life

Redefining

by ladypbwiggins

Hi Everyone.

For those who are former followers, I  am renewing my presence in this digital world. For those who are and will be new, welcome.

My randomness has not changed. The “black soil” has just been seasoned and is richer than before. I have gone through a deep loss. I have gone through the grief that accompanied that loss. I  discovered in that process that I was also grieving the loss of 45 year old identities. 

I hear you saying, “What?” For 45 years my identity was somebodies’ something which consumed the original. I was my husband’s wife, my children’s mother, and the Pastor’s wife. I am still my children’s mother but they don’t need me the same way. The question, “who am I now?” popped into my mind and I grieved that loss.

I am now ready to find Pat; To redefine and to live the rest of my days as my New authentic self. What does that look like? We will find out together.  My soil is getting richer.

A “Better”

by ladypbwiggins

I will be so glad when 2020 is over. I am so done with 2020. I can’t wait until 2021 gets here. To some these are cries of despair but I hear cries of hope, cries of possibilities. Hope that a “better” is coming. This has been a hard year in so many ways. I believe we all want a “better.”

But what will make January 1, 2021 different from December 31, 2020? What will make it “better”? We hold the answer. What do we, you, me need to do to get our “better” in our individual and collective lives? If we don’t analyze our situations and develop a plan, 2021 will look just like 2020. Now I hear you saying I can’t do anything about Covid and Congress. I believe we can. Congress is easier. Vote and for those who win hold them to their promises, hold them accountable. Demand that they work for us, all of us and not just those with money. We hold the power. I think we forgot that. As for Covid, we may not have the vaccine but we can make wise common sense decisions to reduce the spread and take care of ourselves and each other. Let’s stop thinking only about ourselves. Let’s let go of the venomous anger; the consuming hatred motivated by fear, feelings of inferiority and disrespect. Let’s treat people the way we want to be treated. I heard a country singer today express what many have discovered. The America he thought he lived in is a myth. His sentiments that followed said he realized he had to change his thinking and do something to help make the myth a reality for everyone. Hope, his hope for better.

We all have dreams, hopes for our lives. We can make actionable plans for those. Focus on that for a portion of your better.

I hope for a “better” 2021 also but I am beginning my 2021 now. This is my new revelation. My hope for my “better” begins today.

Deeper Perspective

by ladypbwiggins

Last week I completed a study on covenant and its relationship with God and mankind. Every culture has some form of covenant ritual and it is considered sacred, serious, eternally binding. Many included a shedding of blood. An example, cutting the wrist of the parties and mingling the blood. Two have become one.  God used the customs of Abraham’s culture to initiate a covenant with him.  The ratification of this covenant required animals to be cut in half and God to pass between them and consume them with fire. On man’s side it required the cutting of his foreskin. The new covenant with Yeshua required the cutting of his skin. On our side it requires a cutting away the foreskins on our hearts. But that entails not a literal cutting of our hearts but a submission to the will of God. It can be stated like this “Take up your cross and follow Me.”

What does it mean to take up your cross? I’ve heard many teachings on what Yeshua meant. I found nothing wrong with them. In fact, most made sense and were true. But this last week I saw something that shook my inner soul. To enter covenant with Yeshua I must become one with Him. I must take up my cross. What is the purpose of the cross? Crucifixion. Death. When I take up my cross I have accepted destination death. Death to self, death to my will, death to my life including physical death. So when you, I, picked up that cross we recieved and agreed to our death sentence.

We teach and preach about that abundant life and the promises of prosperity but that comes with the cost of our death. Don’t say Yeshua wouldn’t allow us to die because so many around the world have died already just because they took up that cross.

Step Back, Balance

by ladypbwiggins

Lying in bed this morning I looked back over my life. I do that sometimes to remind myself of the good things and the good times I have experienced. In the midst of those thoughts something unexpected happened. The thought came “Why just the good things. What about the bad things?”Now why would I want to do that? To learn. So I did.

It is said your behavior follows your thinking. I now see oftentimes your thinking follows your feelings and ignores facts. I discovered most of my bad decisions were made during a time of or were motivated by emotional pain. I really never looked at it like that but after some analysis it proved to be true. This was and is not wise. When you are hurting, it is likely you will only see the negative circumstances and the negative options. The flip side is also true. If you are on an emotonal high it is likely you will only see the good options. The lesson I learned for me this morning is

Remember to calm down, step back, get an emotional balance along with the facts and then

make your decision.

