Mama Always ~ L.A. Brown, Author

What if I told you that Heaven and Hell are real destinations? Would you believe me? No, this isn't a discussion about religion, it's about a relationship, and a free gift. Yeah, a weird combination of events, but it's true. Lets start with the fact that many religions believe in Heaven, Nirvana, Paradise, whatever you want to call it. No matter how you slice it, probably about 90% of the world's population believe there is an afterlife that includes some sort of place that resembles Heaven. Being a Christian myself, I am definitely looking forward to Heaven...the questions answered, the Glory that will unfold in front of me, Everlasting Life...yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Not that I want to go there today, but I know without a shadow of a doubt that would be my destination. Final answer. Lock it in. However, not as many people believe in Hell. I don't care how twisted a human mind is, or how much devastation has happened, or how abhorrent living condit...

Today, I'm sitting in front of my back window...the one that looks into the backyard. One of my most favorite places to be, because on any given day I can watch the dogs do their thing, whether it's playing or doing what needs to be done. I can sit and watch on warm days, the girls, when they're here, play outside with their Aunt, or watch the birds at the feeders. Houston, I have to say has some pretty fantastic weather, for the most part. Including today. So, it's January 16, 2018. In Houston. The city known for all four seasons occurring in a 24 hour period. Today, we only get one season. Arctic. Yup...it's stinking cold out there. The Weather Channel says it's 27 degrees out there, with a "feels like" factor of 16. That's 16 degrees, Fahrenheit. Earlier this morning, we had freezing rain. The 'tink, tink, tink' of the pellets on my kitchen window told me that it wasn't snow. To be honest, I thought some vine on the side of the hou...

Good morning, my Friends. Today I'm going to veer off some from my normal rambling to present to you an appeal for help. My best friend, for more years than I can count is having life changing issues, and being a couple of States away from her, and not being able to do anything more than I am doing, is driving me batty. It occurred to me that I have a platform that may help beyond the reach of my Facebook and Twitter, so if you will indulge me, I'm going to post, the plea and link for her Go Fund me. Thank you so much for your faithfulness, and for your readership. Everyone of you is the Bee's Knees. ;) So, without further adieu, here is the link for the GoFundMe, and Sandra's story. https://www.gofundme.com/sandras-help They say that if you have a friend for seven years, you have a life-long friend. Sandra and I have been friends since before high school...we'll just say that its been more than seven years times five, or six maybe. Suffice it to say, we...

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...