Hi Friends,

This is one of those "Lord-willing" newsletters. In other words, "Lord willing it will get out to you! It's 4 a.m. and I have a parent-teacher meeting with my son's Kindergarten teacher in 5 hours. I was so exchausted I was asleep by 9 pm last night, but then when my husband came to bed at 12:30, I woke up. I'm sure many of you have the same kind of rotating shifts in your house.

Thank you for your continual prayers. I am taking one day at a time. I've been to wound care 3 weeks now and the wound on my ankle (from the staph infetion) is getting bigger for no apparent reason, so I had an MRI Monday to rule out a bone infection (still trying to get results for that.) In the meantime, I am gasping about 5 times a day when I move my right wrist because the tendon gets stuck on my wrist bone. Almost dropped an entire pitcher of lemonade tonight and had to use my left hand to ungrasp the right hand from the pitcher.

I know most of your trials are much larger than my own, but I did blog about it earlier this week, and hope many of you can relate to those lonely moments. However "unserious" our condition may seem to those around us, it's SERIOUS when it's under our own roof.

I know God "gets this" when the Word says, "...we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies" in Romans 8:23. We are all groaning a bit and looking forward to that heavenly body! It doesn't matter who groans the loudest... all our groans are precious to Him so He can comfort us.

Lisa's son Josh dressed up as Wall-E... with a Breath-Right strip!

I've had an interesting week as Josh has been home from school with a bad cold. My husband worked hours on Josh's Wall-E costume (from the Disney Pixar movie) so I have to share a photo with you.

Here is some good parenting... Joel and I went to his school with him Wed morning for the Halloween parade (around the playground) and then part of the Halloween party and then told the teacher we were taking him home. He so wanted to show his friends the costume Daddy had worked on all week, and we figured, hey, he's 5 years old... so why not? (Those hard knock lessons in life about "staying home when you are sick" come all the time already.) And here is my reasoning... the box was big enough around him that no kid could get near enough to him to get his germs..

We will be walking the neighborhood to trick-or-treat a few houses tonight and then going over to Old Poway Park for a little party. Every day off of my Humera medication (due to the infection) makes it harder to move, but I've made it to the pumpkin patch field trip (In 100 degree weather! Only in California!) the Halloween parade, and now we'll get through the evening activities. I don't want to give up a single memory yet, since I don't know how many years I can keep doing it.

Withouth going into details about the USA election, I encourage you to VOTE and pray "Thy Will Be Done." The hard part is we don't really know what God's will is. As we get closer to the end of times, there is no doubt that our country will struggle more. Be sure to read the article below about "Top 10 Predictions No Matter Who Wins the Election."

Blessings to you,

Lisa Copen
Rest Ministries Director and Founder

Yes! I can make a donation to help Rest Ministries continue their outreach!

PS: Wondering what I am up to or how to pray for me?
I appreciate your prayers so much! Follow me on Twitter.

PPS: Have you listened to the Invisible Illness Week seminars?
They are here archived forever...

Celebrating Special Days

This day has passed by a few days ago, but we still wanted to share a special way Rhonda celebrates! What a cool idea!

Hi Friends,
I want to invite all of you to celebrate with me on October 25th. Oct 25, 2008 is my 8th anniversary of my back injury. Each year, I try to do something special to celebrate all the positive aspects of this journey God has chosen for me. I focus on the great things God has taught me, done for me, and the joy He's given since Oct 25, 2000. Throughout the 8 years I've celebrated many ways. One year I held a "Blessings Party." Everyone who came had to share blessings that God had given them. It was a lot of fun for us all. Last year, I had a doctor's appointment, but following the appointment, a friend and I went to a very fun and crazy restaurant in Chicago. We laughed and enjoyed the time.

This year, I'm going to a show at a local theater. They have a seating arrangement which enables me to stand in the back of the theater (I can't sit for more than 15 mins due to my back pain). I'm looking forward to attending a show of Rodgers and Hammerstein's songs.

I'd like to invite you all to do something special on Oct 25th, to join my in my celebration. Maybe you can enjoy your favorite meal or desert, or go out with a friend, or listen to your favorite CD, or watch your favorite movie. Whatever you can do to make the day special! Then email me what you did to celebrate! That way we all can celebrate God's goodness! So mark the date, Oct 25th, on your calendar and begin thinking of what you want to do, do make the day a special celebration! Don't forget to share with me what you did! I want to know how you celebrated on my day!
Rhonda (You can find her in the Sunroom here.)

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Have Mosaic Moments Devotions with You Always

We will soon have our first Kindle edition of a book available. Mosaic Moments should go "live" any day. If you own the Amazon Kindle be sure to check check it out. And it's retails for less than $8 since it's all digital!

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Crosses Shipping Any Day!

We had a wonderful response to the gift of a Clinging Cross last week. We shipped out all that we had in stock and more were to arrive this week which will ship likely on Monday. Thank you to all who ordered this special gift. We loved the cross and it's nice to think of all the people who will be encouraged by it this holiday season. We are emailing you as the orders ship, so watch your inbox!

