Rebounding

A few weeks ago my doctor found issues going on in my body. After following his instructions several of those issues have greatly improved. However, my lymphatic system had not changed. My brother Mark reminded me that rebounding is one of the best ways to flush out the lymphatic system. My doctor recommended I get a lymphatic massage. I went on line to read up on the lymphatic massage. Among those listed as vitally needing that particular massage were those who are sedentary. That lit my light bulb! I KNOW that exercising is important but for some time have not been motivated to move! Moving would make the lymphatic system do what it is supposed to do.

I have started using the rebounder that sits in my basement. To keep myself motivated I have to read more about it. Unfortunately I gave my book away, but thank goodness for search engines on the computer!

Here are just a few bits of information I find interesting.

• Gently bouncing on a rebounder for two minutes every hour is an ideal protocol for defence against cancer. Within just two minutes the entire lymphatic system is flushed, creating a demand for more lymphocytes, including killer T-cells. The white blood-cell count is approximately tripled during this two-minute rebounding session. Many cancer-killing potions (such as hydrogen peroxide) are produced more efficiently while a patient is rebounding.



• Rebounding exercise also strengthens each cell of the body so that healing can occur. Every process of every cell is enhanced allowing each organ to do its job more efficiently: digestion and absorption are enhanced; elimination is improved, thus removing more toxins from the body; and the body is relaxed and de-stressed and healing chemicals are produced.



• It increases the capacity for breathing. It circulates more oxygen to the tissues.It helps combat depression. It helps normalize your blood pressure. It helps prevent cardiovascular disease. It increases the activity of the red bone marrow in the production of red blood cells. It aids lymphatic circulation, as well as blood flow in the veins of the circulatory system. It lowers elevated cholesterol and triglyceride levels. It stimulates the metabolism, thereby reducing the likelihood of obesity.It tones up the glandular system, especially the thyroid to increase its output. It improves coordination throughout the body.It promotes increased muscle fiber tone. It offers relief from neck and back pains, headaches, and other pain caused by lack of exercise. It enhances digestion and elimination processes. It allows for easier relaxation and sleep. It results in a better mental performance, with sharper learning processes. It relieves fatigue and menstrual discomfort for women. It minimizes the number of colds, allergies, digestive disturbances, and abdominal problems. It tends to slow down aging.



• Children instinctively enjoy jumping around. They take to mini-trampolines like fish to water. One of the best things you can do to help instill the love of exercise in your child is buying a mini-trampoline, which sits around in the house and is always available for family members to use. Jumping on a mini-trampoline is one small step we can take toward solving our national epidemic of diabetes and obesity among children.

Those are all copy and pasted from several sources. Look up rebounding and get moving....and

Please help keep me motivated! :?)

Part of what makes it enjoyable for me is that I am using Vanessa-Mae's album Storm to workout with! It is great!

So Little Time and So Much to Do

A few days ago a friend of mine posted these words as her status on Facebook. Immediately upon reading those words my mind started singing the song! Since then it is either going through my mind or I am literally singing it over and over!

It is a song I chose to sing almost every time I was asked to sing a solo at a missionary service! You see, it is a very, very, very old song and I am afraid it will be a lost song. My mom sang this song at General Assembly in 1960. She is the only person I have ever heard sing the song besides me. The words of the song are laying heavy on my heart this week. They are so very true!

Souls all around us are dying, traveling the road down to hell;

Oh! how our hearts should be crying, Salvation's story to tell. Someone is dying each moment, What if we've failed to be true To tell them about Christ's atonement? There's so little time and so much to do.

Chorus:

So little time and so much to do! God help us all at our posts to be true. Tell them this story:"Christ died for you!" There's so little time and so much to do.

On every hand you are seeing The devil at work night and day; Trying to wreck ev'ry being Who would follow the Calvary way, Trading his home in the glory For a pleasure in sin to pursue, We must proclaim Calv'ry's story, There's so little time and so much to do.

