A Touch of Encouragement

I wish you healing and wellness. I have overcome a great deal of emotional pain in my lifetime caused by several emotionally cruel people, unfortunately. I wish those kind of feelings did not occurr in people, but apparently most of us are vulnerable to being irritable or even mean & cruel to others when a bad mood hits us. I had to put an ocean between me & my mother because of her e veryday cruelty to me & my sister & my father while I was growing up. I could never be mean like that,e so I know God gave me a good heart and a sweet spirit. I am also the only Christian in my family. I want to encourage you to be strong in your faith and to know God does watch over his own (well, I have come to find out my Guardian Angel is Archangel Michael Himself, who told me when He saved my life when my ex-husband tried to kill me in our living-room after I told him I wanted a divorce that He is my Guardian Angel because my name 'Isa' means The Jesus Christ in Arabic and Farci (Persian language they speak in Iran) and therefore I am entitiled to His protection! I was blown away after Michael knocked my ex-husband out in our living-room while I was being attacked by him. Never underestimate the power of the Heavenly Realms, because it is real and it is there for those of us who belong to God. If you are not sure you are saved, all you have to do to join our protected ranks is to say in your private space: "Jesus, I accept you as my Lord and Savior, and I accept that you died for all my sins on the Cross. I believe in the Trinity of the Father, the Son & the Holy Spirit and am willing to give my Spirit to be with You all my life and after death in Heaven as well." Just say those words and mean them, and you will always, even after death be under His wing. The Bible says, paraphrased: 'Do not be afraid of those who can hurt your body; be more concerned about the One who has the destiny of your soul.' Yes, paraphrazed. The next one is from Matthew 6:25-7:12, my favorite passage, and it reads like this in the Good News Bible version: "This is why I tell you: do not be worried about the food and drink you need in order to stay alive, or about clothes for your body. After all, isn't life worht more than food? And isn't the body worth more than clothes? Look at the birds: they do not plant seeds, gather a harvest and put it in barns; yet your Father in heaven takes care of them! Aren't you worth much more than birds? Can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it? And why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow: they do not work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that not even King Solomon with all his wealth has clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers. It is God who clothes the wild grass - grass that is here today and gone tomorrow, burned up in the oven. Won't He be all the more sure to clothe you? What little faith you have! So do not start worrying: Where will my food come from? or my drink? or my clothes? (These are the things pagans are always concerned about.) Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. Instead, be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what He requires of you, and He will provide you with all these other things. So do not worry about tomorrow; it will have enough worries of its own. There is no need to add to the troubles each day brings.
Matthew 7:7 Ask, Seek, Knock
Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks will receive, and anyone who seeks will find, and the door will be opened to him who knocks. Would any of you who are fathers give your son a stone when he asks for bread? Or would you give him a snake when he asks for a fish? As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! [Editor's note: The exclamation point shows INTENT & STATEMENT OF FACT, not a question, so that means God meant He WILL DO THAT if anyone asks with a sincere heart.And He is the same yesterday, today & tomorrow, according to the Bible, which I have read every word of, took me 30 months, though!] Do for others what you want them to do for you: this is the Law of Moses and of the teachings of the prophets. '
*God Bless All Who Read This Message!!!!!!Love All Serve All - What Would Jesus Do?***