And if you haven't heard about it, find out more here. They usually retail for over $20 but we are pricing them at just $15 make them affordable for the people who really need them.

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HopeKeepers Links Working Again

When we moved our web site over to a new service, it didn't recognize lowercase and uppercase file names as the same file..,.. spelling disaster for all the places we had HK or HopeKeepers! We think we've got most of them fixed now and you can download the new HopeKeepers Information Packet here. (We know the link on that was broken and some of you may have been looking for it!)

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Invisible Illness Week Seminars at iTunes!

You can now download the seminars for the week at iTunes, so you can add it to your ipod or MP3 player and listen to them whenever you want or when you need a pick-me-up (great to listen to if you are a walker!) And it's free! Just click "subscribe."

(We noticed we're missing our opening seminar and we'll get that added soon.)

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Invisible Illness Week CD Almost Available

There seems to be lots of things "nearly" ready, huh? Keeping a ministry going is a challenge, especially when I've been struggling with lack of energy, more doctor visits than normal, a sick kid... but I really am working through my to-do list. Making the CD is on my "honey-do-list" meaning Lisa's husband is converting those files this weekend. We'll announce it here in the next week or so.

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Did You Sign Up For Ebates Last Week?

If so, today (the 31st) is the deadline to purchase something for any of their stores. If you do, Rest Ministries and you BOTH will earn $10 credit. Click here to sign up, or if you already have, just go check out there store (tons of them) at ebates.com (You can read more about ebates from last week here if you're curious)

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October Chronic Pain Blog Carnival

Be sure to stop by and read the October Pain Blog Carnival from How To Cope With Pain! As always, I am honored to participate... this time sharing my post about how hard it really is to ask for help...or even just friends to hang out with during difficult times.

This is a wonderful blog of real life stories about the ups and downs and daily details of living with illness or pain... and yet, oh so encouraging too!

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We're Participating in the Blog Tour for
Women, Work and Autoimmune Disease

Be sure to check out Rosalind Joffe's blog tour starting Monday, November 3rd. You can see when and where she will be writing articles, doing interviews and more at this calendar. (If you don't see anything, make sure you are looking at the November page!) Rest Ministries will be featuring Rosalind November 19, 2008.

Tons of Books We Like

If you are going through a difficult time right now and wondering what may be a good book to check out on the topic, we have a bunch of Amazon.com references on our various web pages. We get review copies of lots of books we like, but just aren't able to carry in our own store. Lisa also receives notification from publishers when new books that pertain to illness, depression, mental illness, suffering, etc. are published. We want you to be aware of them!

Most of these are on the web page at Rest Ministries that pertains to the topic-- a lot of them are under the category "Resource>Life Issues" So for example, if you are looking for books on being an ill parent, you would find them at "Explaining Illness to Child" It takes a moment for the Widgets to load, but you'll find a great selection of books we discovered for both Book Ideas for Parents to Share with Their Kids and Book Ideas for Parents Who Are Ill. All books we select are part of our Associates program, meaning if you click on the link through Rest Ministries we earn a small percentage too.

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Lisa's Blog Posts this Last Week

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Depressed?

As the holiday seasons begin to arrive, depression is a major factor for many people. We know these are light-hearted thoughts below and that depression is a very serious illness. Don't hesitate to contact a professional like your doctor if you are coping with severe depression.

Feeling Blue? Grab some pumpkin seeds!

One study revealed that the seeds contain a significant amount of L-tryptophan, which is beneficial in battling depression. The seeds don't have enough of it to actually treat depression, but if you think you may be getting depressed, you may want to add it into your snacks for the day or toss some in your salad of favorite baked bread as a preventive measure.
>Read about other health benefits of pumpkin seeds

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16 Ways Depression
Is Like a Pumpkin

1. It comes in all shapes and sizes (and diagnoses).

2. With enough creativity, you can it put it to good use.

3. You have to carefully monitor kids around it.

4. It arrives in October, and stays through the holidays.

5. It can be heavy and cumbersome.

6. It can be ugly.

7. It never grows alone, and it has long roots.

8. You can carve different faces on it.

9. Birds and humans crap all over it.

10. It likes ghosts and dead people (the past, in general), and phobias of all kind.

11. Like an 11-year-old boy, you really want to smash it.

12. It can make you think of Thanksgiving, and everything you have to be grateful for.

13. You can't just hide it or forget about it, because after a few months, it will rot, decay, and stink up your entire house.

14. It's orange, meaning "ALERT: something isn't right."

15. A lot of people have one, but most don't put theirs out on the porch (like I do) for everybody to see (and comment on).

16. After you dig out its guts and give it a light, it can be made into something beautiful (at least temporarily).

We believe this was written by Therese Borchard at the blog Beyond Blue

Nehemiah 4:2 says "Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble--burned as they are?"

