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Steven Barrett
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| Joined: | Tue Nov 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | Hadley, Absurdistan, AKA , Massachusetts USA |
| Posts: | 1460 |
| First Name: | Steven | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic, Episcopal communicant, Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Sat May 5th, 2007 07:50 pm |
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This is my first prayer request, but it's one I feel absolutely necessary. One of the plagues of being bipolar is having to deal with past regrets and consequences of some faux paus I committed even thirty six years ago while in college. I've always had the nagging regret that I should've done more to keep in touch after a breakup with my first love. From what I heard a year after we parted, she really changed and not for the better. I certainly pray that her life turned out well or better than I've had reason to worry.
Pray that I can find the peace of mind that comes with a full resolution, or, to use the popular buzzword of the times, closure. This is really weighing pretty heavy on my heart and I don't want it to distract me from the otherwise wonderful life I have now with a terrific wife and four great kids.
I'm not going off the deep end, but it's a nagging thing I have to put behind me. I'm still blaming myself for the (to be polite) demise I was informed about by her former dorm-mates. I don't know why, but I still am.
I've tried everything I know of (short of the usual routes for dealing with old sad memories and their long lasting effects, booze, pills, gambling, buying sprees, having a "mid-life crisis") -- but, more seriously speaking, I know only God can bring me what I'm hoping for.
Hope I didn't run on and on, but this is hard for me and I certainly didn't want to get into unnecessary details; causing a mental rehash of which while typing and that certainly wouldn't help a thing!
Thank you very much and God Bless you all.
Steven 
____________________
James Michael Curley to a young Thomas “Tip” O’Neill -- “Son, it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”
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Christine Ann
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| Joined: | Mon Oct 9th, 2006 |
| Location: | An Hours' Drive From Cincinnati, Ohio USA |
| Posts: | 175 |
| First Name: | Christine Ann | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | former Lutheran, Baptist, now Catholic. |
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Posted: Sat May 5th, 2007 11:31 pm |
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Dear Steven,
I've been sitting here reading your post and thinking about it for the past hour...whether I could communicate anything that would help. I'm very cautious as I'm sure you are, about exposing my past actions resulting from seriously impaired judgement brought on by mental illness. My husband is bi-polar and I have been debilitated to the point of psychosis from mental illness. I know it is best not to rehash the details....but suffice it to say, we both have long term "consequences" from our impaired states of mind and we caused much pain to those we care about.
What makes it so hard to find "closure" is that terrible dichotomy of knowing you did something that feels unforgiveable, but knowing as well that you would never have conducted yourself in the same manner if you were of sound mind. It's like you've sinned/ but not "really". None the less the consequences are real. Personally, I've attempted to talk with my loved ones (those who will talk) and apologized for the pain my illness caused them. Most of them will say they understand, but you're thinking, 'but how can they?'. At any rate it helped me tremendously to confess my sorrow for my "sin" of behaving irrationally to those I could. I guess I felt guilty about my actions, and so needed to apologize for them whether or not someone told me I was or wasn't responsible for my behavior.
The problem is when you've left a tornado's path through some lives for which you cannot apologize, as you did with your "first love". I have prayed for the people I've hurt...for years...some of whom I've never seen after the fact. It's a terrible burden to carry, but I've asked the Lord to give me peace after I did all I could to make it better. And He has graciously given me that peace. I will pray for the same for you.
I understand bi-polar illness and it really, truly is not something for which you are responsible. My husband has remained healthy for the past ten years...no episodes...thanks to medication and God's healing. We are still paying the consequences for his impaired decisions, especially financially. And I know there are people in his family who will never understand and for-give. But once you've done all you can do you must let it go and give it over to God.
I will pray for you to forgive yourself and find peace of mind. I know if your "first love" could, and wanted to understand, that she would forgive. That's what people do when they love each other.
I hope my words are not too simplistic, but I felt I had to have courage and respond to your pain. I pray I've been a help.
In His Love,
Christine Ann
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Steven Barrett
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| Joined: | Tue Nov 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | Hadley, Absurdistan, AKA , Massachusetts USA |
| Posts: | 1460 |
| First Name: | Steven | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic, Episcopal communicant, Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Sun May 6th, 2007 02:25 pm |
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Dear Christine Ann,
You certainly have a wonderful grasp of bipolar and a super 7th, 8th and 9th sense about this disorder. I only have a short time to respond at the moment, but words can hardly do justice to amount of gratitude I have for your kind letter and prayers.
