Mama Always ~ L.A. Brown, Author

I have a panic/anxiety disorder. I figured I'd put that right out there for you. **smile** In talking with other folks who have fibromyalgia, I found that quite a few of them have one or the other, or both, and it's a constant battle. The one thing that folks with these disorders want, is you to be there...to remind them to breathe, that the world isn't going to end. Its not something that you can "just get over," it's a real problem. The fight or flight mode gets activated and sometimes its just a matter of a few moments and we can get centered again. Sometimes longer. I know with me, when I hit that mode, after all is said and done, I feel like I've been run over by a few monster trucks, and a steam roller for good measure. If I could sleep for two days after, I would. Bless his heart, my husband has his hands full, but I am beyond thankful to God for putting him into my life. He is my rock, besides Christ, of course, and I love him more and more each da...

Today, I had a phone call that lasted the better part of two hours. Mind you, I'm not complaining, just prefacing. This person and I talk, not often, but when we do, it's usually a marathon. However, today during our call, my heart was breaking. There is nothing I can do to help this person physically...all I can do is pray. Life has a habit of handing us lemons, and sometimes those lemons are frozen, rotten or unripe. We do what we can with what we have, and put aside the "lemons" that we can't use or fix. Those of us who are called by His Name, we give the unusable stuff to God and let Him fix it. Sometimes. That's generally what I do, anyway. A lot of times I use what I can, give the rest to God, then take it back when the answers are slow moving, there are no visible resolutions, or the answer is no. I don't wait for His moving, I just take it back and do what I can. This time...well, I can't fix what's broken for this person. If I could mo...

Ever played the game Tetris©? Its a fun, annoying, addicting game where you move descending pieces into the puzzle pieces on the bottom of the screen. As you go into the game, the pieces move faster and faster, while you try to keep up placing the pieces where they'll do the least damage, decreasing the height of the wall instead of building the wall all the way to the top, thus ending the game. Like I said, fun, annoying and addicting, and most definitely frustrating. It occurs to me that our lives mirror Tetris© in many ways. We build a solid base with the blocks that come easy to us...our family, finances, social status, and our faith, not necessarily in that order nor with all of the examples given. We go along, placing each block that comes in the appropriate place, and even though we might get the odd block here or there, we can easily place them off to the side or in a place where they almost fit, and then move right along to the next one. The problem is, life starts movin...

A thought occurred to me just recently. I will never be perfect. I will never think, act, speak, worship, vote, drive, work, or do anything perfectly...and I'm okay with that. And you should be, too. Why? I'll tell you. Because you aren't perfect. You can modify your body, your mind, your learning all you want to, it will never be perfect, because you aren't made to be perfect. We all fall way short of perfection. It's just not attainable. I recently read about a young man who wanted to be what a certain doll maker considers perfection. He is modifying his body to make him look more like Ken. As it happens, he met the woman who modified her body to look like Barbie, and came away disgusted. Go figure. Other people use plastic surgery, liposuction, enhancements, dye, permanent ink, all in the name of their brand of perfection. What they believe to be perfect is not so much in another person's opinion. Our little girls are bombarded with pictures and i...

Mark 13:8 says: 8  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles.   These  are  the beginnings of sorrows. No one can deny this year has seen it's share of troubles. Four major hurricanes in a row; catastrophic flooding in India and other areas. Wildfires in the Northwest United States, and now, the worst mass shooting on US soil in Las Vegas. One has to wonder how much longer before the entire world collapses in on itself with what's going on. These are only the things that are being reported publicly by the news media, how much more is going on that we don't know about? How about the volunteers in Baton Rouge that are still helping to meet recovery needs? Or the scads of volunteers in Houston, Rockport, Corpus Christie, Beaumont , and other places in South Texas who are helping those affected by Hurricane Harvey, some of whom are still waiting for their...

For a good portion of friends and family, it has been a very rough couple of weeks, and for some on the East Coast, it's looking to be a rough row to hoe for them, as well. I have friends and family in at least two of the States that are experiencing the wildfires...friends and family have been affected by Hurricane Harvey, and now I have friends and family about to be impacted by Hurricane Irma. To top everything else off, now Hurricane Katia has formed in the Gulf of Mexico. Hopefully she will poop out where she is and not cause any trouble. All that to say this... love is being found in the little things. Homes that are being or have been devastated, people losing all of their possessions. Its heartbreaking to watch the news right now, when a person who is covered in soot watches what is left of their home disintegrate with the flames before their eyes. Or another person, on a rescue boat, blanket draped over their shoulders, turns and sees their home totally flooded, only the...

I'm going to start straight out of the box with Scripture...just a heads up.                                                            *** Matthew 24: 3-14,32-38 3  Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what  will be  the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” 4  And Jesus answered and said to them:  “Take heed that no one deceives you.   5  For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.   6  And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all [ a ]   these things  must come to pass, but the end is not yet.   7  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestile...