Heinous acts

heinous

/ˈheɪnəs,ˈhiːnəs/

adjective

1. (of a person or wrongful act, especially a crime) utterly odious or wicked.

   
   

   "a battery of heinous crimes"

   
   

   synonyms:

   odious, wicked, evil, atrocious, monstrous, disgraceful, abominable, detestable, contemptible, reprehensible, despicable, horrible, horrific, horrifying, terrible, awful, abhorrent, loathsome, outrageous,  shocking, shameful, hateful, hideous, unspeakable, unpardonable, unforgivable,  inexcusable, execrable, ghastly, iniquitous, villainous, nefarious, beneath contempt, beyond the pale;

With the advent of the latest abortion law passed today in New York which allows abortion of a baby for any reason until its due date,  and now allowing infanticide of a child up to 28 days after birth, I thought this word heinous described it to a tee.

To wilfully kill a child that is viable and days away from being full-term is murder, pure and simple. To kill it post birth is an abomination. I cannot fathom the depth of depravity of the carrier of the fetus- I refuse to call her a mother,  that she could nurture the life within her only to terminate it just before it comes to see the light of day. 

Not that the length of gestation matters because a person is a person from conception. But to feel that life within, to endure any hardship socially, physically or financially until the final hours of that pregnancy and then to kill that child beggars belief. I simply can't fathom it. The darkness of the mind of that "mother" is perplexing to me.

Furthermore, the very act of abortion at any stage not only brings death to the baby, but potential death to its carrier, and a very real grief in most women at some stage later in their lives. There is also an increased risk of breast cancer in women who have had abortions..At a late stage like the third trimester terminations, surely it would be better medically if the woman just gave birth and relinquished the baby?

Surely having endured a pregnancy with or without social or financial pressures and having felt the child's movements and steady growth, there would be some interest in the baby's future, and well being? Sufficient to birth it and give it up for adoption?  There are so many people longing to have a baby or adopt one, but sadly there are not enough children given the chance of life to meet that need.

I am flummoxed to understand how medical people can inflict such violence on innocents. Human life to them must be so cheap! And as they hold a new family member in their own arms, I wonder if the faces of suffering children they have destroyed come to mind, and if so, does it not move them? I suspect not.

I know I am not alone in feeling sadness, anger and dismay at the destruction of so many babies, and I also know that it strikes at the heart of most people, both saved and unsaved. But I cry for how Father God must grieve for each lost child and for their lost "mothers",  for a woman who can destroy her child on a whim is lost until or unless she repents and seeks God's forgiveness. 

I truly am in despair for the world right now. It has sunk to an all time low as the fires of Moloch on which innocent children were sacrificed reach an all time high.

Let us all pray for this law to be repealed and for the saving of the innocents. Let us pray for women tempted to utilise these heinous laws that they are given a heart of flesh instead of stone. For make no mistake, this heinous law is a crime against humanity and God. Maranatha! 

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee;  Isaiah 44: 2

Sometimes healing's in the meds

There was a time when I fought taking medicines. It was at a time when the sermons were about what you say is what you get. Claiming your healing in Jesus' Name and getting healed: if you didn't, you lacked the faith to make it so. I now believe that this is unbalanced teaching and do not follow it. However, at the time it made me feel very guilty about taking my medicine.

I do believe that God heals today. And I do believe that faith can make you well. But I have lived long enough with chronic illness to know that this doesn't happen all the time and that most times our prayer should be "if it is Thy will, please heal me!" Faith teachings often miss the fact that God is God! His Will may not be an immediate healing...I don't know why: I just know that I must accept my health as being in His Will. To struggle against this is to make yourself worse through faulty and negative thinking. We are called to walk in faith, not by sight.

In those years, I felt extremely guilty because I suffered from depression that was caused by a chemical imbalance. I tried many times to come off my tablets, usually after a healing crusade, and I fell- straight into the Pit of Despair. This fall often required more medication than before to get me to the place of health I was in when I thought I had been healed. And it took many many weeks of feeling awful before they kicked in again. Not a good place to be.

