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Disclaimer: As always you are free to do what you want, even making no changes at all.
So good ol' Debra who, (as her faithful readers know), prefers old-fashioned ways, is lately making modern changes. The more folks who fancy-themselves-in-charge make demands, the more she makes opposite choices.
Trust me. She's had much practice since, oh, around age 11. シ
What kinds of changes this time, you ask? Well, let's see:
1.) After nearly 20 years at Yahoo, I opened a new email box at Protonmail. Basically I got sick of seeing the home page's horrible, twisted headlines and placing my hand upon the screen so to avert my eyes (and avoid annoyance). Plus, Yahoo allows no comments after those stories (which is telling) and well, I had enough. More than.
I felt God's nudge to move and oh! When God asks and Grace arrives, that's when nothing is impossible. I'd imagined it would take a week to switch over, but the bulk of this operation required only a couple hours(!)
2.) I stopped watching our local morning news. Now, this one hurt since I've loved those folks and their fun format for decades. But after all the covid, covid, covid stuff then the subtle(?) Trump-bashing in each political story, well, I reached my limit. Bid farewell--and survived.
Now for news I check out favorite pundits at Youtube and others at Gab. Currently, that's enough.
3.) For a search engine I use Bing, for I read it's more conservative-friendly than Google.
4.) Tom and I support more small local businesses than ever and are trying to avoid huge corporations online, choosing tinier ones there, instead. This is a process, but small businesses need much help!
5.) We deleted Netflix and chose Pure Flix, instead. (Crossflix is another we may consider later.) I deactivated Twitter and will remain at Gab.
I joined MeWe and would gladly leave Facebook except MeWe is rather dead and I'm able to encourage many more folks at Facebook. (If not for that, I'd be gone already.)
And I would leave Youtube for Rumble except for similar reasons.
(Oh, and via Facebook, I contact our favorite tv shows when they stay inspiringly close to their purpose--and--when they wander far from it.)
6.) Tom and I take part in 'buycotts' when we believe in--and want to encourage--businesses under attack.
Buycott: The opposite of a boycott: deliberately purchasing a company's or a country's products in support of their policies, or to counter a boycott.
7.) Months ago I gave up watching HGTV (and told you why here). The shocking thing? I've not missed it. And considering I'm all about houses, creativity and nesting--that's huge.
But then, obeying God is even more huge--and satisfying.
There's more, but you get the idea.
What I've loved these past months? For everything I've walked away from, God's provided something to walk to. Something even better. More rewarding. Easier on my mind, my conscience.
And while swimming against the current, I've found all sorts of fun folks splashing beside me, yet even if I hadn't, hey, that would be ok.
Swimming around in obedience to (and with) God is more than enough joy for anyone.
When God, Himself, asks us to do something, absolutely no excuse for avoidance is good enough. It's only disobedience because God designed us, knows exactly what we can do, and is there to empower us.
No use in asking ourselves, "Yeah, but what difference can one person make?" either. A better activity is to list all those folks in History whose obedience to God did make a huge difference.
Grace! She is helpful, empowering, and able to add pleasantness to what otherwise could be a big, fat hassle.
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My new email address is at the top of this blog, to the right. I love it at Protonmail. No headlines of any sort!
Is this coffee bean idea adorable or what? --
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"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15
You have made so many great changes Debra. Since the *free* cable here at the park hasn't worked since we moved in, it hasn't been hard to avoid a lot of shows. We get the main network show by our antenna and rarely watch them. We have some favorite utubers that we watch regularly. One is a family down south who post every evening. She watches the same shows you do and we love their family. He preaches sometimes and they have a family band. Sometimes they sing at different churches. He's a farrier by trade and she is a homeschooling mom. We just love them all AND their five kids. I even made the baby a gift when he was born!
ReplyDeleteI think there will be some huge things happening soon and people are SO blind to it all. I just got a text about an hour ago from Newsmax. It said, "House Democrats seeking to close down Newsmax, Fox News, OANN. Not surprising is it? And people can't see what is happening right in front of their eyes. I pray that I can remain firmly planted in the Word of the Lord during thses days.
Blessings and love,
Betsy
Thank you Debra and Betsy.! So much goodness here.
ReplyDeleteYou're an inspiration, Debra! Thanks for giving us info about alternatives. My husband and I have had Dish for tv viewing for many years. We were remarking a few days ago that we hardly watch tv anymore. We do love the farm network, which is still very wholesome and informative, and we watch local news. All of us must take responsibility for what we put in our minds and how we spend our time.
ReplyDeleteI've made several of these changes as well. All have been met by new opportunities and experience of - well, grace. God's RICH grace! I'd enjoy being your Facebook friend! Yes. I'm still there...
ReplyDeleteBetsy--yep, it's so wild what's happening, right? Personally I'm trying to stay excited about living in these times. Not easy, but I know God put each of us here for a reason, one being to do what's He's gifted us to to help push back the darkness. We can do this!
ReplyDeleteRita--thanks for reading here for so long! I really appreciate it.
Pam -- so true about making the best use of our time these days! We all have specific jobs to do, ones which will keep us busy with good things.
Rebecca-- I'd love to be your Facebook friend! Please email me at GladOne4@protonmail.com and I'll send you my Facebook link. Thanks for asking--I'm sure you can help make my Facebook time a bit more fun!
Thanks so much, Everyone! Blessings, Debra