Sometimes people wonder why we bipolars delve into our pasts and fall into a bad habit of reliving our worst moments with a laundry list of wouldas, couldlas and shouldas -- an exercise similar to a kid with acne constantly picking at his pimples. It's particularly baffling to present spouses who see us and wonder where they stand, and they certainly have a right to wonder.
I seek answers to the past only to make damn sure I never repeat the same kind of mistakes that surely St. James would rake me over the coals with and for good reason!
Hafta head on out to help as sexton at church. Thanks ever so much.
In God's Love and Blessings to you, your husband and your family.
Steven
____________________
James Michael Curley to a young Thomas “Tip” O’Neill -- “Son, it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”
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Carolyn
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| Joined: | Mon Apr 30th, 2007 |
| Location: | Torrington, Connecticut USA |
| Posts: | 117 |
| First Name: | Carolyn | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Im a married catholic, with four children Devoted to Mary ... |
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Posted: Sun May 6th, 2007 06:02 pm |
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i know this may sound simple and may noy make sense at the moment,,,But coming from two alcoholic parents with no real anchor of family and love , Why dont you try Planting a Mary garden? create a sanctuary of safety for your self ,Plan the garden first,,,,,research the meaning of the flowers type in Mother Marys Garden this is a good place. to start ....I know sometimes I get so overwhelmed ,tHE mARY gARDEN seems to anchor me, I line the walking path with impatients,,,,which means Marys love,,, so when I step out side I feel Love, security,I ask Mary to Bless my childrens foosteps as they play I also plant flowers for the people I miss in My past, especially my first Love,he past away, when I was 17 yrs old,,,If we know Jesus and Marys Love we also know that Jesus is the only one who could make things right , we have no control,,,
and in our garden we can also Pray our rosary for any one we hurt in the past, it sends special graces for them, and most of al we can plant some flowers with meaning for Jesus and, pray the devine mercy for ourselves and for any one we worry about,,,,,,,Give it a try it really helps,,,,,,,,,,
and as far as bypolar goes,my catholic councelor has said it can be cured, but it takes a lot of work on the therapist part,,,,,check out catholictherapist.com,,,, last suggestion try b12 vitamans, they really help with depression,,,God Bless
Last edited on Sun May 6th, 2007 06:30 pm by Carolyn
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Steven Barrett
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| Joined: | Tue Nov 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | Hadley, Absurdistan, AKA , Massachusetts USA |
| Posts: | 1460 |
| First Name: | Steven | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic, Episcopal communicant, Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Mon May 7th, 2007 02:46 am |
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Dear Christine Ann,
Hope I didn't leave you (or Carolyn who followed you with her wonderful response) in the lurch awaiting a quicker response since I was listed as "on line" for much of the day. I have a nasty habit of leaving myself logged on, developed perhaps because of laziness on my part. Mea culpa!
In addition to having ADHD, Asperger's and Bipolar, I've seemed to develop a keen sense of paranoia over the years, leaving me with a (sometimes healthy) level of circumspection necessary to help avoid future goofs that got me into trouble throughout my life. On the other hand, I also have that side of paranoia that lends itself all too often to the "deer in the headlights" syndrome when things begin to pile up.
Tonight I'm even sort of kicking myself in the rear for the phrase I used to describe what I believe may have happened to my "first love." It slowly dawned on me that what I heard might've been relayed back to me as a means of getting me to put everything to rest once and for all, and she really hadn't taken a downhill path in life. There's no way I would or should ever share the details outside of a "PM."
We used to lock up the mentally ill for patterns of thought even less alarming than my inability to keep old memories, regrets, etc., from haunting us -- even if we're not being paranoid, but factual! Now the system seems content with leaving us to imprison ourselves between therapy sessions and visits to the pharmacy. Lest I forget, carry on as if the stigma of mental illness was washed away with the ADA. Thankfully we, the chronically depressed, the paranoid, the psychotic, the befuddled ADHDers, and difficult to figure out Asperger's know better. Even knowing better hasn't helped me to avoid feeling awfully reticent when I'm asked why I'm collecting a SS disability pension at the awfully young age of 55. (And I hope to God my college girlfriend never winds up in the same boat. She deserves a better cruise.)
Well, at least that forces me to keep what's left of my literary skills and self humor as sharp as possible. Hmmm: Maybe that'll keep Alzheimer's at bay.
