I'm Human - April 24th, 2026 (blog #2 for today)

 

In this video, you will see: 

1. Taking hits from the bong.
2. drinking controversial beer.
3. smoking a cigarette

So, you see, I willingly display evidence of my own weaknesses and frailties to you now as an example of what I think and how I believe. No, I'm not perfect but I don't have to be; God is, and that's what matters; I trust Him to continue perfecting me as this life progresses by each miraculous day until the end.

Thanks for stopping by, be blessed, take care, and be well! 

💖

A Path to Freedom, on April 24th, 2026

Good morning, folks, and welcome to yet another beautiful day above ground! It felt so good to finally be well enough to wash the dishes and clean the kitchen first thing this morning; physically, at least, things are finally starting to normalize, yet one more thing that merits gratitude!
Here is a glance at our weather here today:

And, for those who'd like it, here is today's Proverb (text) as well as here, in audio:

I am placing this next bit here for people who try to hide behind the use of numerous 'alt' online accounts. You know who you are and that is enough.
If you can admit to yourself (again, if it applies) that the days of running multiple online accounts to prop yourself up and be your own cheerleader are finally taking their toll on you, if you are tired of trying to play games that the intelligent and perceptive can see through a mile away, well, dear Reader, there IS a way out: His Name is Jesus.

I pray that you find value in this 'map to freedom' created based on Scriptures, lain out here in a format that makes life-application (doing) easy to see in a progression of small, but powerful, steps:

And, may everyone who is currently bound break those bonds to secure true and lasting freedom in Jesus' Name, amen.

Here's a song to get all of us through today; all "Hallelujahs" ARE hard-fought!

Tools are useful if we pull them out of the toolbox and use them. The Bible is the toolbox, His Word is the entire tool set.

Let's get busy.

Lovely Day! April 23rd, 2026

Good morning, et cetera, dear Reader! How wonderful to wake up to yet another day of Life, that none of us is promised and I assure you, none of deserve it, either, which makes it all the more precious and wonderful! It's like (God's) grace: those who deserve it need it the least, and those who don't deserve it need it the very most. 

Here's a glance at our weather here today:

I woke up sick from too much sweets yesterday and will have to read it again myself, but here is today's Proverb (text) and here it is in audio format as well:

 

Fortunately, because I was smart enough to listen to a friend's advice, since I changed browsers, I can once again place photographs and videos as normal.

Now that fluids are staying down and the headache has disappeared, I can listen to the Proverb and read it again and maybe, hopefully this time get something out of it.


I would like to promote the very true and real fact that it is impossible to hate a person that you're praying for. 💖 And, per the commandment (direct order, NOT a mere suggestion) but per the commandment, we are required to pray for even and maybe especially our 'enemies' - so get to God's business, believer, and do as He directs us to. (He has his reasons)! First, though, we have to step out in faith and obedience and then the rewards for those things come, to our minds, to our souls, to our perspectives. The critical element here is: obedience first and all the resultant goodies follow.

 

So, when faced with a choice, we can either:

let Self and arrogance rule the day, preferring our feelings over His direct, explicit orders of us, or:

we can do it God's way.

Guess which one is best? 

 

Anyway, dear Reader, suit yourself! You're the one who will answer to Him for your own choices, not me - I've got my own share of bad choices to account to Him for already! I figure, at least I can try and do better every time, every day because I really think that's the best that any of us mortal, fallible human beings can really do, and that's A-okay. He doesn't require perfection; He requires obedience, He requires integrity down to our inmost parts, He requires nothing that we are not created by Him to give. It IS a choice. Love is always a choice.

I want to touch on the critical importance of John 3:17 today; yes, we all know the wonderful, famous-for-a-reason verse, John 3:16 that says:

The greatest gift of all time!
But I now wish to draw the critically-important, very next verse to your attention:

which, I contend, is every bit as critically important for the believer's mind and soul to grasp as the verse before it is.
He tells us the mission in verse 16, and then He tells us the Promise! Because, it is in our human nature in light of God's holiness and perfection, to condemn ourselves for our weaknesses, mistakes and frailties, but verse 17 is there to immediately let us know that His mission is our redemption! 

Forgiveness, acceptance, restoration:

May God bring everyone who needs and wants it His revelation of these things, as I do not have that power myself; all I can do is explain things the way I understand and have experienced them to be: the miraculous, internal work? That's on Him and Him alone! Well, with your cooperation first, of course, like it is with all of us.

Now, I'm going to go make some coffee and try to make good choices as this day progresses and eventually, turns into "tomorrow".

💘

I Hurt Myself Sleeping, and it's April 21st, 2026

Good morning, et cetera, dear Reader, and welcome to this bonus day on this side of Sheol. While we are drawing breath today, let's get about the real business of 'living', shall we?

