. . . For Swirlings. :)
It's something I've been wanting to do for quite a while; and now it has been accomplished. Swirlings is now located over at WordPress. I'll keep this blog, here at Blogger, up for a while, but will eventually be closing it.
Please make note of our new address, and please come visit us - often, even.
http://sharmieswirls.wordpress.com/
Thanks for reading; see y'all over at WordPress!
Be blessed,
Sharmie
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
eBay!
I have a post swirling around regarding that past few months, but that will need to wait just a bit longer.
Right now, I would like to share with you that earlier this week, I opened an eBay store (Sharmie's Treasure Trove). This is actually my 2nd time with eBay - the first time was back in 2007 when I was selling some collectible toys that I had inherited. It was a fun experience, and I did really well (my first auction - an Abraham Lincoln smurf, about 2" high - started out at 99 cents and sold a week later for $100. Wow!!!)
I'm not selling toys this time; Sharmie's Treasure Trove will be selling "gently used items from my home, looking for your home". Right now, I have several different book auctions going. These particular auctions end in the next 5-6 days, so please visit me over at eBay and see if you'd like to bid on some of my books.
All auctions are started at 99 cents . . . PLUS, I will donate 10% of all purchases to the Epilepsy Foundation.
Thanks so much for reading, and happy eBaying. :)
Be blessed,
Sharmie
http://www.ebay.com/usr/sharmies_treasure_trove?_trksid=p2047675.l2559
Right now, I would like to share with you that earlier this week, I opened an eBay store (Sharmie's Treasure Trove). This is actually my 2nd time with eBay - the first time was back in 2007 when I was selling some collectible toys that I had inherited. It was a fun experience, and I did really well (my first auction - an Abraham Lincoln smurf, about 2" high - started out at 99 cents and sold a week later for $100. Wow!!!)
I'm not selling toys this time; Sharmie's Treasure Trove will be selling "gently used items from my home, looking for your home". Right now, I have several different book auctions going. These particular auctions end in the next 5-6 days, so please visit me over at eBay and see if you'd like to bid on some of my books.
All auctions are started at 99 cents . . . PLUS, I will donate 10% of all purchases to the Epilepsy Foundation.
Thanks so much for reading, and happy eBaying. :)
Be blessed,
Sharmie
http://www.ebay.com/usr/sharmies_treasure_trove?_trksid=p2047675.l2559
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Back to the Drawing Board
Well, fiddle. I had a seizure yesterday. It may have inadvertently been my doing, as well . . .
The seizure occurred during the early morning hours, within minutes after getting out of the shower . . . and the water may have been a bit too hot (which raises the histamine levels; raised histamine levels are seizure triggers).
Tex heard me go into the seizure and came into the bathroom as quickly as possible; but he reached the doorway just as I fell in the middle of the bathroom. On the hard tile floor. Ouch. I received a bloody nose, along with a few bumps and bruises - some on my face, some on my legs. I also incurred a soft tissue injury to my right arm, which happens to be my dominant arm. Needless to say, I'm not being very productive today. (For instance, it's taken me about 5 minutes just to type this tiny little bit of this post).
And, of course, there's the usual after-seizure soreness in my calf muscles.
Tex also reminded me that the day after a seizure is always the hardest; physically and emotionally (partly due to the chemicals working to get back in sync and partly due to how much I abhor seizures). Because of that (and the pain in my arm), I'm not going to make this a very long post.
Looking on the bright side of things, I made it up to 28 weeks + 5 days with being seizure-free this time! That's over 7 months; that's huge for me! I still believe that GARD is working and am going to continue to following that particular eating protocol. (And, more confession time: I made meatloaf with oats as the filler over the weekend. Normally, I use rice, but was a bit time disorganized, so opted for oats instead. Hmmm . . . oats are restricted on GARD. It's not one of the main restrictions, but it is, nonetheless, listed. I had been doing so well, being seizure-free, that I foolishly thought that I'd be ok using oats this one time. Lesson learned).
So! Back to the Drawing Board.
Thanks for reading; y'all be blessed.
~Sharmie
The seizure occurred during the early morning hours, within minutes after getting out of the shower . . . and the water may have been a bit too hot (which raises the histamine levels; raised histamine levels are seizure triggers).
Tex heard me go into the seizure and came into the bathroom as quickly as possible; but he reached the doorway just as I fell in the middle of the bathroom. On the hard tile floor. Ouch. I received a bloody nose, along with a few bumps and bruises - some on my face, some on my legs. I also incurred a soft tissue injury to my right arm, which happens to be my dominant arm. Needless to say, I'm not being very productive today. (For instance, it's taken me about 5 minutes just to type this tiny little bit of this post).
And, of course, there's the usual after-seizure soreness in my calf muscles.
