Posted: under "LOVE is LOVELY", "When You're Down to Nothing God's UP to Something".
Tags: age, aid, angry, assistance, attitude, bank, beacon, behavior, belief, blessings, bliss, boy, bridge, burden, car, care, caring, change, charity, check, cheer, children, Christ, church, concentration, contribution, country, courage, cross, depression, destination, destiny, donation, drugs, encouragement, environment, era, exam, example, excitement, eyes, faith, family, fire, flame, focus, funds, generosity, gift, girl, God, goodness, grace, granny, gratitude, hand, hands, happiness, heart, highway, history, Holy Spirit, home, hope, House, inspiration, instruction, instructions, Jesus, journey, joy, kindness, King, leader, learning, life, lifestyle, lifetime, light, load, loan, Lord, love, lovingkindness, man, Mathematics, memories, memory, might, moment, money, motel, mother, mother-in-law, mountain, movement, nation, need, needs, New York, obedience, offer, others, pain, parent, passenger, path, perception, period, personality, phone, plan, plans, power, practice, present, promise, prostitute, quiz, Redeemer, road, role model, Savior, service, sex, sharing, sheep, shepherd, smoke, son, soul, sound, spirit, spring, storm, strength, stress, struggles, sunshine, surprise, teaching, test, thankfulness, thought, time, tour, traffic, tramp, travel, trial, trials, tribulation, trip, trust, truth, vehicle, vision, voice, weight, whore, whorehouse, woman, worries, worry, youth

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The Saving Grace In An Ashtray
===============================
.
God places people in our path for us to be a blessing.
.
Growing up in New York in a single parent household, my mother
would always get on me about giving things away. I can remember
as far back at the age of seven, I gave a little girl my shoes
off my feet because I saw a need. My mother would always say
that I would never have anything, but that way of thinking never
was in my mindset.
.
I know that in accordance to God’s will, when He instructs us to
give, we must be obedient because in all actuality, it all
belongs to Him. I believe if every person heeded God’s voice
when He instructs them to bless someone, we would be in a better
position as a country and as a people.
.
My son and I were in Powder Springs driving home down Hwy 278
when we saw this young woman walking, looking as though she was
exhausted. I made a U-turn and came back around and asked her
could we give her a ride. She took the offer immediately.
.
As I am driving I hear God’s voice say to give her the money
that I had in my ashtray. I don’t smoke so I would keep change
or throw the dollars I have in the ashtray.
.
The only thing was that I knew that I had $300 in the astray.
.
I didn’t hesitate, nor was I upset about His request, I just
heeded. As I dropped her off to her destination I could see that
it was an environment of drugs, sexual perversions and God knows
what. As she was thanking me for the ride, I took the money out
of the ashtray and balled it up in my hand and placed it in her
hand.
.
She didn’t know what I was giving her and I asked her not to
think nothing of it and told her that God loves her and that He
is with her every step of the way. I gave her my business card
and told her if she ever needed to get to church call me and I
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May 01 2012
Posted: under Advice & Tips.
Tags: ability, activity, advice, age, author, benefit, benefits, blessings, body, brain, burden, challenge, challenges, change, classic, computer, concentration, couple, cross, depression, dictionary, duty, earth, elegance, energy, English, era, exam, exercise, experience, eyes, facts, family, fiction, focus, force, friends, friendship, game, global, globe, health, heart, history, idea, ideas, imagination, inspiration, internet, job, knowledge, labor, land, language, learning, legs, life, lifestyle, lifetime, light, load, love, man, mental, might, mind, mirror, moment, morning, mountain, movement, muscle, muscles, music, novel, online, opportunity, others, pain, pencil, period, play, power, quiz, reading, reflection, relaxation, rest, reward, riches, short, skill, skills, sleep, soul, spirit, stress, style, success, task, television, test, thought, time, tips, trial, trials, truth, understanding, universe, voice, wealth, weight, woman, words, work, world, worries, worry

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Brain Exercise
===============
.
Your brain needs exercise just like a muscle. If you use it
often and in the right ways, you will become a more skilled
thinker and increase your ability to focus. But if you never use
your brain, or abuse it with harmful chemicals, your ability to
think and learn will deteriorate.
.
Here are 5 simple ways anyone can squeeze a bit more
productivity out of the old gray matter.
.
1. Minimize Television Watching - This is a hard sell. People
love vegetating in front of the television, myself included more
often than I’d like. The problem is watching television doesn’t
use your mental capacity OR allow it to recharge. It’s like
having the energy sapped out of a muscle without the health
benefits of exercise.
.
Don’t you feel drained after a couple hours of TV? Your eyes are
sore and tired from being focused on the light box for so long.
You don’t even have the energy to read a book.
.
When you feel like relaxing, try reading a book instead. If
you’re too tired, listen to some music. When you’re with your
friends or family, leave the tube off and have a conversation.
All of these things use your mind more than television and allow
you to relax.
.
2. Exercise - I used to think that I’d learn more by not
exercising and using the time to read a book instead. But I
realized that time spent exercising always leads to greater
learning because it improves productivity during the time
afterwards. Using your body clears your head and creates a wave
of energy. Afterwards, you feel invigorated and can concentrate
more easily.
.

