Michael Hindes

Living With Side Effects

I went on antibiotics this past weekend for an ear infection.  I seem to get the same infection every year at this time.  A friend, who’s a PA, visited and prescribed some antibiotics.  It appears to be helping, but yuck…

My stomach is really funky – nausea ;(

Of course that’s part of taking medications, right?  All medicines have side effects.  I once got a script for sinus headaches that listed “headaches” as a side effect, wth?

The pills they advertise on TV are loaded with side effects.  Rather than just ignoring or muting, actually listen to one of them next time– its unbelievable.

There’s a fat blocker pill that lowers cholesterol but causes “anal leaking” – I’m pretty sure I’d rather be fat, just saying.  That side effect isn’t worth the benefit.

One of my closest friends is battling cancer right now.  He’s on chemo twice a month - it’s decreasing the size of his tumor and lessening the cancer markers.  Which is great news!  But he’s nauseated all of the time and has lost most of his hair.  He told me the other day over the phone that he looked like Gollum from Lord of the Rings.  But if he’s winning, the side effects are definitely worth it.

Pretty much everything has side effects.  And a not just medication, anything beneficial usually has some sort of one off challenge or struggle.

Maturity requires us to stop being selfish and blaming others

Loving requires us to put others’ needs ahead of your own

Physical Health requires restraint and discipline

Building requires plans, preparation, implementation, and work

Budgeting requires impulse control

Living requires dying

Leading requires following

Service requires serving

You get the point, right?  Everything has a side effect - a price of admission so to speak.

The question is, “are we willing to live with the side effects required to improve our health”?

Dreams…

God still speaks to His people through dreams.

Acts 2:17 quotes Joel 2:28 (NKJV) “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.”

I believe that day is today.  I believe we are in a prophetic day.  I believe we are His prophetic people.  I believe He is speaking to us…

Amos 3:7 (Message) “The fact is, God, the Master, does nothing without first telling his prophets the whole story.”

And much to my dismay, it is the truth, visions are mostly for the young and dreams are mostly for the not.  I used to have open visions all the time, but not so much any more.

God has always used vivid dreams to prepare me for, encourage me about, even warned me regarding my future.  Every major ministry move Kathy and I have made has been preceded by a very descriptive dream.

Scientists tell us we dream all the time; in fact we have several dreams per night.  Because they are so commonplace, we are often dismissive of them.  Yes, not every dream is significant, but many that we may easily brush off are.  Remember, it is just like God to make that, which is common, holy.

I’m hearing from many recently who are having what they believe to be significant prophetic dreams.  But how do we differentiate between that which is significant and that which maybe caused by eating pizza too late?

If it wakes you up

If it continues in your consciousness after you’re awake

If you dream the same dream repeatedly

If it was vivid and in color

If you sense it significant

Then it probably isn’t just a pizza dream, but something meaningful.

I have two close friends that have incredible talents and great outside resources for interpreting dreams – Gary McGinnis and Mike Paschall.  They could be helpful getting to the meaning of your dreams.

Also, each month The Gathering will be taking one Monday night off from the Sidebar 120 and holding a topic based small group.  January 30^th the small group will be on Prophetic Dream Interpretation, taught by Gary McGinnis.  Please check our website for time and location.

        

In the meantime keep dreaming…

20 Years

This was one my favorite blog posts from 2011, it was written by Tina Essmaker.  Tina and Ryan are part of our spiritual family back in Michigan.  I’ll warn you it’s real, honest, and a tear jerker.  I pray it speaks to the deepest part of you about love and family…

Today marks 20 years without Mom.

I remember the day she left, the day I stood
on our porch 
in a pink nightshirt,
tears rolling down, down, down into
a small circle on the fabric below my chin.

I remember waking up that morning with a
feeling of dread, 
I remember the way Dad’s
face looked and the fear
 and uncertainty
that formed into the pit in my stomach.

I remember waiting for the ambulance on
the front steps
 of our mobile home,
I remember the 
long, drawn out breaths that
filled my lungs, then left.

I remember Mom and Dad driving away in the
ambulance
 without me, without my brother.
I remember waiting
 with a hope that makes
the heart sick.

And I don’t want to,
 but I remember when

he came back without her.

I don’t remember:

how I was told.

the days following.

feeling anything.
the faces, both familiar and strange, offering condolences.
I couldn’t remember her favorite color to pick an
 outfit
for the showing so my aunt suggested blue.

I don’t remember how I was able to cry so much in the

quiet hours of the night without waking my dad; maybe
he couldn’t hear because he was crying too.

I don’t remember how time

kept going, how people kept living.

I don’t remember burying the 
anger so deep
that I couldn’t
 feel it or find it, and through

the years I forgot where I put it. After a while,
I didn’t remember
 how to be a good daughter,
I didn’t remember how to care.

I don’t remember laughing with Mom about cute
boys,
 crying on her shoulder after my first break-up,
or asking 
her for advice after a fight with a friend,
so I drank until I
 couldn’t stand up, until I didn’t
remember that I didn’t 
remember.

I don’t remember Mom being there to soothe my
growing
 pains, to comfort me, to guide me gently
through the hard
 and awkward life of a teenager
because I guided myself.

I don’t remember the feelings of inadequacy, the
jealousy 
of friend’s moms who were so endearing
because I chose
 to forget those glaring reminders
of my motherless years.

I don’t remember Mom being there when I graduated
from 
her alma mater, I don’t recall her proud smile,
the sound of 
her hands clapping when my name was called.

I don’t remember her affirming words and the confidence

they instilled in me when I got my first real job, when I

started college, when I began to make the difficult choices
that would shape the rest of my life.

I don’t remember her helping me as I prepared to move

out on my own, as I sorted though my belongings alone,
and 
packed my life into boxes not knowing what I’d need.

I don’t remember the words of wisdom she shared with
me
 on my wedding day when I married my best friend
just like
 she had done 33 years earlier.

Now I’m a wife, and I don’t remember being taught my

way around a kitchen, how to patch up an old shirt, or
how to keep plants alive.

I don’t remember what it feels like to be her daughter,

I don’t remember the convenience of calling her when

I’m having a bad day or need a recipe for dinner.
I don’t remember how our relationship turned to
friendship over
 the years as I grew older and left my
adolescence behind.

I don’t remember how the last 20 years passed so
quickly 
or how I grew up so fast, because some days
I still feel like 
that 10 year old girl who just lost her
mother.

Here’s more of Ryan and Tina’s creative work - TGD