Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter Has Opted To Receive Hospice Care Rather Than Additional Medical Intervention

Hello World,

Per a statement from the family of former President Jimmy Carter, one of my favorite presidents, he is in hospice care preparing for his transition. Below is the official statement from the Carter family:

After a series of short hospital stays, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter today decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention. He has the full support of his family and his medical team. The Carter family asks for privacy during this time and is grateful for the concern shown by his many admirers.

Ultimately, God has the final say about when He calls him home, but let’s keep our 39th president, who is a blessed 98 years old, and his family in our prayers during this difficult time.

Any thoughts?

Our Daily Bread Ministries To Debut Six-Episode YouTube Series Documenting the Emotional Lives of Christian Healthcare Workers on the Frontlines of Covid-19 on Monday, April 19…

Hello World,

As I’ve read Our Daily Bread Ministries devotionals for many years and I’ve recently written for Our Daily Bread Ministries, I’m truly excited about this new offering from  Our Daily Bread Films. Please see below.

Our Daily Bread Ministries announced the launch of Instruments of Peace: Faith on the Frontlines, a six-episode YouTube series that follows six Christian healthcare workers—three doctors, two nurses, and a chaplain—who have chosen to take up the fight against Covid-19 and care for patients in some of the hardest impacted regions of the world, including—Detroit, New York City, Olympia, Johannesburg, Manilla, and the United Kingdom.

Through retrospective interviews and in-the-moment video diaries, the series explores the range of emotions these frontline workers experience as people die around them and funding for health services fluctuate. Each Monday from April 19th through May 24th, Instruments of Peace delves into what faith looks like when committed to caring for the sick during a global pandemic. Below is the trailer followed by the episode guide and a few photographs from the series.

Episode Guide:

April 19th Ep 1: Idara Joy Inokon: Fighting for Life

ICU nurse, Idara Inokon rides an eerily empty subway to and from a New York City hospital during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Photo Credit: Our Daily Bread Ministries

Trauma. Death. Pressure. Brooklyn, New York, ICU nurse Idara Joy Inokon lived this every day as the Covid-19 pandemic ramped up in the spring of 2020. Her patients kept crashing and her hospital unit became a revolving door of death as she faced the stress and anxiety of the unknown. Yet every day, she continued to show up. And she continued to trust God for peace and strength in the middle of the storm. Now a travel nurse in El Paso, TX, she’s wondering how much trauma she can take, and asking God to give her strength every day.

New York City ICU nurse Idara Inokon suits up in protective gear for her shift during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. When a patient asked for a fan to cool her fever, Idara stood by her side and fanned her. A fellow nurse recorded her act of kindness and the video went viral.
Photo Credit: Our Daily Bread Ministries

April 26th Ep 2: Aaron Beck: Learning to Trust God

Dr. Aaron Beck records a video diary entry in 2020 that captures his struggles to determine how to provide the best care for his patients when—at the time—so little was known about COVID-19.
Photo Credit: Our Daily Bread Ministries

A worldwide pandemic lets us know that we are not in control. Just a few months after moving his family across the country to the Pacific Northwest to join a medical practice, Aaron Beck found himself treating patients in a hotspot. He faced uncertainty for his own health, fear of what that meant for his young family, and doubts about how to provide the best care for his patients. But through it all, he forged a deeper dependence on God, because he had no choice but to trust.

May 3rd Ep 3: Marcia Fairrow: Prayer and Grief

Marcia is a chaplain in Detroit, MI who loves to pray with and comfort patients and their families. When Covid-19 hit, ventilators and health and safety restrictions took that human connection away from her. As she battles her own grief and anger, she struggles to learn how to be a chaplain for people she can’t physically be with.

May 10th Ep 4: Hannah and Zuriel Bernardino: Acts of Kindness and Love

Hannah is a Doctor at a Wellness Center in Manila, Philippines. Her husband Zuriel is a pastor and her emotional rock. When Covid-19 hit Manila, Hannah was transferred to a Covid ICU, where she battled her own anxiety and depression. But, Zuriel was there to support her while she cared for others, and together they are living out their faith.

May 17th Ep 5: Nellie Balfour: A Young Hero and a Mother’s Legacy of Prayer

When Nellie was a child, her family fled Apartheid in South Africa to Australia, where she developed severe asthma. The doctors who took care of her became her heroes and motivated her to become a doctor. Now a pediatric doctor in a poor district of Johannesburg, SA, she struggles to save children in a place ravaged by Covid-19 and to trust that her best efforts are good enough. But, inspired by a mother who prays ceaselessly, she is learning to give her fears and anxiety to God.

May 26th Ep 6: Bex Lawton: Faith and Fear for Those We Love

Bex is a mother of three young children and a pediatric nurse in England. In 2019, her husband nearly died from a liver condition and Covid-19 made her terrified that if he were to catch it he would die. While some other Christians shamed her for her fear, she felt like fearing for her husband’s life and taking every precaution was the most loving thing she could do. This conflict put her on a path of struggling with, and ultimately being sustained by, her faith.

Our Daily Bread Films produces documentaries and short videos that inspire and encourage people to draw closer to God and help them grow in their faith. They are a part of Our Daily Bread Ministries, a nondenominational, nonprofit organization that distributes more than 60 million resources in 150 countries.