The title of today's blog is for those who haven't read any of the previous posts; I had to get a steroid shot directly into the bursa in my right shoulder yesterday why? I'll tell you 'why' and that is this: I legit injured my shoulder by sleeping on it wrong. My husband's like "I hurt myself walking" and I am like "here, honey, hold my beer" 😂

Anyway, although the shot does seem to have at least, so far, taken the edge off of a very-controlling, persistent pain, I'm not out of the woods yet as it were, so although I see me actually getting some things done today, those things will have to be done one careful task at a time and that is fine; it's so much better than being wholly immobilized! Our doctor is very intelligent and skilled and, for those reasons, the shot was truly no big deal and, after four relentless days of pain, I was like "I don't care if you cut it off at this point!" 😁

Here's a look at our weather today:

Anyway, I'll take any/all improvement that I can, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant the improvement seems to be: improvement IS, after all, improvement, and even the smallest degrees all eventually add up to something greater. Therefore, dear Reader, rather than allowing yourself to be disappointed in the small things, please remember that all great victories are founded on lots and lots of 'the little things'. Every positive change, every improvement - no matter how apparently small or simple - all of it matters, so give yourself some credit! Think of it: all mountains are climbed step by patient, careful step; none of us 'jumps' to the top of Mt. Everest! No, slow and steady wins the race.

and, like it:

So, when looking at the elephants in life (the big goal, the big picture) and you feel overwhelmed, stop and remind yourself that all you have to do is take that very next 'bite' (step). As linear beings confined to Time, we can't rush ahead to the finish line and get the desired results the same way that we can (these days) download or stream (content) on demand; real life outside of the Internet just doesn't work like that. Adopting this perspective can help those 'big things' feel and seem much less overwhelming, so be encouraged!

Celebrate the small victories for those are more important than most of us realize, and further: be kind to yourself, for Heaven's sake! Nobody's perfect, besides Jesus and I'm NOT Him. 

I hope to have encouraged you today, dear Reader! No matter what you face, you CAN do this, especially as you walk with Jesus. 

For those who wish to read it, here is a link to today's Proverb (text) and this one will play the audio for you. Thank you for stopping by; be blessed and have a great day! 

💘

Endurance or Stupidity? It's April 20th, 2026 (updated)

Good morning, et cetera, dear Reader! 
Before anyone gets freaked out that "maybe this is about me!" let me quell those concerns by now telling you why I named this blog that way.

Four days ago now, I fell asleep on the couch in the wrong position and my right shoulder has been giving me Hell ever since; now, I've been relying on the 800mg Ibuprofen that my doctor prescribed for the arthritic pain I've now got in the right ankle and, even as we 'speak' (as it were) am using hydrotherapy as well (hot showers, warm, wet compresses that I nuke for 30 seconds, over and over and over). Today, on day four of this, the pain woke me up around two-thirty AM, about an hour ago, so I am resolved to finally get help from our local ER but am at least choosing to do so during sane, daylight hours. I can endure, yes; but, I don't have to; at this point, it's time to get specific help for this issue.

Could I have done this days ago? Yep, and that is why this one is entitled "Endurance, or Stupidity?" 😂

Physical pain aside, since we are commanded to 'give thanks in all things for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus' I can start counting blessings, a great way to reorient the mind from "owie, I hurt" to "wait, remember when God did THAT?" and so on. So, for one: hey, I'm on the right side of the grave today! yay! Further, I have clean, hot water on demand in seemingly unlimited supply! I have my loved ones, human and otherwise; we live in a beautiful, peaceful home; coffee exists (thank You, God!) and see? I am starting to feel better already (but I'm still going to get this shoulder looked at later on and will make a doctor's appointment for follow-up as well).

So, dear Reader, try it yourself? Look around you, look at your life, and just really start to, with intention and deliberate focus, count the myriad of blessings that you, too, have in your life in this moment. I promise, the more you notice/see, the more they continue to become apparent! It's truly cool how that works; this kind of deliberate thinking is (at least in part) what it means to "take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ" and further "if there be anything of good report, think on these things" type of situation. 
Like most good habits, monitoring and choosing our thoughts doesn't become a habit instantaneously; it takes work, effort, over and over and over, ad infinitum, but the discipline is what we're told to do because (at least, in part) the discipline is so very productive, fruitful, and just plain good for us. 

Now that the shoulder is muttering under its breath rather than screaming for attention, there's a chance that reading today's Proverb might do me some good, so here it is (text) and audio here.

me today, with this shoulder; I don't think this kind of 'winning' is supposed to be the goal.