Have you ever felt like a heap of rubble? This week I felt like that more than I can recall feeling in a long while. The dictionary definition for "rubble": A loose mass of angular fragments of rock or masonry crumbled by natural or human forces. Irregular fragments or pieces of rock used in masonry. The masonry made with such rocks.

I particularly relate to the "angular fragments" mentioned in the definition. When I feel like I've been hit by a truck, as I did this week, I know that my edges are cutting into everyone around me. I want to remove myself from my family until it is all over and I am somewhat "smooth around the edges" once again.

But that is not possible and it is so painful emotionally when I feel that way. My vision of a wife and mom never had cutting edges in it. My dreams of family life were filled with love, hugs, encouragement, and lots of close times together. With pain and fatigue the last thing I want is to be close to anyone. I simply want to be left alone.

How hard it is to tell the ones you love you need to rest and shut the door on them and their lives once again, knowing it won't be the last time you do so?

"So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart." Nehemiah 4:6

Working with all my heart is what I desire to do, but am physically incapable of. So how could I accomplish this rebuilding?

"Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As as result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God." 1 Peter 4:1 & 2

Done with sin? Isn't this the one thing the Lord is most concerned with in our lives? He is working at preparing a church in which He can return that is done with sin. If this is part of the process that I must undergo in order for the Lord to prepare me for His return than I accept the rough edges, the closed doors, the loneliness, and disappointments.

What He is doing in my life He is also doing in the lives of my family--they must look to Him all the more when "building the wall" of their lives. So even if from the outside it looks like our home is "crumbled" it is really only in a rebuilding process. A rebuilding that is according to the Lord's architectural plans, not ours.

Barbara Blume has Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue and various other related syndromes. She has suffered with this since age 12 but only as an adult did sge receive a diagnosis. She is now 51 lives in NJ.

> Click here to submit your own story

"Turn from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry." Psalm 34:14-15

Do You Fib to Your Doc?

Watch this Good Morning America story about how being honest with your physician is not only a good idea, but it can be life-threatening if you don't. Doctors say they have heard it all, so don't hold back!

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Top 10 Predictions No Matter Who Wins the Election

1. The Bible will still have all the answers.
2. Prayer will still work.
3. The Holy Spirit will still move.
4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.
5. There will still be God-anointed preaching.
6. There will still be singing of praise to God.
7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.
8. There will still be room at the Cross.
9. Jesus will still love you.
10. Jesus will still save the lost when they come to Him.

Isn't it great to know who is really in control?
-- Sent in my Myna (thank you!)

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Join the Breast Cancer Cure Research --
Even if You Don't Have Breast Cancer!

Army of Women offers a revolutionary new opportunity for YOU to partner with research scientists to move us beyond a cure for breast cancer. They want women to sign up to answer surveys and such that do have or have had breast cancer---and those who have never had it! As of October 1st over 215,000 women had signed up.

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Got Sick Kids Stuck at Home?

Pull out the hide-a-bed, load it with pillows and blankets, pop some popcorn and watch movies. But if your kid is still looking for some entertainment despite not feeling well, you can find some "sick kid activities" here a the Family Fun web site. There are also "feel-good foods" and things to do from bed. You may just find something for yourself to do if you are the sick one!

Hi Lisa! We spoke on the blog radio on 9/12/08. I thank God for allowing me to share with you and Jeff how much I truly thank God for you. Not just me, but my husband as well. He seems so relaxed to see that I am not in severe pain and severly fatigued.

I attribute this to God leading me to Rest Ministries and my obeying God when he said, "This is the place." I have said that my heart wanted to search more after reading a few comments made by Jeff, and reading his bio, but I didn't move until the Spirit said, "This is the place." I am blessed to be here.

In a few short days, I have received so much encouragement and support that it seems as though I am floating on a bed of clouds. Lisa, you wanted me to keep in touch with you on how I am doing, and I will honor that committment to you. Last night, I decided to go out and get dinner for the family. Well, I walked out the door without my coat, and I new that this was the beginning...wait, wait... it will get better, the pain did surface, and I used the muscle rub...but most of all, resisted Satan trying to insist that I was going to have a night of pain, NOT IN THE NAME OF JESUS!

Satan is no match for our God. Everything must be filtered through his hands. I began speaking the Word...the pain ceased. His word will not return to Him void. Isaiah 55:11 so is my word that goes out from the mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Praise be to our God, in Jesus name!

> Have something silly or special to share?

Did you know we really need your prayers? In the last few months we've had volunteers who have suffered heart attacks, lost their home, lost a loved one, had additional illnesses diagnosed and more.

Our ministry is blessed, but at the same time we have computer crashes, administrative issues and all kinds of things that just remind us that though God is in control, the enemy desperately wants to slow us down! We have a great list of things you can pray for us about for 2008. Print it out here and stick it in your Bible or on your fridge, and remember us, okay? It's very appreciated!