Any thoughts?

 

Seven Reasons I’m Thankful in 2020…My Pandemic Praise!!!

 

Hello World,

With Thanksgiving coming up this week, this post is inspired by a post I saw on Facebook some weeks ago when the person who posted wrote that despite all that has unfolded in this devastating year, there are still some things to be thankful for in 2020. And the person encouraged everyone to comment on how they’ve still been blessed despite it all. I was among those who posted. I only shared one thing on that post, but I have seven to share with you, my dear readers.

1. Although I still wear contacts during the day and glasses at night, as of this year, I have been restored to 20/20 vision! In fact, I wrote a post about it earlier this year. Below is an excerpt of Seven Scriptures to Provide Insight to the Coronavirus Crisis (ODE to 20/20 Vision)

By now you must know that any vision board someone created for 2020 has been totally wrecked. I haven’t had 20/20 vision since before I was in the third grade when I started wearing glasses, but I was among those who decreed and declared that 2020 would be my Year of Perfect Vision. When this Coronavirus Crisis started a month ago or so, I thought my resolution to have 20/20 vision was misguided. But a month later, I see the Good Shepherd is faithful and guiding me (and all y’all)  into perfect vision after all — even if it wasn’t what I thought I saw at the dawn of this New Year. As my hubby shared with me, I do believe individually we will have personal insights, and that there are some collective insights that all of us will share. Read the rest HERE. 

2. Precious family members have been spared of the worst of COVID-19!!! Although I’ve had family members who have suffered from COVID-19 with one even being hospitalized for several days, no family members that I’m aware of, even my elders, have been casualties of coronavirus. This is a sickness you don’t want to experience even if death is not the end result, but I thank God He has seen fit to spare the lives of my family as of now.

3. My hubby and I have continued to work. Many people have lost their jobs due to COVID-19, but thankfully, my husband and I still have the financial resources to take care of our two-person household. My husband works in healthcare so you would automatically think that designation translates into job security, but many people in healthcare have seen their income adversely affected. For example, I only recently saw the dentist a few weeks ago after having rescheduled an earlier appointment. From what I’ve read, many are still putting off seeing doctors for appointments unrelated to coronavirus for fear they will be exposed while at the doctor’s office.

4. Although I have lost a vital-in-more-way-than-one income opportunity, I have pivoted. Y’all Jamaicans have more than job and I’m no exception. I’ve been teaching group fitness classes twice a week at L.A. Fitness for more than a decade. It was one of my side hustles. But that ended in March. Although I can go back if I like, I don’t feel comfortable at a gym right now. I don’t know about you, but I’m huffing and puffing at the gym as a rule. There is no way that I see avoiding an airborne illness at the gym. That being said, although I miss my class, I’ve been able to keep up my workouts at home and in a nearby park. It’s not the same, but it will do. Most of all, I thank God for the continued health and strength that I enjoy that enables me to workout!

5. I’ve been able to continue to promote the release of my debut novel  Destination Wedding I was just getting into the groove of promoting Destination Wedding when the world shut down. (Have you bought your copy?) Thankfully, as my novel was released in December 2019, I was able to have a book release party at Auburn Avenue Research Library, host a book signing at a local bookstore (Nubian Bookstore) and attend a book club meeting where Destination Wedding was featured before the pandemic was announced. But with the pandemic announcement, many of the events that I was planning had to be reworked or cancelled altogether so I was worried about how I would promote Destination Wedding going forward. Although I still believe that the pandemic had a negative impact on some of my promotion efforts, one benefit of the pandemic was that I was able to meet with several book clubs via Zoom. I’m not sure if I would have been able to do so otherwise. Additionally, I was able to participate in other online events that I may have not have had access to otherwise.

6. I sold my first home during a pandemic! Y’all, when I was 28 years old and a brand new reporter for a small newspaper, God blessed me to buy a townhome although I was making practically $10 a paycheck! I experienced many single girl shenanigans and grew up as a grown woman there. But as I haven’t lived there in a few years now as a married woman, I was grateful to God to be able to pay the mortgage month after month while no longer wanting that debt. At the beginning of the year, I met a realtor Dionne Sanford,  of EXP Realty, who also renovates properties. She told me that if I spent money on renovation, I would get that money back and more in sales. I didn’t want to spend the money and when the pandemic hit, I wondered how I would recoup it since real estate agents including my agent weren’t showing properties in person. But God did as He always does: Showed Up and Showed Out. I sold the property to a young lady who reminded me of myself when I first received the keys to my first adult home. See my pictures from that day above!

7. The Jehovah’s Witnesses have stopped coming by. I apologize to anyone who may be offended, but hubby and I will never be Jehovah’s Witnesses. And even though we have told them this in so many words and have not answered the door sometimes, they have continued to come by our house for some reason. But since this pandemic hit, we haven’t seen them at all…LOL…But I have received two letters from them I must say. I will give them this: they are persistent…

And I have other reasons to be thankful in 2020, but I will stop now to ask you:

What are you thankful for in 2020? Leave a comment and let me know!!!

Any thoughts?