Oh what a future when Simba finally discovered it.

As you will recall when I last finished off about the Lion king story, Simba was lost in no mans land, a broken wreck, paralysed by fear, emotionly drained and allowing a lie to destroy his potential and the future of the Lion kingdom he should have vbeeninspiring and leading. Once Simba learned the truth that his future had been taken from him due to a lie and that he was destined to achieve great things if he only believed and acted on that belief, his whole mind set started to change and he found the inner strength to start to stand tall and step out out in faith to fulfil his destiny because the jnowledge of the truth had set him free from rejection land and self pity land.

There is only one who comes to steal, kill and destroy us if we allow him to, all of his tactics are built on lies and when we discover the truths found in God’s word and believe them, they have the power to set us free. As we plavce our hope and trust in God, He causes us to rise on wings like eagles, to run and not grow weary and to walk and not be faint. Simba armed with the knowledge of the truth and starting to believe it, had a decision to make, either stay in the land of rejection and self pity or step out into the unknown armed with the truth and be the lion he was destined to be, knowing that he would have to face his old vuncle Scar Face, a battle to the death loomed ahead for Simba. As you step out in to the unknown armed with the truth, you to will have to look those lies that have been sow in your life in the face and speak the truth of Gods word into each of them, so as to see them shattered and smashed. We are only victorious as we sare to believe and proclaim and live out the truths contained within Gods word.

More to come in this series, chat again soon.

Celebrating the beginnings of the build with friends, staff and wonderful family (and bubbles!!!) – we are blessed to have such great support.

14^th December 2011 @ 9:42am – The piles for the property are being laid right this minute!

The first lot of soil being turned on our section – it’s all go and very exciting for the family!

9^th December 2011

Our empty section prior to work beginning on our new home.

To be or not to ;, Simba's choice!

I shared with you at length the Lion King story mainly for ? that
hadn't seen the movie & to refresh the memories for the rest of
you.
Well poor Simba sure had a bad run of events crash into his life,
blamed for causing his dad's death & the guilt that comes with
that hanging over his head, emotionally scarred, sent out of his
homeland by a family member, all hope gone supposedly, no idea of
who he was anymore & noone to confide in, in a wasteland
surrounded beyond vultures, remains of other animals! Every thing
looked pretty bleak for poor Simba
Has life dished us up a plate full with sour grapes, are we
str-'ling withthings that have sctred us, damaged us, left us
feeling vunrchablch, lost, alone, our fuuture ripped from under
our feet! If we are honest with ourselves, have we listerned to
the lie that says, this is all your fault, you caused & brought
this on yrself, you better run & hide, you can never be the
person you once dreamed of being, who God designed you to ;! On
the outside things may appear to be OK' but you have been left
feeling vunreable, unloved, future & potential gone & merely
living out an existance.
If and look at poor Simba, he was sold a complete lie at a life
changing point in his life & this so often can happen! When the
chips are down as the saying goes, Old Scar Face doesn't go easy
& lend a shoulder to leen on, no he sticks the knife in harder &
twists it around to bring as much pain as possible. This is
exactly like our advociarysatan, it says in the book of John in
the Bible, "The thiefccsatan comes but to steal, kill & destroy!
` It goes on to say & this is Jesus ws, "I have come to bring
life & bring life to the full"
I have been in this place myself & it is a horrible place to ;! I
have also spent many days & hours dwelling in selfccpity land as
Simba would of as well & it was robbing me of all that I could be
& should ;, trying to hold me captive in a land that I had
already been set free from, but had to discover that for myself.
It was Simba's choice to believe the lie, but through it all he
discovered the real truth & it set him free to be the Lion King
who he was called to be & the same can happen for you! I will
disevelop this more in the next Blog or tow!

To be or not to be, that,s what counts and the choice is ours. Part 2

There’s a great kid’s movie called; “The lion king”and if I can recap a bit of it for you,It is a story about a pride of lions and Mufasa is the heard of the pride or lion king, he has a son called samba potential heir to the pridw and there is also Scar Face, who is Simba’s uncle.

Well as the story goes, Scar Face is very jealous of Mufasa being the king of the lions and he is not at all keen to see Simba become the heir to the pride.Mufasa is a good and wise leader and is assing on his wisdom to his son. Scar Face has had enough of it all and he wants to be the king of the pride, so he sets up a trap for both Mufasa and Simba, he manabes to convince Simbva to get his dad to walk with him through a deet racine in the pride land saying thatthis would prove how worthy he was of being the heir to the oion kingdom.Simba listerned to Scar Face and then asked his dad to come with him without letting him know why as Scar Face had told him not to tell his dad. Well Aimvba and his dad started making there way through the ravine and Mufasa was not to happu about the idea, but to keep his son happu, he conuinued on, halfway through the ravine they suddenlu heard the the thundering of hoofs in the distance behind them and Mufasa knew at once what the noise was, the sound of bvuffalo on the move and they were heading into the ravine where they were and he knew that they didn’t stand a chance against a huge herd racing through such a small revine as they were in and he said to Simba se need to fun and find a section of rock to climb up onto as we will never make it to the end of the ravine before the herd reachs us,, they found a section of rock and Simba being small and lighter was avble to quickly and easily climb the rock face to a safe place before the herd reached them, Mufasa started climbing and made some ground and reached up to climb the next section just as the herd were almost upon them and as he duvg his claws into the rock face  he started to slip and he looked up and saw Scar Face just above him and he called out for his help, Scar Face smiled at him and geached down and dug his claws deep into Mufasa’s paws and the pain was so great that it made Mufasa loose his grit and he looked up at Scar Face who gave him an evil smile standing beside his son as he fell to his death, trampled by the herd of buffalo.

Scar Face turned to Simba who was in total shock and horroe at what had just happened to his dad and said, Look what you have done, you have caused this to happen, poor Simba, didn’t know what to say, no big dad there to defend him any more, he slupped out, It,s not my fault, Scar Face said, Oh yes it is and wait till all the rest of the pride of lions find out what you have done, your name and life will mean nothing, so you better run and run as far away as you can before they fing out or you will be in big trouble.

Simba was so devistasted by what had happened and he believed the woeds Scar Face had told him and so he ran and he ran until he had no more energy to run any further.When he stopped running he was lost, he had run so far that he was no longer in the pride land and he was now inwaste lands where dear animal carcasses lay every where. He was so tired after all the running that he curled upin the remains of an elephant carcasses and fell into a deep sleep.

