#purely for the present imagery but I do mean this generally and not christmas-specifically you know?

[dont-hug-me-aesthetics]

Happy Holidays from DHMA! :D - Mod Roy

x x x 🎁 x 🌟 x 🎁 x x x

[oneweekoneband]

Today’s first guest post is by my friend and fellow The Singles Jukebox contributor Vikram Joseph.

Counting to 15, 20, 30… - Delayed Queer Adolescence and the Songs of Troye Sivan

- Vikram Joseph

On a humid early August evening a few weeks ago, in one of those converted warehouse bars endemic to inner north-east London, I was chatting over drinks with a guy I’d once dated and had last seen in 2014. There was a lot to catch up on, and the conversation ran unexpectedly, rewardingly deep. It became clear that, though we’re both well into our adult lives by any conventional measurement, we’d each changed and grown significantly in the intervening years in a way that films, books and the media seem to suggest happens in your late teens. The idea of delayed adolescence being a common trope for queer people came up, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot since then. Why do those formative years of growth and the exploration of self-identity seem to happen later for us? Is it a delayed phase of development, a prolonged phase, or both? And how is this reflected in the way we interact, the spaces we choose to spend time in, and the art we consume?

***

A recent viral tweet:

“Gay culture is your life being delayed by 10 years because you didn’t start being yourself until your mid-20s.”

At the time of writing, this tweet has 117,000 likes.  Clearly, this is a phenomenon which touches nerves across the spectrum.

To the extent that we can “know” a pop singer through their songs, it seems like Troye Sivan – still just 23, and releasing his second album – has done his growing fairly early on. In just a few years, we’ve heard him go from singing about tentative gay crushes to the fully-realised queer euphoria of his newer songs. And yet, the concept of protracted, stuttering adolescence is crisply, poignantly refracted through his music, and I feel that a lot of his immense appeal to queer people far older than himself can be attributed to this.

***

HEAVEN “The truth runs wild, like kids on concrete.”

“Heaven” deals with the internal struggle for self-acceptance – by no means unique to LGBTQ+ people, but one that everyone who’s grown up on that spectrum will understand intimately, in the form of coming out to yourself. “Without losing a piece of me, how do I get to heaven?” Religion is a useful allegory here, but ultimately a distractor – the duality Sivan is really concerned with here is about happiness. For a lot of us, coming out for the first time feels like a crossroads, where we have to make a choice between one kind of happiness and another, and “Heaven” captures this (false, but very powerful) dichotomy beautifully.

Sivan’s first album, Blue Neighbourhood, hangs heavy with the imagery of suburbia. It’s rich, relatable visual and psychological territory, exemplified in decades’ worth of teen TV dramas and coming-of-age films. Many of us will recognise it as the backdrop to the fraught intensity of that long, tangled conversation with ourselves; the feeling of being on the brink of everything and the precipice of nothing, the intoxicating, paralysing combination of anticipation and dread. Sivan deals with this at 15; for me, I was 20, during university Christmas holidays, back in the dull hum of suburbia. Maybe there’s something about it that gives us the emotional space to plumb the depths of those brave new ideas. “Heaven” conjures this musically as well as lyrically, with a tense two-chord shuffle, close, muffled production, and Betty Who’s guest turn evoking a better angel from the future, reassuring us, beckoning us towards the light. If I’d heard it at 20, or earlier, it would have destroyed me; it might even have accelerated my own journey.

Sivan sings about “counting to 15”, the age at which he came out to his family. There’s something that invariably surprises straight people, when I’ve tried to explain it to them, but will come as no surprise at all to anyone else, and it is this: coming out never stops. Every new environment presents a decision to make and a challenge to face; and while it gets easier (and can often be an incredibly liberating experience), it’s never a formality. The subtler aspect to this is that there is no end-point to coming out to yourself, either. Accepting yourself as a gay person is just the beginning; there follows years and years of figuring out what that means. And I think this lies at the heart of delayed queer adolescence. These are questions of identity that are near-impossible to figure out alone, and many of us aren’t surrounded by other people with the same questions until much later – either due to geography, or opportunity, or not realising how badly we need to be, or maybe all of the above. And so “counting to 15” (or however old we are when we get there) is a countdown to the real start of our lives, rather than to any sort of conclusion.

***

TALK ME DOWN

“You know that I can’t trust myself with my 3 a.m. shadow.”