Come unto Me, all ye weary Who labor, and I'll give you rest; Beneath the lights sin is drearey; Come unto Me and be blest. The time for Christ's coming is nearing; The signs of the time say He's due; So let's preach the Word without fearing, There's so little time and so much to do.

Chelsea Stockwell 1936

Prayer Shawl

A few weeks ago my friend, Mabeth, mentioned a prayer shawl for the second time. I had not heard of a prayer shawl and asked her about it. Being an avid crocheter and a woman of prayer it just sounded like something I should know about. Mabeth was faithful to answer back with a good description about the ministry. The comment she made that appealed to me the most was, " It speaks of God's covering of His Bride, and it really creates a little "closet" for intimacy with Him. Jesus used one . . . "

I got on line and found patterns and all sorts of stories about what is happening with all the prayer shawls women(for the most part) are crocheting and knitting.

I would say that my favorite explanation was on this site ~ http://www.hopeofisrael.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=63&Itemid=30

I will have to tell you I got a little excited at the idea of making a prayer shawl for myself or for someone else! I started praying that God would lead me as to who to make one for and to designate the color for me to use. One of the sites I had read about it talked about the meaning of the colors(though I am not really sure how Biblical that is!)

I had some promised articles to finish up before getting started. One was actually something for myself. Gary bought an outdoor chair to put in our bedroom in the apartment in California. It works great for him to sit in and put his shoes and socks on in the morning. However, there was just something about that "outdoor" chair in my bedroom that was not sitting right with me! I determined I would make an afghan to match the bedspread to cover that chair and make it look a little more "homey". My plan was to only work on it while in Missouri and surprise Gary with it. I started it in January and was not able to finish it up with the hospital visits, the nursing home visits and the eventual passing of my dad. I finally finished it right before coming out to California a few days ago. As I was seeing that I was going to get it done I was getting very excited about who and what I was going to do about the prayer shawl!

Two things had happened that had made me even more excited about it. One is that I went shopping for yarn at WalMart and lo and behold~they have a whole pattern book dedicated to prayer shawls! I was shocked! Added to that, my friend, Margaret, had received a prayer shawl as a gift. A few days after receiving it her mother passed away. She found she was cuddling with that prayer shawl and sensed God's comfort through it. You see, the lady who had made it for her had felt led by our Father to make it for a very special purpose for Margaret and prayed over it while she made it.

As I was finishing up my little surprise afghan to bring to California it dawned on me~"Wait a minute, I don't have to follow some specific prayer shawl instruction! I have been making prayer "shawls" for years!" You see, I have made literally hundreds of afghans for others...I have prayed over the people to whom those afghans, or baby blankets were going to. I have told people that they were to use those as reminders God's love wrapped around them as they wrapped up in those afghans! I looked at the afghan I was making for myself. I had never prayed over one I made for me! This afghan was going to be on a chair I often use for my personal encounter times in the Word and with my loving Father! This afghan was going to be on the chair that my husband sits on daily before leaving for work!

When I finished the afghan I laid it across my bed and knelt beside it and prayed that God would bless it as it will be my prayer shawl in Rancho Cucamonga. I prayed that my husband would feel God's love as he sits on it in the morning.

Yes, I am out here in California now...and I have started a new project. I am making a white baby blanket. We just found out that our youngest son and wife are expecting a baby in October. Though I have prayed over all the other baby blankets I have made I have never been as specific in those prayers. In choosing white I am praying that righteosness and purity are a part of this childs identity. I am praying that innocence, peace, virtue, gentleness, perfection(holiness), reverence and humility define the kind of life this child will live.

Larry Bryant

Dear Friends,For some of you this is news, for others it is information you have been waiting for. Friday night at 8:10 my father, Larry Bryant, crossed over to rejoice with his Redeemer! We feel the agony of his absence even now, but are rejoicing knowing he is no longer suffering with pain nor is his mind playing tricks on him to cause confusion.