When he finally woke up he had horrible scary looking Hyenas licking their chops and staring at him, he didn’t feel big and brave any more and he was thankful for the safety of the elephant vbones he was hiding behind, what would ever become of him, once to be the heir to the lion kingdom, now lost, alone and no future in sightv. Well the story doesn’t end there, the Hyena’s get tired of waiting around for him to come out from behind the bones, that’s after they give it a good try and scare the living day lights out of him. After a few days of being in this horrible place, he makes friends with two very unlikely characters, one is a pig called Pumba and the other is a Meerkat called Temone, they are rather taken with Simba and are very keen to find out what on earth he is doing in a place like this, Simba cannot talk about it for a while and so the two new friends  start playing with him and finally Simba tells them the story.

They tell him that it is not his fault and that Scar Face setup the whole thing and chased the herd of buffalo into the ravine on purpose in the hope of causing the death of both of them, espcially Mufasa so that he could be the king of the lions, Simba couldn’t believe this and it took a  while  for the truth to sink in, Simba was now growing into a very strong and fine looking lion. Simba’s two new friends also told him that the pride lands  were no longer the great place that they used to be when Mufasa was king, Scar Face was a mean and feared leader, happiness had gone from the pride and the  pride hoped that Simba would return one day and bring back to the pride the greatness that Mufasa inspired within each of them. This again took a while to sink into Simba’s heart and little by little the two most nlikely of characters inspired within him the will and dedire to return to the pride and face has old uncle Scar Face and take his reghtjul place as heir to his father, the lion king, Simba had to dig deep and ge remembered the wisdom his dad had given him and realized what he was called to be, certainly not a lion in hiding in an animal graceyard, he was called to be the Lion king and he had been cheated by lies and with this in his heart, he thanked his rfriends and made his way back to his old home.

As he entered the pride lands, he was noticed almost immediately and all the lions came to welcome him home and were overjoyed to see him, they warned him that Scar Face would not be at all keen to see him and his life would he in danger. He said to the prise, I have come back to take my rightful place as leader of he pride and the rest of the lions knew what this meant, Simvba would ave to face Scaf Face and there would be a fight to the death for the role.

Well Scar Face certainly was not at all happy to see Simba back again and he started throwing accusations at him, you caused your dad’s death, you ran away when the pride needed ouk you are a loser, etc, this was hard hitting stuff, but Simba knew who he was called to be and he sttod up to Scar Face and say I am called to ve the lion king and that is what I am here to take back. Scar Face laughed at him and said you will never be king of this pride or any other your name is mud, the other lions won’t accept you and if they do ou will have to fight me for the position. Ameeting was called with the rest of the lions and the question was asked, Do you want Scar Face as leader or Simba. The answer was loud and clear, we want Simba, well this made Scar Face furious and he said well you will have to fight me for the position, tomorrow ontop of the pride rock will be the seceding time, a fight to the death.

Simba faced his od uncle and foe that day on top of pride fock and he had to big very deep and hang on to everything his father had taught him as a boy and believe totally that he was called to be King of the lions and the duel was fierce and long, many scars were left on thveach of the lions, Simba remembered what his dadhad taught him and what he was called to be, he found the extra strength he needed as he dug deep within his heart and finall as the sun was about to set over the pride lands, Simba struck the winning blow to Scar Face and he drop to the ground, Simba had triumphed and championed over Scar Face, he could now take his rightful place that he was called to be and not only that, peace harmony had been restored to the pride.

I believe this is an incredibly important story and there is so mch in it, I plan to share some reflections in the next few blogs that I do around this story and the title I have given as well. To be or not to be, that is what counts and we have the choice. Much of my reflections are as a direct result of the Journey that I have been on and lessons I have learned along the way and discoverys I have made,I am still learning and you possibly may have knowledge in many of the areas that I reflect on, so please don’t think that I am trying to say I know it all, far fromit, just a fellow traveler on lifes road hoping to help another in a small way. Chat again soon.

To but or not to ;! That's what counts!

A few day's ago I attended a Christmas function for the Blind
Foundation along with a very good friend to help with signing for
me. Following the lovely meal we were chatting with others at
our table & an elderly gentleman said to me via my friend what a
positive person I was & that people like me make the world a
better place to live in! I am certainly not sharing this with you
to say, look at me, arn't I great, no way! It has taken a lot of
work & climbing mountains to get to this point in my Journey & I
am certainly not planning to go any where near self pity land.
To be or not to be is what counts the most! The supposedly small
things in life do count very much & I really didn't have a lot to
say at the function at all, but obviously enough for this man to
pick up what he did & give me the compliment. This spoke to me
heaps & I have thought about it a lot since then, what atmosphere
do we bring to ? around us! It is totally a choice of the heart
what attitude we rise with each day & bring to the world around
us. More often than not this starts with the head & can take a
little work before it travels to the heart & becomes a part of
your being. As you sow to your spirit, you will reap life & give
life to ? around you because of the spirit of Him that lives and
dwells within you!
It talks in scripture about renewing our minds & not being
conformed to the image of this world! It also says in scripture
that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love &
a sound mind!
I went through a period of many months where I would rise in the
morning & the challenge of the day seemed to big & my body was
aching & sore. Tears would well up as I said goodccbye to my
family for the day & headed out the door with a careccgiver to
face another full on day of rehabilitation work. I would say to
my family, keep believing & holding onto ? dreams, they are going
to happen, saying this very much with my head & not sure what the
future had in store for us. At times I so wanted to curl up in
my lazyccboy & wish it all away!! As I started to face up to what
I was sowing into my life, a lot of selfccpity at times &
whipping myself for allowing myself to get sick, I realised what
you sow in must come out! I should have known this, but my
circustances had changed so dramatically, it had thrown me a bit!
I choose to sow life into myself & a big part of that has been
memorising scripture verses & also positive affirmations. This
is not about the power of positive thinking, far, far greater
than that, it's about a total renewing of ones mind & when you do
reign in & harness your mind, the potential for what can be
achieved by God's grace is unlimited, you can either just make it
through life or totally excel! The choice is yr's & it starts
with the right attitude in your heart.
I plan to develop this theme further with more Blogs in the next
little while. I am learning as I travel along on this Journey &
trust my thoughts are a little bit helpful to some of you!

A couple of big day's for me, some more good gains!