God is the ultimate answer to our problems, our fears, our yearnings and our ability to bounce back as much as possible, or even surpass that by a mile. God has given me a wonderful wife, family and life despite how often I managed to find one way or another to make it more interesting than necessary. God has blessed you and your husband and I'm so glad to see that you haven't had any bipolar moments in a long time and hope you never will again.
We never know when something, a memory, a long unresolved regret, or even a simple accident may trigger something and we're back to square one. BUT we do no we have a loving Father, Son, Holy Spirit and Mother in Heaven looking out for us and everyone we care for, past, present and future. He heals all things in good time. And, I trust He will heal our respective disabilities and conditions.
It's quite late and my 22 year old son is reminding me to hit the sack! My how the wheels of change roll fast!
May you, your husband and family always enjoy God's Love, Blessings and Salvific Promises to come! Thank you for your prayers. I know He's listening.
Steven
PS: Carolyn, I'll have a response for you tomorrow or ASAP and thank you for your very thoughtful reply and of course your prayers.
____________________
James Michael Curley to a young Thomas “Tip” O’Neill -- “Son, it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”
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CajunRick
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Posted: Mon May 7th, 2007 03:34 am |
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Steven Barrett wrote: Hope I didn't leave you (or Carolyn who followed you with her wonderful response) in the lurch awaiting a quicker response since I was listed as "on line" for much of the day. I have a nasty habit of leaving myself logged on, developed perhaps because of laziness on my part. Mea culpa!
The system automatically logs you out after 15 minutes without activity. Your screen will still show you logged on unless you refresh the page -- which serves as activity and again logs you on. So while you can leave your browser open and showing that you are logged on, the rest of us will see you dropped from the online list after 15 minutes. By the way, that can also happen while you are composing a complicated message, which explains why sometimes the system is slow to respond. You have been logged out, so when you click save, the system has to log you back on. Meanwhile, you assume you missed the button so you click save again, and end up with duplicate postings. So when you click save, wait about 30 seconds before you click it again, and you won't have any duplicates.
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Steven Barrett
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| Joined: | Tue Nov 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | Hadley, Absurdistan, AKA , Massachusetts USA |
| Posts: | 1460 |
| First Name: | Steven | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic, Episcopal communicant, Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Mon May 7th, 2007 12:37 pm |
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Cajunrick,
Thank you for this information. I had a sinking feeling there'd be some egg to wipe off my mug.
s.
____________________
James Michael Curley to a young Thomas “Tip” O’Neill -- “Son, it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”
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Steven Barrett
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| Joined: | Tue Nov 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | Hadley, Absurdistan, AKA , Massachusetts USA |
| Posts: | 1460 |
| First Name: | Steven | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic, Episcopal communicant, Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Mon May 7th, 2007 04:57 pm |
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Carolyn,
I'm certainly going to give your suggestion about the Mary Garden a shot sometime. And not just to salve wounded memories and some major regrets that need healing, etc., but as a way to thank both God and Mary for all they have done in my life, in all of our lives.
I don't think you'll see my garden featured with Roger the professional landscaper on Ask This Old House, but with some luck (we have horrible soil) and "divine intervention," I'm fairly sure God and Mary will at least appreciate the effort. However, I think God's given me a stronger gift when it comes to making "Marian gardens" out of wood for Christmas nativity sets.
Insofar as woodworking in my basement lately, it's been a real chore just to get moving and cutting or glueing something for a start. The baffling part of it all is the fact I'm brooding over a regret that's over thirty years old and there's not a darn thing I can actually "do" outside of handing it over to God and Mary with a lot of prayers for self-forgiveness, understanding and God's Blessings for my friend and her family. One thing for sure, I wish I didn't opine that the reports of her change were a ruse. That wasn't her. That was my paranoia, which unfortunately, began to really pick up following our first major breakup. As she pleaded, I did seek help from a very competent doctor/therapist, but let's face it, therapy and counselling weren't nearly as effective as they are now. Nor did they have a clue as to the mixture of all those relatively recently discovered co-morbidities and how they almost did me in as far as college was concerned. Thanks be to God, I did graduate on time, and from what I understand from reliable sources, young adults with what I had rarely managed to graduate at all, much less on time. Being far away in Miami didn't help matters either, and my college was pretty much what my friend aptly dubbed it, an overgrown prep school for immature older boys. Ouch. But she had a point. A real good point. That didn't make matters any easier because demonstrating any emotional weakness in dealing with co-eds back in the dorms was verboten against a "guy code" of sorts; violation of which would render the poor kid subject to a lengthy round of chop-busting. I'm sure there was a "gal code" as well.