Queer mental health remains poorly understood and inadequately talked about, both in the mainstream press and in medical circles. Working as a doctor, I’ve witnessed the stigma towards LGBTQ+ patients from other medical professionals – rarely overtly hostile, but often casual, unthinking and pernicious. The mental health charity Mind believe that 42% of gay men, 70% of lesbians and 80% of transgender people experience mental illness; the statistics for gay men are almost certainly an underrepresentation, as men in general are less likely to report symptoms.

Early on in his powerful book “Straight Jacket: Overcoming Society’s Legacy of Gay Shame”, the journalist Matthew Todd runs through an harrowing litany of case studies of young gay people who have lost their lives to suicide, violence and addiction. He then explores the factors behind this, both intrinsic and extrinsic to the gay community, and hones in particularly on the near-universal gay experience of shame (in its many forms) during our formative childhood and adolescent years as a key determinant of depression, anxiety, poor body image, low self-worth, and harmful patterns of behaviour.

On the gorgeous, shimmering ballad “Talk Me Down”, Blue Neighbourhood’s emotional centre of gravity, Sivan sings (possibly from a friend or partner’s perspective) about dark thoughts, struggling for self-acceptance, and, implicitly, ideas of suicide. The accompanying video is high melodrama, but then, so is coming to terms with your sexuality. “I know I like to draw the line when it starts to get too real / but the less time that I spend with you, the less you need to heal” cuts to the heart of the conundrum most young gay people face – desire, and a need to be open and liberated, versus deeply-ingrained feelings of guilt, fear and shame. In his book, Todd argues that these are socially determined but can be overcome, but it’s hardly surprising that it takes a long time to get there – and hence, “normal” emotional development is a protracted experience.

***

YOUTH

“What if we’re speeding through red lights into paradise?”

It’s easy to forget that there are very few conventional pop songs on Blue Neighbourhood. “Youth” (and “Wild”) are probably the closest, but while it might be tempting to read “Youth” purely as a love song, I think its real core lies in escapism, another trope prevalent among (although, clearly, not unique to) young gay people. The imagery is wild and fantastical – “trippin’ on skies, sippin’ waterfalls” – and I distinctly remember writing similar (albeit much worse) songs at 15 or 16, cosmic love songs to no one in particular about things I knew nothing about.

Todd’s “Straight Jacket” has an interesting chapter on how he believes escapism informs archetypal LGBTQ+ tastes in pop, musicals, science fiction, horror and drag. I don’t always agree with the specifics, as I think we’re a broader church than he implies. But it’s hard to argue with the queer impulse for escape, particularly in our years of self-discovery, into spheres where our possibilities are limitless, our own selves freer and more confident, and our fears diminished. It’s maybe a symptom of that delayed development, of more years spent in limbo.  When I listen to “Youth”, it gives me a clean hit of that feeling, particularly in the bridge, with “the lights start flashing like a photobooth” simulated by pulsing, strobe-light synths.

***

MY, MY, MY!

“Let’s stop running from love.”

Bloom, Sivan’s second album, finds him confident, assured and in love. It’s a big step, though not a quantum leap, from much of Blue Neighbourhood, and I’m interested in the in-between.  “Running from love” perhaps gives a little away. It’s hard for us to know how to approach dating, love and sex. Certainly, queer people might feel unconfined by traditional heteronormative conventions or ideals, but equally many of us crave what our straight friends and families have. (It’s important to note that, of course, it’s not one or the other.) I think “running from love” speaks to a queer (and perhaps more universal) anxiety – after what feels like forever waiting for opportunities that feel tantalisingly out of reach, embracing a singular, tangible thing at the expense of all other potential things is terrifying.

Still, this is a dizzy, ecstatic, seductive love song.  The expression “my, my, my” can seem trite in a pop song, but Sivan sells it as breathless disbelief.  Some things are hard-earned.

***

ANIMAL

“No angels could beckon me back.”

And so we come full circle. The religious imagery is no coincidence; on Bloom’s stunning closer, the gorgeous, hazy reverie of “Animal”, we understand the heaven the Troye Sivan managed to reach.

It takes some of us a long time to get there, and the destination is different for all of us. I’m currently reading Michael Cunningham’s classic queer novel “A Home at the End of the World”, in which the character of Jonathan, at 27, tries to navigate the differences between the sort of settled, faintly bleak domesticity of the kind his parents have lived (“the fluorescent aisles of a supermarket at two in the afternoon”) and the often lonely, unfulfilling search for a different kind of home and family in the city (gay literature is fascinatingly fixated on homes and families, albeit often unconventional ones). It resonates with me. As queer people, the usual rules don’t have to apply – the expectations of one milestone and then the next, the pragmatic retreat back into suburbia at 30 – and that presents a different set of challenges.