Yesterday after I had done GYM in the morning I walked from
Laura Fergusson along the road that leads to our place with my
walking & Ju walking along side me! It was very cool I made it to
Waddington Drive a distance of about 500 plus mtrs with no stops
along the way, apart from stopping to say Hi to that cheeky
snail that keeps passing me along the way! I will sneak passed
him one day when he's looking the other way.
Today I did an hour of walking in the morning with the walker
around the grounds sniffing the flowers, not! This afternoon I
was in the GYM' & after half an hour of doing balance work, I
hoped on the treadmill & did 43 minutes with one stop to
replenish my body with water as it was such a hot afternoon! My
body is certainly getting heaps stronger & I am so thankful for
the strength God gives me every day! It was only a few moanths
ago that I had my first go on the treadmill & did a total of
about 5 minutes

Reflections from my rehab bed 3 years ago!

I plan to write a few reflections from my time in the Rehab
centre in Dunedin, I am now in a place where my emotions are
strong & my head in a clear space to write about ? days!
When I was in ICU' for just over 3 weeks, I was on a life support
unit, tubes were in my nose, in my throat & also lower down in my
chest! My mouth was swollen along with my tongue & I was not
allowed any water & that was the case for almost 3 months due to
the swelling in my mouth and then skin came off the lining of my
mouth & also my tongue! I used to plead for water via a pad & pen
to the nursing staff. Every time I did this they would squab my
mouth out with a totally discusting liquid to help with reducing
the swelling. I used to try & fight as hard as I could to stop
them doing this & I ended up with my only good arm tied to the
bed, also to prevent me from pulling tubes out of my throat. At
that stage my left arm was paralysed. In my mind I used to
travel to every place I knew in New Zealand that I had been to
where I could get fresh, crystal clear water from! My thirst for
water was right out there! When I reached the spot in my mind &
tryed to drink from the spring, stream, pool, lake, etc I could
feel the water with my body but couldn't drink it at all! I
wouldn't linger at the place long be move on to another place in
the hope of quenching my thirst! I became so obseeded with
drinking water that when I was moved to the rehab centre I used
to ask the staff & my wife if the boxes of bottled water that I
had ordered from Lake Tekapo had arrived & I even had a date for
when the order was placed. You have no id, what a priviledge it
is to go to a tap & pour yourself a glass of water or to kneel at
a crystal clear pool of water & drink from it! As I am writting,
I have reached for my water bottle in my bag on the back of my
chair and taken a good mouthful!
in Life we strive to often full thelongings in our soul for
happyness & peace & we often will go to great lengths to achieve
this & work extended hours so as to hopefully achieve this goal!
In the good book the BIble it talks about GOd giving us water
that will quench that thirst in our souls & it is everlasting
water, so we will never thist again! He also says that He has
come to give us life & give it to us in abundance, that thirst
you have to find the meaning of life & to have peace,& fulfilment
& the struggggle to be someone that you are not called to ;, this
can only be satisfyed & quenched through coming to know our
Heavenly Father & His Son the Lord Jesus. "Whoever drinks of
this living water, will never thirst again" Jesus ws

Updating my progress

Hi every one,
Well this past week my Physio took me from the GYM' with the
walker down the wheelchair ramp & then she got me to climb a
flight of stairs. There was a total of 5 steps & with a little
bit of help from her I climbed the flight by myself and grabbed
my walker again at the top and then back down the ramp again!
From there I walked to shower with the brakes off on the walker,
a distance of about 50 metres!
Yesterday a couple of friend's came to walk with me & I walked
for close to an hour around the complex at Laura Fergusson with
the brakes off for must of the time, at one point, I was going
carefully over a speed bump & I glanced over to my right & would
you believe it, a snail was about to over take me & he stopped,
tipped his hat to me & said, "Good day to you Sir" & then cruised
on! I couldn't believe it, the check of others that share this
planet with us!
In the afternoon yesterday, I had a go at the treadmill again & I
managed to do a total of 40 minutes with a stop once at 31
minutes for a rest! With both lots of walking yesterday, I did
close to 1 KM' of walking!Th is a guy that this time 3 years ago
was laying on a bed in a rehab centre in Dunedin with a paralysed
left arm and paralysed from the waist down! God is truely a great
God!!!! Thank you also to all the amazing work that Laura
Fergusson staff do with me, the Blind Foundation, my amazing,
amazing family & amazing friend's, one family in particular! The
dream of getting back on my feet again is now turning into
reality & it is very, very awesome! For me the dream of getting
back on my feet again doesn't stop there, the sky is the limit as
to what can be achieved!

Heart felt thanks fo you all out there.

I don’t know where to start when it comes to saying thak you toall of you out there that have supported us in so many ways and continue to do so. It is truly very humvbling vbeing on the receiving end of such amzing generoudity and love, prayers, lind deeds, shoulders to lean on and much much more.You have no idea how much this amazing project re the mew house about to be built means to us as a family, this is a total dream coming true and for me personally to vbe avble to live with my own family and contribute to daily life is awesome as challenging as it is as well. v

Update on life as I know if now.

Hi everyone out there,,

Just an update on life as I know it now.

My day usually starts around 7v.00 am of earlier depending on keen I am to get up earlier and do some exercises. I usually leave the house at around 8.00 with a caregiver from Laura Fergusson and come a cross to the community where I have my breakie, which I now look after myself and cleanup as well, I make my own coffee of hot choice depending on my taste for the day. Following this I usually have free time for an hour of so and I often do emails of read a devotional for the morning and then I am of to the GYM for an hour or so. In the GYM I do a range of exercises, work at the wall bars, at the parallel vbars, on the treadmill, walking with the walker, weights, etc and then I have a shower and lunch. In the afternoon I do arrange of activvitiws, computer tuition, ADL programme which is Adaptive Daily Living with an instructor from the Blind Foundation, swimming at a local pool with a swimming instructoe and then a soak in the spa,catch up with residents from Laura Fergusson from time to time, cruise and enjoy a great coffee, Mum comes and hangs out with me for an afternoon and yesterfay we planted our gardens at home with veges and other stuff ready for summer, can’t beat the good home grown produce and we have enjoyed some good crops from the garden in the past. I usually stay at Laura Fergusson for my dinner and then my family come for me at around 7.00pm and we are off home, the evenings are spent doing computer stuff, hwlping the kids with homework vvia my Braillenote unit which has a keyboard I can attach and a conversation can behad with me and I read of the Braille display, also helps the kids with their keyboarding skills as well, help with a few household chores, stretches and exercises at times and then off to noddy land.

I believe that life is for living and I am endeavouring to enjoy every day as much as I can and believing for great things to happen as we journey into the future, in saying that, I also believe that if you don’t set goals and activvvely work towards them and also reassess where you are at with them, you wil end up a few months years down the track in the same place that you were anddoing the same old same old, I refer back to my motivational statement I posted earlier in my Blog, To achieve great things, you not only have to act but also dream, you not only have to plan but also vbelieve.