Why Texas?

by ladypbwiggins

Recently, we decided to move to Texas. We thought we were being led here to be near our daughter and to enjoy a lower cost of living. It is good to be near our daughter and her family but for us the cost of living has not changed. In some respects it is higher. Housing coast are lower than California but we are paying about the same. The electricity bill is greatly reduced and that’s about it.

I expected our food cost to go down but that was not realized. In fact it might be more. Houston area is an organic, non-GMO wasteland. The produce and products exist but are not in the abundance that I am accustomed to in California. The funny thing is most of the certified organic food here comes from California. But here is the good, no, the awesomely, miraculous thing. In a round about way through a conversation with some people we had just met we were led to a renowned cardiologist/electrophysiologist named Dr. Baxter D. Montgomery. His philosophy is to cure the cause of the illness not treat the symptoms. He holds to the statement made by Hippocrates,

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” 

Plant-based meals were Carl’s prescription. He did not remove him from his medications initially. He uses pharmaceuticals when needed. His plan was to eliminate them as Carl’s heart improved. After 3 weeks of eating a raw plant-based diet

  • No Soltilol (Heart rhythm medication)
  • Blood pressure in normal range
  • No diuretics
  • Physically stronger
  • Mental clarity improving
  • No breathing problems
  • Weight loss (40 lbs mostly fluid)

This is why we moved to Texas.

 

Homemade Turkey Andouille Sausage

by ladypbwiggins

To those who know I am not eating meat, I wrote this some time back and never published it. Hope my meateating friends will enjoy it.

I love New Orleans inspired gumbo but I don’t eat pork and I am allergic to shrimp. I decided to make a seafood gumbo but I really wanted the sausage flavor. I thought what better to do than to try my hand at making andouille sausage with ground turkey.

I added these spices, compliments of allrecipes.com and the foodnetwork.com:Emerill Lagasse, to the ground turkey.

Finding the seasonings to begin was simple process but turkey is not as fat as pork. What to do about that? My first thought was to add olive oil or coconut oil. Then a light bulb flickered. Bake some turkey thighs and use the dripping from that. The added bonus is meat prepared for another meal.

The Medicine Matrix

by ladypbwiggins

If our western diet is so healthy why are we so sick? Diabetes is rising, Obesity is epidemic, heart disease is #1 and we are a developed nation. In the last year I have become more aware of how our medical system works. We treat symptoms not illnesses. Think about it. You have a pain. You are given a pill to get rid of the pain. But what about, what caused the pain in the first place? I have some personal experiences that speak to this.

A few years ago, I went in for a physical. The doctor said I had high blood pressure. I didn’t agree but I took the medication anyway. Big mistake. I took a couple of doses. I felt worst after taking them than I did before. They dropped my blood pressure so low I could not function. I stopped taking them but continued to take the diuretic. I later discovered that the diuretic lowered blood pressure also. I stopped taking them. I increased my vegetable intake and reduced the sodas and fried foods. Every check up for a year showed I did not have high blood pressure. The symptom- high blood pressure, the cause- bad eating habits. Recently, I went through the same thing with a different doctor. I said no pills. I started eating fast food again. Not all the time but just enough to have an affect. I stopped. Pressure decreased. Had I not taken charge and convinced them to try regulating my pressure with a change in my eating habits, I would be stuck taking pills that are hard to get off of. Their pills would not have fixed the problem.

I had another doctor tell me recently that she was delighted that I didn’t want pills. She said it was rare to find patients who didn’t want pills but wanted to find the problem and solve it. Most people wanted what they thought was a quick fix. the pill. It is just a band-aide.

Don’t get me wrong, doctors have their place and so do pills. But a healthy body is not provided by pills. Getting to the source of the dis-ease and treating it does. Most of our dis-ease is caused by eating this western diet that is meat, fast food convenient, low vegetable and low fruit, high sugar based.

I am also convinced had we continued more diligently to eat a high plant, low meat diet my husband would not have had this last heart attack.  We have not been eating as well as before but we are returning to our whole vegetable and fruit juices, no soda and minimal fast food. I am continuing my laboratory (kitchen) visits. Real minimal. I can’t say none because sometimes life will get in the way of good plans.