I believe it’s a double-edged sword. Queer adolescence might be delayed because of our differences in the world, but equally, we are different because of that delayed development.  It informs the way we experience life. Beautiful art is created because of those differences; hell, we might even be lucky enough to create some ourselves. And so, way beyond 15, most of us are still counting, still trying to understand, still discovering ourselves and each other, searching for logical families and people to grow with. No angels could beckon us back.

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: What Are Your Favorite Musical Cues in Anime?

  Hello everyone, and welcome back to Why It Works. Sometime last week, while scanning through recent anime news, I learned that the soundtrack for Cowboy Bebop, along with several other classic anime, had just popped up on streaming music services. If you’ve seen Cowboy Bebop, I’m sure you’re aware of the power of its music — but for those who haven’t, you should know that the show’s soundtrack is an incredible achievement, and easily as impressive as its writing or animation. 

    The soundtrack for Cowboy Bebop was written by Yoko Kanno, a brilliant artist and composer who actually assembled a band known as “The Seatbelts,” purely to record this particular show’s music. Ranging from jazz to funk to country and far beyond, I think it’s fair to say that Cowboy Bebop simply would not be the phenomenon it is without Kanno’s musical support. Every scene of Cowboy Bebop is elevated by its soundtrack, from the big band blitz of the show’s opening, "Tank!," to the moody horns of its concluding "The Real Folk Blues," to the countless uses of music both big and small throughout the series. Would "Ballad of Fallen Angels" strike as painfully without its somber use of ���Green Bird?” Would "Waltz for Venus" work without the tender, fragile melody of its signature music box?

  A good musical cue — the term for when a song begins to play or is "cued" up — can do more than just set the tone for a scene. It can lead a story through a major narrative shift, close the distance between audience and action, or serve as a pure emotional articulation of the drama on-screen, lingering in your mind long after the action has passed. Great musical direction can elevate narrative drama into an emotionally tangible experience, and most of our favorite shows would feel empty without the music shifting, directing, and amplifying our response to the action. But a great example is generally more useful than a rambling explanation, so without further ado, here are some of my absolute favorite musical cues in anime!

    First off, if I had to pick just one musical cue from Cowboy Bebop, it’d actually be a different "Ballad of Fallen Angels" song — “Rain,” which plays as Spike approaches his confrontation with former partner Vicious. Renowned as one of the show’s very best episodes, "Ballad of Fallen Angels" has to work extremely efficiently to set up its final battle; the episode compresses reflections on Spike’s past and a full bounty investigation by Faye into its first two-thirds, meaning it has little time to reset its mood for the melancholy, nostalgic final act. Fortunately, the opening organ keys of “Rain,” combined with the violet hues of the church, instantly transport the audience into Spike’s somber headspace. Simultaneously a nostalgic reverie and a funeral march, "Rain" gracefully leads the audience into the mood of the "Fallen Angels" finale, and the episode would be far less memorable without it.

  Shinichiro Watanabe is one of the most impressive directors when it comes to integrating music into his productions, but there are other directors who have an equally sharp ear for music and a similar understanding of its importance in drama. Masaaki Yuasa, for one, always manages to integrate music into his shows in a compelling, emotionally impactful way. All of his shows use music in a variety of interesting ways, but I think my favorite example is the diegetic Christmas song that one of Ping Pong’s stars, Wenge Kong, sings at karaoke.

    After half a season of fruitlessly trying to integrate into his new Japanese team, the Chinese-born Kong only finds peace and companionship when his mother comes to visit. Through the process of making traditional dumplings, he bonds with his new teammates, and at last finds a source of confidence and joy apart from his victories in ping pong. That joy, along with his still-present longing for his home, is elevated into epic theater through his karaoke song, as the show pans over a medley of its stars, all bearing the loneliness of the holidays in their own way. It’s a transcendent moment, and another shining example of the power of song to elevate narrative drama.

  Musical cues can do more than just set or elevate the tone of a scene, though — they can actually contribute to the narrative directly, either through discordant musical contrast, repeated musical motifs, or songs that shift from one form to another in order to illustrate the changing tides of a story. So it goes for the Monogatari franchise, where each new arc focuses on a different character, with a different opening song used to establish both that character's personality and the narrative they’ll be experiencing. In Monogatari’s first season, the introduction of Nadeko Sengoku is accompanied by “Renai Circulation” — an upbeat, lighthearted song about Nadeko’s crush, accompanied by goofy images of her prancing around, waving hello, and halfheartedly trying to study.

