[__ Prayer __] Praise God for changing me!

[Christ_empowered]

Not just the outside, physical stuff, either (although it --is-- good to be healthy, normal, etc.).

OK. So, today, I had a craving for a huge burger. Solution? Hardee's! Horrible in terms of health and such, blah blah blah....look, they've got Monster Burgers, so I was on it. And I got my parents another not-so-healthy side dish they've started making...jalapeno poppers!

Point is...well, I brought my parents their food, and they seemed surprised that I'd get them something. I devoured my hamburger, and then I realized....problems aside (to be fair, many of my problems until The Lord saw fit to restore me may very well have been --physically-- rooted), I --was-- incredibly prideful, troubled, filled with self-love, etc. And now?

I'm hardly Christian of the Year, but I am...well, I'm capable of thinking more of the other person, and I'm starting to really think on what Jesus wants from me, now that I've been forgiven, saved, washed+made clean, and transformed. That's clearly His work in my life. Like anybody else, I love Him because He first loved me.

Oh, and the mental health stuff...get this...at the community/public mental health clinic I go to, they cannot find people to work there full time, so they've got a room now, dedicated to "tele-psychiatry." Basically, they have a contract w/ a doctor in another part of the state. He talks to you over the webcam, schedules you for your next appointment, and your prescriptions get over to your pharmacy electronically. Not ideal, but...it is what it is, for now.

My session was kinda...awkward, I thought. I didn't know what to make of the format. Then doctor scheduled me for --4-- months out! For me, that's --huge--. The once reigning King of Instability is now on a reduced dosage of tranquilizer, getting along well with my family, growing up (miracle!), and...yeah. Before, the shrink they had me with had me in every 10-12 weeks, which...given my psych records, wasn't terrible, but...yeah. Progress, I suppose.

Thanks for reading yet another post here.

 

[Runner]

When I used to handle involuntary mental health commitments as the "prosecutor" (meaning the attorney for the committing agency, although they were very similar to a criminal prosecution), they were all conducted by tele-med. Typically I, the defense attorney and the judge were at one branch of the agency near our offices, while the patient, the testifying psychiatrists and the other witnesses were at a different branch of the agency 50 miles away. It was kind of surreal at first, but I liked it once I got used to it.

Like you, I have observed changes for the better in myself in small increments. I will do something for someone and realize, "I would not have done that ten years ago." When I look back over 10, 20, 30, 40 and now almost 50 years since being born again, I can see enough changes that it could legitimately be called a "transformation" even though the steps were small and the transformation is far from complete. What you are describing always strikes me as more genuine than the believer who claims instant and almost total transformation. Perhaps it happens, but certainly not to me or anyone I know.

One of the continual messages that comes through Near Death Experiences - and for that matter the Bible, in the story of the widow and her two mites - is that even the smallest gestures of kindness and generosity can have great significance and cause rejoicing in Heaven. In the context of your life, bringing your parents the jalapeno poppers may have had as much cosmic significance as huge deeds that make headlines on the part of someone else.

 

[Eugene]

.
and AMEN!!!

 

[Pegasus]

Not just the outside, physical stuff, either (although it --is-- good to be healthy, normal, etc.).

OK. So, today, I had a craving for a huge burger. Solution? Hardee's! Horrible in terms of health and such, blah blah blah....look, they've got Monster Burgers, so I was on it. And I got my parents another not-so-healthy side dish they've started making...jalapeno poppers!

Point is...well, I brought my parents their food, and they seemed surprised that I'd get them something. I devoured my hamburger, and then I realized....problems aside (to be fair, many of my problems until The Lord saw fit to restore me may very well have been --physically-- rooted), I --was-- incredibly prideful, troubled, filled with self-love, etc. And now?

I'm hardly Christian of the Year, but I am...well, I'm capable of thinking more of the other person, and I'm starting to really think on what Jesus wants from me, now that I've been forgiven, saved, washed+made clean, and transformed. That's clearly His work in my life. Like anybody else, I love Him because He first loved me.

Oh, and the mental health stuff...get this...at the community/public mental health clinic I go to, they cannot find people to work there full time, so they've got a room now, dedicated to "tele-psychiatry." Basically, they have a contract w/ a doctor in another part of the state. He talks to you over the webcam, schedules you for your next appointment, and your prescriptions get over to your pharmacy electronically. Not ideal, but...it is what it is, for now.

My session was kinda...awkward, I thought. I didn't know what to make of the format. Then doctor scheduled me for --4-- months out! For me, that's --huge--. The once reigning King of Instability is now on a reduced dosage of tranquilizer, getting along well with my family, growing up (miracle!), and...yeah. Before, the shrink they had me with had me in every 10-12 weeks, which...given my psych records, wasn't terrible, but...yeah. Progress, I suppose.

Thanks for reading yet another post here.

 

[Christ_empowered]

thanks.