God is Abnormal

Posted on April 22, 2020April 23, 2020 by Christy Petty

The newest term used during this time of turmoil, is the ‘New Normal’, and getting back to it. Which does not make sense, we can’t get back to something new. It is just another way to daze and confuse in the midst of this chaos.

nor•mal

adj.1. conforming to the standard or the common type; usual; regular; natural.2. serving to fix a standard.3. of natural occurrence.4. approximately average in any psychological trait, as intelligence, personality, or emotional adjustment.5. free from any mental disorder; sane.6. free from disease or malformation.7.a. being at right angles, as a line; perpendicular.b. of the nature of or pertaining to a mathematical normal.8.a. (of a solution) containing one equivalent weight of the constituent in question in one liter of solution.b. pertaining to an aliphatic hydrocarbon having a straight unbranched carbon chain, each carbon atom of whichis joined to no more than two other carbon atoms.n.9. the normal form or state; the average or mean.10. the standard or common type.11.a. a perpendicular line or plane, esp. one perpendicular to a tangent line of a curve, or a tangent plane of asurface, at the point of contact.b. the portion of this perpendicular line included between its point of contact with the curve and the x-axis.

Conforming to the standard. Usual. Regular. Fix a standard. Natural Occurrence (like sickness and death and the world continues to operate). Average intelligence, mentality. No disease. No malformation. … Then the rest is about math and science, and above my average intelligence. Looking at the definition, normal can not be attained, new or old. We have never been normal and never will be.

So what is it we want? What is our goal? To go back? To to be doing what we were doing before we first heard about the Wuhan flu, that morphed to Covid 19, to conform to political correctness. We will never go back. Cant, won’t happen, nothing will be as it was. . Yesterday is gone. January 1, 2020 is gone. July 4, 1962 is gone, October 29,1929 is gone. December 29, 1845 ,gone. October 1, 1949, gone. April 3, 33 is gone. Gone, but not forgotten. Gone, but not wasted. Gone, but the decisions made, the actions taken, those days past, impact today and tomorrow, eternity.

Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62 ESv

We can only go forward.

“Remember not the former things,nor consider the things of old.19 Behold, I am doing a new thing;now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? Isaiah 43:18–19

Wake up every day and know there is potential for better. For surviving it, or not. For making good or evil. For knowing there will be trouble. Knowing something not ‘normal’ will definitely happen during the day, for everyone everywhere. Be it a hiccup or a missile coming through the roof.

John 16:33b In the world you will have tribulation. But take heartI have overcome the world.”

THIS is what we must understand there is always trials and strife we must endure. Troubles are different for every person. For some it can be encountering a cobra on the path as they walk 3 miles to get their water for the day. For others it is the nurse not being able to find a vein on dialysis day. Some it is the baby teething and not taking a nap and needing to get dinner ready for guests. A few are waking up every morning knowing they are not welcome in the life of someone they love dearly. Today, where I am, thousands of people work in an industry dependent on oil, and the barrel price just dropped into the negative value. Recovering from a virus is much more sure than having a job around here. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. How much worse will it be?

Matthew 6:34 (ESV)“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

We are in uncertain times. The truth is man always has been. We don’t know what tomorrow brings, ever. We don’t control tomorrow, we don’t control the next second. The frustration and fear comes from our not realizing that. We thought we had everything in control, then; we couldn’t go to work, because someone in China got the flu. An electric wire sparked in the attic. Someone assumed the worst of you. Your child choked. You didn’t see that car coming. You heard the wail of the tornado siren. The levee broke. Your husband didn’t come home one night. You started cramping in the 4th month. There is a run on the bank.You find a lump. A missile is sent in the sky. It rains 40 days and nights. The earth opens. Planes crash into buildings. Drought kills the crops. You are taken into captivity. Your child is diagnosed with lifelong illness. Your innocent friend arrested and crucified. All times are uncertain, all the time.

So what do we do? We look at the one and only who is in control. God. We know that whatever happens, in this fallen world, we will come out of it with God. Maybe literally we will be WITH God in our next moment and out of this world. Or we will come out of this trial strengthened and renewed. Whatever it is, He IS in Control.

Joshua 1:9 (ESV)Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Romans 8:18 (ESV)For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Habakuk 319 God, the Lord, is my strength;See 2 Sam. 2:18 he makes my feet like the deer’s;he makes me Amos 4:13; Mic. 1:3 tread on my Deut. 32:13; 33:29 high places.