Hi Martha,

Your story touched my heart. Thank you for sharing your story. I am sorry for the lost of your mother. I can not say that I have lost my mother, but I have lost my husband of 8 1/2 years of marriage. After waiting for 35 years to find a husband, I met my husband at church. It was our first marriage he was 32 and I was 35 years old. He was pastoring a small church and also working for a hospital. In the beginning of two years of marriage my husband became seriously ill with a rare lung condition and a heart disease from birth. He had to quit his job at the hospital and although he didn't give up pastoring the church, God sent him into the evangelistic ministry to help build churches. During that time I had to quit my job and help him because he was too weak to do much of anything for himself. Just last August 28, 2007 he lost the battle with the disease but he gain a new heart and new double lungs and he is in heaven with Jesus. The last 9 weeks of his life he was in the hospital and two donor organs (which were perfect matches for him) became available and because his health had deteriorated the doctors chose not to give him the donated organs. A day before he was put on life support, he wrote a song and sung it to me and all the nurses and to one of his friends. He was on life support for two and a half weeks. The doctors came to me and told me the Friday before his death that they would be removing him off of life support by the following Thursday if he had not improved well he went home to be with the Lord that Tuesday. There was nothing more they could do. They even went and told him, he was aware of his condition but he kept on fighting to live. He asked his doctors to not give up on him. I was in shock that they would tell a patient to improve or else they would take him off life support. Anyway, for those nine weeks I was in the hospital by his side, never left him. Never had anyone volunteer to give me some relief or stay so I could get some rest. Our best friends blamed me for not praying the right way or believing for his healing as his health was declining and when I needed them the most to lift me up in prayer and to support him in prayer on the day just a few hours before he died I was blamed for not believing in his healing or praying the right way. I would do it all over again if he was here. I prayed and I even begged God to let him live. I was so exhausted, had not eaten in days and do not remember when the last time I had sleep. During all of this my mom was ill and placed on life support at a different hospital in town. Before his death she had got to come home from the hospital. I was unable to go be with her but told my dad to let her know I loved her and told my dad my responsibility was to be with my husband. My dad understood. Although I loved my mom, I also loved my husband, I am glad no one ask me to choose.
When my husband died I was with him. The next day, people
from my bible study, church, friends, and yes, some family members told me as well as on the day of my husband's funeral "now you can go find you another man to marry there is one out there for you", even as they were putting dirt on top of the casket I was asked, "If you get remarried are you going to be buried next to your husband or your new husband?" I am like what? Did I just hear this? One lady who drove me to the funeral home on the day of the funeral told me in the car about a man at church that was single and interested in me and that I should consider marrying him because he was interested in me. I told her to pull the car over and I would walk to the funeral home. Not even a day after the funeral I received a phone call as a lady drove by my house and on her cell phone called me and asked me who was the man I was allowing to stay at my home last night and she said she saw that he was still there? Was it my boyfriend? She claimed she was driving past my house to ask me to go to church with her and her daughter, but seeing that I had a car in my driveway she felt that it be better I spend it with that man. I had a missionary friend who came to stay with me and she wanted to help me to get all of my husband's medical equipment ready for pick up the next day so I would not be charged for it. She stayed with me not no man. They know me better than that. I thought how could they think such as that? It's been almost seven months since his death and his medical bills exceeded $2 million dollars and I am still trying to fight the insurance to pay for them. Because I had to leave my job 8 and a half years ago,to take care of my husband full-time, I am having trouble with finding an employer to hire me. We did not have burial insurance, but God came through and my husband had a nice funeral. We had no money nor did my husband have a life insurance policy because no one would insure him because of his medical condition. I have been looking for a job to pay my mortgage and bills, but every time I go for an interview I get told I must grieve my husband for a year and then after a year go look and find a job. I had to place on my resume that I was a caregiver, Youth Pastor, and church secretary (All Volunteer of course) but when they read my resume and checked my application that I had checked off that I am a widow they put two and two together and tell me I should take a year off to grieve my husband. I have grieved my husband but I know he is in a better place than me. These past seven months I have made it by the grace of God, He has taken care of me and my bills. But I desire to get back to work. I do not live on welfare or food stamps or public assistance but I desire to work I do not want to get on those things as I have experience to work. People criticize me when they see I do not have a job yet. I am trying though. I find most people are jealous of me and that is why they say such things. I have learned that there has to be a breaking away from bad influences even if it meant me leaving my church and my friends, family, and our weekly bible study. I have found a new church, new friends who love me and they do not tell lies or gossip about others. They are not jealous of me they lift me up and encourage me. I have compassion for those people and friends and family who have said things about me falsely and at such a time I needed someone they were not there for me. I do forgive them and pray for them to have a change of heart, mind and soul. I am not sure what they are going through but I will not tell lies or share gossip with others about them. After my husband passed away my mother went into the hospital back on life support, she is now at home and doing better. My older brother is not well and my younger brother is having health problems as well. My dad is not in well health but he seems to take care of my mom very well. Jealousy can destroy friendships and family. It's also hurtful. I cried out to God and asked Him to help me understand why they accused me of these things and how come they told these lies and gossip about me after my husband was in the grave. And the Lord told me that they were jealous cause he had blessed me with a nice home and they are still trying to figure out why I am so blessed and how He is blessing me and keeping me because I am a true servant of God and I am always giving of my heart to help someone. I thank you for sharing your story with me, because in that we do not really know what others are going through but we do not have to be in human and take it out on that person. I pray you will be praying for me as I will be praying for you. I do not know what it is to loose a mother, because I have not lost my mother, but I have lost my husband who was my best friend and my only lover other than Jesus Christ.And if anyone wants to know when my husband went home to be with the Lord, God the Father became my husband and he's the only man in my life and will forever be. May God bless you Martha for sharing your story with others!

