Where do I begin: Looking for a Physician?

Where do I begin: Looking for a Physician?: How many of you hate going to the doctor?  I know I do....they always ask what is wrong I tell them....they half listen...and because its 2...

Looking for a Physician?

How many of you hate going to the doctor?  I know I do....they always ask what is wrong I tell them....they half listen...and because its 2013 instead writing notes they type something into the computer.   After typing a few things and half listening they say...ok...jump up on the table...ok now deep breath in and exhale....you repeat this...they listen to your heart and then that's it.  You leave feeling just as bad as you did going.  They have no answers for you...they don't care how you're really feeling and simply could care less.   I felt this way Monday...I have a few things going on with my health.  I was diagnosed with Sjogrens last year and I am learning to live life with it. However there are some other things going on....and they know this...but are doing nothing to find the "other things".  Which honestly I could care less.  I am in God's hands.  He has me covered....he has a reason for all that I am going through even if I don't understand the why's he has a reason and a purpose.   I am writing all of this because of one thought that came to my mind.  How many people feel the same way about church as I do about the doctor.  I know I am not the only one who hates(yes its a strong word)the doctor.  You go in feeling sick and in need and leave the same way.  Usually without even knowing what is wrong they just write a prescription and send you on your way.  I think I will give you some antibiotics that should make you feel better.  Ummm thanks...but isn't that why we have so many drug resistant bugs now???  You have second and third generation drugs not even touching infections...peoples bodies have simply become immune to them.   Much in the same with the church.  How many people come to church and leave feeling just as miserable as they came.   How many people have come and feel that people just half listen if they have even listened at all....they get a pat on the back...hey I am praying for you and are sent on their way.   Not only is this for the people who do not know God but what about the second and third generation children who have been in church all their life....they are becoming immune to God's word?????  So much is going through my mind...my heart is heavy.  Do we as a group of people even care anymore?  I know there are those who do....I know they pray, they encourage ..they are out there.....but we need more people that care.  I want to be more than the person who half listens....I want to be more than the person who just pats someone on the back and says I am praying.   And really when we say yes I am praying for you...how many of us are really praying????   I am reminded of the song..."I am coming back to the heart of worship....it's all about you Jesus".  We as the body of Christ need to pull together we need to come back to the heart of  worship and what it really means to be a CHRISTian(Christ like)...encourage one another....we need to listen and not just half listen...we ourselves need to find that place...that secret place where we find God.  We must not merely go through the motions and just push people through as if they are just a number or another person.  We need to see people through the eyes of God.   We see people, they look healthy but on the inside are dying...they are being eaten alive with the cancer of bitterness and hurt.  Can we see that?  No but with the eyes of God we will know and see the needs of those around us.   I could continue typing of all the ways people are in need, how we are missing the true diagnosis because we are merely half listening and not paying attention.   OH God give us ears so that we may hear....eyes so that we may see.  Let us not become the "going through" the motions church...let us be the place of refuge and healing.  Let people know there is hope, they can leave better than they came.   Yes that broken heart can be mended....yes you are full of spiritual disease but that does not mean death...let me give you right the prescription for that.   Lets introduce people to the only physician that will ever really listen to them, who will take the time to bind up their wounds.   Let us be the physician assistants that are reliable, dependable and knowledgeable because we have studied to show ourselves approved.  I so desire to be more.   I want people to see me not just as "another' Christian.  I want them to see God in me.... that they know I know the great Physician....that I am his assistant.   There is hope, there is healing and there is life.  He came to this earth so that we may live life more abundantly.  So glad I know the great Physician....he knows all...he hears all and sees all.   He knows just where I hurt and what prescription I need....may I introduce others to him......

Looking for a church that loves, listens and knows the Great Physician.....
come to 1301 Pipkin road....the name of the Church(hospital) is Life
I am striving to be a great physician assistant there....oh and there are job openings if you are interested in applying....no one is ever turned down or away.  If you would like more information just let me know...I would be glad to sit down with you.......

