Come, Be Still

Saturday, March 31, 2018

Why I Am Deleting Facebook and Messenger

I am posting the following on my Facebook account.

"Dear Friends: Sadly, I will soon have to close this account as I have clear grounds to distrust Facebook. I will miss being a part of your lives in this way! But yesterday this company started censoring and deleting my personal messages due to my beliefs based on God’s Word. I can no longer send private messages that include a link to sign a petition to like-minded friends.

Does anyone else find it disturbing that your private messages may be watched and liable to censorship based on someone else's worldview? Those who would call me abusive or intolerant are themselves displaying invasive examples of such behavior."

The above photo is a screenshot of Facebook Messenger's reason for no longer allowing me to write and send messages as I wish. The story is long, but it involved a progression of some similar messages going through normally, some only partially delivered, instances where that message and link alone were deleted from a series of others that remained (even when I tested it by sending other links in the same thread before and after within a minute, and only the one was deleted), some messages appearing to send but the entire threads with their history of communication being thereafter deleted (and not by sender or receiver), some attempts getting immediately blocked, and finally this response to another try a day later.

A Walk in the Snow

'Twas the day before Easter, and we received a beautiful, fresh blanket of snow. Six inches or more! Maybe this is a good time to finish posting my snow-pictures from the past couple months.

My tracks

The wind's tracks

The tractor/snowblower's tracks

Snowmobile tracks

Friday, March 30, 2018

Strength from His Psalms

As pain rises, rest eludes us, and our bodies weaken due to medical treatments and lack of fresh air and sunshine, the Psalms increase their ministry to my heart.

"But for you, O LORD, do I wait;
it is you, O my God, who will answer.

For I am ready to fall,
and my pain is ever before me.

Do not forsake me, O LORD!
O my God, be not far from me!
Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation!"

- Psalm 38:15, 17, 21-22

And some verses I memorized this month.

"But I will sing of your strength;

I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.

For You have been to me a fortress and a refuge

in the day of my distress.

O my strength, I will sing praises to you,

for You, O God, are my fortress,

the God who shows me steadfast love."

- Psalm 59:16-17