.
3. Read Challenging Books - Many people like to read popular
suspense fiction, but generally these books aren’t mentally
stimulating. If you want to improve your thinking and writing
ability you should read books that make you focus. Reading a
classic novel can change your view of the world and will make
you think in more precise, elegant English. Don’t be afraid to
look up a word if you don’t know it, and don’t be afraid of
dense passages. Take your time, re-read when necessary, and
you’ll soon grow accustomed to the author’s style.
.
Once you get used to reading challenging books, I think you’ll
find that you aren’t tempted to go back to page-turners. The
challenge of learning new ideas is far more exciting than any
tacky suspense-thriller.
.
4. Early to Bed, Early to Rise - Nothing makes it harder to
concentrate than sleep deprivation. You’ll be most rejuvenated
if you go to bed early and don’t sleep more than 8 hours. If you
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Apr 19 2012
Posted: under "LOVE is LOVELY", Inspirationals.
Tags: age, anxiety, appreciation, bank, beauty, belief, blessings, bliss, blossom, blossoms, body, breakfast, bridge, burden, bus, cancer, care, check, children, clinic, color, colors, compassion, concern, courage, cross, delight, depression, dinner, doctor, duty, elderly, era, exam, example, exercise, eyes, faith, family, favor, feeling, feelings, fish, fishing, flowers, food, friends, funds, garden, gift, God, granny, gratitude, grown ups, gynecologist, happiness, health, heart, Heaven, highway, home, hospital, House, humanity, husband, imagination, inspiration, job, journey, joy, knowledge, labor, language, laughter, learning, letter, life, lifestyle, lifetime, love, mail, man, memories, mind, moment, money, morning, mountain, movement, neighbor, noise, nurse, office, others, pain, passenger, path, patient, perception, period, physician, plant, plants, present, quiz, relaxation, rest, road, role model, seniors, size, skin, sleep, smiles, snack, snacks, son-in-law, soul, sound, specialist, spirit, strength, stress, success, sugar, summer, sunshine, support, surgeon, surprise, task, test, thankfulness, thought, time, token, travel, treatment, trials, trip, vegetable, vegetables, veggie, veggies, vehicle, voice, weight, wife, woman, wonder, words, work, worries, worry

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The Rented Room
================
.
Our house was directly across the street from the clinic
entrance of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We lived
downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to outpatients at the
clinic.
.
One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at
the door. I opened it to see a truly awful looking man.
.
“Why, he’s hardly taller than my eight-year-old,” I thought as I
stared at the stooped, shriveled body. But the appalling thing
was his face, lopsided from swelling, red and raw.
.
Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, “Good evening. I’ve come
to see if you’ve a room for just one night. I came for a
treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and there’s no
bus ’til morning.”
.
He told me he’d been hunting for a room since noon but with no
success, no one seemed to have a room. “I guess it’s my face…
I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more
treatments…”
.
For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me,
“I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus
leaves early in the morning.”
.
I told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch.
I went inside and finished getting supper. When we were ready,
I asked the old man if he would join us. “No thank you.
I have plenty.” And he held up a brown paper bag.
.
When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to talk
with him a few minutes. It didn’t take a long time to see that
this old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body.
.
He told me he fished for a living to support his daughter, her
five children, and her husband, who was hopelessly crippled from
a back injury.
.
He didn’t tell it by way of complaint; in fact, every other
sentence was prefaced with a thanks to God for a blessing.
.
He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease, which was
apparently a form of skin cancer. He thanked God for giving him
the strength to keep going.
.
At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children’s room for him.
When I got up in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded
and the little man was out on the porch.
.
He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus,
haltingly, as if asking a great favor, he said,
.
“Could I please come back and stay the next time I have a
treatment? I won’t put you out a bit. I can sleep fine in a
chair.” He paused a moment and then added, “Your children made
me feel at home. Grownups are bothered by my face, but children
don’t seem to mind.”
.
I told him he was welcome to come again.
.
And on his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the
morning. As a gift, he brought a big fish and a quart of the
largest oysters I had ever seen. He said he had shucked them
that morning before he left so that they’d be nice and fresh.
.
I knew his bus left at 4:00 a.m., and I wondered what time he
had to get up in order to do this for us.
.
In the years he came to stay overnight with us, there was never
a time that he did not bring us fish or oysters or vegetables
from his garden.
.
Other times we received packages in the mail, always by special
delivery; fish and oysters packed in a box of fresh young
spinach or kale, every leaf carefully washed.
.
Knowing that he must walk three miles to mail these and knowing
how little money he had made the gifts doubly precious.
.
When I received these little remembrances, I often thought of a
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Mar 25 2012
Posted: under "YUMMY FOOD FOR THOUGHT".
Tags: actor, actress, advice, aid, angel, angels, anxiety, beacon, bliss, burden, candle, care, caring, cheer, comedian, comedy, concern, concert, cross, cure, dance, depression, feeling, fire, flame, flight, food, fun, funtime, game, goodness, happiness, healing, health, heart, humanity, humor, joy, laughter, learning, life, lifestyle, lifetime, light, load, love, man, medication, medicine, morning, movie, music, neighbor, neighborhood, others, pageant, pain, party, pencil, play, quotes, remedies, scripture, sharing, show, sign, smiles, sport, sports, storm, stress, struggles, sunshine, thought, tips, torch, weight, woman, worries
.
Laugh a little and feel your heart lighten,
When life has you feeling weighed down.
—————-
.
Read More
Feb 16 2012
Posted: under "When You're Down to Nothing God's UP to Something", Advice & Tips, Inspirational Poetry, Inspirationals.
Tags: advice, age, aim, anxiety, belief, bliss, care, check, cheer, Christ, color, colors, comfort, day, depression, determination, direction, duty, encouragement, era, example, faith, family, friends, friendship, funds, goal, God, happiness, hope, inspiration, instruction, instructions, insurance, Jesus, job, journey, joy, King, labor, learning, life, light, Lord, love, man, money, moon, new year, others, path, perception, period, perseverance, relaxation, rest, road, role model, Savior, smiles, star, stress, success, sunset, sunshine, task, time, tips, tour, travel, trip, vehicle, war, winner, wishes, woman, work
“Seize the Day, greet the sun, welcome the moon, wish upon a star!”
- Annie Danielson
.

