Erasing History...

If we love our country, we must preserve our history...warts and all. Erasing it only creates a vacuum that our enemies will fill. Be sure to teach your children the truth...don't depend on our schools.

If you don't like something in these United States, there are ways to change it...you don't erase it.





Interesting that Facebook and their Fact Checkers will say this video has inaccuracies but not tell us what the inaccuracies are...

The Star Spangled Banner as a history lesson

My history classes taught us most of this.
There is always more to learn.
FrancisScottKey

I have no idea how or when this current war on our country will end. As an American of the US and a Christian, I pray for God to bring us back to The UNITED States of  America with liberty and justice for ALL.

Hope you will join with me.

In God we trust. In Christ we live. By the Holy Spirit we are led.

This is the time...leave nothing to chance.

I don’t know what it will take to get you to read this entire blog. All I know is that I have to write it. Why? Does my life depend upon it? No.

          Yours does. 

And that's why I feel compelled to write this.

I love you. You are important to me. You and I have been through a part of life together and I care about you. This all may come as a shock to you, but it’s the truth. If I didn’t care, I would just sit back and say nothing. So if you choose to stop reading, that’s up to you. I know I have done my part and have no regrets in saying what I have to say.  If you choose not to read it, I hope you will save it to read at a later time when you will be prompted by circumstances to read it. I also suggest you print it just in case you do not have access to a computer when you want to know…What did she say? Again, I do this because you are important to me. I want you to know you are loved and I care about you.

As you know the times we are living in seem to be spiraling out of control. If you are watching the news, or on social media to any degree, you can’t help but see something is going on. Some of you may be frightened. Others may be taking a laissez-faire attitude. Some may think it doesn’t really affect you. I urge you, think again!

The key points to this message (as time may be running out and I may be losing you):

• You are loved
• Your life has a purpose
• You are not an accident, a mistake, or unimportant
• You matter to me, you matter to God, and probably many others
• You have been and are being prayed for
• You have a choice to make and it is a life or death choice to make NOW

The important thing is time is running out and I want you to have a chance to make a change so that you can avoid the mayhem that is coming.

I want to share with you what’s going on and what you can do about it. You may think I’m that crazy, funny old lady that is a bit too religious. I AM! Ever wonder why I am? First, I need to clear one thing up. I am not ‘religious’, I am faithful and there is a big difference.

I know you have heard what I have to say before. You may have not LISTENED to it. You may have REJECTED it. I am sure you have had someone else try to share this with you, but for one reason or another you have buried it, or just not dealt with it, because you didn’t believe you had to. YOU HAVE TO! This world as we know it is coming to a close...things are about to change --drastically. Therefore, you need to act NOW.

The most important thing I have to say to you and I am saying it right now because it is the most important thing you will ever hear. You HAVE TO KNOW Christ as your Lord and Savior to get out of this mess and avoid the calamity that is coming.

Have I lost you? Hope not. In faith, I write on.

I am sure you have at least heard about Jesus...but were you listening??? Who do think he is/was? Some think he was either a good teacher, a liar, or delusional...OR he was who he said he was: The Son of the Living God. 


If you say you don't believe in God, I challenge you to explain to me how you are here. How is anything here? Why is anything or anyone here? Think about that. If you want a real challenge ask God these questions. Tell him you don't believe in him. Tell Him why. Tell him what your beef is with him and wait and watch how he answers. But back to my purpose for writing...

We all know deep down inside we are not perfect. Even if we think we have not done anything worthy of really hurting anyone, we do realize we are not PERFECT. Right?

Have you ever wondered if anyone cares if we are not perfect? And what is perfect anyway?

Most of us care, God cares... not so much that we are perfect --as WE define perfection. Do you have any idea what his definition is of perfection? When we are in right standing with God he sees us as perfect. That's the way HE defines perfection.

He knows you better than you know yourself. He loves you more than you will ever know. He created you. He gives you choice so you are not a robot that can be commanded to do what he says to do. But his hope is that you would love him and trust him enough to make the choice to follow him and receive the gift he offers you.

• What gift?
• When did he offer it to you?
• Why?
• What if you don’t want it?
• What if you do?

The gift is his son, Jesus Christ. Jesus was offered to you at the cross as a sacrifice when he died to take away the sin of the world. He did this because we needed a way to repair our imperfection which affected the relationship between us and God that was broken at the Fall. The Fall was when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God and sin came into the world. Up to Jesus’ time, mankind was in a downward spiral, separate from God, unable to have full relationship with Him. God is not able to accept sin. He accepts sacrifice. Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice for us. When Jesus died he opened the door for us to come back into relationship with God. We still are given the choice to accept Jesus as our sacrifice or not. If we do, the relationship is repaired and we have God’s blessing for eternity. If we don’t want it – it is our choice – we will not have a relationship with Him and will not have His blessing for ETERNITY!

