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IT IS FINISHED

7/16/2019

Raise a Hallelujah

Bethel Music, Jonathan David Helser, ...

I raise a hallelujah, in the presence of my enemies
I raise a hallelujah, louder than the unbelief
I raise a hallelujah,
my weapon is a melody
I raise a hallelujah,
heaven comes to fight for me

I'm gonna sing, in the middle of the storm
Louder and louder, you're gonna hear my praises roar
Up from the ashes, hope will arise
Death is defeated, the King is alive!

I raise a hallelujah, with everything inside of me
I raise a hallelujah, I will watch the darkness flee
I raise a hallelujah, in the middle of the mystery
I raise a hallelujah, fear you lost your hold on me!

I'm gonna sing, in the middle of the storm
Louder and louder, you're gonna hear my praises roar

Up from the ashes, hope will arise
Death is defeated, the King is alive!

Sing a little louder (In the presence of my enemies)
Sing a little louder (Louder than the unbelief)
Sing a little louder (My weapon is a melody)
Sing a little louder (Heaven comes to fight for me)
Sing a little louder (In the presence of my enemies)
Sing a little louder (Louder than the unbelief)
Sing a little louder (My weapon is a melody)
Sing a little louder (Heaven comes to fight for me)
Sing a little louder!

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Quotable Quote for the Day! Hysterical!

7/5/2019

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Spongebob Squarepants quote:
"Squidward's always been there for us when it was convenient for him."

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MS Update 07/05/2019

7/5/2019

4 Comments

I am really struggling with MS symptoms. I am getting worse. My home is no longer easy in which to maneuver. Lots of prayer and decisions must be made.

In the meantime, since I don't get to do anything else with my body, my imagination is working overtime. I have been writing little stories, and laughing my head off. The Creative Writing Degree I got online from Westlyan 3 or 4 years ago is finally being used! Who knew? I took it because I wanted to, yet did not know how or when I would use it.

This is an amazing season of my life. I smile and laugh all the time, which people do not understand and they never have. MS doesn't look like anything, and people have often said to me as I put my walker into the car: "YOU DON'T NEED THAT!".

After I got sick 6 years ago and had to stop work immediately, a client came to see me and said with extreme irritation: "You look okay to me!" She left angry, never to contact me again. I had been her hairstylist for over twenty years and knew me when the MS started. But that is the MS life. I always look okay and I have a smile on my face. When I became ill, I had several decisions to make. What kind of a disabled person would I be? How would I behave in a wheelchair?

I came up with 2 things that I promised myself I would do every day. Every day I would choose joy. Every day I would get dressed and put my makeup on, even when I was so sick I couldn't see, or hear or walk around. Sometimes it took hours, but I have always been determined to be joyful, clean, and beautiful. Truly no one knows what to do with a joyful person in a wheelchair. I spend a lot of time caring for other's reaction, as those close to me are devastated when they find out something is wrong. I mentored a young woman years ago, when I was not using assistive devices for a while. I guess someone told her. She was furious! "Why didn't you tell me???" As I have mentioned, I tend not to be transparent, as I see no need to talk about my illness. God takes care of me so well!

Tape Face

I had the most wonderful and difficult day of my life yesterday. I am physically getting much worse, but I am having a wonderful time! Most people who really know me already think I am a little strange, so this won’t be unusual to them. Note: I am the quiet one in our home.

I had a FaceTime with Deb in the morning. I think it was around 7 a.m. Al had gone on his brief trek to feed Gloria’s kitties, one of his daily jobs. The FaceTime with her was completely delightful! Deb never realizes how completely hysterically funny she is. She always gives me quotable quotes to which I laugh so hard, I almost fall to the floor. Yesterday’s “quotable quote” was the best yet. I torture her with it over and over again so that she can laugh and fall to the floor too! What are friends for anyway???

Before I tell you about that Deb Quote, I will tell you about the last one that was so funny that I bring it up constantly to make her laugh.

