Catsmeow

When all you have is memories ~ hell is not having anywhere to bring them; heaven is where you make more of them with those you love - original quote by Catsmeow

Wanna know what love is? Jesus went through hell so you wouldn't ...

As I was doing my usual research I found this fascinating gif and I labeled it: Where heaven and hell meet ( at the cross, of course )

Wanna hang out with me? Let's talk. I care ...

Revelation 20: 13 - 14 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Thank you, ( post ) - or whatever your real name is: I like the verse that says, "and may you never be afraid of your Father" ( that's the verse that brought tears to my eyes )

I love Eden's Bridge - their music is so potent and full of Christ's light...I love it.

I've been ministering to a very special man we'll call, "Psycho" (he has a different user-name) - the young man has been compassed about by great darkness. When I met him he'd been obsessed with serial killers for quite some time, people like the famous serial killers, "Richard Ramirez" and "Charles Manson." He's also gay and has succumbed to great darkness. Only God himself could give me the enormous grace to love him as if he were my own flesh and blood. I call him, "my brother" and have more love for this young brother who I dearly love. He's slowly crept out of darkness and allowed light to enter his dark prison. I've slowly won his trust (he has serious trust issues) and has shared very private things with me - which took months of frequent contact for him to be vulnerable to another human being.He's lived a societal black hole and walled himself off from most human contact. The isolation he's felt has caused him to become filled with darkness manifesting itself in hatred and contempt of other people.Recently I've seen a change in him. He's beginning to respond to kindness and warmth. I've been able to share with him my own troubles and that caused him to open us. I've been slowly building his trust as one would build a home.God uses our own vulnerabilities to show others how much He understands them - He understands them so much that He uses us t show them how much He understands through our example.That requires us to reach out and love others as we love ourselves. It's a high maintenance and time consuming ministry to love others with intense love, Christ's perfect unconditional love - so that they might believe.I have developed such an intense love for these people, they are my purpose for living - my reason for living on this earth. My love is all-encompassing; My love is as a mother longs for her only son. It's the most powerful emotions and passions of maternal and sibling love one can imagine. Oh, how I love these people - the very ones written off by society. Who can comprehend the love I feel for them? I am inspired to grow in the intensity of this love - this love for which I can barely find words. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me and I have come to understand this one thing: I have given the greatest gift of all gifts - the gift of love.I am learning to take people right where they're at and soak up the light and love of Jesus Christ and to shine like a beacon on the shore. I am experiencing a supernatural love for people I have never felt before...this love, this beautiful love and light that God is shining in my heart. How I love them! I could gather them up in my arms like clusters of tiny flowers - so sweet the nectar; so precious in my soul!I long to tell them how much I love them all...how dear and precious. Oh, how I love these countless faces of hurting people and feel the intense love and concern the Savior of our Souls is when He looks into their eyes.I now understand why we are supposed to be his eyes and ears, his arms and his very heartbeat.I know now why the Lord has been singing to me in my heart - so I might fulfill my purpose on earth: to be His representative that embraces the lost and forgotten and be His representative on earth. I have become his ambassador...and I understand now how Paul felt and his heart for the church.What has happened to the body of Christ? What has happened to her? I wonder. I question why we have become a resort for the healthy and not a hospital for the wounded. I don't understand this at all. It's perplexing and sad.Thank you and anyone who speaks to the Lord in a deep and personal way - asking for His favor upon the forgotten masses of lost souls that could surely come to Him if only someone cared enough about those outside their circle of family and friends.I am grateful for the prayer warriors who read this and dig their heals in and fight for these lost and unloved people. You are the true movers and shakers in the spiritual war we are engaged in.Bless all of you who read this letter. For it is addressed to you (and you know who you are...the unseen warriors for Christ.) You are the unsung heroes of the faith. You are the brothers and sisters I love so dearly and who precious to our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.Thank you - the examples of Christ's loves. You're what gives me so much inspiration - the prayer warriors for Christ.

Note: I posted the song when I intended to post a picture of Jesus, (but I already had this song playing and pasted to my YouTube account...hence, the song pasted instead of the image of Jesus.)