James 1:12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him

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So Help You God

Posted on April 14, 2020April 14, 2020 by Christy Petty

Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

We hear this on television, or used to, when they depict the courtroom testimony. When asking someone to testify and respond to questioning that will lead to a verdict on an accused. Guilty or Not Guilty. Consequences for the life of someone determined by others speaking the truth. By others swearing, to God, they will tell the truth.

Does placing ones hand on the Bible and saying ‘Yes, by God, I will tell the truth” guarantee the words coming out will definitely be the truth and nothing but the truth? Will those that hear know for certain all spoken after this swearing hear the truth? If the sworn in speaks a lie with they spontaneously combust? No. The hearer has to still have discernment, and wisdom to hear and understand what the truth is. The one under oath many times has to separate themselves and their opinion and prejudice in order to tell ALL truth, this is hard to do, because we are selfish and prideful. We all have our own version of ‘the truth’ dependent on where we are ‘standing in the room’.

Yellow Balloons, a blog by Tim Dunn had a post Tune Our Hearts it speaks of how we manipulate the truth, keeping us out of tune.

A manipulated truth is a lie. Sometimes it is a purposeful lie. We make false statements knowing full well it is not the truth. Sometimes a lie is interlaced with truth, “Sorry I am late I had ‘this’ come up at work. ” ‘This’ being true, but it came up an hour before and you stayed to chat with a friend, or dropped by the bar. Or ‘This’ could have been put aside you just chose to stay late because you didn’t want to rush home…. All still a lie, you use to avoid rejection, judgement, disapproval.

Some lies are to ourselves The excuses we make to ourselves for not accomplishing or succeeding or our failures; not educated, came from broken family, ethnic background, bad genes, wrong or colored rainbow or # combo from latest personality test. It is interesting that we don’t lie positively to ourselves.

Some lies are thrust upon us. Some will make us a lie. Some will manipulate circumstances and their perceptions of actions and words and will build a lie and present it as truth. Some know they themselves are lying. Some though have not used discernment and wisdom and knowledge and believe their perception of deception to be true. People with let their prejudice, their own insecurities, they opinions, their ignorance define circumstances and people. The Press and Democrats and anti Trumpers do this to President Trump. CPS does this to families/parents. We do it to the other kid, when our good child does wrong in their company.

The movie Trial By Fire is of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was convicted and executed for the murder of his three daughters. A crime he did NOT commit. But most believed that he did, even though they heard the truth uttered from his sworn in mouth. Lies were believed because it was easier. It is easier to blame the uneducated, mullet wearing, morally unfit, too- young- to- be- daddy, guy with a record, than to let those babies burn to death by an accidental fire that God allowed. It is easier to stand on the side of the upstanding suit wearing prosecutor, Honorable Judge, expert investigator, and other jurors , than to consider someone of such low standing in society could be more truth filled.

Parents lose their right to be parents to their children for our being out of tune to the truth. The family court hears manipulated truth, pure lies presented by CPS and their experts they pay to lie. The parents are made a lie. The lie is believed all is ‘in the best interest of the child’. When none is in the best interest of the child. Prejudice, opinions, misconceptions build lies that rip through the truth and destroy lives.

Jesus Christ was crucified by lies. He spoke the truth and only the truth. He IS Truth. Those that wanted Jesus out, manipulated truths into their own lies to preserve themselves. His truth was exposing the lies they were living, to themselves. He still does this today. The irony is, God used the deception, created by, the great deceiver Satan, the Prince of lies, to condemn Jesus, his only begotten Son. Jesus physically died on the cross, because of lies told of him, to cover the lies told by us, and to forever destroy the creator of lies.

That is the Truth. No sweeter a sound, than ‘Jesus’.

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The Pressure of Anxiety

Posted on January 28, 2020January 28, 2020 by Christy Petty

Most of my life I have had extremely low blood pressure. 117/70’s was my norm. Then about my 40’s it crept to a normal 120/80.

