Trials tribulations sprocket

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Conrad Murray Preliminary Hearing Dr. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.

For when I am weak, then I am strong. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. The great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out.

God want us to become more like Christ. The Apostles James tells us in James , Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. James is telling us to do what does not come normally or easily. Our flesh does not want to rejoice.

To overcome any trial, test of tribulation we have to walk by faith and not by sight because God is our source. When we start rejoicing in the mist of our trial we unleash unseen spiritual forces in our behalf. Do you remember the story of King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20? A vast army was on its way to Jerusalem. So Jehoshaphat gathered the people together to pray for deliverance.

And the Lord answered and told them the battle was not theirs but his. And they placed men in front of the army to sing. And when the opposing army approached look what happen when they began to sing praises to God:. The enemy was defeated as they rejoiced and sang praises to God. The people of the kingdom of Judah did not know it, but they were utilizing spiritual principles such as Revelation You know, any one can praise God after a great victory.

But it is the ones who are confident in their God that can praise him before the triumph takes place. It is a choice that we can make. Even though we may feel crushed or anxious we choice to rejoice because we are expecting something better to come in spite of our circumstances.

And just think how upset the devil gets when instead of getting fretful and anxious we start praising God and start saying positive things about the outcome of our trials.

Oh, he does not like it at all. But he can do anything about that because by rejoicing we have demonstrated that he can not defeat us! So when trials, tests and tribulations come we need to keep reminding ourselves to maintain an attitude of victory rather than an attitude of defeat since God is our source. We are able to take charge of our destiny by rejoicing.

Get excited for the victory that going to come and for the spiritual development that is taking place in your life. You are advancing in your spiritual maturity. Yet, if we are going to see true and lasting spiritual growth in our lives and victory over our circumstances, then we must deal with the wants and desires of our flesh. Thus, the third principle for dealing with test and trials is to conquer self and the desires of our flesh.

The Apostle Paul list the works of the flesh in Galatians For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one other, that you may not do the things that you desire. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Paul says that living according to the flesh is a way of thinking. It is a way of thinking that is contrary to God and his word. So those impulses that we feel in times of pressure are not best ways for us to respond. Later on in Romans 8 Paul reminds us that we are more than conquers.

So we need to conquer our flesh. Rather than following its impulses we should walk according to the Spirit of God. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life. By walking according to the word of God.

Rather than following the desires of our flesh, we need to pray. In test and trials often we pray for deliverance, but we do not recognize that God expects us to play a role in our deliverance, that we learn to respond correctly and become stronger.

If God instantly delivered us from every test and trial we would never grow. Rather what we want to do for step four is to pray for guidance and wisdom to deal with our test or trial as the Apostle James tells us in James But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.

For let that man not think that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. James James reminds us that no matter how difficult are circumstances are, God always offers us his guidance.

His ways, you see, are high than our ways. He has ideas and solutions that we have never thought of. However, we often forget to ask God for guidance. Instead we try to handle things though our own knowledge and understanding. But that does not always succeed as we would like. We do not have perfect knowledge or insight. But the Lord has all the knowledge and insight that we need. And he is willing to share it us. All we have to do is ask, in faith, without thinking that he will not respond to us.

Thus, in any situation we can gain all the insight we need if we seek the Lord for guidance. We take the guidance of God and apply it while remaining stable and calm. We have to keep doubts and worries from coming into our hearts and overwhelming us with fear which brings us to step five: We must guard our hearts as Solomon tells us in Proverbs 4 because our hearts are the well spring of our wellspring of our lives:.

My son, attend to my words. It seemed like it was much longer. When it came time to slide off the table to the gurney, I could not move my right leg. The radiologist must have put enough anesthetic in my abdomen to take down an elephant. I had to manually drag my leg with my arms onto the gurney so I could go back to recovery.

I was famished. I asked for and drank three little boxes of cranberry juice. They kept offering me wheat snacks but I declined. After a half hour, I tried to stand. I was still too wobbly on my legs.

The RN brought me my phone from my locker and I called my friend to let them know I'd probably be ready to go in another minutes. I was able to stand and walk on my own 20 minutes later. I got dressed and waited for my friend to arrive to pick me up.

The biopsy was over. I could relax the rest of the day. I was told I needed to keep the bandage on my incision for a couple days and to try not to get it wet. I did not have any complications from the procedure. Before I left, I found out that with the lab company my HMO uses, the analysis would take about a week to get a report to my doctor. My next appointment with my oncologist was scheduled for February 2. I went back to work the next day and counted down the days to February 2.

More to come Day 11 I had another very good day. No side effects of the Gemzar on Day 8. I spent the day doing laundry and getting some meals pre-cooked and frozen for the not so great days to come.

Later in the afternoon, I worked on getting Mother's Day gifts wrapped to go in the mail to my family and my friend Bobbie. When I was done, I called Ricky for our regular nighttime phone call. I know I have about a 20 minute drive across the valley to get there. I make it with 10 minutes to spare. My family will get their gifts in time for Mother's Day and Ricky and I say goodnight. Since I'm now on the east side of the valley, I decide to do some shopping at the two-level Tar- jhay Target on Sepulveda Blvd.

A deal. I'm fussy. I only buy v-neck tops. I had already purchased a few from stores on the west side of the valley. I wanted a few more in my size. These were not going to be out in public type dresses for me. I haven't worn a dress since For me, these T-shirt dresses were perfect to lounge around the house in. Comfy clothes, like pajamas.

I don't believe I'd been in this particular store since I moved into my mobile home in December This Target has a five story parking garage attached.

