How Are You? How Was Your Day? (Tell Us What Happened And What's On Your Mind.)

[seoulsearch]

It's thursday,
today has been interesting.
I did get a call that we've been waiting on for a very long while (scheduling for medical related stuff) and that was unexpected (and I must say I was excited- hey, doesn't take much to make me happy, and don't we all want a happy mama? )
I remembered to pray before reacting to a child's um "problem" and that truly did make a big difference. If not in that situation, at least in how I moved forward with things, which helped me A LOT.
It's getting late and I still need to make dinner, but at least there is dinner to make and my kids are getting better at being grateful for that (even on nights when it comes even later than now).

How was your day?

I'm so glad you got your medical-related call. I think we all know how frustrating (and worrying) that can be! Hope it was good news!

And may I ask, what was this scrumptious new dinner that you were able to try?

 

[Godsgirl1983]

And may I ask, what was this scrumptious new dinner that you were able to try?

Hamburger stroganoff.
I usually do a beef stroganoff just kind of winging the recipe. A local convenience store carries take home meals and theirs uses ground beef and is really good. The last time I tried beef stroganoff with actual beef cutlets was a flop. So, I pulled up some hamburger stroganoff recipes and photos came up. I let my daughter pick by photo and I read through 6-8 recipes and we both kept going back to this one particular one (her by picture, me by reading through it )
It's very close to what I was wanting.

 

[Eli1]

Thank you God for another beautiful summer.
Thank you for all the seasons and the beauty that you put forth for us in Your Creation.

 

[Eli1]

Well, i managed to get another day on the water since the weather was 80 degrees today.
Tomorrow, we go for a bike ride God willing.
How are you all doing?

 

[Eli1]

Yesterday and today was chores around the house with cleaning and organizing everything in the house and outside. Vacuumed the cars and i gave my father and kids a haircut.
Because i know them, i charged them only $100.
Took my mother to the hospital for her scheduled visit today, also did some bloodwork myself and then in the afternoon was doing some road test driving with my kids.
Food and coffee in-between at restaurants.
Also, i have mentioned that i do go to Protestant churches.
This one here did a 'Worship under the stars" service which one of my wife's friends told us.
I'm not sure exactly where this Protestant church fits in denominations because they don't have church artwork like Catholics or Orthodox, but the priest does wear a robe which is non-typical for most Protestant churches that i've seen. Maybe they are a hybrid, i didn't get a chance to do a whole tour inside because it was late a night.
They play the guitar, sing songs and read the Bible outside of the church during the service which starts at sunset.
Playing the guitar is also not something a Catholic church does typically. They have a choir instead.
Very nice atmosphere and you feel the Spirit being under the stars at night.

 

[Magenta]

Yesterday and today was chores around the house with cleaning and organizing everything in the house and outside. Vacuumed the cars and i gave my father and kids a haircut.
Because i know them, i charged them only $100.
Took my mother to the hospital for her scheduled visit today, also did some bloodwork myself and then in the afternoon was doing some road test driving with my kids.
Food and coffee in-between at restaurants.
Also, i have mentioned that i do go to Protestant churches.
This one here did a 'Worship under the stars" service which one of my wife's friends told us.
I'm not sure exactly where this Protestant church fits in denominations because they don't have church artwork like Catholics or Orthodox, but the priest does wear a robe which is non-typical for most Protestant churches that i've seen. Maybe they are a hybrid, i didn't get a chance to do a whole tour inside because it was late a night.
They play the guitar, sing songs and read the Bible outside of the church during the service which starts at sunset.
Playing the guitar is also not something a Catholic church does typically. They have a choir instead.
Very nice atmosphere and you feel the Spirit being under the stars at night.

View attachment 267412

After my conversion I visited a number of different churches and one of the Catholic churches I went to in my neighbourhood did have modern praise and worship with a few people leading, off to the side (not front and center like many prottie churches) one playing guitar. I actually remembered the guitarist guy from some 12 step program or another (probably AA). Lutherans wear the robes and all that jazz, and possibly Anglicans too. I never stuck around those churches long as they were too Catholic for me LOL. You have had a very busy day!!!