Utterly ridiculous and childish to say the least. And despite the "age of love peace and aquarius" nonsense, young men away from home for the first time can be horrifically crude and cruel. Paranoids wouldn't be hard to create in that kind of macho atmosphere. That part of my alma mater I'd never miss in a million years, although (mostly to stay alive) I participated in some nonsense, but it was mostly practical pranks, not to ridicule some jilted fellow kid with relatively little support far from home. The fact I was a public school kid didn't make matters any easier; not by a long shot.
This partially explains why I didn't make any attempt to try once more. Largely because I wimped out by being "manly" about it all by moving on.
I didn't dare want to be seen as crawling back, even though our final break had been more mutually balanced in terms of vehemence in determining who was right or wrong.
So, well over thirty years later, I'm finding myself in the extremely odd position of agonizing over whether or not my inaction might've been a real slap in the face thus sending her off in ways I never envisioned. Why it's taken that long, heck, I haven't a clue, save for probably being too well informed about the effects of ADHD, bipolar and Asperger's (which I'm beginning to view as the most detrimental of the three because of the bizarre ways (unknown to the "owners") their mannerisms, inability to pick up social signals, etc. which are extremely vital when it comes to making sure relationships don't crash in flames. And, oh, we sure don't have to know how much bipolar depression plays into our respective mental illnesses. Bipolar depression is the hardest mental illness to kick when it's exacerbated by other additives.
I have to go. And I hope to finish later. Thanks again, though.
____________________
James Michael Curley to a young Thomas “Tip” O’Neill -- “Son, it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”
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Carolyn
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| Joined: | Mon Apr 30th, 2007 |
| Location: | Torrington, Connecticut USA |
| Posts: | 117 |
| First Name: | Carolyn | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Im a married catholic, with four children Devoted to Mary ... |
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Posted: Mon May 7th, 2007 05:14 pm |
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| Steven,My husband and I were looking for a wood nativity just like the one you show, maybe as it gets closer to christmas,like sept, Oct, we could comission you to make us one. how long does it take to make, and about how much do they sell for? this way we can keep you permanantly in our thoughts and prayers having that wood nativity,,,,God has so blessed you with a beautiful family,,,,I read over and over in the saint books that Jesus wants us to live in the present ,I try to keep it simple and thank God for another day and ask for his will,,,,when i get fearful overwhelmed caught in the past,,,I humble my self ask for peace and try to live in today thanking god for my family my faith and so on,If you focus on whats good beautiful and true, youde be surprised, that opens the door to many blessings and good emotions, God Bless Steve,
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Steven Barrett
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| Joined: | Tue Nov 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | Hadley, Absurdistan, AKA , Massachusetts USA |
| Posts: | 1460 |
| First Name: | Steven | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic, Episcopal communicant, Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Tue May 8th, 2007 03:46 pm |
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Carolyn,
I'd be delighted to build a creche like the one in the picture or another. I have some pics that I'll pass along for you and your husband to peruse.
As I grow older (well, not that old, only 55 and still kickin'!) I find myself seeing more and more evidence of Jesus in our lives. I saw it at Mass yesterday following a session in private before the Tabernacle in the Newman Center. I see Him in your posts, (and in Christine Ann's esp. on this matter). And,yes I see Him helping all the players in this melodrama I'm mentally and emotionally beset with lately. And, yes, I'm sure Jesus is walking my alongside my lost "first love."
We live in such a cynical age where our experts in the media, et c. keep pointing out that we don't live in an era of miracles any more. Says who?
We most certainly live during a miraculous age, but too many people are fixiated with the idea that miracles have to be something big. Funny how our Lord didn't make a big deal out most of His miracles -- even though most of them were big by any ages's standards. Aside from raising Lazarus from the dead, He was very humble and at one time leery about the wrong message His miracles was sending. Here's a real miracle for our times:
A dear friend of mine who's daughter converted to Catholicism had a rough spot when her husband was falsely accused of a crime. He was acquitted.
The wife prayed her heart out to Mary for her husband's trial. And, after returning home following the trial, she smelled the fragrance of roses wafting through their house. Neither spouse or anyone they knew (and they know a lot of people) ordered any flowers. The holy fragrance was just there as a sign from Mary. No other explanation possible. None.