Letter to my first love, Jesus Christ, the King of my Soul, my beloved - my reason for living (originally composed by me, Catsmeow on 2/11/16): Jesus, how can I tell you that I love you? I can't think of right words to say....wherever I go, Lord - I'm always thinking about you...always thinking of you. I kept hearing this song in my head. It wasn't the usual death metal I normally play or the screams and shouts of another heavy metal band but something soft, sweet, acoustic and more subtle but powerful. I kept hearing, "How can I tell you that I love you...I love you but I can't think of right words to say; can't think of right words to say. I couldn't figure out if the song I keep hearing in my head is the song by Cat Stevens were the words of me speaking to you or you speaking to me. It wasn't till later on that I began to understand that it was a dialogue between you and me expressed in a song. Not a hymn, according to religious protocol but a song by a man who isn't even a Christian but this was the song I kept hearing you play in my head - a duet. Yes, a duet and we were both singing it together. You'd sing me a verse then I'd sing you a verse - bath and forth. I'd sing and you'd sing. We were singing to each other. I sang a verse to you and you sang a verse to me. The music kept playing in my head - softly, sweetly - gently. I began to realize they were words to a song by some songwriter but I felt them at a different level - a new level. A very deep and emotional level.I realized I felt intense sadness because I read the words to poetry written by a girl who was suicidal. I kept reading more and more of her poems of death, loss and desire to destroy herself. I wept. I wept a little at first and then I wept some more. I couldn't stop crying.After a while I began to wonder if these were my tears or your tears. We're you crying over her because you longed to tell her, "I love you" but I can't think of right words to say...can't think of right words to say...I felt like those words weren't the words to a popular song from way back but the words you were writing on my heart - and not just for me personally but to her...to the little girl standing afar wanting to take her life. You were weeping for her and I was a conduit for her pain and for your love for her (and for me).I realized that this was what it truly meant when it speaks of having you live inside of our hearts. It's love - it's all about love. That's the most overwhelming thing I've sensed lately. Us loving you; you loving us. Us loving each other. Just loving one another deeply and sincerely.I realized there would always be critics who would hurl stones and call me names and I was no different than the children sobbing because bullies were cruel to them at school. They're bullies in church who parade themselves around but badger those of us who are vulnerable and easily hurt. It's possible that those who hurl stones and wound our fragile hearts are hurting themselves. How do I love them; how should I, my beloved? I'm nothing of worth or value but in your eyes - I matter. To you I am important; you give me purpose and design. I guess I just needed to hear you sing to me. In all these years I've never heard you sing to me. I didn't think God sang to people. I always thought we sang to you...not the other way around but I was wrong! I heard it in a song written by someone a long time ago playing the guitar and singing but I heard you speak to me through that music.I realized I wasn't gonna find an intimate, loving closeness to you in church pews or on some message board. I would hear it from you in the places that fall on deaf ears - in song that didn't meet sync with official church protocol. I heard you telling me that somehow and in some manner, you love this wretch that I am. You love the people who've been written off by society or assumed hopeless because they have some user-name that sounds like something out of a horror movie. Oh sure, they might sound like something from hell but you're over time and space and see how the "apparent" satanist is really a lonely child crying in dark and private places. You read their tender heart and know the pain and heartbreak they've suffered and you already know they're needing you, crying out to you - but they, "can't think of right words to say." You sing back to them but they and you're not there. You are there but they can't see you. You see them; they can't see you. You're still there but they can't see you. You can't think of right words to say...well, you can but they don't hear you. Not yet anyway. You see into their hearts soak in their sorrow and you wipe away their