I did make it out for coffee today, but other than that, a fairly relaxed day working on my panel designs

 

[Eli1]

After my conversion I visited a number of different churches and one of the Catholic churches I went to in my neighbourhood did have modern praise and worship with a few people leading, off to the side (not front and center like many prottie churches) one playing guitar. I actually remembered the guitarist guy from some 12 step program or another (probably AA). Lutherans wear the robes and all that jazz, and possibly Anglicans too. I never stuck around those churches long as they were too Catholic for me LOL. You have had a very busy day!!!

Well, to me as an outside observer everything falls under some flavor of Protestant and i also remember your article from a year ago that there aren't thousands of Protestant denominations but more like close to 50 or maybe 100.
But the thing is, when i visit these places i treat people as individuals first and based on that you have an idea of the crowd.
For example one guy told me once that the Planet Earth had "bowels" and that's where actual Hell is.
I was like oooooookay buddy.
But there's always nice people too like with every group.
I did a search for Lutherans and Anglicans and you are right, they do wear robes which closely resemble Catholics.
Despite all these changes and details that may be very obvious to you, i don't personally see them and i'd like to treat them as fellow Christians first.

 

[Magenta]

I did have a bit of a funny moment on my way to the coffee shop... it is in a corner mall type
set-up, with outdoor seating partially blocking the walkways... and as I was approaching the
smoke and vape shop on my way to Starbucks, a guy was exiting that shop with his bicycle,
and tried to hold the door open for me, which meant he was completely blocking my path LOL.
I politely declined his gentlemanly gesture and added, "I quit!" To which he replied, "Fair enough."
Heh, I wonder what he thought I had quit. I never did vape. Anyways, I carried on saying, "Yay me." Heh.

 

[Magenta]

Well, to me as an outside observer everything falls under some flavor of Protestant and i also remember your article from a year ago that there aren't thousands of Protestant denominations but more like close to 50 or maybe 100.
But the thing is, when i visit these places i treat people as individuals first and based on that you have an idea of the crowd.
For example one guy told me once that the Planet Earth had "bowels" and that's where actual Hell is.
I was like oooooookay buddy.
But there's always nice people too like with every group.
I did a search for Lutherans and Anglicans and you are right, they do wear robes which closely resemble Catholics.
Despite all these changes and details that may be very obvious to you, i don't personally see them and I'd like to treat them as fellow Christians first.

Yes, I have heard of that bowels idea. One guy was adamant that hell was under France. LOL. Anyways, that particular Catholic church holds a very dear place in my heart, because of an elderly priest that was visiting and listening to confessions one of the days I happened by. It was a Saturday, and when he heard me say it had been 33 years since my last confession, he asked me to wait until he was finished, after which we went into a back room (now now, nothing shady going on there heh) and we spoke to each other for well over half an hour, probably 45 minutes. It was just before my conversion. He was so kind. I even returned trying to find him but to no avail. Perhaps he was one of those angels. And I do not say that about not sticking around Lutheran or Anglican churches to be offensive. It's just that my upbringing was Catholic, and I departed that as a teen and have no zero zip nada desire to return to it. The Lutheran church I attended was mostly for a wedding where the couple had sort of enlisted me to be their photographer. I'd had no contact with Lutherans prior to that, and I found the service and garb and all that interesting, and of course I do understand that Luther did not protest the garb but only the abuses of the church, mostly indulgences, and kicked against anything that denied the Grace of God which Catholicism very much does with all its legalism. So Anglicans and Lutherans very much follow the same liturgical outline for the year which many others do also even if more loosely.

 

[Magenta]

One guy was adamant that hell was under France.

He had maps and everything .

 

[Eli1]

Yes, I have heard of that bowels idea. One guy was adamant that hell was under France. LOL. Anyways, that particular Catholic church holds a very dear place in my heart, because of an elderly priest that was visiting and listening to confessions one of the days I happened by. It was a Saturday, and when he heard me say it had been 33 years since my last confession, he asked me to wait until he was finished, after which we went into a back room (now now, nothing shady going on there heh) and we spoke to each other for well over half an hour, probably 45 minutes. It was just before my conversion. He was so kind. I even returned trying to find him but to no avail. Perhaps he was one of those angels. And I do not say that about not sticking around Lutheran or Anglican churches to be offensive. It's just that my upbringing was Catholic, and I departed that as a teen and have no zero zip nada desire to return to it. The Lutheran church I attended was mostly for a wedding where the couple had sort of enlisted me to be their photographer. I'd had no contact with Lutherans prior to that, and I found the service and garb and all that interesting, and of course I do understand that Luther did not protest the garb but only the abuses of the church, mostly indulgences, and kicked against anything that denied the Grace of God which Catholicism very much does with all its legalism. So Anglicans and Lutherans very much follow the same liturgical outline for the year which many others do also even if more loosely.