Then in my mid 40’s I developed White Coat syndrome and my BP went up in the MD office, when they used the electronic machine. I attribute that to the time I became chronically dehydrated and no MD could figure it out. One of my emergency room visits’ I am in horrible neck migraine pain and throwing up, the nurse is taking my blood pressure and I am heaving. I keep asking her to take the cuff off of me, between heaves, because it is getting so tight, my arm feels like it is going to burst. She tells me she “cant get a read. Because you keep moving around. Thats why it keeps getting tighter.” I do my best to get indignant between heaves and let her know I can not throw up without moving.

I HATE throwing up. It FREEKS me out.So thereI was throwing up.In public, in a bucket, with an idiot nurse telling me to be still, while the machine is turning my arm blue. Finally she yanks the cuff off and mumbles something and moves me to my room. I get anxious remembering it all

From that point on the machine reads have not worked correctly. They are always high. Unless taken at home with my mothers old reader. I convinced my MD/DO of all this, she seemed to believe it. Each time I was in I had to explain this to the nurse of the day. Finally one of them took it the manual old fashioned way and explained to me that my pulse was very faint. She believed the machine was miscounting because of this. She registered my blood pressure just a tad over normal.

Well, this last annual visit, it would not even get down to normal with the manual. It is like 20 points too high on both sides. Usually my high is on the systolic side and only about 5 to 10 above good, so the MD/DO would let it be White Coat. This time she does not let it go.

The MD/DO orders an EKG, which only confirms that something is different and ‘worse’ than the last time I had and EKG. Crap. This may explain the tightness I feel in my chest about 95% of the time. Or maybe not. I ,again, am arguing with the MD/DO that I don’t believe it is just high BP, it is a symptom of something else we can’t get a handle on. The low D, the low mag, the low potassium, or maybe low B2. I found the B2 possibility, with MTHFR issues, on a quick internet search while she out reading charts . She agrees all are possible and orders blood work and a weeks worth of my taking my BP at home before she prescribes.

I gave about 10 tubes of blood then went and bought a new blood pressure monitor, with blue tooth. Woo Hoo. I had been using my mothers.She has no longer needed it for over 10 years now

I then drive to Costco to shop, adding the BP machine to my list, my chest is aching more, I am panicky. I DONT WANT HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE. I don’t want to keel over in public or in front of my grandkids someday. I don’t want to have failed my body, so much to give it high blood pressure. This just makes me angry at myself.

I tell husband and his first question is “What meds does that doctor have you on? “

Me: “Just the antiviral and the Levo for my thyroid. Neither are ‘that kind’ of drug.

When I get home I check the Acyclovir. Nothing on the symptoms/side effects list. Then I typed in ‘High blood pressure Acyclovir’ . ( I have auto immune issues with Celiac/MTHFR/ Hashimotos/ I take this because I get bacterial infections easily, yet MD does not want me on antibiotics ever, so logic is have anti viral so body does not have to kill viruses and bacteria when they hit, made since then :()

Well, damn. There it is. You just gotta know what you don’t know to find out what you need.

So I now am off the Acyclovir. My BP did go down a few points about 24 hours later. I thought I was on the way to healing. But it went back up again, then down, then up…since then. It may help, but hasn’t cured, yet.

I started taking my BP reading every AM just when I wake. High. Then after exercise in AM it is several points lower. Almost normal. There is no pattern to the highs and lows, except in the AM it is always high. Sometimes it is almost normal, and other times I think my heart should be exploding.

Weird.

I added some apple cider vinegar mixed with water, blech. I added a ginger elixir, I found the recipe on Pinterest.

One night, as I lie dying, from climbing 3 flights of stairs, in an ancient hotel in a small Colorado town at 10,000 feet. This Texas Girl lives below sea level where oxygen is readily available. I continued searches for hypertension causes.I found this list of causes:

Being Fat- Got that, but I have been overweight for years and had very low bp.
Thyroid disease Got that, but I have had that for years . My blood pressure has not been high until just recently.
Family history- Don’t got that
White coat Anxiety- Got that but this is beyond the ‘white coat’
Anxiety Stress—Repeat of the above ,in the beyond. Ah ha. I do have that. I am in the midst of that. Trying to ignore it, cause I don’t like being an emotional ninny.

I am a mind over matter kind of person.Job 20:2 (NKJV)Therefore my anxious thoughts make me answer, Because of the turmoil within me.

I am the rock in a crisis. I trust in God. I turn my burdens over to him.Philippians 4:6 (NKJV)e anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

I am strong. I have endured tons of trials and tribulations.

