‘He Leadeth Me’
The old hymn keeps coming to mind, even as Rep. Michelle Bachman says she will run for president if God tells her to.
It was one of my favorites as a child, and it fostered the belief that God will take you where you need to go if you leave yourself open to being led.
The hard part is that you have to give up being in charge and most of us don’t want to do that.
When we still lived in New York and I had lost my job, we found out Rob’s job was going away in six weeks too.
I was in a panic when my friend Bonnie said, “Oh, this is so exciting. Where do you think God will lead you next?”
I was a little put off by her apparent glee at my dire situation.
“It’s not some little adventure,” I said.
“Oh yes it is,” she said. “You just calm yourself down and be open to God’s suggestion. You’ll think that still, small voice is your own idea.”
That night as I was falling asleep, I had the idea to call an old friend of mine who was a recruiter for Gannett. Turns out there were two jobs here in Asheville and we got them. Sold our house for the full asking price the first day on the market.
God’s fingerprints were all over it.
Of course, God doesn’t usually speak audibly to people, at least not in my experience, although the solgan of the United Church of Christ (of which I am a member) is, “God is still speaking.”
But things happen. The Tea Party people raised the question of my advocating for health care while working for the paper, and that led me to leave the paper because I can advocate much more effectively as a private citizen than as a journalist.
Since then, opportunities I hadn’t imagined have opened up, taking me to surprising places.
I’ve just been invited to join a community group seeking local solutions to issues of poverty, health care and other social justice issues. Storytelling is an important part of what they do.
God only knows where this is going; I sure don’t. It’s sure to be an adventure, though.
Have a beer in May
Stop into Altamont Brewing, 1042 Haywood Road, West Asheville, any time in May and ask for their "charity" beer of the day. Buy one and Life o' Mike gets $1. In fact, we get a buck for each one sold. So go in every day and have one to support Life o' Mike.
Thanks, Altamont!
Patient Pals & Family Friends
Life o' Mike has a peer support program for people with one or more serious or chronic medical issues or disabilities.
We aim to reduce isolation and fear among people who have conditions, including psychiatric illness, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, mild dementia or other cognitive disorder or disability, thereby reducing depression and complications as people learn to improve self-management of their medical conditions.
Patient Pals help alleviate feelings of isolation and frustration. They can help people develop a list of questions to ask the doctor and then accompany the person to the doctor to make sure all the questions are answered, taking notes to be sure the person understands the doctor’s answers.
Our trained volunteers also accompany their “Pals” to art exhibits, movies and walks outdoors, meet for coffee, call to check in and more.
Our Pals have experienced weight loss, improvement in diabetes, HIV, psoriasis, depression and more, just because they have someone who cares about them. Some relationships develop into longer-term friendships; other Pals move on to more independent lives.
Family Friends are there to help caregivers and other family members grow into their new role.
We need volunteers, who are asked to donate a minimum of one hour a week. Training is free and includes information on active listening, ways to help and when to know more help is needed.
And of course, we need funding.
To learn more, call Leslie Boyd at 828-243-6712 or e-mail lifeomike@gmail.com.
Start From Seed
Life o' Mike has a new program- Start from Seed (SFS).
SFS is a volunteer doula program aimed at providing non-medical, comprehensive support to low income, high-risk women and families of Buncombe County focusing on three areas:
1. We help new doulas with certification and training in return for their participation as a volunteer doula for SFS
2. We mentor volunteer doulas with their first few clients
3. Our volunteer doulas provide birth and postpartum doula services to low income, high risk moms, providing support and tools to empower them as a new parent.
A birth doula is a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth; a postpartum doula provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period.
Start from Seed clients are referred to us from the Buncombe County Department of Health’s Nurse-Family Partnership Program, Western North Carolina Community Health Services, and Mission Hospital. The Program is intended and designed for growing clients’ inner strength and helping them gain empowerment to help them cope with the emotional, physical and mental challenges of childbirth, labor, and motherhood.
Our new moms and their infants have many needs. If you would like to help them get off to a good start, please visit our Start from Seed web site: Start from Seed, or call Program Director Chelsea Kouns at 804-814-9946.
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