If you drive up to the third level of the parking structure, you can walk straight into the second level of the store. This is what I used to do when I regularly shopped here. I park very close to the garage elevators and head into the store. I realize that what I'm searching for is on the ground floor.

I take the escalator down and locate the Universal Thread section. I find two more T-shirt dresses in different colors. I'm pretty happy with getting two more dresses. I checkout and head for the parking garage. I pass the parking elevators and can't find my car. I become discombobulated.

I was pretty sure of where I parked, but now I start to doubt myself. It's past pm. I'm in a section of the garage where the lighting is not great. I'm standing in an empty parking spot, turning myself in different directions, still looking for my car. I convince myself I must have parked slightly away from the parking elevators. I take a step and next thing I know, I'm on the cement on my hands and knees and my left knee is screaming in pain. I try to get back up and can't.

A young couple that saw me fall comes rushing over to help me stand. Finally upright, I'm unsteady and shaking, my mind totally focused on my screaming knee. I try to take a step, putting bending weight on my left knee and instantly know my knee is fucked because I cannot bear the new onset of shooting pain. When I exited the store, I had forgotten I was on the ground level and my car was on the third level of the garage.

Watch this space. There's more story to come. Sprocket aka Betsy. I left off my story mentioning the CT Urogram. Settling Into a New Job I'm about five weeks into my new job. I still can't believe my good fortune. Many people would absolutely hate the driving. I didn't mind it at all.

Or even earlier when I traveled cross country on my BMW in 4. Not exactly the same thing, I know. But for me, driving an hour or more to see a patient was not a negative. If I had a long drive home at the end of the day, I would call Ricky and he would keep me company until I got home.

The only thing I was struggling with was learning "the tablet". I'm old school. When I was an internal bank auditor, in the 's, everything was paper. And my most recent employer as a CNA did not have electronic medical records. Everything was paper. They had not been automated. My experience with emerging tech and using different programs was very limited. I still get exasperated with my smart phone at times. The tablet has everything. Your company email, the training programs you must complete in your first 90 days.

It's where the monthly zoom meetings would be held because of Covid It's where you log into your assigned appointments and document your work. The tablet was my daily frustration. In those first few weeks I was calling one of the RN's to help me get out of a jam when I forgot to "start" a visit or "log out" of a visit. I needed help navigating the program that was used to document our work hours and record it in the patient's medical record. I was also trying to do the best I could not to screw up during my 90 day probation period.

The first 90 days in any job is when they can get rid of you for minor screw ups. My main focus was to get through my first 90 days and get the many hours of online training done by the assigned deadlines. I'm on a long drive from West Hollywood to Long Beach. It's to see my last patient who just entered the active dying process. Traffic is horrible. The freeways are jammed and Google has me on surface streets that are also jammed.

I'm driving maybe mph. It's going to take me an hour to get to the harbor area. My phone rings. There's no place for me to pull over at all. I can see it's the urologist calling. I answer the phone, greeting him by name. He was surprised that I knew who it was. I told him his name came up on my phone. He said he was going through his files and he realized that he had never followed up with me after the CT Urogram.

He tells me I have an 8 millimeter kidney stone in my left kidney. His next words were unusual, something like: And by the way there are some enlarged lymph nodes. It's probably nothing, these things usually are, however, it's recommended you get a PET scan in three months.

He said it was to get better photos. I then asked why three months. He then replied: To see if anything grows. I then asked, "What are they looking for? In that moment your world changes. Everything changes. Blood Type and Illness From my 20 plus years of reading and following the Blood Type Diet, I knew that there is quite a bit of scientific evidence in the medical literature that certain illnesses are more susceptible in some blood types than others. It doesn't mean that other blood types won't get that illness, it just means there is a higher prevalence of that illness in one blood type over another.

D'Adamo writes:. Thursday, the lithotripsy procedure went very smoothly. I asked the anesthesiologist if I would get the same drug Dr. Conrad Murray gave Michael Jackson, propofol. She said, "No, you would not be under enough with that drug. We need to make sure your body is completely still during the procedure. I'm not convinced. I think the energy drink, probably in concert with the stone, triggered the massive bleed. You have to remember that during all this, I felt fine. I didn't have any pain whatsoever.

I know I was a bit more tired than usual and I had bouts of insomnia. But generally, I felt good. It's interesting, as I look back, how some memories are crystal clear and others are fuzzy. They have a vagueness about them, like an unfocused dream where nothing makes sense. I don't remember the exact day I spoke to the urologist, but I believe it was near my birthday, Thanksgiving week.

I didn't see him in his office. He called me on the phone. I didn't get to read the PET scan report. I don't think I even asked about it. All I remember him telling me is that he was referring me to an oncologist. Did that mean I definitely had cancer? I truly didn't know. What I felt was terrified of the unknown and the realities of my life.

I lived alone. My family was on the east coast. How was I going to support myself if I could not work? I don't have lots and lots of girlfriends who live close by.

I have a handful of girlfriends I've been lucky to have known for close to 30 years. I have three long-time girlfriends who are here in California but they all live 20 to 30 miles away in different directions.

And one, Julienne is in a wheelchair. I have had a daily ritual ever since the exceptional Elaine Giftos Wright came to my little home and transformed it with the art of Feng Shui.

I had met Elaine almost 20 years ago when she applied her skills to my first house. Elaine had me hang a wind chime in a corner of my bedroom, which corresponded to the knowledge area of my home. And she suggested a prayer for me to say when I rang my wind chime every morning. Day Each day, I continued to feel more normal.