Hell is under France eh?
Very beautiful story about that elderly priest and you are right, some people come our way at certain moments like angels.
I think that if you treat people as individuals first and not as an institution you will find that most of their "walls" drop down and they don't become legalistic. I mean some are, very hardcore, but most seem to drop the walls.
For example i went to an Egyptian Orthodox Church once and the first thing that the priest at the door told me "Sorry but you can't have communion because you're not Egyptian".
Now, any typical Protestant American would be angry and outraged by this statement, but i smiled and i told him "I don't want your communion, i am here because i saw your church on a dream and i'd like to pray".
He was taken back by this statement and immediately dropped his "walls" and said "oh okay, maybe i can talk to the head priest and make an exception for you". lol

 

[Magenta]

Hell is under France eh?
Very beautiful story about that elderly priest and you are right, some people come our way at certain moments like angels.
I think that if you treat people as individuals first and not as an institution you will find that most of their "walls" drop down and they don't become legalistic. I mean some are, very hardcore, but most seem to drop the walls.
For example i went to an Egyptian Orthodox Church once and the first thing that the priest at the door told me "Sorry but you can't have communion because you're not Egyptian".
Now, any typical Protestant American would be angry and outraged by this statement, but i smiled and i told him "I don't want your communion, i am here because i saw your church on a dream and i'd like to pray".
He was taken back by this statement and immediately dropped his "walls" and said "oh okay, maybe i can talk to the head priest and make an exception for you". lol

Did you? Heh. I wondered the same when I attended the (Catholic) funeral service for one of our very long-time professional photographers. A few of us (probably most) went from the lab and I did decide to have communion with them. I don't think anyone else did, and nobody tried to stop me LOL. Then I was the only one to go to the reception that followed. I wasn't sure if I would because I did not know exactly where it was, but someone who overheard my dilemma was kind enough to give me easy-to-follow directions and I ended up seeking them out and sitting with them in the hall. Such good fortune! They were very amiable (we shared all kinds of stories with each other which was lovely considering we were total strangers just hours earlier) and more than that, the owners of the bakery that had supplied all the desserts, so when I left, they made sure I had lots to take home with me hee hee.

 

[Eli1]

Did you? Heh. I wondered the same when I attended the (Catholic) funeral service for one of our very long-time professional photographers. A few of us (probably most) went from the lab and I did decide to have communion with them. I don't think anyone else did, and nobody tried to stop me LOL. Then I was the only one to go to the reception that followed. I wasn't sure if I would because I did not know exactly where it was, but someone who overheard my dilemma was kind enough to give me easy-to-follow directions and I ended up sitting with them in the hall. Such good fortune! They were very amiable (we shared all kinds of stories with each other which was lovely considering we were total strangers just hours earlier) and more than that, the owners of the bakery that had supplied all the desserts, so when I left, they made sure I had lots to take home with me hee hee.

That's amazing right there and it does show that on a personal level people don't hide behind an institution.

The Egyptian church did make an exception for me and i attended their Sunday service twice and they wanted to give me the Eucharist. The head priest met me and my wife and we even took a picture with them. But i told them (since it was the height of Covid back then) that i didn't want to take anything and i just wanted to pray at their church for a couple of weeks on a quiet day since i felt called to their church by a dream.
It's in this church where i experienced a miracle on a quiet Wednesday afternoon while i was praying and both my wife an i saw an angel in a very bright light.
I am glad that my wife saw it too, not to confirm that i wasn't crazy, but because God allowed her to see it.

I keep in touch with the priest over text and i even make small donations to them, but when you follow God you will find Him in the most unlikely places usually.
This is why i love to hear about miracles especially when they happen under tragedies such as war, earthquakes, diseases etc.

 

[Magenta]

That's amazing right there and it does show that on a personal level people don't hide behind an institution.

