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*WARNING: Objects in Mirror Cannot be Ignored* ______________________________________ If you enjoy this free email service, I encourage you to spread the word to family and friends that we may bring inspiration into the lives of many! If you are not on the list and this has been passed along to you, join the thousands of HeartTouchers.com readers around the world by sending a blank e-mail to: HeartTouchers-subscribe@myinjesus.com Visit our inspirational web site and read all the past stories in our archives at: http://www.HeartTouchers.com/Archives Be sure to check out our brand new inspirational list just for teenagers! Heart4Teens.com To subscribe, send a blank e-mail to: Heart4Teens-subscribe@myinjesus.com or visit: http://www.Heart4Teens.com ____________________________________________ Good afternoon HeartTouchers members! Just wanted to let you know that I will be adding a new section to the weekly emails called Cal-Con Corner. I have a number of short snippets from the lives of my two boys: Caleb and Connor that I will be sharing with you. Special welcome to all the new subscribers this past month. We have had over a thousand new subscribers join us! May all of you have a wonderful week! From my family to yours, Michael _____________________________________________________ WARNING: Objects in Mirror Cannot be Ignored by Marsha Jordan I recently bought a big magnifying mirror ... a lighted one, so that it is easier for me to see all that it reveals. It's a very strong magnifying mirror that enlarges objects FIVE times their natural size. The first time I looked into it, I screamed in horror. I haven't yet recovered totally from the shock of seeing all those wrinkles. In my dimly lit bathroom, with my poor vision, I have been able for a long time to live in that lovely la-la land of denial. I had deluded myself into believing that I still look pretty much like I did at 30. Well, hello ... time to wake up and smell the Oil of Olay cream! Reality hit me right between my sagging eyes and ouch! That smarts. After looking in the mirror, now I think my driver's license photo looks pretty good. I appreciate the Bible verse in Proverbs 11 that says, "A kind hearted woman will gain respect," because I'm smart enough to know that I can't get by on my looks. I used to joke about being old, but until now I didn't REALLY believe that I was quickly approaching nursing home age. Apparently, I blinked and missed my prime. Now I'm over the hill and there is no escaping the undeniable and devastating fact that my youth is vanishing faster than the ozone layer is disintegrating and the rainforest is being depleted At this rate, my family will soon be calling me "prune face." I looked up "puckered" in the dictionary and there was a photo of my face! I have not had enough time to prepare myself for being old, and as my five-year-old grandson often says, "I'm not very happy about this!" And wrinkles aren't the only revolting development. I'm not only turning into my grandmother, but I'm looking a lot like Grandpa Walton too, since I've sprouted whiskers! And my entire face is lower than it once was. Gravity has become my enemy and is pulling everything southward. Instead of aging like a fine wine, I feel more like milk going sour. There are, however, two things for which I can thank God. One is that He doesn't examine my sins and faults with a magnifying glass that illumines all the ugliness. If He did, it would be a sight even more hideous than the one that looks back at me from my mirror each morning. Instead, He is willing to remove my soul's blemishes far from me and forget them forever. Oh, how I wish I had a magic mirror that could do that for my aging face! Secondly, I'm grateful that nobody is ever too old to be used by God. No matter what my age, or how many thousands of wrinkles and gray hairs I have developed, there is always SOMETHING good I can do to help somebody. God has plans for each of us. He said (in Jeremiah 29:11) "I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." It's good to know that we will never outgrow our usefulness. I used to know a lady who was rather negative. At the young age of 60, she was always bemoaning "I'm too old" for this or that. But nobody is ever too old to have hopes and dreams or to accomplish some pretty nifty things with God's help. A friend of my dad's is in her nineties and she recently rode a motorcycle for the first time to her great grandson's birthday party! She's one hip grandma! I hope I can be that adventurous at ninety (if I'm not in the home before then). I'm living proof that God doesn't just use the "young and beautiful people." At 45, with poor vision and lots of physical ailments and handicaps, He led me to begin The HUGS and HOPE Club for Sick Kids ... and look at all the good that He's accomplished as a result. How cool is it that He uses little old me? He'll use anyone who is willing and still breathing; and that includes you. Open those wrinkled, droopy eyelids of yours and take a gander at the world around you. No matter what your age, you are younger than someone somewhere and you'll see loads of things you can do. Get your pruney face and your varicose veins out there and get going! And by the way, if you have a magnifying mirror, do what I'm going to do. Toss it into the dumpster or give it away. There are better things than wrinkles for us to focus on. Marsha Jordan mmellow@newnorth.net Write Marsha and let her know your thoughts on her story! Marsha Jordan is the director of the