As I grew in my faith and relinquished my health to the LORD, I acquired many more medications. All of them are vitally important to keep my heart functioning, my blood pressure normal, my blood thin, my cholesterol down, to prevent my kidneys from making kidney stones and to regulate my under active thyroid. Not to mention other things to keep my eyes from drying out and to minimise the pain of fibromyalgia and back problems and to reduce the gastric acid that some medications cause. And of course, the anti-depressants to normalise my neuro-transmitters.

Once I would have held these tablets in my hand and fought taking them. Not any more. I now adopt a spirit of gratitude as I take my medications, for without them I would not be alive for very long. I feel that my medications are a gift from God to allow me to love and serve Him a little longer here and now. Life is after all, God's Will and I am grateful for each new day.

I believe that God gave man the ability to make medications and that ensuring a better quality of life is in God's Will. For Christ came to give us abundant life. Laying in a sick bed with angina and pain is not an abundant life.

I would urge you to have a rethink about your medicines if you have been told that they aren't in God's Will for you. Try to adopt a glad and grateful attitude as you take them. Rejoice that you live in a place in the world where they are available and be glad. Joy and life are in the Will of God, or else why would we see Christ healing many ill and afflicted people? He told us He came to do the Will of His Father!

May you be well, no matter what it takes and may we bless the LORD together for His goodness to us!

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. Acts 10:38

Any age is precious in God's sight.

So my husband, Chris has been in Emergency at our local hospital a few days ago. Nothing major, just getting his insulin sorted. A registrar who was looking after him popped her head in and asked him a question that floored us.

"In light of your age, we need to know if something happened to you, God forbid, do you want us to perform CPR? Yes? well then I need to inform you of possible side effects of that!.... if your heart stops and we have to do CPR, there's a possibility that you could have fractured ribs or sternum. If your brain has been starved of oxygen for any length of time, you could end up a vegetable..."  "At which point, you can then pull the plug!" I interjected.... "Very well, that has been noted!" and then she exited with her paperwork that Chris had signed....

We just looked at each other with open mouths, quite incredulous at what she implied. "In light of your age.." Chris is 69 nearly 70, which is certainly not that old in my book. The implications were that as we are closer to 70 than 60, we are ready to fall off our perch and are not considered of enough value to fight to save.

With recent hospitalisations of my family- aged 67 and over- the reports have been that compassion is lacking. There is a distinct lack of compassionate care which is starkly obvious when compared to past years as a younger patient. Even my (then) 80 year old aunt always said that they let the old ones die. I considered that a gross exaggeration: now I am not so sure.

Our younger generation are being brought up on the idea that the older people in society are a blight on their economy and are easily disposable. Seventy years of age is the cut off point for their tolerance and forbearance. The inference is just go on and die and get it over with!

The government in Australia is phasing in the aged pension only to workers of seventy years of age. In fact, instead of the previous 65 year retirement age, I was made to wait until I was 65.5! Others will have to wait until they are 67 to retire and get a pension: a pension to which they have contributed all their working life. They are aiming to eventually make retirement age 70!

It is interesting that we Australians are considered able to work till 70 but are classified as old and at risk of dying from complications of Corona Virus at over 60!  Maybe the young ones would prefer we start dying off at 60? We can't encumber them with more expense or taxing of the health services!

It seems to me that the most vulnerable of society: the unborn and the aged, are getting phased out of their right to live. This just leaves us a window of acceptable longevity from birth to 60 if we are lucky.

There is no delight in a baby's impending birth or compassion for the ill retiree: we are worthless in society and therefore totally disposable.

From the womb to the grave, our worth in the world is based on someone's warped opinion of us. If we don't measure up to standard, we are terminated or encouraged to roll over and die.

Prophecy is unfolding just as foretold: the love of many has grown cold as the love of money has increased. The unborn and aged are precious only in God's sight. 

