Canadian veteran's best therapist has four legs, and really big ears!

A friend named Bert: A Canadian veteran living with PTSD finds hope in a donkey

CTV News Canada
Joel Haslam
CTV News Ottawa Multi-Skilled Journalist
December 27, 2022

Karen is living with PTSD. She is a veteran of the Canadian Forces, doing her best to live with a painful past.

Karen Stacey, a Canadian Forces veteran living with PTSD, enjoys a gentle stroll with her friend Bert (Joel Haslam/CTV Ottawa)

Karen Stacey swings wide a creaky, stainless steel gate, announcing her arrival.

“Good morning, Bert. Are you still sleeping?”

She’s come to see a friend; a soulmate of sorts, who’s changed her life.

“Hi, buddy,” she says with a smile.

Bert turns his head toward her, clearly recognizing his visitor.

His ears point to the sky.

“Hello, handsome,” Karen whispers.

She locks her arms around his neck and gives him a gentle peck between the eyes.

“He’s a blessing. I couldn’t have asked for a better success story than to have a donkey as my best friend.”

Karen and Bert’s friendship began at the Women Warriors Healing Garden in Blackburn Hamlet.

“It still hurts. So, finding this place and being able to let everything go is fantastic. This is 52 acres of freedom that I can wander as I want. No judgment, no stress, no pain. Just a lot of love,” she says.

Co-founded by an American military veteran, Erin Kinsey, and an Ottawa psychotherapist, Elaine Waddington Lamont, the garden is a place for veterans to heal.
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Witch of York or ministering spirit?

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 26, 2022

Doing research for the 4th book in the Ministers Of The Mystery series, I began to wonder why it is so hard for some people to understand that the witchcraft trials all around the world had more to do with hatred and lying about others than it had anything to do with what some consider to be real witches. After all, if they really had the powers they were accused of having, they would have seen it coming and escaped before anyone came looking for them.

Maybe God gave them the gifts they used? Considering while some passages are condemning "witches" other passages have no problem with them. It all comes down to what they used their gifts for. Some were using them for evil, hateful reasons. Others used them to help other people. God must have given them their gifts but they decided of their own free will to turn against the purposes the gifts were intended for.

There seems to be a lot of confusion about what some call a Christian Witch and what a ministering spirit is. Is the word "witch" just a label some people use to cover anyone with supernatural abilities because it makes sense to them? Or, is it more a matter of blending different beliefs together?

Some Christians slam others saying they are both Christians and witches. They say that there are biblical passages saying witchcraft is a sin, yet other scriptures point to those with supernatural abilities as being treasured.

Prophecy is a gift--

"For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Peter 1:21You can find more on Christianity Today.

Why would anyone think that God stopped doing that? Why would anyone think that God stopped using people to deliver miracles? Why would anyone think He stopped putting gifts of the spirit into our souls?

Mother Shipton Witch of York 1488 – 1561

"In reference to her existence, in 1537 Yorkshire, while Catholic people were rebelling against the dissolution of Catholic monasteries, Henry VIII wrote a letter to the Duke of Norfolk where he refers to a "witch of York". It is believed that this letter is the earliest reference to the real Mother Shipton who would have been prophesying about Henry VIII at this time. In 1666 Samuel Pepys recorded in his diaries that, whilst surveying the damage to London caused by the 1666 Great Fire in the company of the Royal family, he heard them discuss Mother Shipton's prophecy of the event."

Yet in Britain, this was also happening,
Witches in Britain

"Witchcraft was not made a capital offence in Britain until 1563 although it was deemed heresy and was denounced as such by Pope Innocent VIII in 1484. From 1484 until around 1750 some 200,000 witches were tortured, burnt, or hanged in Western Europe.

Most supposed witches were usually old women, and invariably poor. Any who were unfortunate enough to be ‘crone-like’, snaggle-toothed, sunken cheeked and having a hairy lip were assumed to possess the ‘Evil Eye’! If they also had a cat this was taken a proof, as witches always had a ‘familiar’, the cat being the most common."

How many times has someone shown up when you needed them, and then vanished? If you survived most of the causes of #PTSD, that stranger was a Godsend. They come when you least expect to need them. Sometimes they make the difference between you dying or surviving.

I know I keep the memory of the people that came to help me during most of the things I survived and those that helped me heal afterward. I didn't know a thing about any of them other than they put me and what I needed ahead of themselves, even if it was just for a few minutes.

I didn't know how they voted, or if they were Christian or witch, and I didn't care.  They were doing something good to help a stranger.

A lot of the accused innocents were also helping other people. Many of them used folk remedies, handed down from generation to generation. They brewed potions to cure. People wanted what they did for them in their time of need, but soon they turned against them because they were told the accused were evil, even though they were doing good things.

In the end, we should judge others not by what is said about them but by what they do with the gifts they have. If they do "good" then I consider them ministering spirits and the world is a better place because they are in it.

The Scribe Of Salem has managed to be added to Harvard books. Shocker!

A civilian message to military members

Military suicides have become slightly less common, but are still a 'massive problem' American Homefront Project

By Steve Walsh
Published December 11, 2022

Though military suicide has been a problem for decades, critics say the Pentagon hasn’t come to terms with the fact that anyone can potentially be at risk.

More than 500 military personnel die by suicide each year, though the number dropped slightly last year. This summer a Pentagon Committee visited bases around the world including Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, Fort Campbell in Kentucky, Naval Air Station North Island in California, Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, the North Carolina National Guard, and Camp Humphreys in South Korea. The panel also visited three bases in Alaska, where there have been several suicides.