To all of you out there that have so amazingly supported us up till now thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Hi all

I’ve signed up as an online collector for Blind Week to help make a difference to more than 11,500 blind and partially sighted New Zealanders.

The Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind (RNZFB) provides life-changing services for its members, yet less than one third of what it does is funded by government sources.

Please join me helping to support the RNZFB this Blind Week by donating to my collection.

Just click on the link below  - any help is appreciated but be quick donations need to be in by November 6^th!

            http://mybucket.rnzfb.org.nz/collect/philthorncollection

Thank you & God Bless

Phil

 

 

<<Phil Thorn Collage.jpg>> A snapshot of what I've been up to recently!

FW:

Phil preparing to walk down the ramp with aide of a walker for the first time!

We admin staff in the office love to look out the window and see the progress Phil is making – he’s  so committed and focused it’s inspiring!

Arise and walk!

Last Saturday my sister and my Mum took me to Maidstone park in
Upper Hutt where I walked with my walker for one and ahalf hours
with no stops to sit down for a rest. A couple of days ago my
Physio took me from the GYM' at Laura Fergusson out through the
door and down the wheelchair ramp and down a sloping section of
tarseal and got me to turn around and sit down on the seat that
the walker has and then we walked across a section of grass and
back up the wheelchair ramp again!
Today my Physio took me from the dinning room at Laura Fergusson
out into the carpark and we walked half way down the road that
leads to our home, over the bridge and the steep section either
side of it and over the speed humps, I had to slow down for them
as I was exceed the speed limit, yeah right Phil, who are you
trying to kidd! This afternoon I was on the treadmill and I did
25 minutes with no stops and then another 8 minutes after that
and my legs then needed a rest! A big day and every day is
getting bigger and bigger for me!
I am working towards doing the around the bays event next year in
Wellington and walking the whole way using my walker! God
willing!
The dream of walking again is becoming reality and it is so
exciting and incredible, all the hard hours of exercising day in
and day out are starting to pay of. They used to call me a
hollow man, as a majority of my muscles throughout my body had
wasted away and I have had to work to restore all of them back
again! My Physio used to say that it takes every grain of sand to
make a beach and the same with muscles for the body, they all
need to be working together to allow you to stand and walk! We
are amazingly designed creatures and to have the freedom to move
around on your feet is no small thing! Take it from me, it is an
incredible priviledge that many have never experienced and
probably never will either! There life is living in a chair and
bodies are not designed to sit in chairs all day and every day!

 

 

Moira Lipshaw

Programme Manager

Laura Fergusson Trust

Lower Hutt

04 5676024

moira.lipshaw@lft.org.nz

CONFIDENTIAL

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

 

Oh what a day!!

Can you believe that this very day, 3 years ago, I was being
transferred by rescue helicopter from Wakatipu base hospital in
Queenstown to Dunedin hospital ICU' and now look at me! Firstly
thank you God for giving my life back to me, thanks to the
amazing work of doctors and nursing staff at Wakatipu base
hospital and Dunedin ICU' and following that after I came out of
the coma, the amazing staff at the ISIS' Rehabilitation centre.
Today will be a time of reflection as I look back over ? past few
years and see the hand of our almighty God in action! To God be
the glory, great things He has done and continues to do! He is
the same, yesterday, today and forever!
Thank you to all of you that have been there for us over ? past
few years, in whatever capacity that may;, a shoulder to lean on,
a kind w, kind deeds, hand and feet of our Lord to us as a
family, petitioning heaven on our behalf and just being you!
Who would have ever believed seeing me in ICU' this time 3 years
ago, that I would be doing what I am today and living with my
amazing family!
Out of all of this crazy: amazing Journey as I call it, my family
have been so amazing, to me personally and through the whole
traumatic event and I am so thankful to be able to live with them
and be supported by them!
The climbing continues and thesummit will be reached with God's
help!

Hit the road Jack!

You might say where am I heading with this phrase! More often
than not, on a long challenging endurance climb, the mental and
emotional strain on the body can be tougher to work through than
the physical pains of the body! As the climb wears on, one
seemingling endless day into another, firstly the mind can start
to play games and question the strength of the climber and the
ability to achieve the set goal. This can lead toemotional
feelings rising and the clifberc start to leave themountain
mentally and emotionally to a place far more relaxing and to
memories prior to embarking on thclimb. ? Thous and feelings if
left unchecked can really sap a climbers energys and more often
than not they are worse than the physical achie to the body. At
this point, one has to dig deep within the spirit and find that
extra strength and say Lets hit the road Jack, cause we ain't
going back no more, no more! Thous allowed to settle and multiple
and grow, will cripple a climber. The goal is in front and the
memories are behind, if the climber keeps looking back can't stay
focussed, before long he will end up dazed and confused and this
could lead to one biting the dust!
I have gone through ? experiences in my mountain climb I am
currently on and the head starts to play games and say, You can't
make it, it's to hard and then the memories from the past climb
on board and join in the party and I look back at whatwas and all
the feelings that come with that! At this pointanother mountain
climber has seen where I am at andchallenged me to push through
that mental barrier and dig deep within and told me to hit the
road Jack and don't you come back here no more, no more! There
are a few times I could have ended up crippled on the mountain
and left dazed and confused. I can't make new ground and achieve
if I continue to allow myself to live in the past and let my head
rule over my heart! I find at times there is a need to kick
myself into gear and strive for better and great things!X says in
the book of Hebrews in the Bible; "Since we have such a great
crowd of men of faith watching us from the grandstand, let us
strip away ? things that would hold us back and slow us down and
especially ? sins that hold so tightly around our feet and cause
us to trip up and run with paitence the particular race set
before us"What is this saying, there are many that have gone on
before us and are now watching us and cheering us on as we climb,
so throw ? thous and feelings to the side and dig deep, keep
focusedand hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more, no
more! In the next verse it says; "Looking to Jesus, our leader
and instructor"We need to draw strength from our leader and
instructor and another verse in Hebrews says; "Iesus our great
High Priest, who has gone back to heaven to help us, never stop
trusting Him, this great High Priest of our understands our every
weakness and has been tempted in all ways as we are but never
once gave way and sinned" He is there for us big time andknows
and understands and is there to help us when we face ? very
challenging moments, so don't look back and become dazed and
confused, strive for higher ground and themountain summit!

What's the icy reality!