His judgement of us is that we are valuable from conception to death..... Maranatha, Lord Jesus! We are precious in God's sight at any age! 

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:32 and The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness Proverbs 16:31

His Cloak of Peace

When my youngest child, Dianne had Acute promyelocytic leukaemia, she was dangerously ill and in ICU three times. At one stage her kidneys were failing. Her body was shutting down. 

They put her on dialysis three times and it was touch and go that she would make it through. You can imagine how I felt when they said they thought she was far too deteriorated to make it.

Naturally, I was asked to leave the ICU whilst they hooked her up, and to be honest, I just wanted to be alone. So I went down to the tea room for the patients and their family. 

It suddenly hit me that I may never see Dianne alive again, and the horror of the last few weeks during which she was on chemo and reacted violently to it, overtook me and I cried.

Slumping down in the corner of the tiny tea room, I gave my daughter to God. He had every right to take her Home, but being a mother, I asked Him to spare her.

Goodness knows, Dianne was only 35 years old, a wife, and mother to three young children. She was needed here. Although she was a Christian and I knew she would be with the LORD, I wanted her here with me.

I prayed fervently, agreeing that whatever be His Will for her, that He was God. It was worse than the despair I felt when I gave birth to still born twin girls at 32 weeks. Up until then, I thought that was the worst thing that I had experienced. But I was wrong. Losing Dianne was something I couldn't endure. 

Still slumped in the corner, I was overwhelmed with a peace that didn't make sense. Here we were in an emotional hell on earth, with Dianne's life hanging in the balance, and I was calm.

It was like a cloak of peace had been placed around my shoulders. It warmed me by routing the fear and it exuded a calm that permeated to my marrow.  I knew it was the peace that passes all human understanding that God promises to us.

Because I was calm, I found my legs could still carry me- they were giving way to me in the tea room. I returned to the ICU where Dianne was on the dialysis. 

I sat willing her to breathe and watching her breathing as if the very act  was too tiring for her. I kissed her hand and silently prayed whilst she slept.

Three days later, she was being taught to walk again on the floor of the ICU and her kidney function was restored.  Today, she is in remission for five years. They say it is extremely unlikely she will get APML back again...

This ordeal has shown me that we do have a Saviour Who is very involved in His childrens' lives. He is a good Father Who comforts His children when all else fails.

If Dianne had been called Home, I would not have lost faith in Him. But mercifully, He allowed her to live. 

The warmth of the Peace He gave me in my most extreme anguished pain, is proof to me that He is a God of His Word. He truly gives us peace that is beyond understanding.

Call on the LORD in your own anguish and see that He is a caring and compassionate Father.  There's nothing like His Cloak of Peace around your shoulders.

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:7

Twelve years old today

Twelve years ago today, I had two stents and an angioplasty in my heart. I was so nervous but was glad that at last the day had come, especially that I was still alive to have it.

I had angina for a month previous to the procedure and tests were positive. I would need either stents or bypass surgery. I had 99% blockage in my heart vessels and I was told that I could literally drop dead.

Told not to get the heart stressed but to take things quietly, I was forbidden to go to my beloved step-father's funeral. He would have told me not to come if he was able. It was very hard.

As a public patient, I had to wait my turn for a bed. Not having had a heart attack yet, I was not on the top of the list. It was a long three weeks.

I was discharged a day after the procedure and I felt sore where they had inserted the stents and also in my femoral artery where my groin was bruised and swollen.

But I was glad to be alive. Ten years earlier, I would have been looking at open heart surgery like my father had.

Today, I still have angina. I am on blood-thinners and often have to put a nitroglycerin tablet under my tongue. Another angiogram later showed damage done from where they entered my heart, and it also showed I have a hole in the heart making it so that the blood does not oxygenate properly. My lungs are working overtime apparently. Which would explain my breathlessness.

One cardiologist told me I have the heart of a 85 year old. It could make me fearful, but I remind myself that God knows my days and He is in control. I will die exactly when He wills.

