I need a mentor

faithandfifty

Hugs to everyone here who needs one. We are all in this together..... learning from one another.

Held

Granny - I am happy you have a good "you" day!  I am very happy for you.

 Faith - I decided to reduce the dose of my antidepressant, but not stop taking it altogether.  I have an appointment with the doc in December.  I will check with her then about the dose or possibly a different med.  I have really been restricting what I eat so I am not packing on the pounds as much.  I have not had a full nights sleep in the last few days, but I don't think it is related to the change in meds.  At least I hope not! 

I went shopping tonight and as I was pushing my shopping cart up and down the isle, I was listening to my Ipod.  A song called "Jesus take the wheel" came on.  Have any of you heard this song?  I think it is really weird I have these "ok, God I get it" moments, but still feel so distant... confusing.....

moodyk13

Granny, yes that does make more sense as to why they want to do more surgery.  I am so glad you  had such fantastic day.  It is amazing, once we get diagnosed with cancer, we seem to never take great days for granted anymore!

moodyk13

Held, most anti-depressants have a "weight gain" side effect.  Some actually slow down your metabolic rate ( CNS response) , and sometimes it is that when you are more "happy" you might eat a little more.

I known many many many women who taken or still take anti-depressants and everyone of them gained weight.  Some as much as 40-50 pounds.  Years ago I was on them - I've been off them for 7 years (it is one reason I won't take tamoxifen- my doc said every one he has on it experiences depression and I ain't going there again)  I was on various meds for about 8 years, but I didnt actually start gaining weight until the last year I was on them.  Everyone reacts differently to different meds.  Wellbutrin is one that many women take and dont gain weight.  Prozac is another one, so ask your doc about these two.

I love that song.  It was Carrie Underwoods first radio release (its about 3 yrs old)

Have you ever heard "Praise You in This Storm" by Casting Crowns?  I heard it on my way home from the sugeons office the day he told me my mammo looked like cancer so he didnt want to biopsy, he said I needed a lumpectomy.  He was right it was cancer and "dirty" margins so I ended up having bi-lat mast.

If you want to hear the song click here:  http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=9fad456d209b6f5ee932

Held

Moody- that's quite the cheery thought about the antidepressants, thank you.

Granny71

Good evening, my sisters. Re inspiring music -- anyone familiar with the work of Jeff Majors? I love his version of the 23rd Psalm. First heard him over loud speakers during the Eucharist (Communion) at a church I was visiting. One more question before I shut down for Advent retreat -- any input on personal experience with gadoliunium dye used in MRI's? Have done OK with the blue dye used for the sentinal, but this other stuff seems a lot more powerful -- and controversial.  I know that I need to drink a lot more water to help keep my kidneys in good condition. This is where problems have been written up about gadolinium.. Thanks. Have been adding your names and special concerns to my prayer list. Another of my worship traditions is noon day prayer, in solidarity and intercession for people in crisis throughout the world . I feel myself already regaining spiritual strength, enough for me and others whom my life may touch. Love, Granny.

faithandfifty

I found this image earlier and intend to plaster it all over this site. It gives me such hope.

We're all joined together, one-to-another..... and the sun is coming up!!! REJOICE.

EWB

Granny-  Have had gadoliunium dye and did not have problems w/it.

Without going into details this past weekend has been a crash and burn weekend- not sure what set it off- but if its not to much- I ask for prayers.  I know it will be ok, just don't feel it right now.

saint

Granny--I have probably had over 20 MRI's with contrast---they say that frequency can trigger allergic reactions---no issues here to date--hope that helps! & thanx for your prayers!

F&F---BEEYOOTIFUL pic!--(any news???????)

EWB----prayers for you & hugs...been a bit of a downer here today too-but getting better as the day closes......

You all be well & stay strong! 

Granny71

EWB: love, hugs, and prayers that God will strengthen and sustain you until you reach your OK place again. EWB and Saint: thanks for the reassurance on gadolinium. 

moodyk13

Held, faithandfifty, granny71, saint, EWB, 

I want you all to know I lifted each one of you up in prayer- earnest healing prayer- yesterday.  It's a good thing that God knows who each of you are, cause I prayed for you by member ID's  LOL 

Held

By the way, most antidepressant do not cause weight gain, they cause weight loss.  There is one in particular that can cause significant weight gain, but that is not the one I am on.

moodyk13

This is from http://www.webmd.com/

Up to 25% of people who take antidepressants gain weight. Is there anything you can do about it? (continued)

Weight Gain and Antidepressants: Switching Drugs Can Help

While experts may not be certain about why antidepressants cause weight gain, they do know that switching drugs may make a difference.