Each section of the climb has it's own challenges and as the
climbers gain more ground and bodies start to have aches and
painseaenergy levels are down, theair is thinner making each step
a little more baboued andthe summit is a distant reality, it's
time for a reality check! Good climbers will evaluate where they
are at, physically, mentally and emotionally, as this wdetermine
the succus of there mountain experience! This is not a point when
asked, How are you doing? To say great or good when in reality
the experience is sucking into ? three ares, as hard as it may
beto sharethe truth, one must do it or possiblycome a cropper on
the icy slope!Having taken a reality check, the climbers now
cencourage each other to pushthrough ? barriers and draw on each
others strengths to carry them to the goal. The lessons and
experiences gained from such a time as this are invaluable.The w
team stands for; Together every one achieves m.S often on lifes
mountains when asked how we are going, we say great, good, when
in fact if we are honest with ourselves we are finding the going
hard and for some reason we feel the need to put on a brave face
and telling the truth makes us less of a person! Lifes true
mountaineers have learnt the art of a shoulder to lean on
andfacing the icy reality always pays off!If the icy reality
isn't checked, one can very easily become dazed and confused,
this leads to fatige, disorientated, bad decision making, loss of
hope and the goalccdream no longer present.
as Kiwi's we have a saying, "When the going gets tough, the tough
get going" this is true to a certain extent, but this will only
carry you so farb to last the distance you need a reality checand
awingness to draw strength from other mountaineers and not forge
on, you need to reach that summit in the best condition and not
just crawl the last few metres and say I made it! How will you
ever decent if you have pushed yourself to the limit!
As an observer watching a documentary about aclimb expedition and
marveling at the achievement, gives you no understanding what the
climbers went through to reach the summit and return again and
the life changing moments they encountered, this is stuff money
can never buy and all thestudy and courses in the world can never
give you!

Steady as she goes mate!!

As the climbers rounded the face of the rock outcrop they had
been scaling, they scanned the next section of the climb and the
reality of what lay ahead of them qky dawned u the team, the
challenge will about to step up another level, requiring every
bit of skill and knowledge gained from previous climbs. For as
far as they could see, a huge ar, of ice sheet sloping away and
then dropping suddenly for hundreds of feet lay between then and
the final section of the climb to the summit! Doning crampons and
securing an extra safety line to each member of the team, ice
picks in hand and a quiet prayer for safe passage and the the
teamtook their first steps onto the the great white mass! Each
step needed to be carefully placed with a firm step to ensure the
crampons gripped deeply into the ice. In the midccday sun, it
seemed to sparkle across the ice sheet andthe dazzling effect
could distract one's focus, meaning the potential for disaster
was very real. There was a need for a steady as she goes mate
attitude and this was certainly no place for a break to take in
the view! This called for clear heads, total focu.
I feel like I have rounded that rock out crop and streched out
before me is this new challenge requiring every bit of skill I
have learnt up till now and a steady as she goes mate attitude.
My dreamccgoal of returning to my feet again is very much a
possibility you in saying that the potential for disaster is very
real as well! At times the midccday sun seems to sparkle off the
ice at me and the reality of what returning to my feet means for
both my family and I. Without a clear head and total focus and a
reminding to myself, keep it steady Phil, the urge to push on
even harder and over do it and possiblydamage my chances or even
worse, end my chances, are very real! My body gets super tight
from all the work I put it through andI feel frustration rise at
times when it hampers me from doing my set programme. I need to
heed my teams calls for, keep it steady mate and not get dazzled
by the moment! I am endeavouring to cause the crampons of my
faith to bite deep into this section of lifes icy slope for me.
The safety line of hope is attached firmly and I am learning with
paitence to keep on keeping on and watch the placement of each
foot! This section of ice may stretch out for quite a distance
for me and that steady as she goes mate attitude along with the
many skills and safety systems in place, I am bound to reach the
other side andfinally the summit!
There's a verse in the book of Roman's in the Bible that says;
"and hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls,
connecting us to God himself behind the sacred curtains of
heaven". Another verse in Romans says; "And paitence develops
strength of character and helps us to trust God each time we us
it, until finally our hope and faith are steady and strong" With
the right climbing gear in hand and the knowledge from previous
climbs along with that steady as she goes mate attitude you will
achieve the goal and summit your mountain!

Reflections from part 5; Mountain climbing

I have discovered as Iembarked beu this climb and left the
lazyccboy behind, the only way I will maintan my passion and
determination for the climb, is to share my weaknesses and
struggles with others that are part of my support team! Isolating
yourself from others especially when you are climbing through
uncharted territory, is a recipe for disaster I believe andone
can very easlily allow crazy thoughts and games to be played out
in one's mind and this becomes like the thoughts a of the lone
climb that lead to his lifes story ending!
I have learned to set a pace that I can manage and I endeavour to
reflect back over my day and week to see the ground I have made
and where I am sitting in regard to the climb! The "She'll be
right mate" attitude is a relic from the past and I amstriving
for more and more higherstandards in my climbing techniques and
attitude and to achieve that, I need to tap into climbers from
the past and ? that Surround me on a daily basis!
A wise climb will retain in the back of their mindthe potential
for hypothermia and it's affects, if a, "She'll be right"
attitude is adopted.
Successful climbers more often than not, are not show ponyies
demanding respect, their experience will bubble up and you will
find as you observe a wealth of experience and knowledge that has
been gained from summitting mountains!

Mountain climbing part 5

I have always been a believer when it comes toventuring into one
of New Zealands spectacular forest parks, to never do it alone
and especially if a mountain accent is involved! The support of
other members of your team and potential skills and know they can
offer will ensure your experiance is a safe and rewarding one and
the times during the climb when you do have to push through the
mental and physical barriers, a load shared is a load halfed, as
the saying goes! You will find as you climb, a thought cross your
mind, this is crazy, my body is sore and achy, it's cold and
possibly raining or even snowing, I could be in a number of more
enjoyable places and the thoughts start flowing thick and fast if
you are not careful and the urge to stop and rest starts creeping
in more and more and the team must really at this stage and
encourage each other to stay focused on the goal and resist the
urges of resting to often and mainttan a steady but achieveable
pace for all members of the party! Keeping the momentum up is
vital to the success of the journey, resting to often allows your
body to loose much needed body temperature and often in stopping
people can dive into energy rations required for the remainder of
the mountain accent and decent andthere is not a lot more energy
gained for an individual and more energy is used inresuming
progress again and the body digestingwhat has been pumped into
it! Keeping a good steady pace and stopping on aset pattern of
time for a couple of minutes and then moving on will be a winning
combination! I remeber reading a story about a mountain climber
and this guy decided to do it alone and he had all the gear he
needed and he had experience in mountain climbing with teams in
the past. Well this guy got to the point on the mountain I have
just written about and the voices in his head started to talk to
him and say, Rest more often and he gradually succumbed to them
and slowly but surely he rested to often and finally his body
temperature had dropped so much, he didn't have the energy to
rise and he was in serious trouble and hypothermia started
setting . Another party climbing the same mountain came across
him huddled under a rock outcrop and they did all they could to
try and raise his body temperature and plan a decent from the
mountain, but he was to far gone and theleader of the party had
to make a decision to leave him and make him as comby as possible
or put at risk members of his own team! That man lost his life on
the mountain and it was due to going it alone, he needed more
than just motivation and determination, he needed support and
encouragement of others to make the journey a success! There is a
line in a song that says; "No man is an island", we are designed
to connect with others and they help urge us on when we would
possibly listern to the voice that says, Take it easy, rest, it's
a hard journey and slowly but surely that trap door opens wider
and wider andwithout the support of fellow travellers to urge you
on, that trap will get you and the story will end prematurely!
Keep the goal your focus, keep the pace steady and achievable
andalways climb as a team!