Be Encouraged....and just be you!!!!

Everyday is a new day and another day to grow in every aspect of life.   From your walk with God, relationship with your husband, children, family and friends.....to your gifts, talents or areas in life you chose to develop.    For me my area outside of my walk with God, my relationship with my husband, children, family and friends is Photography.   I love it!!!  I have always loved photography....I have always just been in awe in how someone could capture an image and it take me away to another place.   I would love to look at pictures of beautiful babies, families and brides. Looking at beautiful landscapes and flowers were my little getaways. How all of it came about for me picking up a camera was because of doors God had opened for me.   What started out as taking snapshots of a conference for my husband so he could work on a DVD has turned into something beyond my wildest dreams. Then God sent a women my way that encouraged me, helped me and instilled in me some of the basic things of photography that has taken me on a journey that has  blessed me in more ways than I could ever put into words.   God has placed several people in my life actually that have greatly encouraged me and helped me with learning and growing in areas of photography.    I have had people even push me out of my comfort zone and really pushed me to do more.  That is why I am writing today....I am writing for everyone out there who has a love for Photography or maybe its art in general....whatever it is you have a passion for I encourage you to push yourself to go further...to not get discouraged in whatever season you are in.   I was finding myself becoming so discouraged.   I was looking at other peoples work and pictures and I was like wow!!!  Why don't my pictures look like that??? How are they getting that lighting???  I would continue to look and the more I looked the more discouraged I would become.   However I read a blog...and one of the things it said was to stop looking at other people's work.   I have to stop comparing my work to anyone else's.   there is always going to be someone better out there... whose work is just breathtaking and beautiful....but if I am ever to grow in life and in the areas of photography I must find me....my style.   Not everyone is going to like my images.....I like them to be a tad over exposed, hazy or popping with bright colors....or over contrasted black and white pictures.   I probably make most professional photographers cringe when they see my pictures LOL.....but that is ok.... I am learning and everyday I try to do better than I did yesterday.  Everyday I am reading something or trying a new technique I just just read about.    The most valuable lesson I have learned here lately is to stop comparing myself to others...and their work. I need to find me and my style...I can look at others for inspiration ..but not compare my work to theirs.   You have so many different styles of photography...just like anything else...you have people who draw portraits  paint portraits...you have those that do watercolors  those that do charcoal...and some that instead of drawing or painting....they do sculptures and yes take portrait pictures.  There are so many different forms and ways to do them all but everyone has their own style and unique way of presenting what they do.  You have portrait photographers  landscape photographers, photojournalistic photographers....skies the limit really  on what you can do.   You have professionals, amateurs and those who do it simply out of hobby....and I love to see them all!   Is there any right or wrong way????  for me....I say find your style and what you like...do not get discouraged!!!  Stop comparing what you do or your style to anyone else's....I did and I am so glad! If you are a writer....write in your style!!!  Not everyone is going to be a Ann Voskamp....whom I love!!! If you paint...Paint your style!!! If you draw...well draw and if you are striving to be a photographer in a world with so many....then I say go for it! Be encouraged and just be you!!!!!

This is the link to the blog I read....read it you will be encouraged :D  

 http://clickitupanotch.com/2013/02/photography-style/

Where do I begin: How Blessed are you?

Where do I begin: How Blessed are you?: Have you ever just stopped and thought of how blessed you are????   I mean really stop and think for a minute of all the blessings in your l...

How Blessed are you?