tears even though they can't see you. I know you want to tell these people who hate their themselves and hate their own lives how much you really love them but you can't can't think of right words to say because they can't hear you. You're always telling them, "I love you" but they can't can't hear you.I heard you say those words to me today and this time I heard you. I haven't felt loved is so long and now I hear you so clearly. I realize that in spite of all my faults and shortcomings you never stopped loving me. It's hard sometimes, Jesus. It's hard. I wanna be so perfect for you. I wanna feel all cleaned up and just right before I put away the things of this world. You know that the death metal I listen to expresses the pain I have inside of me. It's been my only way to express the silent misery I have since you took my love. I'm so lonely since you took him and I miss him so badly. I hurt so much inside and long to feel him next to me; hear his voice. I still cry when I remember him. It hurts so bad I can't stand it. I'm miserable because he's not here. I've had no where to go; no one who could ever hear the pain I have inside because he's gone. Every year that goes by - I've longed to die and wish I were dead so I could be with him and with you. You keep me here and won't let me come home. You keep me here but you're not here. I can't see you. I can't touch you. "Wherever I am, I'm always talking to you - always talking to you, but I can't think of right words to say" - until today. Now I can hear you. I can feel your breath. I can hear your heart beating. You're more than life size. You're more than a fantasy. More than everything I hoped you were - you're the very embodiment of love and all things beautiful. I can feel your presence and I know you're there. Now I know you hear me sobbing at night when I'm alone but I can't hear you.I can't see you. I know now you are there in the darkness even when I can't see or hear you. The pain in this life has been crowding you out. I haven't felt love by your body. Your body has felt cold and sterile to me...it's touch is like ice water. I feel numb around your people - numb and unloved. I feel unwanted and as if I no longer belong...and I can't think of right things to. I long to hear you but I look and you're not there; look and you're not there. I long to touch you and to feel my arms around you, feel my arms around you - but I can't think of right words to say; can't think of right words to say. The song plays itself over and over and over and I feel you in the very words - words that tell me you understand me so perfectly. You know the intensity of my pain and sorrow and you feel so much love for me but I cannot know how deeply you love and long for me. I love and long for you - but I can't think of right things to say. When I try to express how I feel to the body, they pervert everything I feel so deeply inside. It's twisted and perverted into something else. Something wrong and out of sorts...but you, somehow you understand the meaning. I understand the depth of my longing to love you and to live and show it from loving others who haven't felt love before. I am your hands. I am your feet. I am your heart beat. I am the very manifestation of your life. I breathe you. I feel you. I touch you - in ways this body of yours - your church is simply not doing. Your body doesn't feel the intensity of your longing for the multitudes who weep constantly and long to find you but cannot. They long to feel loved and accepted but they look and you're not there. Am I not your hands; your feet; your weeping eyes that long so much for them? Am I not the manifestation of your love? Is this why I cry so much for them? Is this why I long from the depth of my heart for these precious ones? I feel the overwhelming passionate love you have for those who are caged up and in bondage; the prisoner in a dark cage where no one will find them. You will find them. I will be your hands; I will be your feet; I will be your vital signs and show them you live - you live through those of us who suffer and feel what they feel. I am the one who will be your body. I am your body. If I speak with in the tongues of men and of angels and have not love - I am nothing. I serve no good purpose. If I feed only myself - I am a glutton and worthless. I sit at the table and fill myself to the full and become a glutton, feeding only myself and consuming what little time we have left....and giving nothing to anyone. I am truly a vagrant if I care only for myself. For when they were hungry, I shared my bread with them. I didn't eat it all and savor the fruits of your presence