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“DON’T QUIT”
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When things go wrong as they sometimes will
When the road you’re trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.
(~)~(~)~(~)
Life is odd with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns
And many a failure turns about,
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don’t give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.
(~)~(~)~(~)
Success is failure turned inside out,
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Jan 01 2012
Posted: under Funny and Hilarious Jokes.
Tags: advice, age, aid, Bible, blessings, cemetery, child, children, Christ, church, class, classroom, compassion, computer, contribution, dad, devil, dinner, era, family, father, fish, fishing, food, friends, funny, ghost, girl, God, granny, gratitude, health, hilarious, home, House, humor, internet, Jesus, jokes, laughter, learning, Little Johnny, Lord, man, Mathematics, memory, message, minister, mother, mother-in-law, neighbor, online, parent, pastor, period, practice, prayer, preacher, pride, priest, psalm, rabbi, reading, reverend, satan, school, sermon, sheep, shepherd, sleep, smiles, Sunday, tablecloth, teacher, thankfulness, time, tips, trust, woman, youth

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| GOOD SAMARITAN..
A Sunday school teacher was telling her class the story of the
Good Samaritan.
She asked the class, “If you saw a person lying on the roadside, all
wounded and
bleeding, what would you do?”
A thoughtful little girl broke the hushed silence, “I think I’d throw
up.”
..
DID NOAH FISH?
..
A Sunday school teacher asked, “Johnny, do you think Noah did a
lot of fishing when
he was on the Ark ?” “No,” replied Johnny.
“How could he, with just two worms.”
..
THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD
..
A Sunday School teacher decided to have her young class memorize one of the most
quoted passages in the Bible - Psalm 23 .
She gave the youngsters a month to learn the chapter.
Little Rick was excited about the task - but he just couldn’t remember the Psalm.
After much practice, he could barely get past the first line.
On the day that the kids were scheduled to recite Psalm 23 in front of the congregation,
Ricky was so nervous.
When it was his turn, he stepped up to the microphone and said proudly,
“The Lord is my Shepherd, and that’s all I need to know.”
..
UNANSWERED PRAYER
..
The preacher’s 5 year-old daughter noticed that her father always
paused and bowed his head for a moment before starting his sermon.
One day, she asked him why. “Well, Honey,” he began, proud that his daughter was so observant of his messages. “I’m asking the Lord to help me preach a
good sermon.”
“How come He doesn’t answer it?” she asked.
..
BEING THANKFUL
..
A Rabbi said to a precocious six-year-old boy, “So your mother
says your prayers for you each night?
That’s very commendable.
What does she say?”
The little boy replied, “Thank God he’s in bed!”
..
ALL MEN / ALL GIRLS
..
When my daughter, Kelli, said her bedtime prayers, she would bless every family member, every friend, and every animal (current and past).
For several weeks, after we had finished the nightly prayer, Kelli
would say, “and all girls.”
This soon became part of her nightly routine, to include this closing.
My curiosity got the best of me and I asked her, “Kelli, why do you always add the part about all girls?”
Her response, “Because everybody always finish their prayers by saying ‘All Men’!”
..
SAY A PRAYER
..
Little Johnny and his family were having Sunday dinner at his
Grandmother’s house.
Everyone was seated around the table as the food was being served.
When Little Johnny received his plate, he started eating right away.
“Johnny!
Read More
Dec 06 2011
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