I remain grateful that I went to the doctor initially about a heavy weight feeling on my chest that woke me up. If I had ignored that, I most certainly wouldn't still be alive.

As I reflect on the advances in cardiology, I praise God for His mercy, and I raise a glass and offer a toast for my stents: twelve years old today. 

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

So teach [us] to number our days, that we may apply [our] hearts unto wisdom. Psalm 90:12 

He's no hero!

As you probably know, I have been seeing a rheumatologist to see if I have SLE lupus as well as fibromyalgia. It has been a long voyage. I am due to see her again July 16 for the results of all the blood works.

Today I saw my GP who I was told had the results. It was a disappointing visit and a waste of time. The only thing he would tell me was that I have severe arthritis in my hands, which was a given seeing as they are bent and deformed.

He would not commit to deciphering any of the tests, claiming that he was just a general practitioner and not a rheumatologist. So I am none the wiser. After reminding him of my various symptoms, he told me that even if I prove to have lupus that it won't change the fact that there is nothing he can do for me. It was very depressing.

Further, my husband Chris has had tests for shoulder pain that radiates into his ribs and back. He asked if an ultrasound might help throw some light onto what's causing his discomfort, but he laughed and said he didn't think so! So Chris also felt neglected.

I am on five tablets per day to lower my blood pressure, which he knows, but I had to ask him to take my blood pressure and he sighed as he did it. When asked about coping with the pain of my arthritis, he recommended a "conservative approach": no prednisolone or opioids, just paracetamol! Seriously?

This man came highly recommended as Chris and I have serious health issues that require good care and monitoring. Today has proven to us that he is not the super hero he is touted to be. 

Fortunately Chris and I are each other's hero and advocate and it is just as well. Looks like we will be looking after each other's interests long into our dotage. 

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:12

When you have a blood test

Most of us who suffer from chronic illness are used to having blood tests on a fairly regular basis. For those of us who have veins that disappear as soon as a finger is placed on them, it can be a nightmare.

I have a few tips for when you have your next blood test.

Drink lots of water at least 2 hours before your appointment. Even with a fasting test, water won't mess with the results, and it hydrates the body, thus plumping up the veins.

Keep your arm warm as this also helps wimpy veins stand out. When my daughter was having daily chemo for leukaemia, they often put her arms in a basin of warm water to bring the veins to the surface. It worked. 

Take note of which area is the most successful in previous attempts, and don't be afraid to let the phlebotomist know. He or she only gets three attempts to draw blood, so pain-wise and time-wise, being proactive in your blood test will ensure the greatest chance of success.

Also take note of what they actually use on you that has been OK in the past and if they used for example, the butterfly instead of vacutainer  syringe, tell them. 

After all, it's no fun being prodded and pricked, and anything we can do to assist the process is a good thing. Especially if you are like me and have wimpy veins.

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12

Taking my medicine gladly

There was a time when I fought taking medicines. It was at a time when the sermons were about what you say is what you get. Claiming your healing in Jesus' Name and getting healed: if you didn't, you lacked the faith to make it so. I now believe that this is unbalanced teaching and do not follow it. However, at the time it made me feel very guilty about taking my medicine.

I do believe that God heals today. And I do believe that faith can make you well. But I have lived long enough with chronic illness to know that this doesn't happen all the time and that most times our prayer should be "if it is Thy will, please heal me!" Faith teachings often miss the fact that God is God! His Will may not be an immediate healing...I don't know why: I just know that I must accept my health as being in His Will. To struggle against this is to make yourself worse through faulty and negative thinking. We are called to walk in faith, not by sight.

In those years, I felt extremely guilty because I suffered from depression that was caused by a chemical imbalance. I tried many times to come off my tablets, usually after a healing crusade, and I fell- straight into the Pit of Despair. This fall often required more medication than before to get me to the place of health I was in when I thought I had been healed. And it took many many weeks of feeling awful before they kicked in again. Not a good place to be.