    "Renai Circulation" is a fun song in its own right, but it actually gains far more significance in retrospect, after Nadeko’s second arc is introduced with the new “Mousou Express.” Leaning on ominous piano keys and featuring actress Kana Hanazawa singing in a menacing whisper, "Mousou Express" inverts both the melodic tone and visual imagery of "Renai Circulation," viscerally implying Nadeko’s two-faced nature and selfish desires. It’s one of the few examples I’ve seen of a character arc literally illustrated through music, and also just a really great pair of songs.

  Finally, my own all-time favorite musical cue in anime comes from, unsurprisingly, my all-time favorite anime: Neon Genesis Evangelion. Specifically, the concluding film End of Evangelion, which turns the series’ slow-building exploration of isolation and self-loathing into a cathartic scream of “I am here.” And yet, when that scream erupts, it’s through the almost tender descending keys of “Komm, süsser Tod” (German for "Come, Sweet Death"). Set against a scene of intimate violence between the show’s principal pilots, "Komm, süsser Tod" acts as a stark counterpoint to the on-screen chaos, like a lullaby set against the end of the world.

    The song encapsulates the feeling of transcendent surrender to the infinity that characterizes End of Evangelion’s last act, while its lyrics speak to the regrets of its cast, who only wish they could spend these moments with the people they love. Annihilation, nostalgia, loneliness, belonging, and rebirth, all at once, all captured in song — through "Komm, süsser Tod," End of Evangelion reaches a peak of emotional catharsis I have never seen repeated.

  Those are my own favorite musical cues in anime, but there are countless more shows that are elevated through their thoughtful use of song. I hope you’ve enjoyed this exploration of music’s power, and please let me know all your own favorite musical cues in the comments!

      Nick Creamer has been writing about cartoons for too many years now and is always ready to cry about Madoka. You can find more of his work at his blog Wrong Every Time, or follow him on Twitter.

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[dailyaudiobible]

12/19/2018 DAB Transcript

Zephaniah 1:1-3:20, Revelation 10:1-11, Psalms 138:1-8, Proverbs 30:11-14

Today is the 19th day of December. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is great to be here with you on hump day, and we’re inside of a week for Christmas now. So, my son, Ezekiel, he's starting to count down the days, probably your kids are too. And I don’t know if its busy around your neck of the woods but it's definitely busy around ours. So, having this rhythm, this space, this sacred space that we create each day together around this global campfire for the Scriptures to be poured into our lives is an anchor. So, let's get to that. So, it's no surprise that we we've been moving rapidly through the minor prophets in the Old Testament and previous to that we had moved rapidly through a number of letters in the New Testament. So, we've been encountering new books of the Bible regularly as the end of the year approaches. Today is no different. Today we'll read another short but complete prophetic book. And this is the ninth of the minor prophets the book of Zephaniah.

Introduction to the book of Zephaniah:

Zephaniah, as with so many of the other minor prophets, we know very little about who Zephaniah was. The only substantial information we have is found in the first verse of the book, which reads the Lord gave this message to Zephaniah when Josiah son of Amon was king of Judah. Zephaniah was the son of Koshy, son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah. So, I mean, we could go, well that’s all I really need to know about Zephaniah other than the fact that whatever it was that he wrote down ended up in the Bible. So, I know what I need to know. But what’s interesting about the way this description of Zephaniah is given is that four generations are listed. Usually in the Bible if you're trying to identify a person they will be identified by their father and maybe the grandfather, but in this case,  we’re going back for four generations. And even though it's not certain, this is might be because Zephaniah was a descendent of the good and reforming King, Hezekiah, which would explain Zephaniah’s awareness of the world surrounding him. And we'll see that he's aware as we read the book. And this would also of likely lend credibility to his prophetic work. Like if he was a direct descendent of the good King Hezekiah not only would it have given his voice some standing in the culture it would've also given credibility to the prophecy. So, Zephaniah's name means God has hidden and he states that his message was given during the reign of Josiah. So, this would place him in the early to mid-600s B.C. and make him a contemporary with other prophets like Jeremiah. And, so, many scholars believe that Zephaniah was familiar with the writings of prophets like Isaiah because of the similarities in language and tone. Another thing that’s unique is that a lot of the works of prophecy, whether major or longer works of prophecy or the minor prophets, they’re specifically targeted to a specific group of people, but Zephaniah actually concerns his prophetic work basically with the judgment of the known world, and that included Judah. And according to Zephaniah, this judgment of evil was eminent. And, so, to that end the day of the Lord is a central theme throughout Zephaniah. And with the day of the Lord in view Zephaniah encourages his readers towards repentance before it's too late. In fact, he says as much, “seek the Lord all who are humble and follow his commands. Seek to do what is right and to live humbly, perhaps even yet the Lord will protect you, protect you from His anger on that day of destruction.” So, the day of the Lord and, I mean, we’re kind of in some of this territory in the book of Revelation as well. This can evoke ominous imagery of terrible devastation and it can certainly give fear and dread, but we have to remember that it was evil that God wanted to eradicate, it wasn't people, it was evil, it was deception. But those who were unwilling to rid themselves of evil would indeed be swept away no matter or where they were from according to Zephaniah. But to those who would move through this great day of the Lord would move through with a specific posture and they would survive and, quoting Zephaniah, “those who are left will be the lowly and humble, for it is they who trust in the name of the Lord.” And, as is typical as in the prophetic works, the conclusion of judgment then brings the heralding of a new and pure beginning and Zephaniah is no different, although judgment is foretold and its widespread judgment, so also is restoration. According to Zephaniah, “the Lord will remove His hand of judgment and will disperse the armies of your enemy and the Lord himself, the King of Israel, will live among you, and at last your troubles will be over and you will never again fear disaster.” So, we have certainly end in a tremendously encouraging place. So, with all of this being said, let's read the book of Zephaniah. We’re reading from the new living translation this week. Zephaniah 1:1 through 3:20.

