This is in response to a comment/question posted by a friend on FB and since I ended up running off at the mouth as I am wont to do, I decided to blog it as well. So here we go (took my meds so I hope I don't wander too far off - just took 'em so I should be safe :) )
My Status on Facebook was this when I left the house :
Jodi Swanson Cornelius Just chillin' - waiting for tonite - Gideons are giving a Pastor Appreciation Banquet tonite so I gotta be on my best behavior and in the new clothes that I bought for it :)
Spare Ribs
do you go round sneaking Bibles into hotel rooms? No offence Jodi! sorry gotta be said (my daughter's friend is a Jehova's witness - she's lovely too) best behaviour is hard for me x
My MULTIPLE responses - I don't think she knew what she was getting into when she posted that LOL
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Jodi Swanson Cornelius
Ain' no thang - and no, I don't go sneaking Bibles into hotel rooms - that's the Gideons (the men) - I belong to the Auxiliary and we sneak Bibles into the hands of domestic violence victims, and women prisoners, and nurses, and various other places :) We don't do anything but place Bibles - we aren't like the Jehovah Witnesses - we will share ourtestimony but we don't go door to door forcing Bibles in hands - in fact, we don't "hand" out Bibles - we place them on top of our palms and you are welcome to take one or not. Sometimes when we have what we call PWT (Personal Worker's Testament) in our pockets we will offer them to service people, waitresses, waiters, gas pumpers, grocery clerks, etc. We don't push 'em - if the person says no thanks we say no problem, just thought we'd offer and if they say yes we show them where there are helps in the front and the plan of salvation in the back and that's the extent of it UNLESS they ask. Some people will take our Bibles and throw them in the garbage - that's ok too - we have many testimonies of people who were down on their luck and came across one in the garbage. We are simply an extension of the churches in America - ALL Bibles and Personal Testaments are paid for by monies donated by churches. Every single penny that a church gives or an individual gives in memory of someone or as a Thank You or whatever goes to the making and sending of Bibles - not one single penny goes for postage, administrative fees - we as Gideons and Auxiliary members pay for that out of our own pockets. The PWTs are paid for our of our own pockets. Every single penny goes to what the person is "paying" for - a Bible. And just to let someone know - if you want to "steal" a Bible placed by a Gideon in a hotel/motel room? TAKE IT!!! They are placed there for people to read but also if someone wants to take it, that's fine as well. The housekeeping staff let us know when they notice some missing but we also make it a point to visit all the hotels/motels once a year to make sure all the Bibles are in good condition and there. If not, we replace the damaged or missing with a new one. And even the Bible is damaged - they aren't destroyed. Prisons don't allow hard covered books into the cells so we take those damaged books, remove the hard cover and replace it with a paper cover that we are careful to glue just right so the guards can tell there's nothing hiding in the binder. So no $$ spent on Bibles go to waste.
Bet you didn't expect THAT long a reaction didja?? LOL That'll learn ya. :) But seriously, I'm not offended - the Bibles in the hotels and motels are there when someone wants something to read - no one is forced to read it. And if it helps someone, more power to them and Praise God!!
Jodi Swanson Cornelius
To be honest, *I* didn't expect myself to ramble on like that LOL
Jodi Swanson Cornelius
oh and nothing ever offends me that is aimed at me - I might get offended if someone starts talking trash about Jesus and God in a nasty way but as I keep telling people who have a number of problems like we do, God doesn't care if you yell at Him - He has big shoulders. He MADE you so He understands you. Usually, before too long, you come around and understand the whys. I take me as an example. I got more things wrong with me mentally and physically than Carter's got liver pills (dating myself) and I used to yell at God - WHY? WHY ME??? Why do my loved ones all die of cancer? ALL OF THEM!!!!!!!!!! Why do I have to suffer with pain every day 24/7?? Why do I have so many mental issues that I have to take tons of medicine to keep me from killing people?? Why do I have to live with the sword of cancer over my head in my esophagus (I have Barrett's really bad) and all the family members both dead and alive who died or survived their cancer? Why do I have a granddaughter who, at the ripe old age of 15 months was discovered to have bilateral retinoblastoma - cancer in BOTH eyes. Within 3 days of finding out she had cancer, she lost her right eye. Why did she have to go thru that. But you know what the answer is? The answer is now God has built up MY strength in HIM to not be ashamed of my mental issues - I understand people and can relate to them when it comes to people who are ashamed that they have mental problems - I can show them that hey - just cuz your mental doesn't mean you have to be mental. Embrace your being different. Once you accept that this is the way it is then it ceases being a problem for you. And if someone outside of you has a problem with you having issues, then buddy, they'd better look to themselves because there is no reason for anyone to have issues with someone who has mental problems.
So I said all that to say this - with all the problems both physical and mental, all the meds I have to take for the rest of my life (I'll be 48 in April so, Lord Willing, I have quite a ways to go yet) all the pain that has to be maintained by meds that will be part of who I am from now on has simply made me a stronger person both physically AND mentally in a non-physical/mental way - if that makes sense LOL Plus with the almost (it seems) daily addition of new problems (now I'm having major problems sleeping on my back - I quit breathing) if I didn't have the mentality that God has given me, I'd be dead or one of the most miserable people on this planet spreading my misery everywhere. But I'm not because GOD has given me the grace (about the only way I have grace because I sure as heck didn't get "grace"ful at all!! :) to be accepting of my problems, find the humor in all of it - EVERY SINGLE BIT OF IT including the TOS, the fused neck, the damaged nerves, the many numbers of mental issues, yada yada yada. And if you ask any of my friends here on FB they will all tell you the same thing - I am nuts - but, while they know of my physical problems I don't make life miserable around people by grousing about it (just on the Status Forum on the TOS site :) and they would tell you I'm basically a very happy, insane person.
And now you see why I try not to go off on tangents on the TOS boards LOL Ok - I'm gonna shut up - American Idol is done and I'm gonna go watch the recording I made of it while still awake.
Hope I didn't irritate you with all this babbling caused by an innocent remark. Course if I did, you probably aren't reading this part where I'm telling you it wasn't meant to be irritating :) But I think I've purged - and probably would be a good thing to copy and put on my blog as well. Which, as you can see, I did :)
Hope you have a fantastic night
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