As I grew in my faith and relinquished my health to the LORD, I acquired many more medications. All of them are vitally important to keep my heart functioning, my blood pressure normal, my blood thin, my cholesterol down, to prevent my kidneys from making kidney stones and to regulate my under active thyroid. Not to mention other things to keep my eyes from drying out and to minimise the pain of fibromyalgia and back problems and to reduce the gastric acid that some medications cause. And of course, the anti-depressants to normalise my neuro-transmitters.

Once I would have held these tablets in my hand and fought taking them. Not any more. I now adopt a spirit of gratitude as I take my medications, for without them I would not be alive for very long. I feel that my medications are a gift from God to allow me to love and serve Him a little longer here and now. Life is after all, God's Will and I am grateful for each new day.

I believe that God gave man the ability to make medications and that ensuring a better quality of life is in God's Will. For Christ came to give us abundant life. Laying in a sick bed with angina and pain is not an abundant life.

I would urge you to have a rethink about your medicines if you have been told that they aren't in God's Will for you. Try to adopt a glad and grateful attitude as you take them. Rejoice that you live in a place in the world where they are available and be glad. Joy and life are in the Will of God, or else why would we see Christ healing many ill and afflicted people? He told us He came to do the Will of His Father!

May you be well, no matter what it takes and may we bless the LORD together for His goodness to us!

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. Acts 10:38

Lupus: a hard one to call

Over the past 15 years, I have had so much trouble with aching joints and muscles and tiredness that I have had several series of blood tests for Lupus. Fifteen years ago I have been diagnosed with severe fibromyalgia but there is a question mark over whether I have lupus as well. I am sick of going to the doctors and not being taken seriously.

In spite of getting repeated highly suspect blood results, I am still waiting for a diagnosis. Two years ago I went to a local rheumatologist to get a second opinion. He told me he thought I may have it and asked what my original rheumatologist Dr H thought. I told him she said she wasn't sure and therefore diagnosed me with non-specific connective tissue disorder.

Straight away, he announced that he too thought I didn't have it: after all he had gone to school with Dr H and she was an honours student- if she wouldn't call it Lupus, he wouldn't. I left totally frustrated! And not helped at all. It was an expensive and futile visit.

For anyone who has a diagnosis of lupus or who cares to read further, here are the reasons I believe I have it. Posts are written by myself on But You Don't Look Sick Board.........

Hi. I have been to a rheumatologist and was told that I have Unspecified Connective Tissue Disease and she is not ruling out lupus.

My symptoms are:

extreme fatigue

fibromyalgia

dry eyes and skin

+ANA- has tripled in 12 months

constantly elevated ESR (mild)

diabetes 2

hypothyroidism

cardiovascular disease- 3 stents inserted in Oct this year thrombosed radial artery after angiogram

antiphospholipid syndrome

polymyalgia rheumatica

worsening fatigue

sunburnt look across my nose and cheeks

maddeningly itchy raised rash on my back and spreading out to shoulders, and now going up nape of neck and into my scalp- scalp is bleeding from scratching it

severe muscular pains and sore finger joints

swollen glands at back of neck and behind ears

difficulty focusing on things

one lot of eye styes after the other

Mesenteric panniculitis

Dermagraphia

Grape like blood filled sores in back of roof of mouth that burst and ulcerate- no injury, just happen

Painful fingers- one cant extend straight- wrists and neck and toes ache but not positive for RA

Butterfly shaped MILD transient rash like sunburn after being outside or tired

Extreme fatigue like fibro flare but lasting a month now with mesenteric panniculitis symptoms again

I am not anaemic though. Does this mean I don't have lupus? does it sound like I do have it? I dont want the disease per se, but maybe if I finally got a diagnosis, they could treat it.

Last year I had a return visit to Dr H and she scarcely looked at the results but seemed obsessed with the fact that I have had 3 stents put in my heart and am obese. She said she would put me on Plaquinel if I continued to have pain. I do not intend to consult her again. She diagnosed my identical twin as just fibro, and she now has full blown lupus SLE. My cousin has it also and one cousin has a granddaughter with it... so there is a very strong family history.