Tex also reminded me that the day after a seizure is always the hardest; physically and emotionally (partly due to the chemicals working to get back in sync and partly due to how much I abhor seizures). Because of that (and the pain in my arm), I'm not going to make this a very long post.
Looking on the bright side of things, I made it up to 28 weeks + 5 days with being seizure-free this time! That's over 7 months; that's huge for me! I still believe that GARD is working and am going to continue to following that particular eating protocol. (And, more confession time: I made meatloaf with oats as the filler over the weekend. Normally, I use rice, but was a bit time disorganized, so opted for oats instead. Hmmm . . . oats are restricted on GARD. It's not one of the main restrictions, but it is, nonetheless, listed. I had been doing so well, being seizure-free, that I foolishly thought that I'd be ok using oats this one time. Lesson learned).
So! Back to the Drawing Board.
Thanks for reading; y'all be blessed.
~Sharmie
Thursday, January 9, 2014
"Handling" Life
There’s a blog post floating around my FB newsfeed this morning, titled, "God will give you more than you can handle: I guarantee it."
I wholeheartedly agree with what the author wrote in her blog post; in fact the body of the post is quite excellent. I do not, however, agree with the wording of the title. I understand her reasoning in writing the title as it is; and in the actual blog, she goes on to explain how important it is to lean on Our Lord (and not simply ourselves). We are to look to Him in everything. I very much agree with all of this; in fact, over the years, I have said the same things multiple times. However, I still disagree with the title of her blog post.
To explain:
The author points out that she does not like the phrase, "God never gives you more than you can handle." Neither do I . . . I cringe when I hear it; and sometimes, depending upon the person saying it and the circumstances at the time, I might even vocally refute it.
However, and again, with heartfelt respect to the author of that particular blog post, neither will God give you more than you can handle.
"God never gives you more than you can handle."
"God will give you more than you can handle."
If I may gently point out, neither of these thoughts are truly accurate.
There are myriad things that happen everyday in various people's lives . . . catastrophic, horrendous and deeply despairing events. Sometimes, such events are the results of people misusing the very precious gift of free will that has been given to absolutely *every one* of us.
Aside from sending Jesus to us to be our Salvation, Free Will is the very next pure and absolute Gift of Love that Our Lord lavishes upon us. We are free to choose Him and we are free to not choose Him. He wants our love, and that can only come from our heart and our own choice to love Him. We are not robots nor are we some type of computer that requires programming. We are living, breathing human beings - made in the Image of God - and we have been given the gift of choice in absolutely everything we do.
We can even choose to sin.
And, sometimes our choices can bring devastating consequences into our lives. Sometimes our choices can bring devastating consequences into the lives of other people. And, of course, vice-versa . . . sometimes other people’s choices can devastate our lives, as well.
For example, murder. Several years ago, one of my friends’ daughter was brutally raped and murdered. I can’t even imagine the depth of pain that my friends went through as they wandered through their grief over this. Through it all, they relied upon and leaned on Our Lord. They poured their hearts out to Him. They looked to Him for His Wisdom, His Guidance and His Comfort. I didn’t know them back then, but I’m most certain that neither one of them thought that God "gave" this to them. And, He didn’t. Sin is what caused my friends’ grief; sin is what caused such atrocities to be inflicted upon their daughter and sin is what took her away from her parents.
Free Will. We have free will to choose to love and we have free will to choose to sin. God did not intend these horrible crimes to happen to my friends’ daughter; in fact, I’m sure all of it grieved Him deeply. Translate that a bit more: God did not "give" this grievous situation to neither the daughter nor her parents; God did not "give" these sin actions to them; it was the free will . . . the choice . . . of the perpetrator that was the catalyst behind it all. BUT. God most definitely was there to comfort my friends; He poured out His Love as a Covering over them and He brought them through it.
In my own life, I have experienced many things that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt Our Lord never intended for me to bear: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and even surviving the suicides of two people. There have been times in my life where I was in so much pain that I truly wondered if I would be able to survive and become whole again.
Free Will. Misused and misapplied Free Will is what caused all of the above mentions; not God. God did not "give" me any of this, so the statement, "God doesn’t give you more than you can handle" does not apply; and neither does the statement, "God will give you more than you can handle." He simply didn’t deem that I should go through any of these things; they were not, in any aspect, His Will for me.
BUT! They did happen. Things happen everyday . . . to you, to me, to everyone. Not all of them are nice and pretty and tied up with bows; some of them are horrifyingly gut-wrenching and some of them are also evil. The GOOD news in all of this is that Our Lord will be there for us, to bring us through the ick and the yuck. He *will* strengthen us and He *will* heal us. I know this for two reasons: (1) I’ve experienced this myself, over and over again, through all of the things that have happened in my life, and (2) His Word tells, over and over again, that He will do this. Our Lord promises it to us.