How does all this affect you? ETERNALLY. You may go on with your life thinking you have control over all you say and do. You may think you don’t need God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit to guide you and bring you to Heaven. That you are a good person. You are wrong. Sorry. That’s it plain and simple.

You see at the Fall, God gave the world over to the evil one…Satan. He controls this world, he controls you. He does not and cannot control those that are in Christ. He just can’t because God is in them/us. Satan wants you to believe you are in control of your life. He wants you to believe that there is nothing after this life. He wants you to believe you just live as best you can in this world and then you are gone. Nothing else…BUT I ASK you, what if you and he are wrong? I am sure you would want to know, and you would want to know if you can do anything about it. I am writing this to say YOU CAN!

It must be done BEFORE you leave this world. What must you do? Ask Jesus to come into your life. Once you do you are 'perfect' (God's definition, remember) or in right standing with God. Go ahead and ask Him to prove Himself to you. I did. He did. And I can never go back to the way I was. So I will live on as that crazy, funny, FAITH-FULL old lady until I leave this earth. The mayhem I spoke of earlier has already started and I believe God promises to remove us before it gets much, much worse. I pray that is true. I don't want to be here. I hope and pray it will be true for you too and that you will be with me there in Heaven. There is an alternative and you do have a choice…as God implores: Choose LIFE!

I have been and will be praying for you. If you have any questions, I am here for you. Email me at TheBlessingBell at gmail. Or message me on FB or IM me for my phone #.

Love and Blessings,

JoAnn

My First Puppy

Every little kid wants a puppy, right? A dog is said to love us unconditionally. While my puppy was not quite what you would expect, this little guy has been with me a long time...

We go way back to my first birthday. I see him there in pictures and it's obvious he was a favorite toy.  My parents always said they were the BEST type of pet. They don't make a sound or a mess! Flopsy and my other stuffed puppy, Scottie, were my "kids" when I played house. 

Wow, was our kitchen really that harsh pink?!?

 One fond memory I have is walking with my dad and I believe my little brother down the roads of West Shokan where I grew up. I am not sure how old I was but, I wanted a dog. A real dog. Well, I actually wanted a pony, but I figured I had a better chance of getting a dog. Dad didn't want a dog because he loved watching the deer come down to our yard. A dog with deer was a poor combination.

Here I am hugging him in the red chair that I remember too.

So I decided on this day that we were taking a walk, I would do the next best thing to having a real dog and walk my favorite dog. So I fastened one of my belts around Flopsy's neck and off we went. When we got off the gravely, dusty driveway, I put him down. I walked a few feet and then yanked the belt so as to have my puppy soar through the air ahead of me. Then I would catch up to him, pass him and just as the belt became taught, would yank him ahead again. Can you picture this??? This went on for quite a while until I thought my poor puppy might get roughed up on the black top and I decided to carry him.

My dad and brother, to their credit, never said a word. I never got my real dog until I had kids of my own, but this little guy is still with me. He still comforts me and creates a sense of peace for me.

He needed some surgery a few years back. I pulled him out of the attic and noticed his feet had atrophied from lack of use. So I went and removed every inch of packed (hard as a rock) stuffing and refilled with new healthier fiber(fill) and he's almost as good as new.

These days he sits on the pillows on our bed and at night gives me the incentive I need to lie down and sleep or rest. He also reminds me that like our Savior and Lord our God will never leave me. He brings me comfort, peace and joy just by being silently there in the background.

Do you have a something special from your childhood? Do you have the peace of knowing the living Savior Jesus Christ? Other than my puppy, Flopsy, Christ is the only one who unconditionally loves me. He loves you too and He waiting for you to come and rest.

I remember being a child and looking at the world as a world of limits.

As I grew, I realized my limits were not necessarily limits at all. That beyond the door was another world. Beyond my house were other homes. Beyond my family were not only other relatives but other people as well. It's amazing to me how we think we always have limits until we discover there is a world beyond.

I love that scientists are discovering each day new worlds beyond what we ever thought was possible. As I was reading through my grandson's anatomy textbook, I was amazed at how our perspectives have changed in just the short time that I have been out of school.

Who ever thought that each cell in our body carried DNA that was unique just to us?

Who ever realized the animal kingdoms in the sea would include microscopic creatures that never have seen the light of day?

Unfortunately as we age, we sometimes forget the world we may live in is very different across the globe. Even in our own communities we see differences of people groups, personalities, and perspectives. It is amazing to think that we all live in such a small world when you see it from the perspective of an astronaut in space or a satellite sailing through the galaxies.

We used to think the world was huge! Now we know better. Some think we can't make an impact on this world. We should know better now that we have a few experiences to look back on.