I am returning to Hippocrates’ declaration.

Let medicine be your food and food your medicine.

This is my focus and intent. Modern medicine is the emergency plan.

Breaking out of the Food and Medicine Matrix as much as possible. My education continues.

The Food Matrix

by ladypbwiggins

Where is our Food Morpheus? Where is Food Neo? The Local, State, and Federal system has “matrixized” us.

Food industrialization has caused us to ignore the food system that was very healthy for us: the family garden and the local vegetable market. When I was a child, eating out meant having dinner at a friend’s or relative’s home. Fast food meant heating up leftovers or making a sandwich. I didn’t know or understand just how good I had it. Other than childhood diseases I got the flu or had a cold only when the seasons changed. The rest of the year I was free of disease. Most remedies for the flu or a cold was natural. They were plant or herb based. Oh yeah, there was cod liver oil or castor oil. That cured or killed everything. Pills in the medicine cabinet were few. Those were my good old days.

I was taught in grade school the basic food groups and how much I should eat. I tried to change my home habits but thankfully my grandmother ignored me. We ate red meat and chicken but we ate more vegetables from the family gardens. By the way it was non-GMO and organic. Food was back then. There were some things that infiltrated our home, like white bread, white flour and white rice. I guess that was our beginning of “matrixation.”

The things we were taught:

  1. You MUST eat meat to get enough protein.
  2. You Must have milk and milk products to get enough calcium and more protein.
  3. Vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds don’t provide enough of either for healthy bodies.

We bought it because we trusted the FDA and other agencies that influenced our food supply. Those 3 axioms really only provided convenience for us and profit for the dairy and meat industry. Tell me, if dairy was so great, why wasn’t it fed to cows after they were weaned. They were fed grass and grain. The very things that weren’t enough for us.

Recently, our food pyramid changed to a food plate with the vegetable division the largest delineation. That’s good but now we have to deal with genetically modified organisms introduced into the plant crops. That’s another post, but suffice it to say, our non- organic vegetables, fruit and non-organic fed animals may be more harmful than we realize.

This matrix that we live in is suppose to maximize our health but we are sicker now than we were back in the day. There are more pills prescribed than every before. Our pills require pills to deal with their side effects. If the pills don’t work, there is always surgery.

So how is this meat-ladened lifestyle working for us?

 

 

Unloved

by ladypbwiggins

She stood on the street corner in her skimpy clothes, waiting. Waiting for that person to give her a moments attention. Waiting. Ah, yes. We knew who and what she was. Why did she choose this lifestyle? Why doesn’t she get a good job? Why is she selling herself? Girl, put on some clothes and get off the block.

He hangs around bars and gyms, waiting. Waiting for that person to notice him or accept his advances. Thoughts of “Am I buff enough?”, “Am I soft enough?”, “Am  I enough?” running through his head. The viewing public only sees a sleazy, annoying, lying creep. “Move on” expressed in their looks of contempt.

We make these judgments based on what we see. But, could we be wrong? I know there are those of “low, moral character.” But, sometimes, the reasons are not so clear.

Could these choices or behaviors be outward expressions of  the inner emotions of feeling unloved?

We have all done some pretty dumb things when we believed no one loved us. Some of us end up in situations because seeking that love made us vulnerable to those who took advantage of our need.  I know there are many reasons people turn to prostitution, drug addiction, etc. I believe the root of them all is feeling or being unloved.

Looking through the eyes of Y’shua, my thoughts should be of giving a kind word not contempt. Sometimes, a listening ear is all that is needed. If I choose a smile rather than a frown or look of condemnation, just maybe that person would feel a moment of value, a moment of love.

Remember when you felt Unloved.

 

GMO Link to Obesity

by ladypbwiggins

This morning I read a blog post from Sherry Brescia. Many shrug off GMO’s and the effect they have on our health. I know we cannot escape them completely but we should pay more attention to what we are eating and the possibility that we are enabling our own demise. Ms. Brescia has written an informative article that warrants re-posting. GMO–Genetically Modified Organism or Getting Massively Obese?

We seem to care more about losing weight than being healthy so maybe this will get some people’s attention.