only for myself but shared your love, your fruit with those whose fragile hearts had nothing on which to feed. How can I tell you that I love you...love you - but I can't think of right words to say. I sing to you:Wherever I am, I'm always thinking of you; always thinking of you - but I look and you're not there. Look and you're not there....if always ends up to one thing, I can't think of right words to say. .You sing to me: Wherever I am, girl I always talking to you and I'm sad that you can't hear....it always ends up to one thing, I look and you're not there... I sing to you: Each night and day I pray in hope that I might find you; hope that I might find you...because hearts can do no more; hearts can do no more and I can't think of right words to say. I know that this is one of the most powerful songs I've ever heard sung originally by Cat Stevens but it's the one you planted in my heart - a duet we are singing to each other. It's your special gift to me - a gift not intended for anyone else. It was your special gift to me when you felt my pain; my sadness; my sense of utter abandon. It is your way to comfort me in my solitude. Your longing for me - your way of telling me how much you love me in spite of all of my weakness and longing...longing for release from the pain of this life. How I long to escape this world and be free but you ask me to stay awhile so you an complete your perfect work in me. No one will know who I was or why I died...but this they will remember - that you and I stood against the utter darkness and fought the good fight - a fight that only warriors fight. Those of us who comprehend the enemy and his attacks on your children...these ones in the darkness who daily destroy themselves cutting and disfiguring their bodies because the pain they feel is so great that they, too wish they were dead They long for the release of death and only someone like me could comprehend that dark place. Only someone who has walked in the pit of darkness and despair could feel their pain. I've been in pain my whole life - what's a little more gonna matter now? I hate my life and I can't think of right words to say. I can't think of right words to say...I can't say...I can't say = I just can't think of right words to say...oh, oooh, ooh...oh, oooooh, oh...I need to feel you, need to feel my arms around you, feel my arms around you. Wherever I am Lord, I'm always thnking of you, always thiinking of you but I look and you're not there...Then - I hear you again. I hear you...You're still there. You never left. You never left me - never. I long to tell you that I love you - I love you but my words just blow away...just blow away. How can I tell you that I love you- I love you, my I can't think of right words to say? I know if the body heard this they'd never understand. Their ears are closed. They can't understand...all they can do is gasp in shock and twist beauty into something profane. There's no understanding of the deep things. I just some heretic. It's like the body used to pervert your words because long ago people wanted your words put in a language they understood - in English or in German - the language they spoke and understood. That's what you've done for me: put your words into a song that only I could ever understand. I would understand the duet we sing together. I realize the depth of your intense love for me...and how much I love you. How can I tell you, Jesus - that I love you? I love you? I love you! I love you so much my tears flow like a river. Whoever I'm with, I'm always talking to you but I'm sad that you can't hear...that you can't hear. But now I you can hear. I can hear you...Lord. I can hear. My ears are unstopped and I love you...i'm always thinking of you, always thinking of you. Whoever I'm with, I'm always talking to you... I need to know you, I need to put my arms around you like the sea around the shore...each night and day I pray ...How can I tell you ? I long to tell you that I'm always thinking of you, but my words just blow away. It's always comes up to one thing Jesus, I can't think of right words to say... Now I know how much you love me...I need you - I need you, Jesus. Please stay with me in those dark places so others can hear you singing to them, help them to hear your voice as I hear it and sing back to you. So they can feel your warmth, heart your heart beat. Your heart beat - feel your breath and hear you sing to them as you as you sing to me. We are a duet and maybe they will sing back to you - and maybe they'll sing, "I need to know you, need to feel my arms around you, feel my arms around you, like the sea around the shore".