Some antidepressants may be less likely to affect weight. Effexor and Serzone generally do not cause weight gain, while Wellbutrin can cause weight loss.

Sometimes switching within the same class of drugs can make a huge difference.

"Right now, the SSRI Paxil is the worst offender -- the antidepressant most likely to cause weight gain, while another SSRI, Zoloft, is the least likely, so that's a switch that can sometimes make a big difference for some people," says Sussman.

So far, no drugs (including weight loss drugs) have been sufficiently tested to be approved for use in managing weight gain from psychiatric medications. The authors of the Cleveland Clinic review report that using regular doses of antidepressants with low doses of certain stimulant drugs or seizure medications may help mitigate some weight gain, while adding low doses of Wellbutrin or naltrexone (a drug used in the treatment of alcoholism) to an antidepressant regimen might also help.

And this is from Psychologytoday.com

Weight gain has long been a bane of psychotropic drug treatment. Mood stabilizers such as Lithium and Clozapine are among the worst offenders, causing up to 50 percent of all long-term users to become obese. Patients on older tricyclic antidepressants can expect a steady gain of one to three pounds per month. But the medical community was caught off guard when patients on newer antidepressants complained the pounds were piling on.

If anything, says Charles Raison, a psychiatrist with Emory University in Atlanta, drugs such as Prozac and Zoloft were believed to cause weight loss. Indeed, many antidepressants seem to be associated with an initial small loss, but studies show that over months, patients not only regain what they lose, but add to it-sometimes dramatically. "It's not always the fault of the drug," says Raison. "Depression can be, all by itself, an incredible diet. When [patients] start to feel better again, their appetite increases."

Held

I am really too annoyed to deal with this right now, nor do I really think this is the forum. 

Moving right along......Are you guys familiar with Jerimiah 29:11?  "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." 

If God's plans are not to harm us, what does it mean when someone is in an accident, or is abused by someone or is born with a disability or is stricken with a not so nice disease?  How can they both be?

Sending hugs and prayers around the room.  Extra tight hugs for you Granny, thank you.

saint

Hugs Held--My explanation for the problems you mentioned is that God granted all humans free will---he ALLOWS us to exercise that free will & in so doing we cause ripples--sometimes they can severely affect others around us! Example-A person who drinks & then drives their car over a child. It is NOT God's will that the kid is killed or hurt anymore than it is the parents', but it is due to someone else's poor choices! That is why I have issues with ppl whose judgement we question when they answer, "It's all OK--I'm not hurting anyone else.."    oh really? How can you really be sure?

Does that make sense?  Be well & stay strong 

faithandfifty

Dear Held. Now we're getting somewhere! Congrats on such a powerful question, series of questions. To me, this is where the rubber meets the road. You are now at the very crux of the whole enchilada.

In addition to what Saint points out above...... I also believe that we live on an imperfect planet, where things go wrong, break, get lost, get stolen, unfold poorly.... where injustice is rampant,  where illness is possible where the unblievable happens with a great degree of regularity.

Can you hold that dichotomy in your mind at the same time? I believe our Heavenly Father's plans for us are indeed for us to prosper, with hope and a future. (as per the verse you've high-lighted.) BUT we are not living in the "Garden" any longer and indeed bad, even VERY bad things happen to God's children.

I'm sure that it would be a different planet to have a creator "swoop in" and save you from the laws of this planet -- like gravity and genetics and the other limiting factors.

My own feeling is that our Creator holds us close, even closer in these raw, brutal encounters with our fellow humans (the accident victim, the abused, the disabled, the stricken.) It is at that point that the 'Footprints' mentality of being carried thru the worst storms, comes to mind.

We are never Earthlings-on-our-Own. We have Someone to cry out to. We have Someone to rant to. We have generations who have gone before us -- as examples, of surmounting the seemingly impossible.

To me, you've hit the nail on the head, bull's eye, lazer-sharp accuracy: with this line of inquiry.

Gold stars for you.

xx00xx00xx00xx00xx

hugs and prayers, up & down this thread

Held

Hmmmmm  A difficult concept to come to terms with.