I read your story and it made me very sad,, It is true about how everyone doesn't know what someone else may be going thru.. I went thru a divorce trying to be a single mom working two jobs. well the girls that i started working with was jealous of me because the position I had gotten as cake decorator one of the girls that had worked for the store had been wanting that position for along time... So eventually she thru such a fit they gave it to her , and moved me to deli where she had been placed... Anyways to make along story short ,,my dad had a stroke ,,, he was my only help during the hard times of my divorce.. moving about till I could finely get setteled somewhere.. As I was packing my stuff in my apartment I got evicted from in the dark at night with no electric..
God asked me Tama why aren't you mad , and cussing and just asking Me or blaming ME" god said. I said it's not your fault I am going thru so much... I said and I wouldn't even think to blame you.. So I went to my DAds with my little boy and MY dad says lets go by the rent house to check on my renters to see if they have the rent. WEll the house was dark,, the lights weren't on and we looked thru the window of my dads rent house and the people had moved out and skipped out on the rent and God said Tama here is your new home.. MY dad said well looks like yOU and my little boy Kash can just move in here now...>>> IN one hour after GOd knew I felt helpless He gave me another place to live and every thing has gotten better for me.. BUT I will not ever forget my thoughts with God...
That is my story of how you just never know the problems in someone elses life.. you should always be kind and smile and share the warmth from your heart with others>>>

hello ms. m. thank you for that heart-felt deep story im so glad i still have my mom (she's my heart)and i wont know wat to do think or say without her.(like u dscribed tht u packed everything to go on the plane.

Thank you Martha for sharing that. I too lost my mom in 2004 and like Tara said, I don't think I will ever get over it either. I think I lost a piece of my soul that day that I may not recover. It is so true to give people the benefit of the doubt. That's why people shouldn't judge others, because you never know what they are going through. Everyone reacts differently to everything. Everyone is always doing the best that they can with the experience and knowledge they have acquired. I am so sorry for your loss and for not beibg there when it happened. I wasn't there either and am still beating myself up for it. I couldn't be at Hospice every minute and I don't think I could have handled watching my mom die. I might have died too. Again, I appreciate your sharing. It helps me a little bit to know that I am not alone. I just wish that it didn't interfere in my life in a such a way that I am not really living anymore. I hope that you have learned to cope in better ways than I have.

Thankyou for sharing your experience,but it made me feel very sad because I lost my mother, and I don't know if I will ever get over it. I am aware that other people are goin thru something in their lives, because my mother used to give me the same words of advice: you never know what is going on in someone else's life.

Sorry about your mom... i know how thatfeels... you are so true... everyone thinks only for themselves not realize that someone could be going through something worst then what youare going through

WOW, I was mean't to read this, You are so right!!! You are a beautiful Child of GOD and I feel your Pain.
Namaste
Lonnie

My mother and I are real close and this really touched me. I don't know what I would do it anything happend to her. She is 73 years old and still working at a day care. I think this helps her. But it I can't get her on the phone I am at her house. You just never know when God will take you home. Thank you for the story I am going to let mom see it.

hello Martha, i just read ur messaege and i am deeply touched.i do see ur mesages in my spam and i delete all never opened any except for today.and i am so glad i did. i lost my Dad a long time ago and presently fending for a family of six(6)including Mum.i struggled with relationships hoping to fing the only true friend who will always be there for me. but i was getting lost the more.i am 27yrs now and will be getting married to a wonderful loving Angel God sent to rescue me,he showed me that i can still be what i want to be.i am a Nurse/Midwife with an Adv. dip. in DTP about to resume in College of Medicine in my country.i am givin this testimony so that others can learn to give others listening ears and opportunity to express themselves.i appreciate this opportunity.my name means gift and i want pple to grab this gift so that their lives will be full.thanks Martha for this page and the inspirations. i love you.

It's very sad how people can be so rude and insensitive. I had a similar situation happen to me. My mother in law had a stroke that caused her to suffer for a very long time ending in her death. It was a very hard time in our lives and 2 days before she passed away my son came home from school with head lice. I was doing eveything I could to hold it together. I went to the drug store to buy lice shampoo instead of being able to grieve they way I felt I should be grieving. While at the store with my son I picked up what I needed and went to the check out. I stood in line trying not to cry when this women walked up and cut in line. I said excuse me but there is a line. She turned around and as nasty as she could she said why are you in such a hury maybe you need to just slow yourself down. Luckily I had my child with me. I put the items down and walked out. I was not going to tell her my problems but I know that someday someone will do it to her and she will wonder why people can be so hurtful.

Thank you for sharing your sad story with us.
I thank God for the support you had from strangers during the time you were flying. May your heart be healed of the pain you are going through about your loving Mother who is in Heaven.

Thank you for that reminder...that is one of the principles that I try to remember everyday in this busy world that we live in. "You never know what someone else is going through".
Thank you Martha.....