Now that we are older and hopefully wiser, I would think we realize we are a very small part of what is out there, we should, one would hope, want to work together to help each other. Not take away from each other. Not to abuse one another. Not to have and look down on the have nots. Not to criticize one for their own opinion and outlook, but to try to see from one another's shoes. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Everyone should respect each other's opinion. But today we seem to still want to be the one who shouts loudest. We still want to be right without hearing what the others are saying.

When will we learn that we all leave the same way we came in...with nothing.

We all live in the same small world. We need to learn to listen to each other and help each other to see the other's perspective. Then and only then will be able to work together to make a difference.

Reflections of a first time visit to the Apple Store.

This blog was written a long time ago, but for some reason never posted...never to waste a heartfelt story...

So my nephew hooked me up with my first IPhone...okay an older model (3GS) but still an IPHONE!!!...loved it and was still learning features...then while bike riding with my grandson over Christmas vacation it fell out of my pocket and I didn't notice until we were quite a ways down the road. Actually it was the moment I went to take a picture of some beautiful cattle down the road and around the corner from my grandson's home. I reached in my pocket and it no phone!

So Asher and I turned around and headed back over the road we had just come down. We kept thinking of where it might be. "It's probably in the road," Asher kept suggesting. I prayed it wasn't in the road as several cars had passed us on our ride. I didn't hold out much hope for a phone 'in the road'.

I suggested it was probably in the yard and fell out when I first got on the bike while trying to pedal uphill. That was the safer bet for the phone anyway.

So we rode carefully back towards home, keeping a vigilant eye out for the missing phone. Just as I was sure we either missed it on the shoulder or silently rejoiced that it MUST be in the yard, I spotted it. There it lay, right smack dab in the middle of the other lane looking lonely and forlorn. "There it is!" I shouted to Asher and we carefully crossed the road (I know his mom and dad will be reading this.) and I picked it up. Looking non the worse-for-wear, I stuffed it in my pocket, this time snuggly zipping the pocket it was in and we headed toward home. As we approached the house we decided to continue on our ride out in the other direction. After a fun ride down hill, encouraging Asher to keep pedaling hard to try to make it up the other hill, we stopped and rested at the top. At this point, with temperatures and sun starting to dip, we decided to turn around and head back to home.

Once home I realized I didn't check the phone to see if it worked. And to my dismay, it didn't. Surely a phone that hadn't cracked the screen...had no obvious damage that a car tire would inflict, must be just jostled enough to loosen the battery...Surely...one could hope!?!

Bryan (my son, Asher's dad) looked it over. This was an act of pure love at this point, because Bryan is clearly not a MAC man! He faithfully checked it over as best he could and suggested I take it to an Apple Store when we get home.

I was slowly losing hope...I wanted that phone FOR our trip home. But I had to put on my big girl pants and face the fact that we had traveled many times without cell phones and this would just be another one of those times.

So we did.

And we didn't miss it much.

Finally the day came when we were heading close enough to the closest Apple Store that we could take it in. In the meantime I was having thoughts of money wasted interspersed with thoughts that at least I hadn't paid $400 for it like I hear lots of people have done.

So we arrived at our first Apple Store at Crossgates Mall in Albany, NY. We were greeted by a happy go lucky fella with a bright red shirt and a calculator like badge hanging around his neck and earplugs. We said hi to each other and then I guess my confused looked clued him in that we needed help. To his request to help us, I told him this was our first time and I had no idea what to do. He chuckled and asked what our problem was. After asking if we had backed up the phone recently, I started to laugh. "I am still learning how to use this thing, I have hardly any contacts, pictures or anything else worth backing up." He politely smiled and pointed to another young fellow a few tables over and said that he would be able to help us, just wait in line. So we went over and two other people were ahead of us.

The fun thing about an Apple Store (of course this may be true of all electronics stores, but this was our FIRST experience with one and with Apple), Apple Store Crossgates Mall
 is that every gadget they sell is on display for anyone (and I do mean anyone) can play with. The other fun is watching the activity in such a store. There are islands of activity...the IPAD island, the IPHONE 5 Island, the laptop and the music islands...Then there is the Genius Bar. At some point we noticed the King of the islands walking through the store with purpose and occasionally talking to himself. Every once in a while, he was move other subjects around or ask his followers to assists those that seemed lost.

Just as I was about to pack up and head out. It was our turn! One of the King's Soldiers carrying his shield and wearing a badge calculator thingy, came over to us and asked what we needed. I shared my story and he tapped on his shield and then another subject came over and asked more questions, took my phone and pressed some of the same buttons I had pressed (but in a different sequence) and waited...and waited. Then, he said he would have to take it in the back and asked us to sign something on his shield with my finger and off he went into one of two doors that led to no man's land.

