I am here :(

     I remember calling my dad to check in on him and hearing his Eyore voice saying “I am here.”   This would always be his response to my question, “How are you doing Dad?” I would always try to encourage him and say “Oh, you are more than ‘here.’” No matter what I said though or my comments on about how important he was in our lives---it did not seem to really matter. Dad would still convey his depression of just being ‘here.’  

   Life after Mom’s death was really sad for him and “like living in hell.” (You can read of his story in the “I Am In Hell.” 

 It was not until 20 years later that I would come to a deeper understanding of what Dad felt about the life he was living as he aged.

   In our 46 years of marriage, my husband now daily encounters his pains and disability that has him just “here.” This situation can wear both of us down. However, dear ones, understand something—we experience all of life so that we can be a light to others in the dark.  We must be the Light to the many who are in the same boat and are encountering struggles that have them feel like they are going nowhere and are just HERE.   (Notice something-- the word—NOWHERE is also NOW HERE! What you believe about your life is important!)

   The solution---well---keep rowing that boat that we are all in. Be a part of the life and set Goals.   G—GET, O-Out, A-and, L-LIVE! Look at whatever you can do yet and celebrate that ability. Move it as much as you can with whatever you can move. If you are in a wheelchair—then move the hands and arms and legs, if you can still do that. Sing a silly song and do your own type of dancing where you sit---but MOVE IT!! This movement increases blood flow to the brain and air to the body, and releases endomorphins that make you feel better.

Listen to music that makes you feel good. Talk to someone else who looks down and out. Let them know you understand how they feel.   Then find something to reminisce about that makes you smile and remember good THINGS.

   If you can still talk on a phone, call someone—and cheer them up, or just let them know you care that they are still THERE! Write letters and send cards that make people smile. When we think of others, we get our mind off our misery and gloom, and also serve the Lord!! God will lead you to the work you can do for Him, if you ask for His help. No matter the age or ability, you still make a difference in the lives of others! Be more than just “here,” be where you can be a person who is THERE for others and God. There are many ways to serve God other than to be out and ministering in the world in a physical way. YOU can be ‘here’ and still be out there!!!

   God has led me to use technology to reach others on my own Facebook page, He opened doors to Catholic365 on Facebook. Facebook connections also opened the doors to do a radio podcast show, calling out to California for 3 years and recording a show “It’s Me God” on radiotitans.com. Now a new show has started up “Finding the I AM” where my co-host John Mark Owens and I hope to help others come to the deep knowledge of just who they are ---and the I Am who is within them. This I AM then gives us all that we need to live out the reason why we are HERE!

We are to be more that “I Am HERE!” We are to know God, love God, and serve God, and walk in His righteous ways.” NO matter what the age or the disability in your life, ask God to help you find the good, and what abilities you do have!! Rejoice in that and be thankful for what you can do, and DO THIS, AND DO IT WELL. To God be the Glory---may you radiate His light until you go home again to Him. Rejoice in the new day, and every moment of the day find the Presence of God by finding something good to be glad about. Do not let the darkness prevail in your life!

                                      “I AM HERE” with you always is also the promise of God!!  Yea God!!!!