Mountain climbing part 4

One very important lesson I have learnt from both my outdoor
experience and the one I am currently climbing, is never be slack
and presume you know the area you are about to traverse
throughand the conditions you could encounter along that route.
If you are a wise outdool person, you will call into a a DOC'
information centre or the likes and check out the area you are
about to traverse through andccditions you can expect to come
across, such as, track conditions, weather, availability of huts
and beds, experience and ability required for this route. In my
Journey along I have found it necessary to stop and seek advice
from people that have traversed through similar teritory and have
a attitude that is prepared to learn and grow! The good old Kiwi
slogan; "She'll be right mate", does not cut it and an attitude
like that on a mountain climb can put yourself and others at risk
of serious harm or a possible fatality! That slogan may have got
us through at times in the past, but at what expense and what
condition were we or others left in when we accomplished the
goal! Even the very best outdoors people at times can come to
grief, possibly a little bit of that, "She'll be right mate",
attitude slipped in after years of traversing the outdoors and
that one time they became slack, brought disaster and sometimes
to more than just themselves!
I remember chatting to an 80 year old friend one day and he said
to me never be to old to learn, when you stop learning you are
dying as a person!
We all want to reach the top of the mountain, what ever that
mountain may; for us and we need to arrive on that summit in the
best condition possible and not damaged and bruised and missing
some of our climbing gear and support team from a bad experience
climbing the mountain, as you will need as much skill and wisdom
in the decent as the climb itself!

Mountain Part 2

To begin with, I wasn't to keen to climb this mountain I am on.
The challenge seemed to big andI wanted to climb a mountain of my
own choice! More often than not, when you are in the outback and
journeying from one point to another you will come across a
section of the journey that is very challenging and you may even
say to yourself, Do I have to climb this part, there must be an
easier way around this part and that is when you have to really
focus and say, That is this all about, am I going to let this
stop me achieving and again it comes down to what is the goal I
am hoping to achieve here and make sure that gets cemented firmly
in place and then start plodding that challenging section again!
Much of the climbing I have done so far, the mountain has been
obscurred with heavy cloud and I can see only a short distance in
front of me, but there have been a few times when the cloud has
lifted a bit and I see some of the climbing ahead of me and as
challenging as it is, I look back and see the treacherous ground
I have walked over and it gives me confidance to move onward up
the mountain!One thing I have learnt as I climb, you have good
days and not so good days, but as you continue to climb the good
days will far out way the not so good days! I believe it is very
important to assess on regular basis what is it all about! Life
is a mountain and it is important what attitude we approach each
stage of lifes journey, as to how the next section of the climb
will go! Setting ? clear goals will help us stay focused and
achieve and I totally believe God wants us to be inspired to
achieve and not just sit back and let life sail on by. It says
in the Bible, "Without a vision, people perish" That is so true
and the vision needs to beclearly definded on a regular basis, I
believe. Many times if we are not careful when we are climbing
mountains, we can loose focus for a while and end up wandering
around the side of the mountain and possibly get a little
disorientated and end up settling for some thing lenss than we
could have achieved if we had only maintained that focus! A
proverb that I love and I think I shareed it in an ealier Blog
is; "To achieve great things, you not only have to act, but also
dream, not only plan, but also believe" It is so important to
have a good balance of there attributes when embarking on
mountain climbing I believe or you will never reach your goal and
you will settle for less than you can potentially achieve! I will
share a few more thoughts re mountains next time!

Mountain Part 2

Apologies, I got interrupted when I was about to finish the first
part of a series I plan to write about mountain climbing!
As I mentioned, you never go venturing into the great outdoors
and up mountains withou a clear goal of where you are heading to
and what you plan to achieve along the way as you progress
towards that goal you have set!When you embark on such a Journey,
you need to be aware that conditions can suddenly change and you
may have to take shelter for a day or towo until a clear patch
allows you to continue climbing. You may have to change the
route you take up the mountain due to a land slide that may have
occvred or to dodge a patch of ice that could end your chances of
reaching your goal! It is important to stop at times and assess
where you are at and how well yrbody is coping with the challenge
and if required, that a rest for a short while and take in the
view of where you have come from and then plan the next part of
the climb. The ultimate goal is to reach the top of the mountain
in good condition, so when you decent your body will carry you
safely and you cpotentially eliminate any hazards that may arise!
Often the decent from the mountain can be more dangerous than the
climb and different techniques are required when decenting, so
don't over do the climbing, pace yourself. More often than not,
mountains are covered in cloud and when looking up it can be hard
to see clearly and some times the cloud lifts and you can see a
bit more of the mountain and you catch a glimpse of some of the
challenges you will be encountering and you may think to
yourself, have I taken on to big a challenge! It's good at that
point to stop briefly and have a energy snack and look down the
mountain and see what you have already achieved and then focus
for the next stage of the climb!Mountains are always climbed in
stages and at the end of the day when you stop to setccup camp or
stay in a hut and you are weary from a day's climbing, endeavour
to be thankful for thesafe passage you have achieved that day and
rest your body! Never plan the next stage of the Journey when you
are weary andexhausted from a days climb. A fresh start with a
clear head is best, even if the body is a bit achy! I plan to
share in the next few parts similarities between outdoor mountain
climbing and this mountain of rehabilitation I am currently
climbing!

Man what a mountain!

Can you believe it!!