We don't live in an era of miracles? Yesterday I prayed at the Newman Center's Tabernacle and asked Christ and His Mother for their help in this emotional pickle I'm in. I even asked, if my college era friend is still alive, not only for her but her entire family's health and overall general welfare. I also asked Mary if She'd pass along a fragrant "bouquet" to her, no signed card! Besides, IF it's Her Son's well-considered will, I'm sure He'll instruct the Holy Spirit or an angel to place the "card" in her heart and memory. I'm already starting to heal and soon I hope to put all the misery behind.
Satan's behind this, and I rarely invoke his presence, especially in political writings because most people, liberal editors especially, will either spike my copy or use it in such a way as to make me look like hell. But who else besides Satan when it comes to creating mental illnesses and disorders? He's behind the whole thing. God made man perfect in His own image. After the Fall, when Adam and Eve lost whatever immunity God originally gave them in their old home within the Garden of Eden. Satan managed to insert mental illnesses into our DNAs and the rest is (awful) history.
(The Church Fathers must've omitted this fictional fact or factual fiction
so as to not scare the hell out of us beyond St. John's Revelations.)
Only Satan could've come up with schizophrenia of all things.
I'm keeping at it and my mental chin up as well. The Lord is indeed on and at our sides. Along with Mary! I know this all too well because of my late mom's rosary sessions, esp. when I was drinking so as to prevent a knock on the door from either a priest or policeman. She died 21 years ago today, rosary beads in hand right up to the final moment of a long slow death from liver cancer.
She was one tough lady. And, despite whatever conditions I, or anyone else are having to put up with a mental illness, I've been fully convinced that prayer works. We may never get everything we'd like from the Lord, but that's because we're praying for the wrong thing from the wrong Man.
There's only one way to pray when it comes to supplication and help -- and that's for the Lord to help us in ways that can only reflect His will and bring glory to Him.
Boy we people have a hard time getting Jesus' will and glory parts down!
And just think if we could get more Catholics to see what they have in their hearts and souls, the pews should be creaking with weight and Churches bulging with souls. We've got it all, right there in the Tabernacle, but we've got to tell the world and find a way to pack our churches again. If we have to borrow from the Protestants (and lots of Sunbelt Catholics are doing just that) well then, why should we let the Ps have all the seeker souls?
Again, my thanks for think of me about building you a creche and for all your prayers.
God's Blessings, Love and Protection for you and your family,
Steven
PS I promise not to paint "Go Minutemen" on the side. You'll also be pleased to learn that my oldest daughter's dog has a lot of Huskie in him.
 Last edited on Tue May 8th, 2007 03:54 pm by Steven Barrett
____________________
James Michael Curley to a young Thomas “Tip” O’Neill -- “Son, it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”
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Darlene
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| Joined: | Mon Oct 9th, 2006 |
| Location: | Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania USA |
| Posts: | 868 |
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Posted: Tue May 8th, 2007 03:48 pm |
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Steven Barrett wrote:
Sometimes people wonder why we bipolars delve into our pasts and fall into a bad habit of reliving our worst moments with a laundry list of wouldas, couldlas and shouldas -- an exercise similar to a kid with acne constantly picking at his pimples. It's particularly baffling to present spouses who see us and wonder where they stand, and they certainly have a right to wonder.
I seek answers to the past only to make damn sure I never repeat the same kind of mistakes that surely St. James would rake me over the coals with and for good reason!
Dear Stephen,
While I am not bipolar, I understand clinical depression very well, having been diagnosed with it 28 yrs. ago. I've been plagued with regrets over the past to the point of morbid introspection. For me, it has always been an issue of punishing myself, not those around me; a sort of masochism, if you will.
For nine and a half months, I was believing God that I was healed of such all encompassing depression. Then last week, an incident occurred in my life that triggered the spiral of depression again. Thanks be to God, I have not had a panic attack. However, the demons I am battling with are relentless. I've been questioning just about everything I have done within the past 20 years of my life. My deepest fear is that I will never live out the real and true purpose God has for me and I will die, never knowing it. Of course, logically, such a thought is illogical. How can I live God's purpose if I don't know it? And I can only know it if He shows me.
But recently, I thought He had clearly shown me something of His purpose for me, believing it would lead toward a certain direction. I had every reason to believe that God was leading me. Then, like a master magician, all that had been given me, was suddenly wisked away from me. Such torment and angst has filled my heart. I no longer feel I can trust what I think to be God leading me. I'm sure of very little right now.