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for your word, we thank you for all that you speak to us each day through your word and the way that your word really does go deep within us and begin to subtly and slowly but methodically and surely change our perspective on nearly everything. And, so, we really have reached a point in the year that we can look back to the beginning of this year and realize we’re not the same person we were. It's not that everything about us has changed, it's not that we are struggle free, it’s not that we still don’t have challenges, and that we still don't have to face hardships, but the way that we're approaching things is being transformed, and we can look back through this period of time where we've invested every single day into your word and we can see that the process of sanctification is in fact real,  it really is happening within us. You truly are making us holy, you truly are changing the way that we see and do everything. And, yes, we acknowledge we have so far to go. But father, we worship you for how far you have brought us. Thank you. We know that this will continue as we continue to apply your word into our lives. So, come Holy Spirit, lead us forward, lead us into all truth, lead us on the narrow path that leads to life, we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, its the website, its where you find out what's going on around here.

And, you know, how many more ways are there to say it's Christmas time around here. But the Daily Audio Bible family Christmas is coming up, hopefully tomorrow. And, so, we have this annual Christmas party that we share together and that will be fun. It will just show up as an extra episode. And, so excited about that and that you are probably well...I don't know…everybody has their own traditions. And even in the United States we have our own traditions about Christmas. So, traditions are different all over the world but the they might include special church, you know, presentations, plays, musicals, these kinds of things. That usually happens over the next few days and into the weekend and then obviously Monday’s gonna be Christmas eve and I just can't…it's here. Like…I so deeply remember, like it was yesterday, this point in the year last year and it's hard to believe a year has gone by and here we are about to, you know, look into Christmas and then into the eyes of a brand-new, sparkly, shiny new year. So, let’s drink it in and enjoy it for all that it brings to us because it really is a unique time of year. Truly, we the way that we feel during this time of year and believe it or not, that's not always a positive thing. So, for some people it's a deep time of reflection and remembrance. It’s not necessarily even a happy time, but what comes up around this time, no matter what's coming up inside of us, it kind of only comes up this way, this time of year. So, whatever is coming up, whether feelings of home, whether feelings of loneliness, whether feeling grief for someone that you've lost, or whether feeling overjoyed that there will be a reuniting of your family, feel it is the point, like, rather than going one set of feelings is a good and these other experiences need to be suppressed. We suppress them all the time. And then something happens around this time of year and things begin to come up and their invitation to invite Jesus, this Christmas child, into these situations, allowing Him to speak into them, allowing Him to grieve with us allowing Him to heal broken places, allowing Him to wide eyed laugh and rejoice with us, and maybe even lead us into a place of peace that we thought that we wouldn't be able to experience all because we just started paying attention that He is near. So, embrace that as we move into these next couple of days.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. If you're using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if the mail is your preference, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi everybody, this is Tony the Tanker, long time no hear. Just want to say thank you to everybody who prayed for me in my situation. Unfortunately, I’m now divorced. So, that turned into a different thing. But I’m also studying theology after a bachelor’s degree online and I’m really loving that. But the main reason I phoned up today is because I heard Diana Olive Brown’s prayer request from the 12th of December and, Diane I am crying for you. I love you so much. You’re such a sweetheart. So, Lord just please, I pray shalom, shalom for my Diane Olive Brown. She is a sweetheart and Lord please remind her that nothing is missing and that nothing is broken. So, Lord, please be with her. So, Ms. Diane Olive Brown you have my love, you have my admiration, you are the sweetest person out of all the DABbers and we are all praying for you __ . God bless you and take care now. Bye-bye.