Coming up at the end of this month 26 this September 2011 will be
3 years since I feel sick and I want to thank firstly my amazing
God for sparing my life and allowing the amazing healing that has
taken place so far and seconly thanky to all of you out there
that have helped ligghten the load of the Journey in some way, a
kind deed, an encouraging thought, a shoulder to lean on, just
being you, a prayer or many, loving unccditionally, believing the
impossible and helping speak it into my life, sharing a great
coffee with me, extending a hand into my dark and often noisy
world, helping to feed the fires of determination, being hands
and feet of Jesus Christ to me and my family!
There are so many of you out there that have made such a huge
difference to my life and that of our family, thank you for
caring and taking the time to stop and make a difference, it
truly means a lot!J recently I received a txt out of the blue
from a lady who was my speech therapist when I was in the ISIS'
Rehab centre in Dunedin and it came at a time when I so needed a
little encouagement and a cheer up and man what a difference that
little txt did for me! Never under estimate what a kind thought
or deed can do for another person, often the seemingly small
things in life, can have the beiggest impact on another and I can
look back over this Journey and I can see time and time again you
seemly small things that people have done but have been life
impacting for me and I know that has a spin off affect to ?
around me! There is a very cool movie called; his Pay it forward"
and we will never know the total impact of loving and kind deeds!
So if a thought flashes through your mind or someone is on your
heart, don't be to busy to stop and care even if it seems a small
thing in your eyes to do and you say to yourself, Does it really
matter if I do or don't, take it from me, it does matter and in
doing so, you have brightened the world a little more! Some day
you may hope that people are not too busy to stop and care.

Smelling freedom!

Lately I have been smelling a bit of freedom from my chair and
smells divine and I want more and more of it! Yesterday in the
GYM' I was back on the Treadmill again and at one point I did a
burst of 10 minutes without stopping for a rest and I am doing
all the walking by myself! Some of you may think I have a
mechanical aid or the likes to help propell my legs along, no I
am doing all the hard yards with my own legs and then in the
afternoon, I was given another GYM' session for good behaviour
and I walked at the Parallel bars! I decided to walk one way
forwards and then back again walking backwards and I managed to
do 40 times both ways which is the must I have done at the
Parallel bars since falling ill! I was just kidding about good
behaviour allowing me another session in the GYM', Good behaviour
from me, never! So the dream is slowly but surely taken place and
I believe it is only a matter of a few months now and I will be
back on my feet again! I almost have to pinch myself at times
when I say that, I will be back on my feet again within a few
months, as it has only been a hope in the back of my mind and it
has been working it's way into my heart and into my whole being
and I believed it would happen some day in the future and now
that day is getting closer and the reality of what that means for
my life and my family is now starting to dawn on me!

Which way are you travelling!

I remember as a kid, we used to go to my wifes parents beach
house as I was very good mates with her brother. Often when we
stayed there we would play a game of blind man buff as they had a
very big open plan lounge dinning room area at their beach house.
Someone would be the blind man and put on a blind fold and eone
would then scatter to various parts of the room, someone would
stay briefly with the person wearing the blind fold and spin them
around and around to disorientate them and then stop sm and let
them loose to try and tag someone and then the tagged person
would play the blind man role. I remember how easily it was to
get disorintated and think you were somewhere in the room, only
to discover you were some where comlletely different and blow me
down, what was that piece of furniture doing there, I don't
remember it being there and then you would get people that would
move furniture around as you were hunting for someone to make it
more challenging for you!
Well I play blind man's buff every day now and I must say I find
it very challenging at times, I can image the layout of buildings
in my mind pretty well from my days working on building sites,
etc, but often furniture gets moved and I am not aware of it and
I think I am heading some where only to find out I am in a
completely different place and so I then endeavour to find a
landmark that I can identify and once I find that, I can then
start to work out where the route is that I need to take!
I have been doing some outdoor orintation with an instructor from
The Blind Foundation and I can generally make my way along OK' if
I have a handrail or building to follow, but if I suddenly end up
in an open space and nothing to touch and identify, that can be
very challenging! I will generally keep moving slowly and feel
around until I locate a point of contact, but if I am not careful
I can identify that point of contact wrongly and think I am
somewhere and then learn I am in a different place! I am learning
a lot about alignment and also the sun is a good indicator as
well, I can feel it on my face and if it suddenly disappears as I
am moving along in the chair, that could possibly mean I have
gone behind a building or under the eaves of a building or a
gaint has just walked up to me and is about to eat me! I will
endeavour to share my learning experiences around this as I work
and learn with my instructor. I will possibly be working with a
white cane in the not to distant future and I will share ?
experiences as well! So watch out if you see me coming with a
cane in my hand, I might give you a good whack and knock you out!

My contact details, should you be keen to connect with me!

Hi eone!
My email aggress is; philly.wonkathorn@gmail.com and my
cellphone for txting is; 021 082 09114 .
I can receive txts from any mobile, I have issues at present
sending to Telecom number, my txt comes out as a series of dashes
and gigits, I can send fine to any o"r mobile phone! They are
hoping to have this sorted for me in the near future, so will
keep you posted.
I love connecting with people, so if you have a spare moment
please send me a txt or email and I will be shore to reply as
soon as I can!

Saintlygarmcctseawherethe heck are they!!

I don't know about you, but some days I get up out of bed and I
hunt around in my wardrobh looking for my saintly garments and
blow me down, they are not always there or I endeavour to put
then on if I do find then and you wouldn't believe it, they
appear to have shrunk and struggle as I may to pull them on, they
don't always sit comforably and as I try to smooth out any
wrinkles I wonder to myself, how saintly are my garments!
We are told in scripture to put on the garments of praise for the
spirit of heavyness, lift up your heart to God, Praise with God's
spirit and with understanding, Oh magnify His name!X goes on to
say, All you that mourn, I have authority, to apoint unto you,
oil of joy that will set you free!
I believe it is a decision of the heart and mind, to raise ones
voice in praise to our great God when we feel a spirit of
heavyness around us and if the started out badly and things arn't
working out like they should do, stopping for a few minutes and
giving praise to our great Creator God will help lift that entire
spirit of heavyness and we will look at life from a completely
different perspective! I have proved it over and over again! It
is God's will for our life, that we have a spirit of thankfulness
and stopping for a moment to do that even if we have let it
spirit of thankfulness slip a bit, will help renew it and God
will allow His oil of Joy to set us free, what an impact it will
have on your day!
It is totally an attitude of the heart and as weendeavour to
develop this way of thinking and allow our spirit's to look
upwards at ?'so times of challenge in our lives, it starts to
becomeccscious action, rather than a manurefactured one and the
spring of thankfulness bubbles up in our heart more frequently!
One only needs to stop and ponder for a moment all that God has
done for us in giving heavens very best and the greatest act of
love He could ever have shown us in Jesus Christ's death u the
cross of Calvary and His rising again from the dead and that will
break any spirit of heavyness you have on your life, God loves to
hang out with people that praise Him and in doing so, you will
warm up ? around you with thespirit of thankfulgess! You might
say, but my life has turned to custard, still rise and thank Him
for all of His faithfulness and unccditional love and before you
know it, you will be looking at life from a completely different
perspective!
Like I shared with you yesterday about the homeless boy and how
he didn't believe the lovely things in the room were for him and
so climbed under the bed and slept there, we need to accept God's
incredible gift to us and in one translation of the Bible it
says, "His unmerited favour", like the homeless boy we have done
nothing at all to deserve His favour, infact we dispised and
rejected Him at one point in our lives, yet His loving
compassions are still there for us in abundance!
That today, if you struggle like I do at times to find your
saintly garments in the wardrobe, stop and thank Him for all that
He has dayone for you and you will start to feel that spirit of
heavyness lift as you put on ? garments of praise!!A blessed
life, is a thankful life I believe!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