My cousin did not take care of herself as her body was being ravaged by the effects of diabetes, and she died in 2001, saying. “I’m going to the hospital, they’ll fix me up and I’ll be back.” This happened to many times to list. She was 67, and died on the way to the hospital.

I was the closest relative relationally and physically and I took care of her estate because she had no heirs and no will. That’s a whole other story!

One time many years ago, I was concerned about my cousin because her diabetes was slowly taking functions away. I was sad and called Deb and told her that my cousin was blind. Her reply was a flat ‘bummer’. Let that sink in…. She seemed unstartled, there was no: “what???????”, just “bummer”. The sad I was feeling turned into hysterical laughter! I have been torturing her with that ever since. She would say something about which she was sad, and I would reply a flat “bummer”. It always chased the dark clouds away!

Yesterday Deb was telling me about an encounter with a neighbor. Her description, expressed in a sweet quiet voice: “He was SUCH a nice man, he killed two people, and he was so nice”. Imagine my response! Now that will be added to the torture that I already dish her.

Al came home. We help Gloria every day while she is in Kensington place and he came home absolutely exhausted yesterday. My FaceTime continued and the laughter continued. I was completely exhausted by the FaceTime and lay down. I slept 4 hours.

When I woke up a news flash came on my phone that I was able to read: earthquake 6.4 in Southern California. I have the dearest friend who lives in the area. I called her immediately to see if she was affected by the quake. She wasn’t but her house really rocked. I haven’t spoken to her for months, so when I heard she was okay, we started having conversations with so much laughter. Meanwhile Al was doing all of my jobs, laundry, housecleaning, etc.

When I got off the phone, with exuberance, I continued to laugh and talk. Al looked overly irritated.” Oh, am I talking too much? YES!!!!”

To keep his sanity, Al went out to the garage for a few minutes. When he came in. I was sitting with my eyes wide open, with eyeliner. Across my mouth I put a sticky note that said: “Tape Face” He burst into laughter and we laughed the rest of the day. Please google Tape Face and you will have the visual.

I am getting a lot of suggestions for my walkers and wheelchair. They are wonderful!!! I am trying to put them in a document, soon to be revealed.

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Sheldon Cooper and the Ball Pit vs. M.S.

7/1/2019

1 Comment

Al and I have always been big fans of The Big Bang Theory. We quote part of a one liner, our brain knows the rest and we laugh constantly. We also use parts of movie lines to make each other laugh. Our life has been a series of one-liners, with a straight man (or woman), who then gets it and figuratively falls on the floor laughing. People say we have our own language that others do not understand. I suppose we do. It has always been beautiful and has made our lives so much fun! Even during a serious conversation, one of us, at some point, will, with a straight face, say something that will break the tension and make each other laugh. With the mood lightened we get perspective and can discuss more clearly. This has worked for 55 years.

Sometimes I will leave my shoes somewhere and trip over them. I will yell at him accusing him of leaving his high heels around for me to trip over and that he needs to stop it, becasue I am going to kill myself on them. He humbly says he is sorry, and then we both laugh, I pick up my shoes and put them away. This is how our life has worked for almost 50 years we have been married. We have a wonderful time, even when things have been very difficult because we have learned to have perspective.

Now for the Sheldon Cooper part: In one episode of The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon is obsessed about finding the answer to a physics problem. He plays the part of a Theoretical Physicist at Cal Poly, who is quite broken but absolutely brilliant. As he works the problem out with food, broken dishes and anything else he sees, retreating into his Physics World, he still has difficulty understanding what the answer might be. In the Episode, Sheldon ran out of the house, in the middle of the night, in his pajamas, robe and slippers. The next scene, his roommate Leonard, an Experimental Physicist at Cal Poly, gets a phone call and he says, I’ll be right there. The next thing we see is Leonard and a night watchman in a place like Chuck E Cheese. Leonard gives his apologies and thanks the night watchman for not calling the police. We see Leonard go through a door. There we see Sheldon, in the ball pit rolling around. Leonard says, how did you get in here? Sheldon simply says, cheap lock. At that point, Leonard starts yelling at Sheldon, get out of there, it is 3 a.m.! Sheldon replies, joyfully, that he is close to a break through and that the different colors of the balls represent different types of molecules and Leonard should get into the ball pit with him and start sorting colors. Leonard starts yelling “Get out of there!” To which Sheldon replies his famous. “BAZINGA!!” and ducks below the balls which settle like a calm sea after a storm. Leonard then jumps in to get him, yet can't find him because Sheldon continues to dive below the surface, bouncing up in different places. The scene stops there.