Jesus, how can I tell you that I love you? I can't think of right words to say....wherever I go, Lord - I'm always thinking about you...always thinking of you. I kept hearing this song in my head. It wasn't the usual death metal I normally play or the screams and shouts of another heavy metal band but something soft, sweet, acoustic and more subtle but powerful. I kept hearing, "How can I tell you that I love you...I love you but I can't think of right words to say; can't think of right words to say. I couldn't figure out if the song I keep hearing in my head is the song by Cat Stevens were the words of me speaking to you or you speaking to me. It wasn't till later on that I began to understand that it was a dialogue between you and me expressed in a song. Not a hymn, according to religious protocol but a song by a man who isn't even a Christian but this was the song I kept hearing you play in my head - a duet. Yes, a duet and we were both singing it together. You'd sing me a verse then I'd sing you a verse - bath and forth. I'd sing and you'd sing. We were singing to each other. I sang a verse to you and you sang a verse to me. The music kept playing in my head - softly, sweetly - gently. I began to realize they were words to a song by some songwriter but I felt them at a different level - a new level. A very deep and emotional level.I realized I felt intense sadness because I read the words to poetry written by a girl who was suicidal. I kept reading more and more of her poems of death, loss and desire to destroy herself. I wept. I wept a little at first and then I wept some more. I couldn't stop crying.After a while I began to wonder if these were my tears or your tears. We're you crying over her because you longed to tell her, "I love you" but I can't think of right words to say...can't think of right words to say...I felt like those words weren't the words to a popular song from way back but the words you were writing on my heart - and not just for me personally but to her...to the little girl standing afar wanting to take her life. You were weeping for her and I was a conduit for her pain and for your love for her (and for me).I realized that this was what it truly meant when it speaks of having you live inside of our hearts. It's love - it's all about love. That's the most overwhelming thing I've sensed lately. Us loving you; you loving us. Us loving each other. Just loving one another deeply and sincerely.I realized there would always be critics who would hurl stones and call me names and I was no different than the children sobbing because bullies were cruel to them at school. They're bullies in church who parade themselves around but badger those of us who are vulnerable and easily hurt. It's possible that those who hurl stones and wound our fragile hearts are hurting themselves. How do I love them; how should I, my beloved? I'm nothing of worth or value but in your eyes - I matter. To you I am important; you give me purpose and design. I guess I just needed to hear you sing to me. In all these years I've never heard you sing to me. I didn't think God sang to people. I always thought we sang to you...not the other way around but I was wrong! I heard it in a song written by someone a long time ago playing the guitar and singing but I heard you speak to me through that music.I realized I wasn't gonna find an intimate, loving closeness to you in church pews or on some message board. I would hear it from you in the places that fall on deaf ears - in song that didn't meet sync with official church protocol. I heard you telling me that somehow and in some manner, you love this wretch that I am. You love the people who've been written off by society or assumed hopeless because they have some user-name that sounds like something out of a horror movie. Oh sure, they might sound like something from hell but you're over time and space and see how the "apparent" satanist is really a lonely child crying in dark and private places. You read their tender heart and know the pain and heartbreak they've suffered and you already know they're needing you, crying out to you - but they, "can't think of right words to say." You sing back to them but they and you're not there. You are there but they can't see you. You see them; they can't see you. You're still there but they can't see you. You can't think of right words to say...well, you can but they don't hear you. Not yet anyway. You see into their hearts soak in their sorrow and you wipe away their tears even though they can't see you. I know you want to tell these people who hate their themselves and hate their own lives how much you really love them but you can't can't think of right words to say because they can't hear you. You're always telling them, "I love you" but they can't can't hear you.I heard you say those words to me today and this time I heard you. I haven't felt loved is so long and now I hear you so clearly. I realize that in spite of all my faults and shortcomings you never stopped loving me. It's hard sometimes, Jesus. It's hard. I wanna be so perfect for you. I wanna feel all cleaned up and just right before I put away the things of this world. You know that the death metal I listen to expresses the pain I have inside of me. It's been my only way to express the silent misery I have since you took my love. I'm so lonely since you took him and I miss him so badly. I hurt so much inside and long to feel him next to me; hear his voice. I still cry when I remember him. It hurts so bad I can't stand it. I'm miserable because he's not here. I've had no where to go; no one who could ever hear the pain I have inside because he's gone. Every year that goes by - I've longed to die and wish I were dead so I could be with him and with you. You keep me here and won't let me come home. You keep me here but you're not here. I can't see you. I can't touch you. "Wherever I am, I'm always talking to you - always talking to you, but I can't think of right words to say" - until today. Now I can hear you. I can feel your breath. I can hear your heart beating. You're more than life size. You're more than a fantasy. More than everything I hoped you were - you're the very embodiment of love and all things beautiful. I can feel your presence and I know you're there. Now I know you hear me sobbing at night when I'm alone but I can't hear you.I can't see you. I know now you are there in the darkness even when I can't see or hear you. The pain in this life has been crowding you out. I haven't felt love by your body. Your body has felt cold and sterile to me...it's touch is like ice water. I feel numb around your people - numb and unloved. I feel unwanted and as if I no longer belong...and I can't think of right things to. I long to hear you but I look and you're not there; look and you're not there. I long to touch you and to feel my arms around you, feel my arms