The Egyptian church did make an exception for me and i attended their Sunday service twice and they wanted to give me the Eucharist. The head priest met me and my wife and we even took a picture with them. But i told them (since it was the height of Covid back then) that i didn't want to take anything and i just wanted to pray at their church for a couple of weeks on a quiet day since i felt called to their church by a dream.
It's in this church where i experienced a miracle on a quiet Wednesday afternoon while i was praying and both my wife an i saw an angel in a very bright light.
I am glad that my wife saw it too, not to confirm that i wasn't crazy, but because God allowed her to see it.

I keep in touch with the priest over text and i even make small donations to them, but when you follow God you will find Him in the most unlikely places usually.
This is why i love to hear about miracles especially when they happen under tragedies such as war, earthquakes, diseases etc.

You know, all that (the funeral) was a few years ago (pre-covid) and in trying to better remember the church part I do recall that an usher or someone did waylay me as I went to partake of the Lord's supper just to make sure that I knew what was going on and that it was not just for anyone and everyone and that I was just going along for whatever reason without full knowledge. They had a bouncer!!! LOL. But I only had to let them know I was a Christian and then they let me pass, and they probably only asked because it was obviously my first (and only) time being there. So really it was no big deal. It was a church you might like because although I say Catholic it had a very old-world feel and hence Coptic sense to it being that it was Portuguese. And the bakery was a Portuguese bakery also. Lots of Portuguese people! And I knew nobody except the two sons whom I barely saw at all...

Any who, that is so cool that you and your wife had an other worldly vision! In a church
no less. Did anything happen following that? Like, was it a harbinger of some type?

 

[Eli1]

You know, all that (the funeral) was a few years ago (pre-covid) and in trying to better remember the church part I do recall that an usher or someone did waylay me as I went to partake of the Lord's supper just to make sure that I knew what was going on and that it was not just for anyone and everyone and that I was just going along for whatever reason without full knowledge. They had a bouncer!!! LOL. But I only had to let them know I was a Christian and then they let me pass, and they probably only asked because it was obviously my first (and only) time being there. So really it was no big deal. It was a church you might like because although I say Catholic it had a very old-world feel and hence Coptic sense to it being that it was Portuguese. And the bakery was a Portuguese bakery also. Lots of Portuguese people! And I knew nobody except the two sons whom I barely saw at all...

Any who, that is so cool that you and your wife had an other worldly vision! In a church
no less. Did anything happen following that? Like, was it a harbinger of some type?

That was actually a response to a prayer for healing of a family member. So, i cried, we both cried, and the healing happened a week after.
When i pray for others, i ask God to give them a sign or a miracle. I don't want anymore signs or miracles. I had 3 major ones in my life. I thank God for giving me these blessings but i also ask God to give blessings to others in the shape of a miracle.
Especially those who hate God. They need Him more. Those are the people who have the best testimonies too.
In the Arab forum, i even posted a clip of a Muslim whose testimony i found very touching. I think you saw it too.

I have also been to a Portuguese church by the way and we are going to a monastery which i think is primarily Portuguese.
When we go there, i might post some pictures on that church art thread.

 

[Magenta]

That was actually a response to a prayer for healing of a family member. So, i cried, we both cried, and the healing happened a week after.
When i pray for others, i ask God to give them a sign or a miracle. I don't want anymore signs or miracles. I had 3 major ones in my life. I thank God for giving me these blessings but i also ask God to give blessings to others in the shape of a miracle.
Especially those who hate God. They need Him more. Those are the people who have the best testimonies too.
In the Arab forum, i even posted a clip of a Muslim whose testimony i found very touching. I think you saw it too.

I have also been to a Portuguese church by the way and we are going to a monastery which i think is primarily Portuguese.
When we go there, i might post some pictures on that church art thread.

Praise God, and wow, that is so awesome, I am happy for your visions and the healings that happen a result of God's goodness and your desire for the healing and wellbeing of others. Yes, I did see that video you posted, I went looking for the previously Muslim Christian guy that used to work with Ravi Zacharius after I saw it but as often happens something distracted me LOL. I imagine their testimonies were similar coming from like backgrounds... his name was Nabeel Qureshi. Sadly after Ravi's passing his show went off the air due to all the info that came out about abuses he perpetrated.