Why did I relate this to MS? During this severe flare, I have experienced moments of disappearing into my head, like a quick nap (which is actually what happens, no seizure.. My husband had me tested… Big Bang Theory fans will understand what that means). I miss some of the information, even though I am right there. I never understood that before, so during this flare, I can say, can you tell me again, I just went to sleep for a few seconds. People are less aggravated by that when they understand. I do not try to go away, it just happens when my brain gets tired.

During this flare in particular, everything around me is colorful a ball pit. Information that I need to hear and to which I need to pay attention, is like Sheldon popping up saying “Bazinga!” Sheldon then ducks back into the ball pit, and I can’t see him anymore, and the sea of colorful balls are calm and smooth again. Sheldon then pops up again in a different place, which surprises me, making the transaction even more difficult to track, wearing me out completely, so I disappear.

When I figured this out today, and explained it to Al, his life became a bit easier. This is all such a strain on him, so our laughter helps immensely. Thank you for reading my silly story!

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MS Update 06.30.2019

6/30/2019

1 Comment

Friday was a very bad day. I was not mentally sharp, couldn’t see much and couldn’t hear much. I am sure I irritated a number of people by texting at midnight, not knowing what time it was. I am sorry if you are one of those, please forgive me.

I have not been able to look at anything until now. I am not texting right now, well I am voice enabled texting, but I am not able to read them. I used to have my computer linked with the phone. Since I got a new phone in May, none of my conversations register on the mac. Today, I was able to send a text from my mac, and see and the person I was texting from my computer said that they received it, and I could read that on my mac. So I think I am in business. If you don’t hear back from me, I promise I am not ignoring you. Please be patient a little while longer.

Last night I had another experience with the feeling of pins and needles head to toe. The worst are the feeling of needles poking in my left eye where the tear duct is. Makes me jump. This has been going on for years as well as on the top of my head. I had no idea for 25 years that it was an MS thing. I understand it is like diabetic neuropathy. They started me on meds that address that and it has worked successfully. I think that this MS flare has aggravated it right now. I want no more medication right now, so I will wait it out. This week, it is only happening at night when I try to sleep. Last year it was all day long and night too, and the doc put me on the meds. For a couple of nights this week, it started the minute I went to bed. The other day I tried ovaltine as a last minute attempt. It worked. That was super early in the morning. Last night, I made the luscious hot liquid immediately and I was asleep by 11 or 12! So that is the plan right now. I put my headphones in and slept, waking only briefly at 4 a.m., when the song was playing, “You’re Bigger Than I Thought You were.” I just made a wide smile and fell back asleep. So cool. https://youtu.be/o9YnFjsc2XY

These things (and others) have gone on since I was a child, so it is possible that I have had MS for my life. They never heard of it in the ‘50’s. They thought I had a big imagination. You start to learn how to ignore symptoms, because the medical community would act like you are insane. But like Sheldon Cooper, my husband had me tested, and I am not crazy! HAHAHAHA! Okay, now I am crazy.

On my blog there is a story I wrote about going to the neuropsychologist, and her very youngster-like opinion was: "you are just what we expect from someone of your age and education."

I proceeded to tell her that I had created 3 federally non-profit organizations in the last 20 years (2 in the last 5 years), and was their treasurer for the whole time. She started scribbling madly, and I thought Al was going to jump over the desk and slug her but it is not his style.

As we left, we laughed and told each other, "she’s just what we expect from her age and education."