around you - but I can't think of right words to say; can't think of right words to say. The song plays itself over and over and over and I feel you in the very words - words that tell me you understand me so perfectly. You know the intensity of my pain and sorrow and you feel so much love for me but I cannot know how deeply you love and long for me. I love and long for you - but I can't think of right things to say. When I try to express how I feel to the body, they pervert everything I feel so deeply inside. It's twisted and perverted into something else. Something wrong and out of sorts...but you, somehow you understand the meaning. I understand the depth of my longing to love you and to live and show it from loving others who haven't felt love before. I am your hands. I am your feet. I am your heart beat. I am the very manifestation of your life. I breathe you. I feel you. I touch you - in ways this body of yours - your church is simply not doing. Your body doesn't feel the intensity of your longing for the multitudes who weep constantly and long to find you but cannot. They long to feel loved and accepted but they look and you're not there. Am I not your hands; your feet; your weeping eyes that long so much for them? Am I not the manifestation of your love? Is this why I cry so much for them? Is this why I long from the depth of my heart for these precious ones? I feel the overwhelming passionate love you have for those who are caged up and in bondage; the prisoner in a dark cage where no one will find them. You will find them. I will be your hands; I will be your feet; I will be your vital signs and show them you live - you live through those of us who suffer and feel what they feel. I am the one who will be your body. I am your body. If I speak with in the tongues of men and of angels and have not love - I am nothing. I serve no good purpose. If I feed only myself - I am a glutton and worthless. I sit at the table and fill myself to the full and become a glutton, feeding only myself and consuming what little time we have left....and giving nothing to anyone. I am truly a vagrant if I care only for myself. For when they were hungry, I shared my bread with them. I didn't eat it all and savor the fruits of your presence only for myself but shared your love, your fruit with those whose fragile hearts had nothing on which to feed. How can I tell you that I love you...love you - but I can't think of right words to say. I sing to you:Wherever I am, I'm always thinking of you; always thinking of you - but I look and you're not there. Look and you're not there....if always ends up to one thing, I can't think of right words to say. .You sing to me: Wherever I am, girl I always talking to you and I'm sad that you can't hear....it always ends up to one thing, I look and you're not there... I sing to you: Each night and day I pray in hope that I might find you; hope that I might find you...because hearts can do no more; hearts can do no more and I can't think of right words to say. I know that this is one of the most powerful songs I've ever heard sung originally by Cat Stevens but it's the one you planted in my heart - a duet we are singing to each other. It's your special gift to me - a gift not intended for anyone else. It was your special gift to me when you felt my pain; my sadness; my sense of utter abandon. It is your way to comfort me in my solitude. Your longing for me - your way of telling me how much you love me in spite of all of my weakness and longing...longing for release from the pain of this life. How I long to escape this world and be free but you ask me to stay awhile so you an complete your perfect work in me. No one will know who I was or why I died...but this they will remember - that you and I stood against the utter darkness and fought the good fight - a fight that only warriors fight. Those of us who comprehend the enemy and his attacks on your children...these ones in the darkness who daily destroy themselves cutting and disfiguring their bodies because the pain they feel is so great that they, too wish they were dead They long for the release of death and only someone like me could comprehend that dark place. Only someone who has walked in the pit of darkness and despair could feel their pain. I've been in pain my whole life - what's a little more gonna matter now? I hate my life and I can't think of right words to say. I can't think of right words to say...I can't say...I can't say = I just can't think of right words to say...oh, oooh, ooh...oh, oooooh, oh...I need to feel you, need to feel my arms around you, feel my arms around you. Wherever I am Lord, I'm always thnking of you, always thiinking of you but I look and you're not there...Then - I hear you again. I hear you...You're still there. You never left. You never left me - never. I long to tell you that I love you - I love you but my words just blow away...just blow away. How can I tell you that I love you- I love you, my I can't think of right words to say? I know if the body heard this they'd never understand. Their ears are closed. They can't understand...all they can do is gasp in shock and twist beauty into something profane. There's no understanding of the deep things. I just some heretic. It's like the body used to pervert your words because long ago people wanted your words put in a language they understood - in English or in German - the language they spoke and understood. That's what you've done for me: put your words into a song that only I could ever understand. I would understand the duet we sing together. I realize the depth of your intense love for me...and how much I love you. How can I tell you, Jesus - that I love you? I love you? I love you! I love you so much my tears flow like a river. Whoever I'm with, I'm always talking to you but I'm sad that you can't hear...that you can't hear. But now I you can hear. I can hear you...Lord. I can hear. My ears are unstopped and I love you...i'm always thinking of you, always thinking of you. Whoever I'm with, I'm always talking to you... I need to know you, I need to put my arms around you like the sea around the shore...each night and day I pray ...How can I tell you ? I long to tell you that I'm always thinking of you, but my words just blow away. It's always comes up to one thing Jesus, I can't think of right words to say... Now I know how much you love me...I need you - I need you, Jesus. Please stay with me in those dark places so others can hear you singing to them, help them to hear your voice as I hear it and sing back to you. So they can feel your warmth, heart your heart beat. Your heart beat - feel your breath and hear you sing to them as you as you sing to me. We are a duet and maybe they will sing back to you - and maybe they'll sing, "I need to know you, need to feel my arms around you, feel my arms around you, like the sea around the shore".