You gave us Your word to clearly reveal to us our own powerlessness and then You turned around and gave us Your own dear son to clearly reveal to us Your own magnanimousness help me to truly internalize the message that these two wonderful gifts reveal first that You know I would never be able to transcend my own fragility unless You provide the catalyst through which I could heal secondly that all I had to do at least for my part was to acknowledge and confess my condition and believe in Jesus Your son with all my heart believing that he truly is Your son and has all power to save not only in this life but also beyond the grave it sounds so simple so easy to do but I can definitely confess that that definitely is not true every day is a struggle every step of the way cause there is a part of me that always wants to do things my own way to work out my own problems with the strength of my own hands to draw my own lines of demarcation and to make my own stand but after repeating me trying and failing over and over again I’m happy to confess that I’ve reached my wits end and I’m very thankful Father for the catalyst of Your son and for showing me how easily this battle can’t truly be one

Blindtony1016@gmail.com. I’d like to give a shout out to Slave of Jesus, haven’t heard from you lately brother. It’d be nice to hear your voice again. And also, Victoria Soldier, shout out to you. Hope all is well. Know you both are in my prayers every day. And once again, Brian and the Hardin family, thank you for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow keep it flowin’ ya’ll. All right, bye bye.

Hi, this is Victoria soldier just calling tonight to pray for some of the DABbers. I want to pray for Marla, he has a niece who has breast cancer, she’s from Albuquerque. I want to pray for her and her niece and her 12-year-old daughter. And I want to pray for Angela, she’s from California and she was having some challenges. I want to pray for Roy from Vancouver Washington. I want to pray for Sharon and her daughter. I want to pray for Stacy from Washington __  in agony. I want to pray for Denise from Washington and she was saying that her marriage is falling apart. And I wanted to pray for Lee from New Jersey, and he was praying for Dr. John. And I just want to have a prayer for Sharon who’s lost her daughter. And I want to pray for those who are going through with their children who’s going through depression and anxiety. I want to pray for those people because God wants to do a miracle in their life and I just want to see God work. Precious Father, I just praise You today. Lord, You are so marvelous. You are so wonderful. Lord, You never leave us nor forsake us. Lord, my sister is having those that are going to breast cancer, Marla from Albuquerque, her niece with the breast cancer. I want to choose…Lord You’re a God who never lost a case. You can stretch out Your hands Lord and You can save or You can just speak the word. You’re a God that can do anything but fail. Lord, I ask You to touch her today Lord. You touch her and You heal that cancer Lord in the name of Jesus…

Hi, my name is Kathy I’m calling from Ohio and I’m sorry, I’m nervous. I need prayer for my son. My son needs prayer. He had a psychotic break down on Monday. Today is Sunday the 16th and we’ve had a very difficult week. He’s not getting the mental health help that he needs. He’s had a history of substance abuse. He can’t hold a job. He was in the mental hospital for 10 days a couple months ago. I don’t know what his diagnosis is because of HIPAA laws. He’s an adult. He had a head injury, which probably complicates matters. We try to get him help and when he says he’s ready to go to the hospital either he’s taken to a hospital that keeps him for 12 hours and releases him after he’s been pink slipped, or he’ll jump out of the car or try to jump out and pound on the windows to try to escape. So, he seems to want help at times but then when it comes down to it he’s not really getting the help that he needs. So, his dad and I are divorced after a long-term marriage and we do work together to try to get him some help. He does have a lot of family that he hasn’t seen. He separated himself from them for a couple of years and we all pray and try to talk to him and well…the extended family doesn’t talk to him because he’s cu himself off but now he’s again lost his phone because of the __ phone calls from the police. Nothing legal but… I’m sorry…I’m rambling…and anyway, the only diagnosis that we know that he has is ADHD and he does have medication for that but he doesn’t take it properly and anyway, he was convinced he was gonna die on Monday and was hearing voices and seeing people that weren’t there and this is just a very scary trying time for our…