Since hubby's asleep, I'm playing this one (again) softly, in keeping with the theme of deliberate, disciplined, and intentional thinking:

Count 'Em - Brandon Lake

So, dear Reader; how many miracles and blessings have you counted so far, just today? (see what I mean?!)

💘

Updated, later that same night:
I never did go to the ER, because my doctor saw me today, the same day that I called and explained the shoulder issue; the receptionist checked with him and 90 minutes later, he was examining me. The result? My first-ever steroid shot actually inside a joint, this time in the bursa in my right shoulder. He said to give it a couple of days for full efficacy, but dear Reader? I am telling you that the relief began almost immediately and I do wish I'd have gone in sooner, though before the soreness for that kind of thing has always just worn off before. Ah, the new 'features' of a body that's more than half-way in its march to the end! 
I have good humor about it, though, check out the realities of an aging body

(20 year old says) Oh, I broke my leg skiing in Aspen! 
(30 year old says) I threw out my back carrying a baby on my hip and fifty pounds of groceries while trying to unlock the door!

(40 year old says) I turned my neck wrong backing out of a parking space and now I have an Hiatal hernia! 
(my husband says) I hurt myself walking 

(now, I say) I hurt myself sleeping. 😂

Good night, dear Reader! 

Saturday, April 18th, 2026

Good morning, et cetera, dear Reader, and welcome to yet another day above ground! The last couple of days for me have been painful and difficult, because I fell asleep on a shoulder for too long in the wrong position and have barely been able to move well since, although I can feel that it IS getting better. Sleeping in the wrong position = zero stars, not recommended. My husband has been so very sweet, waiting on me hand and foot, and, I feel well enough to be able to change into some regular clothing today (versus a nightgown all of yesterday). 
This is just the normal aches and pains of middle age and I'm very grateful that that's all it is.

Here's a look at our forecast here for the day:

Well, my Fragrantica account still exists. Sure, I look at it every day now, and spend up to two or three minutes scanning the forum, but that's it; when I try to log in and can't, that's when I'll know. It's probably a very large task, to delete such a large and old account, with over 20K posts alone, so I'm not mad that he hasn't done it yet, the man has a lot going on I'm sure. It is well with my soul. Anyway, I promised that I'd let him know if and when I can come back someday; I'd just create the thing and send him an email and that would be that. Anyway.

God's timing is perfect and we can rarely perceive it other than in retrospect. My shoulder is a little distracting, so I'll have to read the day's Proverb again myself. Today, my favorite verse is the last one:

That's verse 24; Biblegateway.com has NIV set to default (as the version they use) and I often don't bother to change it, but also of course like the KJV, NKJV, Amplified, ESV; and I love that you can use their tools to see a verse in ALL versions on the same page at once, that's an amazing tool in my opinion! 

We're all just seekers on this same road, the linear progression of Time that we call "Life" (because, when we shuffle off this mortal coil, that is the point at which we step out into Eternity, with Him). In a forum puzzle the other day, in fact, I used the four letters DIET to realize that "Death is exiting Time" because that is literally what that is; all Death is is leaving the physical body behind because it cannot leave this dimension, and in order for us to, it's got to be left behind. That's literally all that is, so don't be afraid! Nobody dies outside of His timing anyway, at least we're not supposed to. I don't know about you, but I for one am GLAD that we are not given heavy information (like the day and time of our departure from earth) ahead of time, and am quite at peace with the fact that He knows what He's doing, and I don't have to know or understand all things, because He can be trusted implicitly no matter what. 

And, dear Reader, I think you may notice that, once you are at peace about the things beyond human control, and choose to trust the Divine, even Death loses it's sting and ability to create fear within us. 

I remember when my dear pastor-friend's own father was nearing the end, from his hospital bed he would courageously quote this verse, and you just know to hear him that there was no fear, no! Quite to the contrary, he literally couldn't wait to see Jesus face to face; faith changes everything. 

No matter what you're facing today, dear Reader, remember that Jesus is the highest authority, and that at the Name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He IS Lord! It's a fact, it's in effect, and it will remain.

Shifting the eyes of our hearts onto Eternity affords the ability to have a broader perspective; I don't know how or why it is that way, but can only tell you that it is. And Free Will remains one of the most powerful forces in this Universe, the freedom to choose. If He wanted obedient robots, He wouldn't have created man (humans) the way He did but no; like Anyone Else, He, too, wants to be chosen by us because, when we choose Him, that's real love. He could have made a race of automatons, but chose to create us instead. The weight and freedom of Free Will just boggles my mind today! How do you feel about it, dear Reader? Isn't it wonderful? But, because we have Free Will, when we do choose to love on God, do the things that make Him smile, and die to ourselves, those things really do move the heart of God, it is truly amazing.