So if I am getting this, God does not PLAN for bad things to happen to us, but thru a combination of our choices and/or the choices of others, circumstances arise that (sometimes) result in unpleasant things happening to us. But on the positive side, while these bad things are happening to us (deserved or not), God is right there with us and see everything we are going thru.

Yes? No?

saint

YES!!  By George, I think she's got it!!! LOL

One more thing that occurred to me reading what F&F wrote--IF God swooped in & made all things right then THIS would be heaven--would it not???? & we KNOW it is NOT! 

Sometimes it is hard to imagine that He can do all things, we don't get what we think is a small, simple or deserved task.....this past Easter it came to me that no one was ever more deserving of being spared than His son...but even he had to walk the journey!!! Certainly I am not more deserving than he......... 

Hugs-be well & stay strong! 

moodyk13

This is how I explain it to my kids, and it is what I tell myself when I don't understand either:  If God just wanted little "puppets" He would have never given us the ability to think for ourselves, make choices, have feelings, etc.  That would be "make believe".  God doesn't play "house" or "make believe".

We will never understand why God gives miracles to some and allows tragedy to others.  I too have a difficult time with understanding why "bad things happen to good people" and I frankly don't like the idea that the more trials we go through, the more God is using us.  HOWEVER, in the end, the eternal reward of being WITH Him forever and NEVER having sadness, tears, pain, CANCER, etc., makes everything worth it. 

When I don't understand why God does what He does or doesn't do, I refer back to this verse:

Deuteronomy 29:29  "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."

It reminds me, that I am not suppose to know everything.  God reveals to us what we need to know, keeping us on a "need to know basis".

Very often I pray for God to keep everyone safe even for just one night.  To not let anything bad happen to anyone.  No abuse, no sadness, no meaness.  My heart breaks when I think how others are suffering, even those I don't know.  (I tend to be overly sensitive.....)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Love to all!

EWB

So God has plans for us, yet the outcome does not always seem desirable to us. I see this along these lines--I have plans and wishes for my children.  Thru their decisions and actions they impact the direction of their life, even though it may not be in line with what I plan or think is in their best interest. 

Free will, accepting the consequences of actions and knowing God is there for the good, the bad and the ugly. 

moodyk13

Good analogy.  And to add to it, our decisions/choices could have devastating impact on others.  If I beat my child, I am hurting my child.  If I nuture and love my child, they will be loved and nutured. 

If I get drunk and drive a car and hit someone and kill them, I did that to them, not God.

But now, I have no advice regarding natural disasters.  Only "man made" disastors.  Natural disasters is definately where I go to Deuteronomy 29:29! LOL

EWB

Do our active (over a period of time) have an effect on the earth?  How we treat it etc and there by having some responsibility in natural disasters?  Or even in our response to these disaster, and what we learn from then?

saint

well.....I believe that in the bible there are numerouss warnings that due to "sins of man" there would be pestilence & floods, etc.....and we ARE called to be stewards of the earth! Look at how well "we" have done over the last 100 years or so......I'd say what humans have done & are doing definitely has to carry at least some of the blame for "natural disasters!   Just MY take on it, but I tend toward a freer interpretation & do not take the words literally as I know many do.......

moodyk13

People will many times say that natural disasters are "acts of God"  but we typically take beautiful, peaceful days for granted and seldom give God "credit" for it. God created the whole universe and the laws of nature (Genesis 1:1). Natural disasters are these laws at work.

The bible tells us that Jesus Christ holds all of nature together (Col 1:16-17). Could God prevent natural disasters? Absolutely! Does God sometimes influence the weather? Yes, see Deut. 11:7 and James 5:17. Does God sometimes cause natural disasters as a judgment against sin? Yes, see Num 16:30-34. The book of Revelation describes many events which could definitely be described as natural disasters (Revelation chapters 6, 8, and 16). Is every natural disaster a punishment from God? Absolutely not.

And it is also as saint says.  Just like how God allows evil people to commit evil acts, God allows the "laws of nature" to demonstrate consequences of sin. God cursed the ground when He confronts Adam regarding their sin of eating from the tree of life (Gen 3:17 ) & Romans 8:22 "For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now."

And I agree with saint that sins of man have effects on everything, including the universe. Sin is the ultimate cause of natural disasters just as it is the cause of death, disease, and suffering.

