace afforded me. I became a nicer person, finally making friends.

Daily, I affirm that I give my will to God's will.

Tough Questions From Kids ~ Should I stand up for myself around pushy kids?~

Yes, tell them how you feel. Be firm, but don't yell and lose your cool. The Bible says that a gentle answer will help calm a situation. Staying cool and being as nice as you can is your best chance for a good outcome. Sometimes this won't work, and you'll be tempted to fight.  But don't do it--walk away instead. If kids get pushy, tell and adult.

Tough questions from kids ~ Is God sad when I do something wrong?~

God is very sad when we do bad things. He sees how much sin hurts us-and others. Even though we make mistakes sometimes, God realizes that we are growing. He keeps on encouraging us. He loves us so much that He will not give up on us. God will help us to be good, and is very pleased when we do the right things!

Tough questions from kids: Why did Jesus go to Heaven instead of staying here on earth?

Jesus' home is in heaven, so it is not surprising that He would leave the earth and go back to his Father.  Jesus also went to heaven to prepare a place for us. When He left, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be with us. The Holy Spirit can be everywhere because He lives inside all people who have trusted in Christ as Savior.

I wandered lonely as a cloud
that floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out did the sparkling waves in glee;
A poet could not by be gay,
In such a jocund company;
I gazed and gazed - but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
~William Wordsworth

A Parable to Immortality~Manzanita Oregon 1953

A Parable of Immortality

I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze
and starts for the blue ocean.

She is an object of beauty and strength,
and I stand and watch until at last she hangs
like a speck of white cloud
just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says,
" There she goes! "

Gone where?

Gone from my sight . . . that is all.

She is just as large in mast and hull and spar
as she was when she left my side
and just as able to bear her load of living freight
to the place of destination.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment
when someone at my side says,
" There she goes! "
there are other eyes watching her coming . . .
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout . . .

" Here she comes! "

~Henry Van Dyke

Tough questions from kids ~ what should I do if other kids laugh at me for going to church?~

Tough questions from kids ~What should I do if other kids laugh at me for going to church?~

Someone who laughs at you for going to church may not know what church is, may have never been to church, and probably doesn't know what it means to love God. You can pray for that person and-if you get the chance-offer an invitation to go to church with you sometime, especially when your church has a fun night or other social activity.

Tough questions from kids ~ Why does my friend always want me to ask people what they think about her? ~

Tough questions from Kids ~ Why does my friend always ask me to ask people what they think of her?~

If your friend thinks that no one likes her, assure her that you think that she is special. Perhaps you can help her get to know more people by inviting her to a group activity at your church. Or invite another friend or two over to your house when you invite her. If your friend wants you to ask boys whether they like her, it is better not to get involved.

Tough questions from kids ~Can I do what ever I want when I am older?

Tough questions from kids ~ Can I do whatever I want when I am older?~

All our lives we will have rules and laws to obey. When God gave the Ten Commandments, He gave them to all people, of all ages, for all time.  No one outgrows the need to follow God's ways. That's one of the reasons God tells us to obey our parents. Doing what they say helps us learn to obey those in authority over us later in life.