Iam so thankful for the message in this story. Ilost my father on Sept. 25,2007. I was my daddy's little girl. He was diagnosed with melanoma cancer in his eye in Jan.2007. The doctors at Duke told us they had got it all, but by July he couldn't even go out & be in the sun because he would break out into sweating swells. When he got back to Duke on Sept.20, 2007 the cancer was already in his liver. He turned yellow and was swelling really big. I thank God I had a father like him, because when we bought him home on Sept.23 he told us he was ready to go home. That is the hardest thing you ever have to do is see the man that raised you & cared for you die. But I know 1 day I will see him agagin.

Thank you for sharing your story, today I was feeling very sorry for myself, i lost my husband of 30 years to cancer 4 months ago, he put up a good fight for four years, we won some batles but lost the war, right know i dont mind telling you that my faith is just a little shaken, had to many losses to this desease,but I am happy to say that your story and everybody's comments helped.

Thank you very much for your faith, your are very lucky.

Dear Martha

Thank you for that story! I teared as I read your story
thinking if I was there you wouldn't had to be alone and
you are right "You never know what someone else is going
thur" I have had a alot of struggles and people ask me how
do you go on, how do you always manage to keep smiling like nothings wrong? I tell them my moms words since I was little "GOd only puts on your shouldners what you can handle" and when the going gets tough that what I try to
focus on and just keep praying to God to please be by my side thur this all. I have always reached out to others to help them in any way I can and continue to and people ask why when I have my own problems do I invovle myself in others and I tell them its because God only puts on your
shouldners what you can handle and this is what he wants me to do, help others in need..so I do! I wish I was on that plane with you to hold your hand and tell you I was there for you. I am truly sorry of your loss of your mom but when you think of her remember all the happy times and giggles you had and God will help you thur. I will
pray for you . Love: tami

Dear Martha, If I would have been on that plane with you I would have had to give you a hug. I lost my Mother two years ago, and I realize no matter how old we are it's very hard to lose a parent. I am a Mother and Grandmother, and I cried like a baby when she slipped away. I was sitting with her holding her hand and rubbing her forearm and I watched her take her last breath. I miss her like crazy and not a day goes by that I don't think about her, and I thank God that He chose her to be my Mother.
Everytime I read your blog or watch your video, I feel like I have been touched by an Angel. Thank you so very much.

You just made me cry. I too lost my mom, she passed away in 2004. You are very inspirational to me. You are a daily dose of medicine. It's amazing how you can reciceve theraphy through someone elses testimonies if you just listen. I hope you get the opportunity to read some of the comments left by people because you really are helping us through your experiences. Thank you.

Dearest Martha,My MOM is in advanced stages of alziemer's.Sometimes i pray that GOD take her,then i sit and reality sits in,at least I can hug ,hold and kiss her.I don't want to lose her.You have alot of strngth and you are so inspirational to me.I'm so blessed to have found you on the web.You certainly make my day.Again thank you.YOU ARE VERY COURAGEOUS A LADY OF DIGNITY.GOD BLESS YOU
Bernadette Paradis

Whispers deep
Awake and asleep
Smile and no one will know
Just smile and let it go
The darkness within
Shadows that dim
Seeker can’t find
The light in the mind
So many tears
Ignore the fears
Try not to think
Pull back from the brink
Smile and put on the show
Just smile and let it go

So often I find myself putting on a show for the world. Whether it is pride, the fear of being pitied or simply my father's words when I was a child in a brace learning to face the stares of the world: "No one likes to see pain. Smile, even when you are hurting, because the one you smile at may be hurting more than you are and really need that smile." I don't know. But I do know this, this site has put my own pain into perspective again and reminded me of my father's words. No matter how overwhelming my own pain can be, there are always others hurting more. I am Blessed! Thank you!

oh how true! We never do know do we?
Thank you for this humbling message.

Laura

Oh, My word, what a profound message today.
Our thanks seems to not be enough.
I am with a spouse of 52 years of marriage going through chemo for 5th session this week. No one suspects our daily trials as we go to the cancer center. No one suspects my heart is so heavy. Our greetings of cheer LIE our concerns in his daily struggle. He has a diagnoses of lung cancer, a non smoker. His career related illness, 40 years in electronics repairs of service to others. In retirement now. Oh, they may suspect his weight loss, or wearing pretty Christmas flannel pajamas. But we get out there in public holding hands, and smiling. Just to share. Thank you so much. I found this site, or it "found" me. Grateful for that. Mamie

With all the struggles I'm going thru right now. I understand that someone else out there is struggling just as much if not more than I am. Thank you for all the inspirations.

thank you for sharing this story.