Again, like you, I'm not going to "go off the deep end." In times past, when such self doubt would seize me, thoughts of suicide would swarm within my brain. Or else I'd just think about disappearing for a long time, to who knows where. Such is not the case this time.
Like you, I am thankful for the privelege of family, of motherhood, wifehood and all the blessings (yes, and tribulations) that have come with it. These last 10 yrs. have been ones of trying to find my way, my purpose, that is God's purpose for me. What am I to do with all the hours in a day? Life is a gift to be given away and with which to be a blessing to others. Yet I fear that any step I take at this point is mere speculation, which will lead me down the wrong path.....AGAIN!
Stephen, I do understand your struggles of regret, though yours may be circumstantially different. Regret of any kind works pretty much in the same fashion. If only I'd done this, why did I do that, what a stupid thing that was, how can I be so dumb to never learn from my mistakes? What is wrong with me? These are the voices of regret, and very powerful they are! I am here to attest that only prayer can overcome such wiles from the enemy.
Thank you for posting your prayer request. I will keep you specifically in my prayers.
Darlene
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The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. II Corinthians 13:14
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Carolyn
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| Joined: | Mon Apr 30th, 2007 |
| Location: | Torrington, Connecticut USA |
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| First Name: | Carolyn | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Im a married catholic, with four children Devoted to Mary ... |
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Posted: Tue May 8th, 2007 08:43 pm |
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Hi Steve,,,,,,,,,,,,,I will definitly strorm the heavens in prayer for you to have some mental peace ,,, I will ask my councelor if there is any catholic books on the subject of bipolar,,she has said it can be healed but it takes alot of patience on the therapist part,,,,,,, One thing that she has told me when I get depression, that dume gloom black cloud,,she said God dosent want us to give in to dispair, to hope in him, that statement has helped me so much when I feel that black cloud of depression trying to visit again, and also I have done the TRue Devotion to Mary consecration,,I feel very close to mary and feel I can count on her protection,,,,which helps the black cloud to just pass over,,,,,,,,,As far as the Creche could you pm me and give us around about figure on how much a creche of the size and dimension you mentioned would cost? and how would you get it to us in Ct? ups?
and also I just wanted to suggest that when you feel mentally lost,,that is usually a natural cue to listen to your heart and slow down, and give all your worries to Jesus and stay in today,God bless brother Steve,,,,,,,,and I also have Doreen in my prayers too...
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Steven Barrett
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| Joined: | Tue Nov 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | Hadley, Absurdistan, AKA , Massachusetts USA |
| Posts: | 1460 |
| First Name: | Steven | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic, Episcopal communicant, Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Tue May 8th, 2007 10:45 pm |
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Carolyn,
Thank you for storming the heavens as I or anybody in my situation can use all the help we can get. As of now I've got quite a few Catholic books on forgiveness, reconcilation and a few good Protestant ones by P. Yancey for starters. (He's superb!)
I'll get to you asap about the creche, most likely during the weekday, perhaps tomorrow because I don't have all the numbers immediately at hand.
Since you mentioned Mary, I never leave the house anymore without a rosary in my pocket. You never know when you need to take advantage of some precious free time to make the most of it.
Thanks and God's Blessings
Steven
____________________
James Michael Curley to a young Thomas “Tip” O’Neill -- “Son, it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”
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Steven Barrett
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| Joined: | Tue Nov 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | Hadley, Absurdistan, AKA , Massachusetts USA |
| Posts: | 1460 |
| First Name: | Steven | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic, Episcopal communicant, Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Wed May 9th, 2007 12:40 am |
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Dear Darlene,
What a gutsy letter! And thank you very much for your prayerful support.
I'm feeling much better today, thanks to a visit to the Newman Ctr across the street from the Baptist Church I volunteer my services to. There's power in that Tabernacle! But we know now, not like the twosome on the way to Emmaeus, that Jesus is with us everywhere we go. And, that's pretty darn encouraging and empowering.
You, however, have given me much encouragement. Well, speaking of encouragement, I have also written a "pm" which I hope will pick your spirits up as well.
Gee, wasn't it Henri Nouwen who said the best healers are the wounded healers? At least we won't shoot our wounded.
May God be with you my friend and keep your spirits up as well.
Be Not Afraid!
Steven
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James Michael Curley to a young Thomas “Tip” O’Neill -- “Son, it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”
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