Thanks, God!

As I sit here on my bed this morning, my mind goes back to a year ago
this time. What was March 24th like for me in 2006? Short? Very
depressing.
I lived in my mom's house. I had been here since Feb. 14th. Chris
wasn't due here until the 28th. During those 14 days, all I did was
watch TV, go online, walk Rusty (that is when my mommy had time, since
I didn't really know the complex), sleep a bunch, and made phone
calls. I was sad about being by myself all the time. My mommy worked a
lot back then. The other thing I did was to ask God why. Why the heck
did I leave my two jobs, lots of friends, new home I was about to buy
6come here to a place I didn't know?
When Chris got here, I was glad to have company during the day, I
wanted to be out working though. I didn't know anyone. I truly was
angry and depressed.
We did fun stuff during the evening some days. We went out driving,
and some mornings, we even went out to breakfa/. Now, we were both
bored. He wanted to work and so did I.
He did get a job on April 13. He started working at Sam's Club on
April 13. I was so happy for him, but inside, I was sad that he was
working and I wasn't.
It wasn't until June 19 that I started volunteering. Every weekday, I
went to volunteer at AIB. though I made half of minimum wage, I didn't
go there for the money, I went there for my own sanity, work
experience, and believed that I would soon be an employee here.
Of course, that carried on until October and now, God has blessed me
with employment at Arizona Industries for the Blind.

--
Come, read and take a journey with me at
www.WorldOfShariG.blogspot.com

Some Sad News

I have the saddest news. A very good coworker from my previous job and
a great advocate in the disability community died yesterday. He died
of cancer.

My heart is broken because the world has lost a great advocate for the
rights of people first, independence for people with disabilities
second. William, you will truly be missed.

I first met William when I went to Great Lakes Center for Independent
Living as a consumer. I was young and impressionable. I was depressed,
cuz I had made a mess of my life. And my dad told me that I needed to
become more independent. I didn't like this recommendation, but I knew
it was true and my daddy was right.

So with the phone number given to me by a friend from school, I
called. William was one of my teachers as I attended Independence
University. My dreams and hopes were being restored as I met people
who had disabilities, just like me, who were LIVING.

William was a great person; very outgoing, friendly, and caring. He
was full of life! I enjoyed being in his class.

In 2000, I started working for Great Lakes. Now, William and I were
co-workers. We worked together throughout the close of that center and
during my time in Detroit at the Disability Network. Always a delight
to work with. I admired him, cuz he would get the job done. I like
folks that get the job done.

William was very well-respected throughout the community. He helped
many people. He was an asset whereever he went. William, I'll miss
you.

May the peace of God comfort the family and all of us who will miss
him greatly during this extremely difficult time.

God bless

There Must Be More Than This

Hey,
I've got some thoughts that are probably scattered. They're not in any
order. I'm gonna try and write them here. Forgive me if they're not
understandable at first. I know the Lord will give you understanding.

I was listening to John Francis this morning. He talked about the era
of fear in the church vs. the era of grace and celebration. He, like
I, grew up in this era of fear. It wasn't all fear though. You found
people wailing and praying, fasting, and preaching the "or else"
sermons. There was no "whould you like to," "This is an option," or
any of that. We only heard "You must," or "You better." People fasted
a lot, prayed a lot, warfared a lot.

I grew up in a church like that. I don't mean grew up in years, but in
God. The church I went to, you fasted, whether it was a holiday or
not. You fasted because God had called a fast. You prayed, no matter
what time it was. You did it because God said. The preaching? There
was no sugar-coating or candy-coating. It was raw and uncut.

I miss some of that time tremendously. However, there were people who
did things out of duty, not out of love and joy. I understand that.
I'm even sure I did some things out of duty too.

But now, the era of grace and celebration has come. We're so happy. We
come to church talking and laughing. Sometimes, we don't even respect
the house of God. There are no all-night prayers and such anymore.
It's all about "having a good time in God." This is a necessary era.
People should know the joy of God. I myself remember longing for the
celebratory side of God back in the era of fear.

Now, being in the "joy" era, I long for the "fear" era. But I see that
it's not about either. We must have a meeting, a union of the two
eras.

We must bring back the all-night prayers and fasting. The
unadulterated Bible studies where we're not trying to worry about
offending people. We've got to once again respect the house of God.
But at the same time, we must serve God out of joy and celebrate Him.

Oh, how I long for that meeting. That union. I enjoyed so much seeing
demons casted out. I miss the heavy prayers. I long for the raw Word.
But I also like the celebration of God. I enjoy the joy of the Lord.

Lord, bring these two eras together, for they are both expressions of
Yourself. Teach me how to live in the union and unity of these
eras--where there is both sobriety and joy; fear of the Lord and love.
Oh--- that's what I want.

As I close this entry, please, no one take offense. I'm not pointing
to any church, teaching, sermon, person in particular. I'm expressing
my heart in my journal that you chose to read.

God bless,
Sharonda

Extremely Jazzed

I had to tell the world how jazzed I am today with my dog, Rusty!!!!

I have never been able to take him on a bus. The times that I have, it
was an utter catastrophe. He would jump, howl, bark, try and run to
the door, and the list goes on and on. So, finally, I just gave up.
Thank goodness I have a caring family who could chip in and help, or I
might not have Rusty today. I'd have to turn him back into the school.

Anyways, my adopted Mommy (KG) had recommended a couple months ago
that I purchase a pinch collar for him. She had had great success with
her dogs and thought it would be good for me to try. Well, I knew very
little about this collar, but I trusted her judgment implicitly. So, I
bought one.

I have seen so many changes for the better with this collar in my
Rusty. I no longer have to pull and jerk and joke and scream. He
minds--and that's with not much correction on my part. But I thought
the bus would be different--especially from what I knew of the past.

Well, today, we took the Dial-a-Ride to PV mall. He had improved 100%
I was floored with awe and amazement. We walked around a bit then took
the main linehaul home. He was wonderful!

I am so excited and find this a great relief. I see that I am no
longer limited to waiting for cars and rides from others. We'll
finally go places together and be a REAL team.

GO RUSTY!!! HALLELUJAH, JESUS!!!!