HUGS AND HOPE FOUNDATION, a ministry designed to share God's Word and His love with families of critically ill children http://www.hugsandhope.com _________________________________________ Cal-Con Corner Kristi told me that she went by Caleb's room one day and he was singing about me. I started getting warm fuzzies in my tummy thinking of how sweet it was that he was singing about his daddy. She told me his words were, "I love my daddy, I love my daddy, I love my daddy..." By this time I was swelling with pride. His next verse, however, was, "BUT I DON"T KNOW WHY! NO, I DON"T KNOW WHY!" Then back to, "I love my daddy, I love my daddy..." _________________________________________ Thought For The Day: "Many a man thinks he has an open mind, when it's merely vacant." Verse for the Day: "...I warn everyone among you not to estimate and think of himself more highly than he ought."--Romans 12:3 Kid's Thought For The day: "Don't tease a big kid." Parent's Thought For The Day "A torn jacket is soon mended; but hard words bruise the heart of a child." --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Coach's Thought For The Day "Only two kinds of players disappoint me. A player who does nothing he is told, and one who will do nothing else."--John Kessel Writer's Thought For The Day: "I like libraries. It makes me feel comfortable and secure to have walls of words, beautiful and wise, all around me. I always feel better when I can see that there is something to hold back the shadows." --Roger Zelazny Deep Thought For The Day: "I've got no-fault car insurance. If I have an accident, I just call the insurance company and they tell me it isn't their fault." _________________________________________ MICHAEL T. POWERS www.HeartTouchers.com "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20 __________________________________________ Video Imagery --Michael's Video Production Business Dear Michael, I just wanted to take a minute to thank you for the beautiful video you made for me! It was so special to see both of my parents in tears as they watched their children grow up in pictures before their eyes! I loved the way you made Estania's part set aside from the rest--that was the part that really got them! The music was beautiful. My mom kept blubbering, "What song is that?" I don't know how you did such a beautiful job with the video in such a short time. I really appreciate your doing it so quickly. You have a wonderful gift, and I thank God that you are using it to create such sentimental memories. I hope that I can find my niche like that in an area that I love. Your video gave us one of our most lasting Christmas memories! I hope yours was filled with moments to be treasured forever! Love, Trisha Silverhill, AL Let me make you a video from your photos! Check out my video production business by visiting: http://www.hearttouchers.com/video_imagery ___________________________________________ Would you like to see your story in HeartTouchers.com? Writer's guidelines can be found on our Web site here: http://www.HeartTouchers.com/guidelines/ __________________________________________ Do you feel as if life has no meaning for you? http://www.greatcom.org/english/four.htm _________________________________________ The copyrights to the stories that appear in HeartTouchers.com are owned by the authors and are used with their permission. We refuse to run stories without the author's permission and contact info listed after the story. We also refuse to publish stories listed as "author unknown." (All of which violates Copyright Law and the rights of the authors.) This e-mail may be forwarded in its entirety, but please do not cut and paste the stories to be used elsewhere unless you have contacted and been given permission by the individual writer. Thank you so much for honoring the rights of those writers who graciously share their stories with us! ___________________________________________ Reading Books, Changing Lives! For those of you who would like to purchase the books from the HeartTouchers.com bookstore via your credit card, you can now do so! You can now order a number of different autographed best-selling inspirational books for the same price you would get them in the store, the shipping to you is paid for, and you are helping change the lives of teenagers and those they come in contact with! And best of all, every penny from the book sales are going to youth ministry! http://www.HeartTouchers.com/books _________________________________________________ A number of people have written to us asking what an EBook is, since our book is being offered in both print and EBook versions. An EBook is a book that can be downloaded and read right on your computer. The advantage of ordering the EBook is that is costs less, $8.95 (No other charges), as compared to $14.95 + shipping and handling for the print book. Plus you can download the EBook and begin reading the stories in a few minutes! EBooks are read via Acrobat Reader, which is software that most of you already have on your computer. And if for some reason you don't, it can be downloaded free of charge at the web site. So for those of you who don't want to wait for the print book to be delivered, check out this web site to order the EBook version of Straight From the Heart "A Celebration of Life." http://www.booklocker.com/bookpages/michaeltpowers01.html |
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Touching Lives - One E-mail at a Time! Author Michael T. Powers - HeartTouchers @ aol.com
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