BUT this one is really, REALLY killing me. My heart aches all the time because it is holding in the pain. Crying is my release. I HATE to cry.

The lowest my blood pressure has been is the morning, after I spent the majority of the night crying over this trial. But then it comes back.

I KNOW my hypertension is from my anxiety over this. I didn’t think I had anxiety

God says, don’t be anxious. Philippians 4:6 (NKJV) Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

Easier commanded than done. It is in my head constantly.

Why?

What can I do to fix this?

Will doing something just make it worse?

When will God intervene? How?

Maybe I deserve this?

I can’t walk away.

Have I missed my opportunity to fix this?

What did I do wrong?

How do I repent/rectify if I don’t know what I did wrong?

Will I stroke out before this gets fixed?

…. My heart hurts.

I pray.

Psalms 55:2 (NKJV) Attend to me, and hear me; I am restless in my complaint, and moan noisily

I think I let go, and ‘let’ God. I don’t. I can’t .I hold it because what if God’s plan is not what I want?

I remember

Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV)For I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

What if “for His glory,” is not in my time? David didn’t get to build the Temple for God, Solomon did after David died.

The Holy Spirit reminds me

David.. the shepherd boy that killed a giant with a stone. The least likely to be king that became the greatest. A man after Gods own heart. A man who sinned and repented. A man who was hated so much by his king, that he loved and respected, and by his own son, that they wanted to kill him. BA man who grieved the son who hated him. A man who lost a child as a consequence of his own sin. A man who never doubted God

So now I ask….

What do I do?

Psalms 55:22 (NKJV)Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved

Matthew 11:30 28Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,and you will find rest for your souls. 30

Then?

Psalms 27:14 (NKJV)Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!

Psalms 130:5 (NKJV)I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, And in His word I do hope

How can I wait and trust and endure?

Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Then my strength is renewed

Isaiah 40:331But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint

So tonight, I wait, and I trust that my trial that is causing my tribulation will end.

I have faith

James 1:2 (NKJV)My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,

James 1:3 (KJV)Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

Because Jesus has got it:

Matthew 11:29 (NKJV)Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Psalms 23:4 (NKJV) Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me

My heart begins to heal literally, my anxiety leaves (‘leaves’ get it? )

Jeremiah 17:8 (NKJV)For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

In the morning after writing this last night. After letting friends ‘know’ of this trial I am in and their prayers, my blood pressure is not perfect but it is normal enough…. Thank you God. I know you will restore all.

The End is Closer than Yesterday

“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. II Timothy 3:1-9

People have been crying out “ The End is Near!” for decades, but this description of last days seems to describe now.

I am not saying tomorrow, nor that it can not get worse, but I do believe we are in those last days.

We are definitely closer today, than yesterday.

Lovers of ourselves. We have been indoctrinated to believe we must put ourselves first. Love everything about ourselves. We are not to accept any criticism nor give any. We demand everything to be our way, for me myself and I, because of the color of our skin and or our sexual desires. No one is to question their ‘inner self’ no matter how stupid it sounds. To love oneself above others, it is the goal. Be what makes YOU happy. . If YOU don’t work for you, change who you are, your body, your looks, your gender. Bruce Jenner has become a hero because he dresses like a girl. Today if you don’t like having 2 hands and think you should only have 1, then cut one off. And then you can love yourself. Society has a new name for each new ‘species’ of man, other than lunatics… Transgender, Homosexual, transracial , furries, paraphilic infantilism Continue reading “The End is Closer than Yesterday” →

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The God of Peace Be With You

Posted on September 21, 2015September 22, 2015 by Christy Petty

Phillipians4:4Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Have you witnessed the peace that passes understanding? Those who have had husbands, wives, children die and they quote scripture and speak of the joy the loved one is experiencing, and the day of being reunited. The one with a terminal disease who is more hopeful and joyful than you, (whose only complaint today is too long a wait at the grocery store). Have you wondered on, or even criticized another for their lack of distress at the loss? The world tells us we should wail, and beat our chests. We should stop eating, singing laughing, living, when we have trials. The world says we should be overcome by this world that comes against us. Yet God tells us to rejoice in the Lord.Always.

26 years ago between September and December of 1989 my reasonableness was questioned.