Last night, instead of not hearing, my hearing began to be overly sensitive. I had been having the volume on the TV on 85, now it is on 15. Poor Al, he just sighs.

I was so blessed to go to church today! Al took me and I loved it. The noise was painful for me though. I was unable to look up or read, somehow it hurt my head. I still loved it. I covered my eyes and ears sometimes, but I STILL enjoyed it. I was able to see a few more people than last week. So wonderful. Isolation gets old. We left immediately and I lay down until 3. Head doesn’t hurt now, I can see the big print on my computer, and I still have low vision. I can watch things on TV with the sound off. Can’t read the captions, so I turn them off, they give me a headache. To me anything is wonderful! Kitty videos on the TV with no sound are so much fun!!!

It is best for me not to be alone right now. Sweet friends (one at a time for about an hour) come to stay with me. I am more than blessed! I get tired, but it is so wonderful not to be alone and to see their beautiful faces in person! I am very spoiled!

I am still canceling things. I have not seen Gloria since last Sunday, and I will be isolated longer I am sure. I send the staff emails so they know what is going on for me. She is very lonely without me. It hurts me to know I can’t be there, but I know she is so delightfully cared for at Kensington Place. I do not know how much longer she will live. I’m hoping it is years, but we just don’t know. I just want to make sure I can say goodbye. But if I can’t, it’s part of the plan and I will grieve but understand.

Right now I can’t think of anything else. Besides, I am tired and you MUST be tired of reading!

Blessings and love
barb

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Severe MS Flare May - August? 2019

6/25/2019

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I was just thinking about how this MS Flare is affecting my life.

First, I began to understand how I have always strived at being okay even when I can’t see or walk. I now realize that no matter how much I strive and work at it, I cannot make myself better in any way. The Lord is the Healer of my life. So I relaxed and am doing better about all of it! I have more peace and joy during this severe MS Flare that I ever have.

Several weeks ago, I believe that the Lord clarified my life for the next season. This is what my new schedule would be: Tuesday morning lead Women’s Bible Study at PCC; Wednesday Night, lead Women’s Bible Study at PCC; Kensington PLace, where Gloria lives, on Saturday and Sunday to do Services, plus visits during the week; Hudson on Sundays, and Stephen Ministry. I would not be as available to do coffees and lunches as much as before, that I would have to sacrifice things for fun, for that I was to do for the Lord. I listened, agreed and waited to see how this would all play out in my life.

Now here I am in the middle of an MS Episode, a severe one, and I am having to cancel my life. The Lord knew about this and planned for it to happen at this time. I was wondering today why.

I have always been outwardly focused, my job created that in me. I knew that clients really didn’t care about how I was, they wanted all the attention and that was fine with me. I became masterful at redirecting the conversation back to them.

I know that authenticity is so important in relationships, and that has been difficult for me after 45 years of great practice at work. Now the Lord wants me to be transparent.

Being God, He knew exactly how to create that in me. Show me what my schedule was to be, and then allow me to not be able to do any of it. I therefore have to publicly be transparent about what is really going on. I have to cancel with people, and online. I have to not show up to meetings that I had planned to attend.

Everyone knows what is going on. It is no secret. There I was in church in front of everyone in a wheelchair. That’s transparent. The Lord also wanted me to know that I am loved. I was shocked at all that Scott said about me to everyone in front of me. I do not know what I bring to the table, ever.

So here I am, vulnerable and weak, and everyone knows. God is so good to me. He never lets me get away with ANYTHING!

A pastor once said: “Our lives are like garbage cans. Unless we open up the lid and let the Lord clean it out for us, He will allow someone else to knock our can over spilling the garbage out in front of everyone.” I think everyone could think of a headline to which that applies. Well, my secret sickness is out now, in the headlines. The great thing is, I’m okay with that. As Al folds the laundry and helps me up and down and brings me everything I need, I can rest, knowing this was God’s plan for me. I am resting and enjoying the time at home.

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A Word to the Wise and their Children Disability Etiquette

6/24/2019

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Yesterday, PCC Hudson excelled at this, and it made me realize that so many have no idea about such things!