Have you ever just stopped and thought of how blessed you are????   I mean really stop and think for a minute of all the blessings in your life. You maybe reading this and thinking Jo how can you ask me that?  I am going through hell at the moment..my finances are a mess...my marriage is mess....my life at this moment is a mess how can you ask me to find the blessings right now?   Last week I was blessed with the opportunity to teach the middle school aged kids at church.  I asked them if they knew of the young girl who had been shot because she was protesting for the rights of other young girls and women to have more rights. She was 14!  A 14 year old who the courage and determination to protest!  What an amazing young women...and to be shot in the head by the very men wanting to keep the young girls and women of her country oppressed.   In America we don't have to protest for the right to learn how to read or the right to get an education....all though we still have a gap in income earned between men and women we still have a right to an education, to vote, to have a job to be a stay at home mom.   We are blessed!  Our girls can get onto the bus and freely attend public school and learn. They are encouraged to excel and to be all they can be.   We are blessed!  I think of other ways we are also blessed...we are free to worship God!  We are free to be open about our beliefs!  This is not so in some countries.   We are Blessed!   We are able to go to the grocery store and shop and our food is there...anything we need or want...it is there.  If you don't have money there are ways to have whatever your need is met.   WE are Blessed!  If you stop and think about all the ways we are blessed today we can look at the circumstances we maybe in and say it could be worse.   When life seems to be falling apart stop and think of the mother in the Darfur region....she is sitting holding her baby who is starving to death because she is unable to nurse for lack of food and water for herself...she sits fanning the flies from her child.   Think of the children and families in the Uganda nation.   They have nothing....to send one child to school is an entire year of wages....most families are unable to afford to  send one child to school....there is very little food, children and adults have no shoes and the are infested with these little parasites that live in soil and sand, they like nothing more than burrowing head first into the skin of warm blooded hosts.  They have to be dug out and cause sores on the bottom of the feet.  It is very sad.  Read the Kisses from Kate....it will make you realize just how bless we are and what an over abundance we have.   You don't have to travel outside the U.S.  to find poverty or people without.  There are people right now who are living from shelter to shelter. Families who are living in their car....losing their homes because of financial difficulties.  I am writing this because I often see so many who are unhappy and think life is so bad....when really they are overly blessed but because of lack of continent and blinded eyes they can't see past their problems or needs. I say stop looking at all the negatives.  Open your eyes and see life in different perspective.  Two books I recommend everyone to read is One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp and Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis.  They will truly touch your heart and let you see life in a much different perspective.   Today my eyes are open and I thank God for every blessing He has given. I don't want to take one moment of this life that has been given to me for granted I want to live and really fully live.   I will not let my circumstances or people rob me of my blessings of Life....I will openly embrace this season of life I am in...I will give God thanks for all He is doing and will be doing in my life...in bad times or good times I will bless the Lord!!!!
Find your blessing today....take a deep breath and say I am Blessed!  Smile and embrace all of what today has for you :D

Not the Trophy Wife

I am in the bathroom this morning trying to get this beautiful mess that I call hair up so I can do my errands this morning when I stop and I look at myself in the mirror.   I smile...and I say to myself Jo you have come a long way.   I have a few wrinkles...my hair is graying (just a little)but I see someone who has over come so many obstacles,failures,let downs,hurt and so much more. and as I am staring at the mirror I have a memory of something that was once said to me....."you are not trophy wife material" I remember thinking to myself wow....there must be something very wrong with me.   I am not good enough nor worthy enough because I am not trophy wife material.  This was what I was told of why a certain person could not date me....I just was not good enough.  I was not educated enough, well rounded enough, did not come from the right background and just would not fit in the circle of people that would be required of me.   Can I just go ahead and say it now...PRAISE THE LORD!  At first I let this sit in my spirit and I let this tell me that I was just worth nothing...and no one could ever love me because well I simply was not good enough....now looking at myself in the mirror I begin to smile....I am so thankful that I am not "Trophy Wife" material but I am worthy of love, I am somebody and yes there is someone who loves me....I don't want someone to want me just because of my background,education or because I am well rounded.   If someone only loves me for those reasons that is not love, that is superficial and I want way more then a superficial relationship.  If you are a young girl or a women please do not settle...do not feel you have to be someone your not for someone to love you. Know who you are and do not be conformed or molded into someone that someone else wants you to be.  If someone really loves and cares about you....they are going to love all of you...your past, your background and anything that makes you...you.   I look at my relationship with God and I smile with great joy in my heart.  Had I settled and only wanted to be the "trophy wife" I would not have the relationship with God that I do.  I would be busy jumping through hoops making sure I was living the perfect life to please a person who superficially loved me.  I am here today in a relationship with a man that treats me with 100% respect, he honors me, loves me and cherishes me....and loves me for me.   I am so glad that I did not settle.....I have a relationship that is meaningful and full of life and he loves me because I am not perfect...he loves me for me.  Life is short....live life to the fullest...don't worry about being perfect...there is only person who has lived that was ever perfect and that was Jesus.  I want to model myself after him not what some man thinks I should be.....Be blessed and love yourself...because if you can't love yourself how can you love thy neighbor.....

