God Gave Me You

For all the times I felt cheated
I complained, you know how I love to complain
For all the wrongs I repeated
Though I was to blame, I still cursed that rain
I didn't have a prayer, didn't have a clue
And then out of the blue

God gave me you to show me what's real
There's more to life than just how I feel
And all that I’m worth is right before my eyes
And all that I live for, though I didn't know why
Now I do, cos god gave me you

For all the times I wore my self-pity
Like a favourite shirt, all wrapped up in that hurt
For every glass I saw, I saw half empty
Now it overflows like a river through my soul
From every doubt I had, I’m finally free
And I truly believe

God gave me you to show me what’s real
There’s more to life than just how I feel
And all that I’m worth is right before my eyes
And all that I live for, though I didn’t know why
Now I do, cos god gave me you

In your arms I’m someone new
With every tender kiss from you
Oh I must confess, I’ve been blessed

God gave me you to show me what’s real
There’s more to life than just how I feel
And all that I’m worth is right before my eyes
And all that I live for, though I didn’t know why
Now I do, cos god gave me you
God gave me you

God gave me people whom to cherish and treasure forever. God gave this person to cherish and love.

How Awful It is To Be Sick

Well there is nothing special for this blog that I will make. I will just take down of my experience having chicken pox. Hahahaha. It's funny, right? Anyway this started last Monday, January 23. I felt different on that day, I felt very weak and felt cold. I thought it was just nothing - a simple feeling of not being okay. But on early Tuesday morning I noticed a blister on my upper chest, near my collar bone. I pricked it. But then I still feel very weak on that day. On Tuesday night, I notice that the blisters added up. Then I noticed that it's a chicken pox already. Having that same weakness of the body and that blisters on my body I still manage to go to work. Anyway I went to see the company nurse and of course I was sent home.

On Wednesday morning I see a doctor and he gave me a vaccine and I bought the medicine prescribed to me. And as days go by, I feel worse. It's so itchy and I can't sleep well. I just pray that this will soon be gone. Goodness. But anyway, I just entertain myself. Haha. Doing computer stuff, watching movies, eating fruits and all. That's life. But I still stay it's awful.

As Erica Jong says : "Surviving meant being born over and over." Definitely true. You just have to survive everyday of your life. :)

QUOTE FOR THE DAY

"In a culture where approval/disapproval has become the predominant regulator of effort and position, and often the substitute for love, our personal freedoms are dissipated."
                                                                                                           -Viola Spolin


    Wanting others to approve of our efforts, our appearance, our aspirations and behavior is perfectly normal, certainly not unhealthy. However, needing the approval in order to proceed with our lives is.
    In early childhood we are taught to obey others and to please them. We confuse love with approval, and we begin to march to someone else's drum. Then we get even more approval. But soon we get out of step with ourselves; we neglect our personal needs and become puppets.
     Giving away our power to the whims of others weakens our Spirit. Personal freedom means choosing our own behavior; it means acting rather than reacting. It also means allowing ourselves the full adventure of living, of meeting each moment wholly, of responding in a pure, spontaneous, personally honest manner. Only then can we give to life what is ours to give.
     Each of us has a unique part to play in the drama of life. And we need to rely on our higher power for our cues, not on those whose approval we think we need. When we turn within for guidance, all the approval we could hope for will be ours.


I will be free today. I will let no one control my actions. I will let God give the only approval that counts. Aligning my will with God's will guarantees it.

WHAT DO YOU HAVE?

     A surgical magazine tells the story of a hard-pressed, irritable, nervous, overworked surgeon in a busy New York City hospital. He was ready to perform another emergency operation. He was in a hurry, it was Christmas Eve, December 24, and it had been quite a day in the surgical suite.
    The patient was a beautiful girl of 17 who had been seriously injured in an auto accident. The nurse, about to give the anesthetic, ssaid kindly, "Relax - breathe deeply and the pain will be gone."
    The girl said, "Would you mind if I repeated the 23rd Psalm from the Bible, before you operate?"
    The nurse looked at the surgeon and he nodded; the girl began:
    "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. . . . "
    The surgeon continued with his preparations, but everyone else stood still, listening. They had heard these beautiful words many times in church but they had never sounded so moving. Here in that surgical suite, they had another meaning, a deeper kind of meaning to them.
     The girl went on, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me. . . ."
     The nurse held the cone above her to begin with the anesthetic.
     "Hold it," said the doctor. "Let her finish." Then he moved over and looked down at her and said, "Go on, honey, say it to the end and say it for me too, won't you?"
     They all stood quietly and listened as her heart, full of faith, filled the operating room that Christmas Eve day. They heard some of the most moving words ever written:
     "Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me," she paused, catching her breath, then went on to the finish, "and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
    The surgeon looked down at her. He was relaxed, his sense of irritation was gone. There was no feeling of other duties pressing in on him. He and his patient and the operating room crew were at peace and ready for the surgery.
    Everybody in that room had been lifted by that girl's faith. 



And Mary said: "My soul praises the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour" (Luke 1:46-47)

Opportunities!