Excellent. I know what worked for me, brother. It was Lord Jesus showing me how much he loved me and he knew I was in the thick of "battle" and that he was there to catch me if I did fall. He has done so in my life...but having that delicate balance can be challenging at times. I say this because I remember a dialogue that the Lord spoke when he addressed Satan's accusations toward one his own (Old Testament) and the Lord said, "Is this not a brand taken out of the fire" I don't know where the verse is but I remember a theologian (RC Sproul) saying that God was addressing how a brand in the fire gets covered in black soot and is filthy and covered by the soot. When someone is in the thick of battle it can get nasty. They're covered in blood, sweat and filth while in the trenches. I never forgot that sermon. It hit me strongly and stayed with me. Those in the thick of battle working in the trenches can get wounded, battle worn and weary and affected by the trauma of suffering all around them. That's what I'm going through right now. I'm carrying bodies over my shoulder and ptaching up the wounded like a medic in the trenches in WWII....but most believers can't comprehend how ugly this war really is. I respect your position and it gives me that balance. Thank you for your post.

Somebody's gotta love 'em and show them how much He cares about them - you being a conduit for His love flowing out to them.

Nice. Well said. I can't top that...you said it so succinctly and in very few words. Sweeeeet.

Now, that should be a real sin: Saying, "Let me (ahem) be clear" You sound too much like Obama (LOL)

I don't care about reputation points. The people I care about here are the ones who pray for the precious children I am watching over each day - children who never get points from anyone for anything.

I gotta better idea: I'd like to donate all of mine. If they'd had had this since 2002 when I started, I'd be a millionaire so with that in mind...take my widows mites and buy yourself a Latte, (or a coupon for 10 percent off).

Well said. It is appointed unto man once to die and then the judgement. We are all vulnerable to sin because our natures are fallen. We are saved not because of anything we have done...but by the only One whose sandals we are unworthy to unstrap. which is why I am not in favor of these "reputation" points. I'm not interested in other people's opinions of me. I don't care. I don't answer anyone but Jesus Christ. End of story. He and He alone is worthy.

I agree. Does the hand say to the foot, "I don't need you" or does the foot say to the hand, "I don't need you" ? I think God uses us in all areas of life because He knows we're especially prepared to do battle with the various weapons at our disposal. One may be a prayer warrior while another good at fasting. I have a sense of humor and God uses that humor to ease people's burdens. When I've gone on to some sites, sense of humor is treated like it's the ebola virus. Simple, common laughter about silly or goofy things like Bugs Bunny, Sylvester the Cat, the Lion King, (et al ) are treated with scorn and suspicion. After a while I say, "Okay, moving on...." I think it's possible to forget the many confrontations Jesus had with the pharisees and how He embraced the sinners, the lepers and even the demon possessed. The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others. He's the Great Physician and the healthy need no doctor. Let us all remember that. The Body is comprised of many parts...and these parts work together as one Body, each according to the gift God has given.

