Posts will be on hold...

As my mother passed away yesterday after fighting a very long battle with Alzheimer's.
Please if you would, say a prayer for her. Thank you and God bless...


LadiofZen

Public Gallery - Angelreachingforheaven - Beliefnet Community

Public Gallery - Angelreachingforheaven - Beliefnet Community

FIELDS by Lizabella Stephenson

FIELDS

Where are we going

I ask my love

For a walk

She tells me

And I smile 

At this new adventure

This odyssey she will take me on

I gaze at the sleek fineness of her skin 

The dark eloquence of her eyes

She takes my hand in hers

And we walk, her and I

Through overgrown and lush fields

Fertile and fragrant 

The green growth strokes our thighs as we walk

I feel the warm graciousness of the sun on my back 

And I want to pull my lover down

Here, in the brilliant and perfumed paradise

And linger

Down amongst this ambrosial softness 

And place honeyed smooth kisses

Upon the tender arch at her throat

But I continue to walk with her

This woman who has so totally captured my heart

Here, she says and pulls me gently down beside her

I feel the warm sweet breezes playing with my face and neck

You must let me go, she tells me

And I feel a deep quaking in my soul

How can I let go of this woman?

As much a part of my heart

As the veins that run through it

If I let her go

This love of mine

Who will I be?

As long and as tightly as I have held on to her 

I can't, I won't

Please don't ask this of me

I ask no more of you, she answers

Than I ask of myself

I reach for her hands

But now they are fragile and weak

The silky smoothness that was her voice 

Is husky, harsh and a wound to my ears, heart and my soul

I look into my love's face

And it is a face of illness, pain and suffering

Eyes now dull and lusterless 

The winds have changed

Glacial, frigid and cutting

The sky, dark and ominous

The grasses in which we sit

Are dry and jagged and bruise my skin

I look away across the fields in which we sit

And I am full of anguish, desolation and regrets

I love you, she says, I always will

I feel warmth upon my back

And it is bright again

The grasses are soft with sympathy and forgiving

The sun is out again, I turn to tell her

But she is gone

A trick of light

Or a figment of my imagination?

I lift myself to my feet

And begin to move forward

Head up, eyes on the horizon

It's what she would have wanted

And it's what I will give her... 

LizaBella Stephenson 

The Frightening World of Calalini...

Jani is seven years old. She is a very bright (IQ of 146) little girl with a headful of tangled curls and endless energy. She is also a severe schizophrenic. She lives in the world of Calalini, a world she says that is the border between her world and ours. She has over two hundred imaginary friends; 200 the rat, Magical 61 the cat, two little girls named 100 degrees and 24 hours and 400 the cat, are just a few of the many that inhabit her realm. Doctors say that only one per cent of Americans suffer from schizophrenia and most become ill in their teenage years with one in ten ending in suicide. Jani's case is one of the most severe and the most rare; a child born with schizophrenia. There is only one other case of a child being diagnosed with schizophrenia so young, at age six. Jani suffers from hallucinations, delusions and rages so severe that even her own parents are frightened of her. She is on enough medication to topple an adult and yet even the heavy cocktail of drugs she takes to help control her disease, barely seem to touch it.

Because Jani is prone to violence and has kicked and bitten her baby brother, her parents have two apartments they can barely afford and care for Jani in shifts.  Susan, a former radio traffic reporter and Michael, a college English instructor, try to figure out how to protect their eighteen month old son and provide as much stability as possible for their devastatingly ill daughter. Recently, Jani was on Oprah but the interview did not go well and Oprah's frustration was evident as she tried to interview Jani amidst Jani's violent protests that she did not want to talk! 

Unless someone steps in and helps this poor family, the outlook will only get bleaker. Schizophrenia is a progressive disease which means as sick as Jani is, she will only get sicker. And what then? Will she be hospitalized to live her life out institutionalized? Doctors are at loss on how to help Jani. If she were in her teens, there might be a hope of finding a way to control her psychotic behavior, but she is only a little girl who was unlucky enough to be born with one of the most devastating of diseases.  There are simply no resources to care for a child so young with such a serious mental disorder. Jani's father worries the heavy doses of medication will kill his daughter but if she doesn't take the drugs prescribed, she might kill herself. And her parents have begun to lose hope.

Who will come forward to help Jani? Oprah has championed many charities and causes. Why can't Jani not be one of them? And as my son Josh has said, "Why can't doctors study Jani's brain not only to help her but to also help the thousands of people who suffer just like her?" And my question to my son was,"Why can't someone start a website to raise money for Jani's care?" But even with unlimited funds, there is no cure for this disease. No magic pill to make it go away and no special place Jani can go that will be the ultimate answer. My heart aches for this family, for this little girl and I want to help so I will be building a website. I will let you all know when it is up and ready. Until then, please pray for Jani and her family because as it looks right now, it's up to God.  

Until next time...

Love and Light to All,

LadiofZen 

For the full story of Jani and her family go to http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-schizophrenia29-2009jun29,0,5289139,full.story

Going on Faith

...So now a group of Italian scientists are claiming that 'The Shroud of Turin' is a man made fake. For those of you who are not familiar, 'The Shroud of Turin' is revered as the ancient burial cloth of Jesus Christ. The shroud shows the image of a man who was crucified with wounds in the wrists and feet with bloodstains seeping. Believers say the image was recorded at the time of Christ's resurrection.

The scientists reproduced the shroud using materials that were available in the 14th century so therefore they say, it is a hoax and a fake. And yet, certain things about the original remain unexplained, such as certain discolorations and markings that believers say could not be reproduced by any type of human means.

I'm one of the believers and it annoys me that for many, many years, certain groups have tried to disprove 'The Shroud of Turin' a fake. Why is it so important to prove that it is not real? Even if it were 'man made' it is a constant reminder of Christ's Crucifixion and Resurrection.  Is it so wrong in this graceless day and age to want to believe there is a power greater than ourselves? And that this power loves us unconditionally? 

I am a spiritual person but don't believe in orthodox religion nor do I attend church services. Buddhism comes closest to my belief system. Many religions, if not all, are based on the belief that there is a greater force than ourselves at work. Call it 'God', 'The Universe' or whatever your name for it might be, it brings comfort and peace to millions upon millions every second of every single day. 

Faith is the confident belief or trust in the truth or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing as defined by Wikipedia. It also means believing without having concrete evidence and having trust in oneself and in your own personal beliefs.

Saying that I believe in 'The Shroud of Turin' is also saying I believe in God, The Universe and 'The Powers That Be' and that comforts me. It makes me all the more aware that we are not alone in this very large and sometimes frightening world and that there is a 'Force and or Power' looking out for us, even when we feel the most lost, and that it is continual and never ending.

"The Shroud of Turin' is real because I believe it to be so. Because I have faith. Because I trust...

What do you believe?

Until next time, Love and Light to You All...

For more information about 'The Shroud of Turin' go to http://www.shroud.com/index.htm