 

[Magenta]

Very beautiful story about that elderly priest and you are right, some people come our way at certain moments like angels.

Thank you, I remember his name, Father John, I wonder how many of them there are? So when I had gone back wanting to talk to him some more really nobody knew who I meant because 1.) there are many Father Johns and 2.) he had been visiting and was not somebody who was normally there. And he was an old man already; I wonder how much time he had left of his Earth walk. He was very interested to hear what I had to say because I had been away for so long, as I said, thirty three years since my last confession, for I had quit the church as a teen when I was sixteen and my conversion was at the age of 49. It was summer. The year before I'd experienced a few things I rarely mention here. God spoke to me. Jesus appeared to me. But I could not believe! Previously at the age of thirty-three God had revealed His unconditional love to me and the forgiveness available through His Son... wow, that again happened in a church, and I was so grateful for the knowledge of having God's love and forgiveness because I was at a place of complete despair and inability to forgive myself at the end of my marriage. But I did not believe, and God speaking to me many years later did not move me to belief either. When I should have fallen on my face before Him, I balked. I thought I must be nuts, and worse, I wanted there to be a different God than the One True God of the Bible. And who would believe me? I could hardly believe it myself. I was already in turmoil over something that was happening, a spiritual attack online where I was doing readings for people... when God spoke to me and said, "Put this down." No still small voice for me! A booming thunderous louder-than-any-thought-I-could-ever-muster-on-my-own voice, not commanding so much as inarguably authoritative, firm... and as much as I could not believe and did not want to believe, every fiber of my being knew. But I balked. Who would believe me? Who could I talk to about this? Where could I go? I picked up the Bible a Christian friend had given me for my birthday about eleven years previously. My thought was, I will find an answer here, I will randomly open this Bible and the verse my eye falls on will be my answer. I made sure not to open it near the beginning of the book, as I did not want any of that fire and brimstone business. I think I opened to something by Paul, a paragraph that ended by basically saying the very thing I did not want to hear, that I dreaded to hear, that instilled so much fear in learning that the very thing I was engaged in was going to land me under France! I jest. You know what I mean. I did not even believe in hell. Surely this antiquated idea of hell is overblown. I chewed on it. Pondered. When God had spoken, I had seen a large apparition of His face. Later that same afternoon Jesus appeared to me. I felt the question was being put to me: would I? Could I believe? The answer was no. No, I could not. During that week I'd been having trouble sleeping, and that night ... well, that night something happened. I wish I knew what it was. Something supernatural, which I was no stranger to. But this? It instilled sheer terror in me. And nobody had answers for me. The spiritual healers, practitioners and teachers I was consorting with did not believe in God. The shamans I was studying with told me God did not exist. I had always known there was something, even as an unbeliever, I could not accept their answers. A few months later someone told me Who Jesus was. I started going to church. That was when I met Father John. He was very happy to hear my telling him of God speaking to me, of Jesus appearing to me. I was not yet a believer, but I was almost there...

 

[seoulsearch]

Well, i managed to get another day on the water since the weather was 80 degrees today.
Tomorrow, we go for a bike ride God willing.
How are you all doing?

View attachment 267345

So sorry I'm so late to the party, but I LOVED this picture.

I've always wanted to try something like this -- maybe someday, God willing.

It was very inspiring and stirred up an old long-lost bucket list wish.

Thanks so much for taking the time to post it!

 

[seoulsearch]

Hell is under France eh?
Very beautiful story about that elderly priest and you are right, some people come our way at certain moments like angels.
I think that if you treat people as individuals first and not as an institution you will find that most of their "walls" drop down and they don't become legalistic. I mean some are, very hardcore, but most seem to drop the walls.
For example i went to an Egyptian Orthodox Church once and the first thing that the priest at the door told me "Sorry but you can't have communion because you're not Egyptian".
Now, any typical Protestant American would be angry and outraged by this statement, but i smiled and i told him "I don't want your communion, i am here because i saw your church on a dream and i'd like to pray".
He was taken back by this statement and immediately dropped his "walls" and said "oh okay, maybe i can talk to the head priest and make an exception for you". lol

He had maps and everything .

This cracked me up so much!!!

Maybe this would explain what happened at the Olympics...

I was sharing this thread conversation with a friend -- and she said she could have sworn that hell was actually under New Jersey.