Blessings on this beautiful October morning:D

Standing Still

Still need works...but are we not all a work in progress

Over the last few days I have stood and I have waited...In the Heat with sweat pouring off of me. I was waiting for an opportunity to present its self..... but after standing and waiting for hours,days....and hundreds of shots later I learned I  had done everything wrong....This happened over and over and over.  Each time I had to wait a little longer, be still a little longer and watch even longer.  I really thought I had everything just right only to realize I had to go back to the drawing board and start all over again.  In my waiting I started to get distracted...and....I miss the opportunity that was presented to me.  So many times in life this happens....we seek God for a specific thing and we wait and it seems the answers and not coming...we become distracted, impatient or make decisions out of our emotions or frustrations.   So many times we want something and we say we are waiting upon the Lord...we are waiting for the confirmation of what  His direction is and we blow it.I had to wait hours and days standing in the South Georgia heat with sweat pouring from me to just get a shot of a humming bird.  I waited for an entire hour just for a chance to get a shot.   In this time of waiting and being still I really felt God speak to my spirit.....We have to endure sometimes unbearable conditions and situations but if we are willing to wait for God to move He will move in ways we cannot even begin to Phaethon or understand.   We must learn that sometimes we may have to wait not just a day or a week...but we may have to wait for months even years before we understand what it is God is wanting us to know.   Are you willing to wait upon the Lord?  Are you willing to stand and endure the uncomfortable conditions and situations for God to move on your behalf?  Perhaps God was answering us but we were so distracted in what we wanted or what we thought that we missed Him completely...maybe what would have been a few weeks turned in a few years simply because we refused to wait upon Him.   How many times have we made the will of God for our lives rather then  letting God reveal His plan to us.   I got that T-shirt I don't know about you.   All of this from standing in the Hot South Georgia heat with the Gnats and fire ants to get a picture of a humming bird that is extremely camera shy.   In all this waiting, being still and watching I learned a couple things....1) Where the hiding places were....the places the bird would retreat to...2) How intensely he watched me  3) That every time I thought I had something mastered I was shown how very wrong I was....I had to reset and make changes to my settings. I must learn where those hiding places are in God.....I must accept that He fully loves me and watches my every move,...I have to learn to reset my settings in life to God's settings....Whatever His will is for my life I must adjust and reset for whatever it is that Gods settings are for my life.  I also understand that I will have to reset and adjust many times over the span of my life.   Lord let me be moldable to your settings....Not my will but your will oh God.

The hiding place.
near the top of a pine tree

perfect opportunity
but wrong settings

Why stress about that

So the other day I was talking with my very wise Uncle Jeff...I love him and his wisdom.  We happened to be talking about me stressing out....and he said something that was so simple yet so profound to me.   See I stress if I am even going to be 5 minutes late....I can't stand to be somewhere and not be on time....I would rather be one hour early then even think of being late.....I worry and stress about things not being perfect....I drive my own self crazy trying to do things just right and being on time.....but you know what....My uncle said Jo is it going to be something you will remember in 5 years?   and I thought about that....and I was like you know your right....half the stuff I am worrying and stressing over it is not going to matter.  More then likely I will not even remember any of this stuff a year from now. .   So now when I begin to feel stressed....I ask myself...is this going to matter in 5 years or am even going to remember this in 5 years. I don't stress out near as much...and I have a very thankful husband and family. So many have tried to tell me this very thing my uncle did...but I was able to finally  receive it.