As Mom, Marilyn and I caressed him in his last breaths we envisioned him crossing over and beginning to dance with joy!

Visitation for my Dad will be on Tuesday evening March 3

Langsford Funeral Home

115 SW 3rd St.

Lee's Summit, Mo 64063

6:30 - 8:30 PM

The funeral will be held on Wednesday afternoon March 4

New Beginnings Church of the Nazarene

601 NW Libby Lee's Summit, Mo

1:00 PM

In liu of flowers memorials could be sent to

Nazarene World Missions

Global Ministry Center

17001 Prairie Star Parkway

Lenexa, KS 66220

Getting Christmas

After hearing yesterday's sermon I got in the mood to re-visit a book I have read through a few times, Reflecting God. I ran across something I wish I would have blogged in December!

In these days of confused and frantic longing for God, gods, some god, any god, despair rises like a dark tide. The efforts of the human race to exist in autonomy have failed.

How do we pack the frantic search for spiritual truth into the New York Times time capsule? Whatever we choose to represent these times of empty hearts and failed gods, we must include something that represents another group of people: those who have anchored their hopes in the God of the Bible. Those who have turned to Jesus Christ for new life, hope, and salvation.

There are those among us who do not dwell in the land C. S Lewis described as "always December but never Christmas." They have found the deeper spiritual life "in Christ."

Not enticed by get-rich gimmicks, these souls are content with bread and bed and roof and family circle.

Not tempted by impromptu messiahs, they walk with the confident pace of those who know a wise and gentle Shepherd who leads them to still waters and green pastures.

Not tortured by fears of tomorrow, they face the future like the sea at rest.

Not despairing because of past shame, they rejoice in the grace of sins freely forgiven.

Not devoured by lust, they keep the sensual subordinate to sanctity.

Not disillusioned by pain they embrace the assurance that God will surely use their suffering redemptively.

Not devastated by rootlessness, they build on a sure foundation.

Not destroyed by selfishness, they pour out their lives for Christ and others.

These optimistic pilgrims have discovered that holiness and happiness are twins. With Thomas Kelly they have found the joys of the holy life ravishing and its peace profound. Their secret is described in the Bible. They are the ones who, "with unveiled faces, see...the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, (and) are being transformed into the same image form one degree of glory to another"(2 Cor. 3:18)

Dad

Yesterday was an extremely rough day for my dad. We were not sure what was going on! What a delight to come in at breakfast time and find Dad feeding himself and actually able to talk. Things he was not able to do yesterday!

Thank you for your prayers!

After breakfast I read some Psalms to him. Then I took an old Hymnal and he and I sang one hymn after another. I looked....he did not have to!!!!!

My sister Marilyn came in later and did some more singing with him. This afternoon my mom did even more singing! Interestingly enough all three of us chose a family favorite, "Estoy Alegre"~"I Am Happy", a chorus we all like to sing in Spanish.

Another favorite all three of us ended out picking was "Heavenly Sunlight" These times of singing seem to delight my dad. Though we could not hear him singing all the words, we could see that he was singing them!

We have been so grateful for all the visits Dad has gotten from Debbie.

She has been faithful to go to my parent's home to bathe my dad for several months. What a blessing she has been.

Thank God for people like Marcia who is always ever so ready to help in our times of need!

We serve an awesome God!

...where we can serve You best

What a day yesterday!

I got over to Mom and Dad's house around 11:30 in the morning. I brought them breakfast from IHOP. We were to have our last breakfast at the house before taking Dad to the hospital.

Dad prayed over the meal.

I had a hard time holding back the tears as he prayed,

"Help us to know what place to go today where we can serve You the best."

He will be such a blessing!

It was a sad day as we spent hours in the hospital getting Dad admitted. So much of his mind is gone. So many statements he made were so confusing to us. He was so confused.

Yet, I cannot EVER forget his wise prayer. I must remember to pray that on a daily basis.!