A lot of people don’t realize what a disabled person goes through each day. And the more you know, the more you can assist and not frighten a disabled person.

1. Getting Ready To Go Out

It can take 3 hours or so for a disabled person to get ready because there sometimes rest periods as he or she gets ready.

By the time he or she finishes getting ready, then getting in and out of the car, exhaustion has set in.

Allow a few moments for recovering before doing anything BUT smiling and looking directly in their eyes, and greeting them by name. All other things can wait.

2. A Person Using a Cane or Walker

The most fear producing thing for a disabled person is falling.

You might think that following closely or whizzing by would be no big deal. It actually is very frightening. Remind your children to be respectful and understand what the person is going through.

Running past a disabled person can throw off their balance and they may fall after you are gone.

Keep dogs and other animals at a safe distance for the same reason.

Holding a door open and being patient while they walk through is so nice.

3. A Person In a wheelchair

A disabled person cannot see what is going on most of the time, because the wheelchair only faces forward and mobility is limited

The disabled person may have low vision or hearing loss, so, surprise is not fun, it is frightening.

Please stand in front of the wheelchair at a safe distance and bend down so they can see your face.

4. Telling a Disabled Person Something Important

Fatigue is an issue most likely, if what you are saying is important, make sure you are heard or that you write it down for them. They may acknowledge your voice but do not hear you. They may even agree.

Remember that in 2 minutes what you have said may go out of their memory.

Be patient and repeat sweetly if necessary. Speak as if you are telling a small child something, small words, slowly. If they tell you to speed up or look frustrated, ask what is going on.

You may need to take a break or keep on talking, KNOW YOUR AUDEINCE.

5. Respecting and Helping a Disabled Person

Some disabled people like me, won’t ask for help readily.

Gently offer help before it is needed so that the person can ask without feeling they are putting you out or wearing you out. It gives great freedom if one knows help is available.

Offer help, but please don’t take over as if they can’t think, have no judgement skills nor vision nor hearing. Respect the individual and ask what they need. Please keep your fear to yourself and see and ask what a person is able to do.

Ask Questions and Listen!

If I think of anything else, I will write more
Barb Berens

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Recently

5/30/2019

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I listen to KLove, a Christian Radio Station as a rule, and their Logo includes: KLove, Positive, Encouraging KLove. As I was leading some groups the thought came to me:
What if we don’t have each other, our KLove, our iPods, our Bibles, our Bible Studies or the YouVersion App?

How would we stay positive and encouraged?

I have been pondering this with my groups, and have contemplated several scenarios. I thought about Paul in prison, beaten up, chained, probably rats crawling across his legs. How could he possibly be singing hymns at midnight? Of course the situation would keep me from sleeping as well. But, how was he able to focus on the hope he had in Jesus and actually be singing praises to God?

I have no concrete answers, and our world has certainly given us reason to be discouraged and negative. I did come to the conclusion that any encouragement would need a mightier source than my own brain, and asked God to show me ways that I could stay encouraged when all around me was discouraging.

The first thing I realized was that if my husband was a Christian, I mean the kind of Christian that I am, full-bore, petal-to-the-metal, beaming, no-turning-back-now Christian, I would not be the woman I am today. Because it has not been the best choice I ever made in my husband’s eyes, I have had to be very strong in my beliefs and sure of what I hope for.

“Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses].” Hebrews 11:1 Amplified Bible . YUP.

I often tell the story of how when I first became a Christian, all I would say when my husband would comment about anything, was “Oh?” I still continue to say “Oh?” a lot. It’s as if the Lord has taken my thoughts and words away. I have no comment, not even a thought of a comment. That got me through the first 5 years of unhappiness that Al was feeling while I was beaming. Since then, “Oh?” has taught me to really listen for what was behind any comment I hear. Christianity saved my life, and “Oh?” has been one of my assets.