Fast forward to today and nothing has changed except I am losing my hair at a rapid rate. My left leg is visibly swollen and painful. My ANA and ESR are even more elevated. I have antiphosphilipid syndrome but most other tests seem OK. Though one with a River Viper serum (?) was abnormal.

The ANA+ was 1:80 in 2005 then 1:323 in  2015 and this latest one last month is 1:600 . There seems to be a lot of inflammation but he doesn't know what is inflamed. Tomorrow night I am going to see my doctor and Chris is coming with me. There are now issues with my bleeding too easily. Blood thinners are too potent for me I think. I am a mass of bruises! I cry with joint and muscle pain.

I know lupus is a hard one to call but I want an answer and am requesting more tests and a new rheumatologist. This time I won't tell him about Dr H! Any thoughts and prayers are always most welcome. I just want to be without hurting!

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Psalm 103:2-3

A heinous crime against humanity and God

heinous

/ˈheɪnəs,ˈhiːnəs/

adjective

1. (of a person or wrongful act, especially a crime) utterly odious or wicked.

   
   

   "a battery of heinous crimes"

   
   

   synonyms:

   odious, wicked, evil, atrocious, monstrous, disgraceful, abominable, detestable, contemptible, reprehensible, despicable, horrible, horrific, horrifying, terrible, awful, abhorrent, loathsome, outrageous,  shocking, shameful, hateful, hideous, unspeakable, unpardonable, unforgivable,  inexcusable, execrable, ghastly, iniquitous, villainous, nefarious, beneath contempt, beyond the pale;

With the advent of the latest abortion law passed today in New York which allows abortion of a baby for any reason until its due date, I thought this word heinous described it to a tee.

To wilfully kill a child that is viable and days away from being full-term is murder, pure and simple. I cannot fathom the depth of depravity of the carrier of the fetus- I refuse to call her a mother,  that she could nurture the life within her only to terminate it just before it comes to see the light of day. 

Not that the length of gestation matters because a person is a person from conception. But to feel that life within, to endure any hardship socially, physically or financially until the final hours of that pregnancy and then to kill that child beggars belief. I simply can't fathom it. The darkness of the mind of that "mother" is perplexing to me.

Furthermore, the very act of abortion at any stage not only brings death to the baby, but potential death to its carrier, and a very real grief in most women at some stage later in their lives. There is also an increased risk of breast cancer in women who have had abortions..At a late stage like the third trimester terminations, surely it would be better medically if the woman just gave birth and relinquished the baby?

Surely having endured a pregnancy with or without social or financial pressures and having felt the child's movements and steady growth, there would be some interest in the baby's future, and well being? Sufficient to birth it and give it up for adoption?  There are so many people longing to have a baby or adopt one, but sadly there are not enough children given the chance of life to meet that need.

I am flummoxed to understand how medical people can inflict such violence on innocents. Human life to them must be so cheap! And as they hold a new family member in their own arms, I wonder if the faces of suffering children they have destroyed come to mind, and if so, does it not move them? I suspect not.

I know I am not alone in feeling sadness, anger and dismay at the destruction of so many babies, and I also know that it strikes at the heart of most people, both saved and unsaved. But I cry for how Father God must grieve for each lost child and for their lost "mothers",  for a woman who can destroy her child on a whim is lost until or unless she repents and seeks God's forgiveness. 

I truly am in despair for the world right now. It has sunk to an all time low as the fires of Moloch on which innocent children were sacrificed reach an all time high.

Let us all pray for this law to be repealed and for the saving of the innocents. Let us pray for women tempted to utilise this heinous law that they are given a heart of flesh instead of stone. For make no mistake, this heinous law is a crime against humanity and God. Maranatha! 

© Glenys Robyn Hicks

Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee;  Isaiah 44: 2