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9 NIV)
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33 NIV)
The world can be a scary, painful place, sometimes. Sometimes, it is scary and painful because of nature and not necessarily through any fault of anyone. Sometimes, however, we find ourselves in the darkness of despair precisely because of either our own actions or those of someone else. BUT!!! Regardless as to the origin of our anguish at any given moment in time, Our Lord is *always* with us; we have only to look to Him and to trust Him; He *will* cover us and bring us through any trials or painful experiences we may have. That’s it in a nutshell :)
Thanks for reading y’all.
May Our Lord bless you most abundantly.
~Sharmie
I wholeheartedly agree with what the author wrote in her blog post; in fact the body of the post is quite excellent. I do not, however, agree with the wording of the title. I understand her reasoning in writing the title as it is; and in the actual blog, she goes on to explain how important it is to lean on Our Lord (and not simply ourselves). We are to look to Him in everything. I very much agree with all of this; in fact, over the years, I have said the same things multiple times. However, I still disagree with the title of her blog post.
To explain:
The author points out that she does not like the phrase, "God never gives you more than you can handle." Neither do I . . . I cringe when I hear it; and sometimes, depending upon the person saying it and the circumstances at the time, I might even vocally refute it.
However, and again, with heartfelt respect to the author of that particular blog post, neither will God give you more than you can handle.
"God never gives you more than you can handle."
"God will give you more than you can handle."
If I may gently point out, neither of these thoughts are truly accurate.
There are myriad things that happen everyday in various people's lives . . . catastrophic, horrendous and deeply despairing events. Sometimes, such events are the results of people misusing the very precious gift of free will that has been given to absolutely *every one* of us.
Aside from sending Jesus to us to be our Salvation, Free Will is the very next pure and absolute Gift of Love that Our Lord lavishes upon us. We are free to choose Him and we are free to not choose Him. He wants our love, and that can only come from our heart and our own choice to love Him. We are not robots nor are we some type of computer that requires programming. We are living, breathing human beings - made in the Image of God - and we have been given the gift of choice in absolutely everything we do.
We can even choose to sin.
And, sometimes our choices can bring devastating consequences into our lives. Sometimes our choices can bring devastating consequences into the lives of other people. And, of course, vice-versa . . . sometimes other people’s choices can devastate our lives, as well.
For example, murder. Several years ago, one of my friends’ daughter was brutally raped and murdered. I can’t even imagine the depth of pain that my friends went through as they wandered through their grief over this. Through it all, they relied upon and leaned on Our Lord. They poured their hearts out to Him. They looked to Him for His Wisdom, His Guidance and His Comfort. I didn’t know them back then, but I’m most certain that neither one of them thought that God "gave" this to them. And, He didn’t. Sin is what caused my friends’ grief; sin is what caused such atrocities to be inflicted upon their daughter and sin is what took her away from her parents.
Free Will. We have free will to choose to love and we have free will to choose to sin. God did not intend these horrible crimes to happen to my friends’ daughter; in fact, I’m sure all of it grieved Him deeply. Translate that a bit more: God did not "give" this grievous situation to neither the daughter nor her parents; God did not "give" these sin actions to them; it was the free will . . . the choice . . . of the perpetrator that was the catalyst behind it all. BUT. God most definitely was there to comfort my friends; He poured out His Love as a Covering over them and He brought them through it.
In my own life, I have experienced many things that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt Our Lord never intended for me to bear: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and even surviving the suicides of two people. There have been times in my life where I was in so much pain that I truly wondered if I would be able to survive and become whole again.
Free Will. Misused and misapplied Free Will is what caused all of the above mentions; not God. God did not "give" me any of this, so the statement, "God doesn’t give you more than you can handle" does not apply; and neither does the statement, "God will give you more than you can handle." He simply didn’t deem that I should go through any of these things; they were not, in any aspect, His Will for me.
BUT! They did happen. Things happen everyday . . . to you, to me, to everyone. Not all of them are nice and pretty and tied up with bows; some of them are horrifyingly gut-wrenching and some of them are also evil. The GOOD news in all of this is that Our Lord will be there for us, to bring us through the ick and the yuck. He *will* strengthen us and He *will* heal us. I know this for two reasons: (1) I’ve experienced this myself, over and over again, through all of the things that have happened in my life, and (2) His Word tells, over and over again, that He will do this. Our Lord promises it to us.
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9 NIV)
"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33 NIV)
The world can be a scary, painful place, sometimes. Sometimes, it is scary and painful because of nature and not necessarily through any fault of anyone. Sometimes, however, we find ourselves in the darkness of despair precisely because of either our own actions or those of someone else. BUT!!! Regardless as to the origin of our anguish at any given moment in time, Our Lord is *always* with us; we have only to look to Him and to trust Him; He *will* cover us and bring us through any trials or painful experiences we may have. That’s it in a nutshell :)
Thanks for reading y’all.
May Our Lord bless you most abundantly.
~Sharmie
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)