A couple of weeks ago on my walk, I was listening to the song King of My Heart. As I sang along (more like lip-sync). These are the lyrics:

“Let the King of my heart
Be the Mountain where I run
The Fountain I drink from
Oh, He is my Song

Let the King of my heart
Be the Shadow Where I Hide
The Ransom For My Life
Oh, He is my Song

Let the King of my heart
Be the Wind Inside My Sails
The Anchor In The Waves
Oh, He is my Song

Let the King of my heart
Be the Fire Inside My Veins
The Echo Of My Days
Oh, He is my Song”

As I lip synced the song, I realized that it was true of me. The Lord is the Mountain that I run to. He is the Fountain that fills the deepest need in me. He is the Ransom that saved my life, and He is the Shadow where I hide when I am not liking what is going on. He is the One who keeps me going, like wind in a sail, and, when things are going crazy, He is my Anchor. Most of all, He is the Fire in my veins, and I want Him to be the Echo of my days. He is my Go-To, the only One who can keep me positive and encouraged!

Last week on Monday, when I woke up, I couldn’t walk. My vision was double and I wasn’t thinking clearly. Not sure if this was an MS thing or just fatigue. I’m better now, so I think it was an MS Fatigue thing. May people would be very discouraged, but sadly, I am used to this. I just cancelled everything on my calendar. Gratefully, people know and understand this brand of what I call ‘flakiness”. I am grateful for their compassion and understanding. At least right now people don’t get mad at me of which I am aware. If they keep it secret, that’s okay with me. I have people who are still mad at me and hurt that I stopped work 6 years ago. I had lovely naps. Sad that I didn’t have Isis to take a nap with me.

I have had so many wonderful experiences over the last few months, spending time with friends and family, volunteering at Kensington Place, taking the Stephen Ministry Training, and enjoying bible study with a wonderful group of women, especially my co-leader, Julie Parker. I just realized that I don’t have a photo of us together. Hmmm… must work on that!

Kensington Place has taken me on as their Spiritual Care Volunteer. It has been challenging as well as delightful. So many amazing, jaw-dropping things have happened, it would take many blogs to cover these events. Today, however, was an amazing experience, and it was while I was waiting for a mammogram.

Ok, not my favorite time. As I waited in the waiting room, a woman on the opposite side of the dimly-lit tiny room started humming a beautiful song. It sounded like a Jesus song to me. I said I love your beautiful song. And she replied, you have a beautiful face. Surprised, I said, only Jesus. She said, Amen sister! I told her I would love to have her join me at Kensington Place, they would love how she sang. I then was called into the department for my mammogram, and when I came out, the woman was gone. I thought, hmm, I should have given her my card. Oh, well, too late now.

The mammogram, as well as the 4 block walk from the parking to the hospital had exhausted me, so I thought, before I go back to the car, maybe I should get a cup of coffee in the cafeteria. I walked all over the basement of Kaiser, finding no cafeteria, no coffee place, nothing. So I went back up in the elevator thinking of what I could do. I considered the coffee place down the first hill of my walk back to the car, but no, that was too much. Then, this ran through my head, why don’t I look in the gift shop? It’s always fun. I went in, and to my surprise, the same woman was in the gift shop! I said hi and she said, do you have a card? I was amazed as I handed her my card. She said she was part of a group of pastor’s wives and widows who are looking for opportunities to be of service where they could sing. My eyes wide open, I asked for her phone number and she said, don’t be surprised if I call you! Now that's what I would call a GOD THING!!

I can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow! If she calls or doesn’t that’s okay, because if I am ever a bit weary in my walk, I know who I can run to, and how I can stay positive, encouraged and stretch out who I am to continue to love! Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

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Isis

5/30/2019

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Prune Me!

2/28/2019

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It has been a long time since I wrote on my blog. So much has happened, I am in awe. Today, I was reading a devotional on YouVersion (there is a button on the bottom of this piece where you can download the You Version App, which has Bible Reading Plans, connections to local events such as church services, etc. In fact my church Peninsula Covenant Church is connected with this app, and has the church bulletin displayed every week.) If you click on the title, Remain in Me, it will take you to the site and the devotional.