But, God ALWAYS brings good out of tragedies and continues with His promise to "never leave or forsake" any who believe in Him and call on His name.

Held

Moody, I have to be honest.  Your last post put me right back where I was when I started this post.  Sin is the cause of death/disease/suffering/natural disasters... If my breast cancer is a result of MY sin, then God is punishing me.  Why would God do this to me, but not to someone who is a serial killer or a child molester.  Life isn't fair, but isn't God??????????????????????????????  What horrible sin could an innocent child commit that would be worthy of a punishment like being molested, or is God punishing his/her parents????

God can reach in a choose to heal someone or stop a natural disaster, but chooses NOT too?

I really have trouble reconciling these two sides of God in my mind.  One one hand we have the "smack ya down 'cause he is pissed of a you or someone else" and the other hand is our "loving father who plans us no harm and wants good things for us".

UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH  just when I thought I was getting someone.......... sigh!

EWB

Held-  I never really thought about this (other than basic conversations in Sunday school many yrs ago) but your right. As I think about it more and more, I am having problems with the whole concept of sin in addition to the 2 sides of God.  wow, I don't even know where to begin.

saint

OK---gonna TRY to get this clear.

The sin is not YOUR sin, but mainly the sin of mankind! The person abusing that child is the sinner--NOT the kid!!

I have heard ppl say that, "sin is the absence of God."  It is a deep thought, but makes sense. IF God is present in your decision you do not sin, but we are human so He is NOT always present in our choices. For some ppl it is a minor thing--for others it can be major. We are, therefore, all sinners, but the further from God we are the worse the sin CAN be-as in career criminals. 

Also--think of YOUR dad---did he not have 2 sides? God is NOT human & is, in fact UNKNOWABLE, so it is difficult for us to understand His ways if we attribute them to our own human lives.......

Does that make sense?? 

moodyk13

Boy Held- you are challenging my congnitive thinking!  But that is okay, I am confused by all of it too!

Your sin did not cause you to get breast cancer, neither did my sin cause me to get it.  But, God did give us people that were gifted in science and medicine and surgery, to give us the best chance at survival.

Cancer comes from many things: gene mutations, hormones (which can be altered by what we eat and how we live), and outside influences such as plastic, etc. and certainly plausible to argue that these are the results of man's sinful nature.  If Eve would have never eaten from the tree........

Again, God could "poof" it all away, but then that falls back into us being "puppets" and that was not His desire when He created us.

And think about this:  How many car accidents happen just in front of or just behind you that you were not involved in?  I have seen MANY happen to cars right in front of me.  Once, I hesitated at a green light once only to watch a dump truck run his red light.  Had I not hesitated, I wouldnt be here typing this right now!  That was a God thing!  I give Him ALL the credit for that!

Also, I had no idea I had cancer. I felt perfectly fine.  I was diagnosed with a routine mammogram (which this technology came from man-God created this man.......)  So I can't help but wonder how many times He healed me of things I didnt even know I had!

So, I HATE that I confused you, and I HATE that it all confuses me too!!!!  LOL  And boy I wish I knew why God lets some things happen and stops other things from happening.  But it is not for us to know until He reveals it to us.  He may not reveal this until we meet Him in glory, He may give us the answer today. 

This is where I Faith MUST come into play. 

Habakkuk 2:4  "...The just shall live by his faith."

Romans 1:17  "For in it the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, 'The just shall live by faith'."

Does this help?  I hope I am not making it worse!

moodyk13

P.S.  I still beleive these conversations we have here on this thread- regardless of how confusing they can be, are still bringing people closer to God-In the end, that is all that matters!

Springtime

I have cancer. I don't think God gave it to me, I think it happened and God is as sad about it as I am. I don't blame God for the cancer. I don't know what caused the cancer, I try not to blame myself. Could I have done something differently? Should I have had my babies younger? would that have changed things? Could he have swooped in and miraculously healed me?, Yes, I believe he could, but he seems to choose not to do those things. I just had a bilateral mastectomy and will be leaving hospital today to go to hotel. I hope all the cancer is out of me now!

However, all through this, I have never felt alone. I feel this protective bubble around me sometimes, and I feel cherished by God. 

I remember a pastor once saying, "God never promised us that bad things wouldn't happen to us, but he did promise us we'd never be alone". I had an "aha" moment when I heard that!!

i don't know if that helps, that's just my experience and feelings...

Springtime...