    I found these scriptures.......and thought I would share:

(“inward parts are in turmoil and never still”, just like Job (Job 30:27)  Now does that not apply to me or what?


John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.



Romans 8:6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace(OK this one for me was like WOW...how true is this....me stressing out is simply my flesh...Ouch)



Philippians 4:6,7 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.



1 Peter 5:6,7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you

Proverbs 16:3 Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.



Jeremiah 17:7,8 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
(OK that scripture totally reminds me of my husband...I never see that man stress about anything....he stays calm and unmoved at all times!)





Luke 10:41-42 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

“True leadership is tested and proved in crises. The real leader is the one who can handle the stress. He is the one who can solve the problems, bear the burdens, find the solutions, and win the victories when everyone else is merely flustered, confounded, and perplexed.”  ~ John MacArthur

I guess I have been a lot like Martha....Anxious and troubled about many things....but I no longer what to be that stressed out emotional person I have been in the past but more grounded and stable....and know I cannot control every situation...there are times I am going to be late...and not everything I do is going to be perfect...but as long as whatever I am doing I am doing unto the Lord and He is pleased that is all that matters.   

Be blessed today and I pray if you have been like me and stress and worry....put it all in the hands of God.  He does not want us to be anxious or troubled and he does not want us in turmoil.  He wants us to have a life of abundance...not full of stress and anxiety.

Thankful

I woke up this morning....Thank God I woke up!!!  it started off kind of rough for me.   I have been battling some health issues for sometime now and I just got some answers to what it is I am battling.    This morning though.....was a morning of tears....I was not feeling well....my head was hurting...my eyes were extra sensitive. I could just go on and on.   If you open my cabinet I think I could start a drug store with all the medication I am on.  I remember saying I never want to be one that has to take any medication...but this is my life...the life God has given me.   Everyday I will thank Him and give Him praise!  No matter how I am feeling...no matter what I feel like I am going to lift my hands and my voice and give Him praise!   God has been so good to me!  The blessings are so many that I don't think I can even begin to count them!  I am blessed with a wonderful husband who loves and adores me....He is everything I could want or ask for!  My children are healthy and thriving:D  I still have both my parents....two wonderful brothers and the best sister in the world.    So no matter what the report from the doctors say I know my God will sustain me and Keep me!  There is nothing that God cannot handle!  I am having faith that what I have will not get any worse! I will say this....since finding out what I have it has given much more compassion for anyone who has a illness or battles PTSD.   Sometimes you can look at someone and they look physically fine....but you cannot see the pain or hurt on the inside.  How many times has someone rolled their eyes at someone because they could not see what was wrong or because they simply did not understand what that person was feeling.   Oh how I know this.   I look physically fine....but what I am battling is on the inside of my body.  So many times I have said to my husband if you could only be in my body and feel what I feel....and as I was putting up the laundry the other day I started to think of people who have battled depression, PTSD or just hurt from Life.  How many times have they just needed a little compassion and it was not given?   I can now identify with them.   I am sure people thought she is fine...she just needs to realize that and get over it.   Sometimes we tell people who are going through issues or problems...maybe even dealing with health issues...just get over it. However its not that simple. So now I pray different..... Lord Reveal to those who are hurt your love...if you put them in my path speak through me God the words they need to hear.....I pray for more compassion and understanding.    So next time you see someone that is hurting or is battling health issues...even if you can't see what is going on with them on the outside...they are battling on the inside....Pray for them....and if they are like me and having to go from doctor to doctor......and have test after test....say a extra prayer for them...pray God allows the doctors to find and give the right diagnosis...give extra encouragement.....and remember just because you can't see things does not mean that someone is not battling on the inside! 


So today I simply count the blessings I have all ready been given!  I look forward to counting many more blessings tomorrow...and the next day...and the next day:D  Be blessed today and walk with more compassion and love then you had yesterday.