And I am not anyone special, you can trust and believe that! No more special or awesome than you are, dear Reader! You are, in fact, the very apple of His eye.

Yes, YOU! No matter how you feel, what you've done, your mistakes or character flaws (we all make and have them) none of that matters, and nothing changes His love for you. Nothing.

Sorry for the rambling today; I do better when I'm not in pain, I think. Anyway, He loves you so, so very much; I challenge you to just think on that idea for a while; let it simmer and set up in your soul and share the good news with everyone that you can! 

💗

Friend of God (song)

April 17th, 2026, A Friday

Good morning, et cetera, dear Reader, and welcome! This is the quietest part of the day, the wee hours before Dawn, as I sit here writing these words, the soft tapping-sound of typing and dull hum of a nearby refrigerator are the only detectable sounds right now. Today is like a full-circle day for me; Proverbs 17:3 is the first and so far only verse that I've ever had that rhema experience with, just months within my arrival at Fort Worth Teen Challenge more than thirty literal years ago; He told me then that He was about to send me through the fire; here's the verse, and it also happens to be from today's Proverb.

source page: https://authorterrigillespie.com/wisdoms-journey-proverbs-173/

So, taking a moment to isolate and ponder that single verse for a bit, it occurs to me that 'fire' may not be equivalent to 'easy circumstances' but is pointing more to submission to a purification process that literally burns out the worthless stuff. I've had that understanding since the words leapt out of the page at me on that cold January morning so long ago. In the intervening years, I've had all kinds of circumstances, from the easy to the very difficult including some that were even life-threatening, but He has been with me through it all, as I look back and can now see that it was especially during the darkest moments that He has, in fact, carried me Himself. 

And, be encouraged, my dear Reader, because "God is not a respecter of persons" meaning that if He'll do that for me, then every single one of you can have that kind of forgiving, saving grace as well. 

I sent the AI-assisted foundational requirements to my dear friend and mentor shortly after obtaining them yesterday; he responded from his personal email account, calling our foundational vision "solid" - which, from his wise, experienced soul is like the stamp of approval from Spiritual authority in my book. Since we do not yet have our Board to answer to, Larry is gladly and lovingly standing in the gap as that authority for this moment, as I pass these things through him to test the mettle and see if it's good and we can stand on it, or if it's bad and we need to regroup and rethink; so far, though, so good. 

In order to get the AI to organize the concepts of our foundational truths, I articulated them myself to the AI program and the AI laid them out in a by-laws and declared code-of-ethics format; I appreciate the help with organizing of those challenging, though simple, concepts and will always freely share when and where I've used tools such as AI in the process of fleshing out my own concepts and ideas. So, no, although "AI is not king" there's no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater; I'm not afraid to use Google and am also, likewise, at least at this point, unafraid of AI as well (though I've learned the hard way to vet the results that AI provides, every time). 

Additionally, I will gently offer that people who use AI themselves (for their avatars, in their kitchen appliances, in the AI enabled smart sunglasses given to loved ones as gifts)  to probably not display obvious, naked hypocrisy by way of openly judging others for the precise and very same things that you're doing yourself; just sayin'. Nobody's perfect, but we also don't have to showcase our glaring hypocrisy from the mountaintops (or forum threads) either. 👍

Speaking of forums, today is supposed to be the day that zoka removes/deletes my massive, almost-15 year account on Fragrantica, the very last bit that will actualize my decision to lay that down in order to pick up what the Lord has placed before me, and I remain committed, by the grace of God. I love how He will never, ever ask us to do (a thing) without also giving us the grace that makes it possible.  And, folks, maybe that's the 'big message' of this entire post.

Something funny that I noticed in the Word: there are many places where we (believers, really though humanity in general) are compared to sheep, and I believe - with God's eternal wit and sense of humor - that the comparison is far from accidental. Just look up "how intelligent are sheep?" and I think you'll see what I mean. They're not known for being over-brilliant or wise, let's just put it that way. And, the way God uses humor in Matthew to try and get us to see the vanity and uselessness of our own human hypocrisy, the comparison to sheep is intentional (and, further, it's funny! but, as always, only because it's true, and that applies to all of us because, no matter any of our supposed IQ, no human intellect can even hold a candle to the eternal, omniscient mind of God, and that fact alone should readily sober us from the temptation to be prideful in our minds, no matter how 'sharp' other people seem to think that we are or worse, how intelligent we think we are ourselves). 

Therefore, dear Reader, let's bring back this verse from yesterday's Proverb as our gentle reminder for today:

And, I'll leave you with this classic 90's Christian song, that continues to echo through my soul to this day, speaking of the dream of God's house and those we will have the honor of serving with love, honor, and dignity:

Give Me Your Eyes - Brandon Heath

💘