update on "From Death to Life"

just an update on http://1ncisfan.blogspot.com/2010/01/from-death-to-life.html

For those who remember my "resurrected" tree - it has been growing so beautifully, and is beginning to look like a real tree now. It has grown huge
leaves in just one month! (the 1st photo was taken a month ago).
Its leaves are so large that they completely cover the top of it and you can't even see any more that it's broken.
If all its buds continue to develop well, it will have at least 10 branches. When I found it in the street it only had one branch that was dying...
With this speed of growth, I may not be able to keep it as a house plant for too long :-), I will soon need to plant it outside so it can grow freely and fully develop into what it was created to be. God is the Author of Life! So neat to see a new life developing from something that looked totally dead!

Hag Purim Sameah!
Varya



















Glad to see that God can take something that was nearly dead and bring it back to life (to borrow from "Mike & Mike in the Morning" -back and better than ever") in a way that shows His hand in things.

A shower

Last night, I did something that may seem ordinary....I took a shower. Now that might seem like nothing to you, however if I were to repeat it slowly and explain it; then it may not be so ordinary.

For the first time since March 12, 2008 (almost two years), I was able to step into a shower (not a bath given by nurse or a "sink shower" [bathing myself by sink]) by myself (not having anyone around me to help in any manner) and take a nice shower without worry (about water getting into a bandage or a wound and not having to cover any part of my body in order to do so). It felt so wonderful to feel the water coming down and to get soap and shampoo and clean myself off!

The reason I go on so about a shower is that it was a big sign that showed that I had been healed completely and was able to get back to some of the things that I used to do before my appendix ruptured.

However it was also a privilege. The reason I say that is that I was able to take a shower with hot water. Imagine those places where hot water is a treat (rather than an every-day occurrence). I was able to step into a shower with a sense of privacy) Imagine being a place where cleaning oneself is at a river where the water is maybe not clean, where there is not really a sense of privacy or the water is used by animals for drink and other things. And then I will be able to take a bath this evening. Think about being in a place where cleaning yourself is not a daily occurrence but maybe a once-in-a-while thing because of other matters...

Think about how much we have been blessed here and if you get a chance to help others who do not have (whether it is here in the US or abroad) think about doing so and being a blessing to others so that they can have the privilege of a shower...or food...or maybe even life itself....

What you can learn from a colostomy bag

One of the things that was a "side effect" of my appendicitis was the fact that for a period of about a year I had to wear a colostomy bag (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostomy_pouching_system for what this bag is.)

Now the bag was attached to me by a special adhesive-sort of like a caulk. Which was good, however, the only bad thing about the adhesive is that after a few days, it would become brittle and hard and begin to crack. The bad think about that is because of that, my colostomy bag would leak and I would end up with waste all over me instead of the bag. You then had to clean up the mess, replace the adhesive and get a new bag (which is not the most fun thing to do at 3:15 a.m.-either in the hospital or at home [especially if you had to wake someone up].)

So why do I mention all this? Well, a spiritual insight can be found as such:

When we come to Yeshua (Jesus) and ask Him to be our savior, we are "caulked". However through, going through our lives, the daily stresses, lack of time in the Word and prayer...our "caulk" in sense becomes hard and brittle. And because of that, our lives begin to leak and we end up with the "waste" of the world all over us and it becomes a big mess.

So we then have to have to "replace" our caulk. We do that by confessing our sins to each other and to the Lord (1 John 1:9-"If we acknowledge our sins, then, since he is trustworthy and just, he will forgive them and purify us from all wrongdoing."-Complete Jewish Bible). And in the Lord's case praying at 3:15 a.m. in the morning is something that won't inconvenience Him. In fact I believe that it is something that He looks forward to.

And since He is trustworthy and just, He will purify us. It is a wonderful thing when He cleans us up and says that we are forgiven and cleansed.

So if your life is begin showing signs of cracking-stop and ask the Lord to repair the cracks, clean you up and replace whatever needs to be replaced. Your life will be so much the better for having done so.

Ironic ad

I was in the website for members of my old high school (Oliver Wendell Holmes-Class of '84-Go Huskies!) when I noticed that they had a ad from Google: "Signs of Appendicitis."

