Give Jesus a break

Ever day I read prayers etc. on Facebook from people begging Jesus for help and it is beginning to make me very angry.

In my opinion: Jesus was not sent to earth to do anything except teach us how to live, love and die.

I believe we all have within us the power to do anything we want to do. It simply requires faith in ourselves. Jesus became man because people could not see god the father. That doesn't surprise me as god the father has no body to see.

Glenda the good witch from the Wizard of Oz hit the nail on the head, "You have always had the power my dear".

We just need to wake up and use that God given power we were born with instead of waiting around for Jesus to do things for us.

Oh and while I am on the subject; I believe Jesus is my brother, not my father. We all came from the same source.

I do believe it is perfectly fine and often advisable to ask for guidance from whatever source you believe in, but do the work yourself and give Jesus a break.

Why do it?

I have been writing posts for this blog since November 2009. There have been times when I was almost ready to stop, but something always pushed me to continue no matter what. I used to really dislike the saying, "if I only helped one person it was worth it". With billions of people living on this planet one seems pretty pathetic, but what if that one person was the soul I was sent here to inspire by honestly sharing an experience? That makes the number one pretty darn special.

Since I began writing way back in 2000 or so I have lost track of the reams of paper I have used. Thank goodness I opted to learn how to use a computer. Look at all the trees I have saved on my journey to be a motivational writer. I did not grow up in the electronic age and the struggle to grasp new concepts(at least to me) has not always been easy. When I have had a problem I looked around to find a person more knowledgeable and that person always seemed to pop up.

When I stopped being concerned about people who were offended by what I wrote I realized freedom. I no longer give a rat's ass what other people think. This is my life and I am the only one who knows what my experiences mean to me. If sharing them can help someone else feel that they are not alone in their struggles then I am going to keep doing what I was sent to earth to do.

A couple of years ago someone asked me why I wrote. Without giving the question much thought I quickly answered, "for me". Today I have changed my mind because of a post that appeared on Facebook this morning. The following is that post and the reason that I would now answer the question, "to help and inspire others by honestly sharing my experiences".

The following is that post, which I have now printed and added to my collection of Inspirational Stuff.

If the spirit moves you

Monday June 22 to Friday June 26 my E-book, Spirits of Cibola County will be offered free on Amazon Kindle. If the spirit moves you, pick up your copy. Although it was first published in 2011 don't let that bother you, as it is a timeless work.

Its 87 pages contain 64 true life stories of our local residents. Every single story was pre-approved by the subject before it was published. Although it is true that a couple of the people I interviewed are no longer residents of earth, what a great way to tell the world who you were while you were here. No one knows you better than you.

In addition to the life stories the book begins with a brief history of Cibola County, New Mexico then and now; with the hope that it might tempt you to come on down and spend a little of your time with us.

In any case please check out the book and if you like it a short review would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Choosing the best

I did some searching for an orthopedic surgeon last week. Never needing a doctor with this specialty I had to ask around. I talked to someone I know who had a hip replacement about ten years ago. She had a very good experience with her doctor, who unfortunately is now retired. I did get some first hand knowledge about the procedure and recovery and asked if she could get me a recommendation.

In the meantime I poked around online to check things out. Someone suggested that I get a list of the best surgeons in Albuquerque. It was a place to start. I had five names and three of them all belonged to New Mexico Orthopedics. A friend also suggested that I consider University of NM, which is a teaching hospital. For the first time in my life I decided to go with the best. The health insurance I have now allows me to go anywhere I choose and it won't cost me anything so why not?

I decided to make an initial appointment for later in July with Dr.Joshua Carothers.I even know what he looks like as the web site provides bios on their doctors. I need to see where I stand. So far all I have are x-rays read by a technician I have never heard of. At this point I am simply assuming that I need surgery. What if I don't? Perhaps there is a better option.

I have had two major surgeries in the past and this is the first time I have been able to choose my own surgeon. I have a good feeling about this arrangement, whatever happens. I also have a good feeling that this doctor works out of Presbyterian Hospital, where my last child was born in 1979 and I survived cancer surgery in 1989.

All done

Whew! Our Children's Writing Camp is all done- seriously! My camp co-worker, B.J., and I have agreed that four years is enough. We are turning the idea over to anyone who desires to pick up the torch.

It has been a wonderful journey. We have tried to present unusual ways to encourage the students to tap into their creativity. Because of my previous volunteer work I have also been able to tap into the minds of friends and people I know in the community to help us. I have found that when you just ask for a little bit of their time people are more than willing to volunteer.

This year we had four returning students, who made us feel we must be doing something right or they wouldn't keep coming back. It was great to see just how much they have matured since we started. If we were responsible for instilling a little bit of confidence in their makeup we were successful in our efforts.

Yesterday was our last day and we let the kids take over as instructors. We noticed that three of them have a talent that they are passionate about and they were each given fifteen minutes to share their knowledge. The first was, Jhoana, who loves to write poetry. She was a bit nervous, but she did a great job. We are very proud of this girl because her very first day of camp, three years ago, she wouldn't even read the things she wrote. The second student to share his passion was, Colin, who taught everyone how to draw cartoon characters. I was amazed at how confident he is now and how much he has grown over the last four years. The last student to share was, Joseph, whose passion is writing horror stories. He was the most amazing transformation of all because on his first day, last Monday, he was so shy he wouldn't even talk to anyone.

We ended our last day with Klondike ice cream bars and casual conversation about our past experiences. I felt a little sad when Jhoana said, "I don't want to leave."

Miracles-take one

This post is for those of you who have been following along with my struggle to obtain medical coverage. As my now retired dermatologist said about a year ago, "eventually your warranty will run out."

He was right! A few days ago I was anticipating a hip replacement at some point in the near future with no medical coverage for the last fifteen years, since my divorce. I did have part time jobs, but they didn't offer insurance. I had not applied for Medicare B because I didn't think I needed it. I had no idea that I would be accessed a 10% per year penalty for that choice. In my case that amounted to $125.83 per month in addition to the $104.97 monthly premium everyone pays. This tidy sum reduces my Social Security benefit to a whopping $983 per month.

Following my intuition,those little pebbles of guidance that the universe drops down, I will have full medical coverage as of July 1, 2015. It took me six months and a lot of pain, both physical and mental, but here is what happened.

The very first thing January 1st, 2015 I applied for Medicare B. The application was accepted and will take affect on July 1. Why that takes six months makes no sense. As it reduces my income to a ridicules amount I began to worry about how I could possibly pay the co payments for doctor visits etc. and the huge deductible for any hospital stay in addition to what Medicare would be taking out of my monthly benefit. It wasn't going to happen. I needed a supplement, so I started checking around to see what I could see.

Over the last week I have talked with several insurance agents, all very nice helpful people; none of whom work for Medicare. To make a long story short I went with Mutual of Omaha supplement G for a premium of $119.87 per month. It is total coverage and picks up every single thing that Medicare B does not pay, with the exception of its $147 yearly deductible. It is a really good deal and offers the most peace of mind.

My total for everything will be $350.60 per month, which to me is worth not ever having a medical bill. I also have an additional $300 per month income that I have been putting away for a rainy day. Now it will be headed for my checking account every month. Strange isn't it that that small amount of money almost pays for my new insurance expense. I'd call that a miracle, wouldn't you?