Just me

Happy New year!

2009-01-06T21:09:00.002-05:00

I want to take time out to wish you all a Happy New Year and to let you know how blessed I feel and how touched I am that you continue to visit my blog and post comments, even when I don't respond. Please know that your encouraging words do mean a lot to me. I pray the Lord's blessings on you all. Thank you!

In Memory of my Aunt Abbie

2008-09-11T22:02:00.003-04:00

The following was published on December 15, 2001 in the New York Times as part of a tribute to all the victims of the World Trade Center attacks.

Abigail Medina
World Trade Center

Bible Stories and Dinner

Picture the children of Bushwick, Brooklyn, hundreds of them, speaking several languages, filling little chairs, singing of love and God's mercy. It's 10 a.m. at the Saturday children's ministry. More songs, and prayers, and Bible stories. A woman moves among the young and restless, giving them treats to keep them quiet and attentive. She soldiers on, through all three preschool sessions, long past twilight. By 6 p.m. a now weary Abigail Medina, 46, would make the eight-block journey from Metro International Church on Evergreen Avenue to her home on Jefferson, to cook: "Arroz con gandules; that's yellow rice and pigeon peas. Served with pork — we call it pernil. Hey, we are Puerto Rican," says Mrs. Medina's daughter, Enid Marie, 18, who, along with her sister, Amy, 14, and father, Eli, constituted the other focus of Mrs. Medina's life. Such Saturdays, even more than the Sunday services, were the happiest moments in her week, Enid Marie remembered. Mrs. Medina's life in Bushwick was blessedly far from the pace of Wall Street, where she worked at Guy Carpenter reinsurance brokerage on the 94th floor of 1 World Trade Center. What helped her through many workdays were hymns, and one that she especially loved, Enid Marie said, starting to hum: "I am running to the mercy seat, where Jesus is calling."

Video

2008-08-01T21:05:00.003-04:00

Sorry that I haven't been able to put up a link that works, so I'll just give you the title of the video. You can go to www.youtube.com and type "Born at the Right Time". I'm still trying to figure out how to add things to my blog, so please be patient with me. :)

Thanks for the suggetion, Mary!

I've Been Tagged!

2008-07-30T16:34:00.004-04:00

AiceE. (http://fromtheheartae.blogspot.com/) has tagged me (bless her heart!) and now you'll get to know six things about me. First, here are the rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Write six random things about yourself.

4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.

5. Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Now the six things about me:

1. On October 11, 1979, when I was 16, I was attempting a somersault on a trampoline in high school. I didn't quite make the complete flip and landed on the back of my head on the trampoline. That caused a fracture/dislocation on my spinal cord and resulted in my being a quadriplegic. I've been in a wheelchair ever since. I've had many highs and lows since then, but God has, and will continue, to use them all for my good, the good of others and, more importantly, His glory.

2. I love to sing and God has allowed me to sing for His purposes. Presently, I am one of the worship leaders in the children's ministry at the church I attend (Christ Tabernacle). In 1993, as a member of the Metro Praise Band, I had the privilege to be a part of the the "Metro Praise Live" CD, a live recording of one of our services. What a blast! For several years afterward, we were invited to sing in churches throughout the city and we even did videos to original songs written by my brother. Here's the link to one of our videos:

http://www.youtube.com/swf/l.swf?video_id=ckpLHPDRyjw&rel=1&eurl=&iurl=http%3A//i.ytimg.com/vi/ckpLHPDRyjw/default.jpg&t=OEgsToPDskL3HcltM00prCBe1_em2xQo&fs=1%22%3E%3C/param%3E%3Cparam&hl=en

3. I love Snoopy! I have a small collection of Snoopy's and other Peanuts characters. I'll post some pics in the near future. :)

4. I have no children of my own, but God has blessed me with three wonderful nieces and a nephew. Two of my nieces even look a lot like me. We're all close and I love that they love spending time with me. Again, photos will be posted in the near future.

5. OK, I'm a bit of a geek. I love doing crossword puzzles! I buy the Sunday paper every week just to take out the two puzzles and work on them throughout the week. I recently bought a crossword puzzle dictionary to help me complete them and what a charge I get when I do! (Too much information, huh?) LOL

6. On a more serious note, tomorrow, July 31st, will mark the 28th anniversary of the day my mother went to be with the Lord. It's been 28 years and I still miss her more than I can say. She died of cancer only 9 months after my accident, and though I still don't understand God's purposes or timing, I trust that He knows what's best. I know that I will see her one day. And on that day, I will be able to run to her and she will be completely and perfectly whole.

OK, now it's my turn to tag some people, but I'm not very familiar with you all and I don't want to randomly tag anyone. Sorry for breaking the chain here, but I'll post this for you all to read and check out your blogs as I go along.

"Even When I Don't Understand"

2008-07-08T21:11:00.000-04:00

Last fall I went through a difficult, yet strange ordeal. I needed some repairs done on my wheelchair. So I sent it to where I always do so that the chair could get fixed. I have health insurance that helps to pay for such services so I was expecting that, between getting the paper work back and forth between my doctor and the provider for ordering and approval, it was going to take a little time for the repairs to get done.

What I didn't expect was that this was going to take two and a half months. I was stuck in my bed, in my home without being able to go outside, for two and a half months. And it was two and a half autumn months - my favorite time of the year. I was in bed on Thanksgiving, when I'd normally be at my grandmother's house with the rest of my family. Looking outside my window was too depressing, especially on those bright, sunny autumn days that I so look forward to.

Well, one day, I got a visit from some sisters from my church. It was a bit of a surprise as I was only expecting one person. But she got a few other sisters to join her so we could all have a time of prayer and worship together. Once all the "hello's" and "how are you's" were out of the way, we quieted ourselves down to begin our time of worship. I must say my girls came prepared. They knew exactly what to sing, or better said, what the Lord wanted them to sing. They started out with one of my favorite songs, "Even When." Now, just for the record, I wasn't exactly looking forward to this visit. I guess I was in a serious self-pity mode and just wanted to wallow in my woes all by myself. But the Lord wasn't having any of that. When they started singing this song, the tears began flowing and that wall of self-pity began to crumble.

Okay, why am I writing all this? Because even though I didn't understand why God was allowing all this, He knew the reason. He was in control the whole time. And because of that, He was deserving of all the glory and praise.

You know what? I still don't know why the Lord allowed this. I may never know this side of heaven why I had to go through this. As I said in the beginning, this was sort of a strange ordeal. What I do know is that, in spite of whatever I go through, I need to lift my hands and worship the almighty, sovereign God. He is always in control and He knows what's best for me. We don't always need to know why God sends certain things our way. What we do need is to trust that He knows best and to praise Him...even when we don't understand.

"EVEN WHEN"

I MAY NOT KNOW WHAT TOMORROW HOLDS FOR ME
I MAY FIND THAT DAYS AHEAD ARE HARD FOR ME
BUT I KNOW THAT YOU ARE GREAT, OH LORD
AND I KNOW THAT YOU ARE GOOD, SO...

-CHORUS-
EVEN WHEN I DON’T UNDERSTAND
EVEN WHEN I CAN’T SEE YOUR PLAN
I WILL NEVER CEASE TO LIFT UP MY HANDS
AND WORSHIP YOU, I WORSHIP YOU MY GOD

YOU’RE THE STRENGTH FOR EVERY STRUGGLE I MAY FACE
HELP ME LORD TO LIVE BEFORE YOU A LIFE OF PRAISE
FOR I KNOW THAT YOU ARE GREAT, OH LORD
AND I KNOW THAT YOU ARE GOOD, SO...