September 23, our third son was born with Pierre Robin Sequence. In Midland they were clueless as to what to do with him choking on his tongue when he cried, so they decided to tie his tongue down. Turns out the surgeries they did in the first 2 days of his life actually did him more harm than the tongue in the way did.

Our second son, who was 5 ,at this time was having what we called attacks, he had been having these since he was 2. He would go pale, his heart would race and pound so hard you could see it in his little chest. He would not be able to move for a few hours, for the pain. (5 years later found it was esophagus spasm aggravation from Celiac disease) Every 2 weeks we would race to the ER to meet the pediatrician who would scratch his head and send us home till the next time.

The Midland doctors insisted we gavage feed Evan, running a tube through his nose and pump in the milk. Not being able to breast feed, I pumped, for about 5 weeks, until I realized the big boys needed mom time more than Evan needed breast milk.

Evans specialist/surgeon was in Dallas, a 5 hour drive from home. He was an excellent doctor, and probably reason Evan still here today, but ….. The instruction he gave us on the care of Evan,when he untied the unnecessary tongue adhesion. Until his chin grew and he became strong enough for cleft surgery “ Lay him on his stomach, so he does not choke on that(tongue) and hope he keeps breathing.”

Keith worked graveyard shift at the Post office. Leaving me each night to put everyone to bed, and wake too often alone to see if the baby was still breathing.

Just after delivering the baby, while still in the hospital I had my tubes tied. The last trimester of the pregnancy I had a HORRIBLE chest cold and cough. The air they pumped in during surgery put too much pressure on my ribs that had been weakened from the coughing. I sneezed and cracked a rib, the week after I delivered.

Then, six weeks after Evan was born, on November 1, my brother, Kirk, fell in his driveway and hit his head. He died 2 days later. We dropped our older boys off at a friends house, and drove to Austin, sat in the waiting room of ICU for 2 days, with family and friends, and Evan laying on his stomach in a stroller. We said goodbye, until we meet again, to Kirk on November 3, drove home to get boys and drive to funeral ‘at home’ in Lubbock.

We moved to a new home by Christmas and hosted that for all the family. Mom and Dad and brother Mike and Kirk’s fiance. Evan was not thriving well, he could not eat and breath at the same time, and burned everything he took in trying to breath. I stupidly agreed to his first immunizations, and he had a horrible reaction the the DPT and MMR-

A couple of days after Christmas, the boys were playing with a new friend across the street, Lee came running in the house screaming Brian was hurt, bad. A little Tikes car had fallen on him.He had a compound fracture of his arm- both bones. (he had weak bones from that damned undiagnosed celiac)

Sometime during this time of tribulation, I was in conversation with my still mourning mom, she voiced a concern my cousin had for me. My cousin herself had been through some stress, a divorce, a move, a job change, and per some counseling advice and a Readers Digest article, I was due a nervous breakdown According to the experts having more than 3 major life changes, good or bad, you were in danger. I had at least 10, mostly bad, which got you more points.

I look back at this time, and about a year beyond of a bit more and remember the sadness, but not despair. I remember the loss of dreams, and even some hope, but not faith. I know I prayed for healing of my brother, and cried the healing was not for us to experience. I remember my concern for my children’s health even the fear of losing them, yet never afraid. I cried, I sobbed, I questioned why. I prayed. Yet I never panicked. Never did I lose my mind, my heart, my strength. I was actually stronger then,than I think I ever was. I had THAT peace.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Evan has something about him that blesses those who know him. Celiac is EASY to fix, just don’t eat wheat and we are healthy. All of grandchildren who have Celiac have not had to endure the illness and damages from undiagnosed Celiac, as Brian did.

Brian is a healthy strong brilliant godly husband and father. Bones heal.Heck, all my boys are Godly Men!

Kirk’s daughter is a gorgeous successful mother of 2 daughters.

Evan choked on food when he was 10 months, and because I had gavage fed him I was able to assist the paramedics in finding his airway, when they could not.

Evan was almost 9lbs when he was born, this weight sustained him during the time he could not eat well.

I am an expert on gluten free living, and have somewhat of an income from that.

In all things, even the most heartbreaking, I can rejoice. Tribulation is for a moment, and that peace that passes human understanding is eternal in Him.

John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”If you don’t have that peace, it is not hard to get– It is a gift.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,