This Devotional, Remain in Me, was powerful for me today, and I will include the devotional and my thoughts:

"Remain In Me
Day 3 • 1 of 4
Devotional
Bad Apples"

"A good friend once told me a story of a tree she came across while hiking on a vacation with her family. The tree was a wild overgrown apple tree with hundreds of tiny green apples covering all the branches. The apples were all very small and underdeveloped, and the weight of their number caused the branches of the tree to sag to the ground. The tree looked unkempt, and although it appeared to produce a lot of fruit, the apples were inedible. They served no purpose but to weigh down the branches and rot.

She went on to say that this tree was a metaphorical picture to her of an unpruned Christian life. We can be believers but waste all of our energy and resources on the wrong things and never reach our full potential. For example, we can meditate on the wrong thoughts, beat ourselves up over past sins, or constantly compare ourselves to others.

The apples of the undisciplined Christian are sour and not sweet because they never reach full maturity. If the tree’s branches had been pruned, the tree could have used its resources to feed the apples that remained, and they would be ripe for eating, lush, and enjoyable. They would become what God intended for them to become. God prunes us to grow us and help us reach our full potential. If we surrender to Him and the process of spiritual discipline, we’ll mature into delicious apples and be a blessing to others. The pruning process involves renewing our minds, focusing on Christ alone, training ourselves to seek Him daily through prayer, and reading His Word. He wants our apples to reach maturity so our fruit will be ripe, well-pruned, and highly effective for the purposes He has called us to in Him. He wants our life to look like a well-pruned apple tree."

Remain In Me
Day 3 • 2 of 4
JOHN 15:1-2
"1 I am the true Vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that continues to bear fruit, He [repeatedly] prunes, so that it will bear more fruit [even richer and finer fruit]."

Remain In Me
Day 3 • 3 of 4
HEBREWS 12:11
"For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems sad and painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness [right standing with God and a lifestyle and attitude that seeks conformity to God’s will and purpose]."

Remain In Me
Day 3 • 4 of 4
Talk It Over
Based on today's reading, what is one thing God is saying to you?

Barb:
The first thing I thought when I was reading the devotional was about people who want lots of numbers/people in their church, drawing them with fancy titles and programs, but not discipling them. Jesus attracted a lot of people because of His healing and miracle abilities, but He wanted disciples. The disciplines He taught were not attractive to the crowds, they were for Christ Followers. Lord, I want to have the same attitude, that it doesn’t matter if I have 1 or 20 in my groups, I want to grow up and train disciples of Jesus Christ, not followers of me. Help me be aware of this every day, and help me point people only to You.

The second thing was the thought of pruning. I had never thought about the fact that when a tree is pruned, the branch is not removed from the root, the branch is pruned back, the bad part thrown away, so that the branch, which is still attached to the vine, even though it is very short, will be fed well, as it is so close to the vine, and begin to grow good fruit. So the whole branch is not removed, it is pruned back to be very close to the source of life, so that it can be fed without interruption.

So it is with Christ Followers. Things happen in our lives, sometimes everything is removed so that we only have Jesus. That is just what He wants, and where He can begin to heal our lives. Lord, help me not misunderstand Your pruning. Help me see it is purely out of love for me that You allow the “take aways” in this life. You want me close to You with nothing in the way. Lord, please help me with this. Help me desire only You.

http://www.youversion.com

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Barb Berens
is a woman
who is learning who she is day by day
with the help of her Heavenly Father.

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BARB'S ARTWORK
It seems to fall into the category of Aleatoric Art. I just scribble & it looks
like something
to me, so
I turn it into
whatever I see.

Aleatoricart posted this description in September 2011 (this is an elevated view in my opinion):

"Aleatoric Art is the ultimate collaboration between
man and the elements. Happenstance, randomness
and a twist
of fate’s unwilling wrist go in halfseys
with some of the most outstanding visionaries
the planet can boast in a peaceful
yet often violent serendipity of
creative cacophony
to produce works of art that go far beyond those
of mere mortals alone."