This orchestral piece was composed by Samuel Barber (documentation included.) It's written that many consider Barber's melancholy masterpiece to be a pure and perfect expression of grief and sorrow, duly suited to represent the passion Jesus Christ. His suffering and subsequent death on the cross are masterfully portrayed in this composition by this great composer. This captivating musical marvel is so deeply moving at so many levels, it competes with Adagio for Strings, (composed by Thomas Tallis during the reign of King Henry the VIII.) Barber's work has been used at the funerals of famous individuals, including John F. Kennedy's funeral and was used as the main theme in the movie Platoon, as it so effectively depicted the loss of life and ravages of war in the film. * Catsmeow (who also enjoys grunge and metal music) has been and is a huge fan of both classical music, sacred choral and Renaissance and medieval art, (sculpture, paintings and biblical texts.) I visited museums regularly to study ancient illuminated texts created long before the invention of the printing press.

This beautiful piece is written in the time of King Henry the VIII and was the music (which builds to a crescendo) and envelops the very mood and spirit of light and beauty. This classical piece was written by Tallis for the expressed purpose of representing the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's beauty is unmatched by anything in history - and is famous for it's pure and holy approach to representing the majesty of Jesus Christ, who we know rose in kingly splendor on the third day after his passion on the cross. It's a very powerful piece of music

This song is my prayer and my hope to be strong during this warfare to which I'm engaged. *I will fear no evil, fear no evil, fear no evil when I'm with You... (Psalm 23)

How I love the the Church! She is the very Body of Christ. How can I not love Her. She's beautiful in His sight and so She is in mine. I am honored to be in that Body. I came to here because I - 1. need prayer 2. need a place to detox from the world 3. needed an occasional hug, 4. needed support when I'm worn out. I need the Body while I'm serving the One who's sandals I'm not worthy to unstrap. Who am I if not a soldier for Christ? I can't pretend life is wonderful when there's so many casualties in the field but I often feel very alone. I wonder if we have we all become a people who sit in cushy pews and feed only ourselves? Who shall He send if not me? The fields are ripe for harvest but the workers are few. I'm immersed in a deep darkness out there I need the support of my brothers but instead I'm scrutinized with a harsh and critical eye. I'm on the front lines of this war and I hear: "Oh, look at those horrible evil creatures on her profile!" Seriously? For the record: those evil creatures on my profile are hyenas from the Lion King It was intended as a jest as I was making fun of myself. I introduced them as a family photo which I posted in the humor section. I've had to explain it till it lost it's original comedic intent. Some must think I'm a closet "satan-worshiper." I heretofore renounce and rescind all efforts at a career in comedy and assume the normal prose of piety as per protocol, (lest I be branded a heretic and be burned at the stake.) I'm called to a difficult minstry in a place of great darkness - sometimes like Jonah I wanna run the other way. I've learned to take people where they're at. That's not always easy. Sometimes it's messy; sometimes there's blood in the water but that's okay; I'll survive. I'm right for the job since I love societal rejects and write-offs. Jesus did. At any rate, I formally apologize to any and all I have offended since I am apparently scrutinized like bacteria through a microscope. I honestly thought this was a hospital for broken and wounded souls but I think I got lost and stumbled onto a resort instead. I'm just a worthless sinner grateful to be alive and eager to do the work of a servant now. I guess most people prefer shore leave to the battlefield. Please resign my user name - I'm better off being anonymous. Thanks to all of you who prayed for these precious ones I'm honored to minister to. Catsmeow, the original, the one and only, the magnificent - the Queen of Felines (and drama) - Her Royal Weirdness, the Catsmeow (oops I forgot - I renounced my career as a comedian; back to litter duty)

Different strokes for different folks...I'm not into Barry Manilow but hey, he's got his "groupies." (LOL!)