It was eerily like taking one of our kids to the hospital when they were little...doc asks questions, looks the baby over, brings in some paperwork to sign, then goes off to do whatever is needed. However when he returned he did not have good news. The baby died. But unlike our kids, he was willing to replace it with another twin! So we did more finger signing (is this what signing in blood was like in the dark ages???) and waited and waited and waited...similar to emergency rooms in the US right?

However, the two 'doctors' came out of the back room --- never a good sign. The bad news was...the twin was dead too. What!?! But the good news was that they could replace it with a new and improved big brother! Imagine if this kind of stuff went on in our hospitals...So after signing even more shields with our fingers. We held in our arms a beautiful new older model, but newer than our old cell phone...the IPhone 4!!!

We were surprised and happy with our new addition and raced right upstairs to get his brain working with the ATT gods and now our new little one sits happily watching us as he charges up on desk.

All in all a great experience...as we walked away with what appears to be a new Iphone 4 or maybe ever slightly used and refurbished to look new and it didn't cost a penny! When did that ever happen at the hospital?

Church Time

If anyone had ever told me that I would one day spend hours in church and actually enjoy it, I would have said they were NUTS!

When I was a kid I was forced to go to Catholic church, pretty much every Sunday. Boring! Was all I remember of the early years. I would stare at the statues, be transfixed by the candle flames, wonder how the people knew when to stand up, sit down, kneel, stand, sit!!! Then there was communion, what was the priest drinking and why didn't he share? All the rules, no fish on Friday, getting dressed up for Easter, confession, memorizing prayer and praying the rosary....so much to remember!

Then in elementary school it was a Godsend to get to leave school to attend church classes at the church near the school during 'Release Time'. But that was the ONLY thing good about church as far as I was concerned.

In my teen years, things changed, the rules change but church became a little more exciting. New priest, young priest, good-looking priest that played and guitar and could sing!!! In English!!! But still it was boring to sit there and wait for it all to end.

Then in my 20's I was invited to another church -- was it a cult?!? It was Jim's cousin that invited me. So I decided it couldn't be all bad. It was around the corner from where we lived and I wanted so desperately to meet people. I was home with a baby at the time and felt so isolated. So I went. As soon as I heard they needed help in the Nursery, I signed up. Anything had to be better than sitting through boring sermons. I remember my first Sunday, in the sanctuary, a lady sang a song during communion. Out of tune does not begin to describe it...so that with what I expected of another boring service pushed me to look elsewhere in the church to 'participate.' After a few weeks in the nursery, a very wise mom suggested I should go upstairs to hear the teaching rather than taking care of children. "After all you are home all day with your baby, you should get to meet some other adults." So grudgingly I went back to the sanctuary.

After a few weeks there, I started to wonder...how does this guy (the Pastor) know this stuff about me? How does he know what I did this week, yesterday, what my thoughts were! HOW? As I started to really listen, I started to really hear. Little did I know the Holy Spirit was using this man to reach out to me. Slowly I began to hear not only what Christ did, but why he did it and how it related to me! How his blood shed on the cross was graciously given for me. How being the Perfect Sacrifice, his death and resurrection provided the way for me to access heaven and Father God!

As the years went by I learned more and more. I went to church services, Bible studies, women's ministries, then women's retreats and on and on. I began to study the Bible on my own and in different Bible studies. Soon I was remembering parts of scripture and began sharing it with others. I became disillusioned by many churches because they seemed in competition with each other. The pastors criticized other pastors, and numbers seemed more important than peoples souls. So I visited many churches and struggled to find one I could grow in and do ministry in. Some were too far away, some were too basic, some were way too weird. Others were too Catholic-like and steeped in rituals, others were not teaching the Bible at all!! So I continued to study on my own and was actually being fed by two or three churches on television. These pastors were teaching the same things I was reading in the Bible. They answered a lot of questions that most pastors I met, could not answer. So I settled into watching them, attending Bible study with friends and reading and praying on my own.

Then through a new ministry, I found myself visiting churches again. As God has a sense of humor. I walked through the doors of the church building I attended back in my 20's. A church that I accepted Christ as my Savior and Lord. And the place I worked at for 11 years.

This 'new to me' church was lively. Praise and worship was just that. The teaching was solid and totally biblical, no heavy reliance on commentaries and other books. They had basic Bible teaching with some strong lessons on Grace, God's love, God's sacrifice, God's forgiveness and His plan for our lives. It has been several years now and while I continue to go to outside Bible studies and read the Word on my own (as I suggest EVERYONE does), I love being the Grand Ma, the Great Aunt, the quiet observer and helper at this 'new' church. It is a blessing to me to bless the next generation.