"Once I knew that I wanted to be an artist, I had made myself into one. I did not understand that wanting doesn't always lead to action. Many of the women had been raised without the sense that they could mold and shape their own lives, and so, wanting to be an artist (but without the ability to realize their wants) was, for some of them, only an idle fantasy, like wanting to go to the moon."
                                                                                                                         - Judy Chicago


There are probably not many of us, in this recovery program, who grappled with life as straigth on as Judy Chicago did. It is likely we didn't understand that we could mold and shape our lives. How lucky we are to be learning that now with the help of the Twelve Steps and one another. Each day we are confronted with many opportunities to make responsible choices, reasonable decisions. These choices and decisions are the molders, the shapers, of who we are becoming. Our identity as women is strengthened each time we thoughtfully make a choice. The action we take through making each choice gives our identity more substance - our wholeness as women is guaranteed through these choices.



Many opportunities to make choices will arise today. I can be thoughtful and make choices that will lead to my greater wholeness.



From Hazelden Meditation Series: EACH DAY A NEW BEGINNING, Daily Meditations for WOmen

THE BETTER GIFT

What's the better gift that you can give to someone this Christmas?

Read through this story..

     During World War II, at the Christmas season, Miss Kathryn Drummond was passing through a small Minnesota town. She observed a Red Cross bloodmobile parked before the schoolhouse and stopped to contribute a pint of blood.
     Among the workers was a middle-aged handy-man who waited on the nurses by fetching supplies, washing utensils, and so forth. Meeting this man in the hall and assuming him to be the janitor, she commented upon the fine new school building. "No doubt you find it a great improvement over the old one," she said.
     He blushed like a freshman but smiled, too. "I'm a stranger here," he said. "I live in Minneapolis and travel around with this unit. You see, I'm too old to fight and too unskilled to help these doctors and nurses in any other way than this. I have a great interest in collecting blood for Europe, as all my people are imperiled there."
     His light complexion and sensitive features suggested to her that he was Nordic. "Are you from Denmark?" she asked.
     "Oh no," he replied, "I'm a Greek. You know, some Greeks are very fair complected."
     The following winter Miss Drummond was in Minneapolis. Friends took her to hear the renowned Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. And when its great conductor stepped to the podium she recognized him at once! He was the handy-man she had mistaken for a school janitor. He was the world-famous musician/conductor, Dimitri Mitropoulos!
    
     This story has been shared with you in order to ask this question: What are you giving this year? There are a lot of things that are impossible for any of us to give . . . but by the same token there are a number of things we can give.
    
     None of us could give a blind child sight this Christmas, but how about giving a few minutes of companionship? We can't give a father or mother back to a child who may have lost a parent, but we could give interest and a bit of time! It's impossible to restore to health a person who may have lost the use of any of their limbs, but how about time spent with them to give purpose and meaning? Have you caught the concept? Let Jesus Christ so fill you with His birthday spirit this year that you will give something of real value, lasting value in His name!


"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn away from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins, and will heal their land." - 2 CHORINTHIAN 7:14
    

Fourth Wise Man

     The story is told of the "Fourth Wiseman" named Artaban. He, too, set out to follow the star and he took with him a sapphire, a ruby, and a pearl beyond price as his gifts for the newborn King. He was riding hard to meet his three friends, Jasper, Melchor, and Balthasar at the agreed upon place. Time was running out when he came upon a traveler stricken with fever.
     If he stayed to help he would miss his friends. He stayed, he helped, and nursed the man back to health. But now he was alone. He needed camels and bearers and a guide to help him across the desert. Because of his act he had missed the caravan of his friends. He had to sell the sapphire to get the needed supplies and camels and bearers, and he was saddened because the King would never have this special gem.
     He finally reached Bethlehem only to find Joseph and Mary and the Baby gone. While at the home where they had been staying, soldiers from Herod's army came to kill all the boy babies in the house. The mother wept behind Artaban as he stood in the doorway. To save the child from certain death he paid the captain with the ruby so he would not so much as enter the room. One boy child was saved and the ruby was gone - now one less gift for the King.
    For years he wandered, looking in the vain for the King until some 30 years later he found Him in Jerusalem during His crucifixion. He thought just maybe he could use the pearl to buy His freedom. On the way to the hill a girl came running from a band of soldiers who were chasing her. She cried out, "My father is in debt and they are taking me to sell me a slave to pay the debt. Please . . . help me, save me!"
    Artaban hesitated . . . then, sadly, he took out his pearl, offered it to the soldiers, and bought the girl's freedom and cleared the debt.
    The sky went dark and . . . the King died.
    Now . . . think . . . did not the wiseman, Artaban, give his gifts to the King because he had cared for those who needed his gifts?
   


    Christmas is soon upon us. Have you given any thought about your gift giving this year? Will it be exchange time . . . giving to people who are able to give back to you? Or will it be an honest act of real giving? How about giving to people who can't give back? I know of a family who pool their "gift" giving money every other year, and give it to a needy family as their Christmas gift. Just a thought.



"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for Me'."
-Matthew 25:40