Despite the scrutiny, another four suicides took place in November at the Navy’s Regional Maintenance Center in Norfolk, Virginia. Earlier in the year, in nearby Newport News, seven suicides were reported on the USS George Washington.

After visiting the ship, Master Chief Russell Smith told Congress in May that he once struggled with suicidal thoughts. He also recounted a story of a colleague - a Navy SEAL - who died by suicide.

“Suicide is a massive problem for us, because it’s the one thing we can prevent absolutely by getting inside people’s headspace and connecting to them,” Smith said.
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Now that you read that, read this.

I never served, but I survived. I never fought in a war, but I fought battles to heal. I've listened to veterans for 4 decades but one conversation still sticks out in my mind.

A veteran, tough as they come, took offense when he asked me about my service. I told him I didn't serve. He started shouting at me about how I had no clue what it was like for him. I told him he was right. Then I listed the things I survived, all ten of them. I asked him if he had a clue what any of that was like for me. He said he didn't. Then I asked him if he could understand what all of that did to me. He was silent for a while, and I heard him sniffle. He said he did.

I can't understand what WWII did to my uncles, or Korea did to my Dad, or Vietnam to my husband. I can understand what surviving did to them because I survived what I did.

If you can't understand how surviving anything changes you, then do some basic research on all the others that end up fighting a battle with the demon PTSD, and know, you are not alone. You are human and survived something most people will never know. Don't expect them to understand. Don't dismiss them when they may be able to help you, even though you did not have the same experience cause it.

National Center for PTSD

We are the world's leading research and educational center of excellence on PTSD and traumatic stress.

PTSD is a mental health problem that some people develop after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening or traumatic event. If symptoms last more than a few months, it may be PTSD. The good news is that there are effective treatments.

Look over on the right for the dropdown menu. Read the lists of others that also fight their battles with PTSD. Then understand something. Most of the time, PTSD strikes after just one exposure. How many did you go through? 

Once you've learned more about #PTSD, consider something else. If you were willing to die to save someone else, are you willing to heal to save others too? If you share your healing with others, they will find the hope they can heal too and they are not alone. They will pass it on. Think of all the lives you'll be able to save by sharing your struggles with us, and we can do the same for those who serve this country. We may not all understand the cause but we can all speak the language of healing! Would be a great way to start the New Year!

"Loving kindness, warm hearts, and the stretched-out hand of tolerance"

Wounded Times

Kathie Costos

December 25, 2022

If Christmas is a rough time of year for you, I try to remember what the day is supposed to be all about and take comfort as we celebrate a gift given with love to all mankind. Some passed it off as nothing more than a fable. To others, it is a pagan holiday considering the traditions we have to this day, originated with them. To others, it is about trying to make people happy with the gifts we buy. Yet for others, it is a day to remember those with empty stockings, no family, no friends, and no one to give them a gift.

I know Christ was not born on this day, but I believe He was born for the reasons we were told He came. He was born as most people lived in simple shelters with very few comforts. Some wonder why the Son of God would be subject to such hardships but they forget those were the people He came to comfort and heal. To let them know that love and miracles were not reserved for only the wealthy. That the true gifts we give are how we treat people all year round.

Today, if you are not celebrating it with family or friends, many more of you are doing the same thing. We won't see it in commercials or movies because people want the warm, fuzzy feeling of seeing happy people surrounded by family. I take great comfort when I see reports of people filling boxes for Toys For Tots, putting money into the Salvation Army kettles, or donating to food banks. I take comfort in seeing acts of love all year round because that is as it should be.

One of my favorite Christmas movies is The Bishop's Wife. At the end of the movie is the message I try to hang onto all year round, as it should be. I wish you a day of treasured memories and a new year filled with witnessing random acts of kindness so that you will know, that Jesus came, not just for a day, but forever.

Bishop's Wife - Christmas Sermon

Tonight I want to tell you the story of an empty stocking. Once upon a midnight clear, there was a child's cry. A blazing star hung over a stable and wise men came with birthday gifts. We haven't forgotten that night down the centuries; we celebrate it with stars on Christmas trees, the sound of bells, and with gifts. But especially with gifts.
You give me a book; I give you a tie. Aunt Martha has always wanted an orange squeezer and Uncle Henry could do with a new pipe. We forget nobody, adult or child. All the stockings are filled... all that is, except one. And we have even forgotten to hang it up.
The stocking for the child born in a manger. It's his birthday we are celebrating. Don't ever let us forget that. Let us ask ourselves what he would wish for most... and then let each put in his share. Loving kindness, warm hearts, and the stretched-out hand of tolerance. All the shining gifts that make peace on earth.

PTSD in Minnesota's Deputy worthy of death benefit

Appeals court rules spouses of officers who die by suicide are entitled to death benefit

KSTP
Eric Chaloux
Updated: December 21, 2022

“They see things regularly that if we saw one of those things in our life time, we’d be affected by it for the rest of our lives,” Cindy Lannon said.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals found that a surviving spouse of a public safety officer who dies by suicide is “entitled to the death benefit for survivors of officers ‘killed in the line of duty’ if the officers death resulted from post-traumatic stress disorder from the job”, according to the court’s opinion.

For more than 30 years, Jerry Lannon protected and served the community, including since 1999, as a Deputy Sheriff in Washington County.

“Jerry always loved his job, he loved going to work, in the last few months of his life, it completely turned, and he was dreading going to work,” said Cindy Lannon, Deputy Lannon’s wife.

58-year-old Deputy Lannon died by suicide in November 2018.
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