Now my question is....where was it 24 months ago when I really needed it?

Then again...had the ad been there...would there be these insights that I have received over that time? So maybe it was a good thing that it wasn't there.....

Reminds me of something that Dr. Luke wrote about in Acts 16:
"They (Paul and his companions) traveled through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, because they had been prevented by the Ruach HaKodesh from speaking the message in the province of Asia. When they came to the frontier of Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia; but the Spirit of Yeshua would not let them." (verses 6-7 Complete Jewish Bible).

Maybe Paul was prevented by the Spirit either because he was not ready for what would happen there, or perhaps the Spirit had a greater work for them in another region as we read a little later in the Chapter...

So maybe I didn't see that ad because the Spirit knew that God's greater work would be done through a "wounded bird". So maybe the Father knows best after all!

A song that talks about what I've been through....

One of my favorite Third Day songs gives insight into what I've been through....

Mountain Of God

I thought that I was all alone,
broken and afraid,
but you were there with me,
you were there with me.
And I didn't even know
I had lost my way,
but you were there with me,
yes, you were there with me.
Tell you opened up my eyes I never knew,
that I couldn't ever make it without you.

Chorus:
Even though the journey's long,
and I know the road is hard.
Well the one who's gone before me,
He will help me carry on.
And after all that I've been through,
now I realize the truth
that I must go through the valley
to stand upon the Mountain of God.

As I travel on the road,
you have led me down,
you are here with me,
yes, you are here with me.
And I have need for nothing more
Oh, now that I have found
that you are here with me,
yes, you are here with me.
I confess from time to time I lose my way,
but you were always there to bring me back again.

~chorus~

Bridge:
Sometimes I think of where it is I've come from,
And the things I've left behind.
Well, of all I've had,
what I posess,
they can't quite compare,
with what's in front of me,
with what's in front of me.

Even though the journey's long,
and I know the road is hard,
well, the one who's gone before me,
he will help me carry on.
And after all that I've been through,
now I realize the truth
that I must go through the valley,
to stand upon the mountain. . .
well, I must go through the valley,
to stand upton the mountain. . .
yes, I must go through the valley,
to stand upon the mountain of God.

And a video of the song....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz-cRVvGe88

my favorite story

My favorite story of the time that I was in the hospital is as follows...

It was within the first two weeks of me being in the hospital and I was asked by my Dad if I needed anything else. Well, I moved my hands as closed together as I could (despite the fact that they were in restraints). Everyone tried to guess what I was trying to gesture. Somebody said that maybe I wanted to use a computer. Another jokingly said that maybe I wanted to play an insturment. Finally, my Dad asked if I wanted prayer. And I nodded my head yes.

The reason that it is my favorite story is that it shows that even though our bodies may be bound and limited, the Spirit that is within us is not. One way or another the Spirit will find a way to communicate the needs that we have to others as He does to our Heavenly Father.

quietness

Hospitals can be a quiet place.....a little activity here and there and then moments of sheer boredom. In my case, activity while the nurse had to change the item that was in my IV, take my blood sugar count, my blood pressure and temperature, but then there would be a two to three hour break (you have to remember that for the majority of the time I was in the hospital, I couldn't have anything to eat so there were no breakfast, lunch or dinner breaks).

And it would have bothered me except I learned how to use that time of quietness to an advantage:

• do some reading (the Bible or a book that was either brought for me, or one that I requested)
• work of crossword or search puzzles
• listen to an I-Pod a friend brought for me (thanks, Neka!)
• pray for others (yes, even while lying on my back I still could pray for others
• do Bible study and reading
  

These things would keep my mind working and occupied and off of the fact that I was spending time with tubes in my body, or with an open wound in my abdomen, or any of the other things that would have dragged me down to depression. Because if you are not careful and do not have your mind focused; depression, anger and all other sort of emotions will drag you down and destroy you as a patient and as a person. It is better to get your mind focused-it may be keeping it occupied, get a plan together in relation to your treatment, focusing on what you will be doing once you get out of the hospital-anything to keep it from drifting away....

So the key with quiet is to either let it envelop you and take you as its prisioner or use it to keep yourself sharp and take it as a prisioner.