There are so many of you out there that have blessed us as a
family in so many ways and I want to acknownage you and say thank
you, ? works never seem anywhere en, but I am truely humbled by
the amazing outpouring of love and kindness extended towards us!
I know that our amazing God has touched your heart through our
story and you inturn have and continue to bless us hugely! Our
amazing God continues to lavish His amazing grace u my life every
day as I endeavour to stay close by His side.
I endeavour to work as hard as I can to show how very much I
appreciate all the support we receive and as my body responds and
grows stronger and my God allows more of His mercy and grace to
be poured in, I push a little harder and my faith in Him deepens
and I know that I know, I am a trophy of His grace!
I was reading a story recently about a homeless boy who was
rescued of the streets my a very caring family and they took him
home and adopted him as their son. He was given a bedroom of his
very own and it was a huge room and along one wall was a bed with
lovely snowy white sheets and lovely warm blankets and alongside
the bed was a bedside cabinet with a lamp and he stood there and
stared for quite a while at this beautiful room and then he said
to himself, this must be a mistake, this must be for someone else
and so he climbed under the bed and curled up and sleeped the
night on the bloor! compassion, faithfulness and we say this
can't be for me, what have I done to diserve this and we have
done nothing to deserve His tender compassions at all, that's
what's so amazing about grace from our Heavenly father! and in so
thinking we allow satan to tell us we are not worthy and none of
it is for us and so we climb under the bed and stay there and you
know what! God stoops down in His greatness and says to us, My
dear child, this is all for you, I gave all of heavens very best
for you, please receive it and then He gently tucks us in between
? lovely snowy white sheets and pulls the lovely warm blankets up
around our neck and says My peace I leave with you, not as the
world gives give I unto you, don't let your heart be worried or
afraid, my peace I leave with you! He also says, My child, I will
never leave you or forsake you and I must say at times I have
felt very much like that homeless boy with all of Gods love and
grace and He tucks me afresh in between ? snowy white sheets and
says, Phil, My son, this is for you, please except it!! I pray
today you will except His amazing love and grace into your
life!The next morning, the good lady of the house came in to see
him and found him still fast asleep under the bed and she said to
the boy with surprise in her voice, My dear boy, what are you
doing down on the bloor under the bed and she gently bent down
and helped him up and pulled back the covers of the bed and
tucked him in between ? snowy white sheets and pulled ? warm
blankets up around his neck and said to him, this is all for you!
What a picture of our amazing God, often we feel so unworthy of
His abundant love, grace, mercy,

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to see!

Interesting how the mind works and almost a case of retraining the mind to think in terms of standing as I has been used to sitting for so long.; I can relate my pool experience to my Journey with God as I have gone through this very challenging Journey.; when we do take that step of faith with Him; He never lets us down and His guiding hand will help and teach us how to navigate our way through life’s often bumpy road and He totally understands our weaknesses and struggles and He has supplied all the resources we will ever need in His Word to live as It says in the book of Romans; "Rejoice when you run into troubles and trials; for we know they are good for us; for they help us to trust Him more.; "When I was in the pool and taking a step away from the wall; it reminded me of Peter in the Bible who was in the boat and Jesus came walking to him on the water and Peter called out and asked if he could walk on the water to Jesus and Jesus said coke and Peter stepped out of the boat and started walking to Jesus and he began to sink and he called out to Jesus and said Save me and immediately Jesus reached out His hand and saved him; Oh ye of little faith Jesus said; totally need to keep that trust of ours and focus on the Master and with Him anything is possible if we only believe.

 

I was back in the pool again on Thursday after quite a break from it.

My instructor had me standing up against a wall with my back to it and I was standing there supporting myself with no aids at all. She then had me falling forwards into the water and backwards as well, then taking my first step out into the water with nothing to hang onto. It is very much mind over matter and I have been so used to hanging onto something for support when I take a step and I had to really talk to myself and say, You can do it Phil and totally trust my instructor that she would be there to catch me when I do fall.

As I work more and more in the pool, my confidence is growing and my willingness to have a go at more challenging things, I still find it very challenging being on my front and doing breaststroke and breathing with my mouth and nose going under the surface of the water. I used to feel very claustrophobic in the pool, as I am totally deaf in the pool with no hearing aid on and obviously totally blind. Not knowing where the edge of the pool is and not having the full use of my legs was at times a little scary to say the least.

As I have learned to work with my instructor, my confidence has grown and trust has been developed as well. My body is heaps stronger than it ever used to be, but it is important for me to now learn to work with both my mind and body to learn to not rely upon aids to support me all the time and allow my mind to allow my muscle to function as they should do.

 

Kind regards,

 

Phil Thorn

Don't forget to check out my blog phillywonka.blogspot.com

 

FW: Phil's Story

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Phil Thorn

Don't forget to check out my blog phillywonka.blogspot.com

 

From: Andrea [mailto:motorboots@clear.net.nz]
Sent: Thursday, 25 August 2011 5:13 p.m.
To: Phil Thorn
Subject: Phil's Story

 

Read Phil's Story

The following website will take you to Phil's story which has been published in the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind's magazine called Outlook www.rnzfb.org.nz/outlook

FW: Phil's Story

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Phil Thorn

Don't forget to check out my blog phillywonka.blogspot.com

 

From: Andrea [mailto:motorboots@clear.net.nz]
Sent: Thursday, 25 August 2011 5:13 p.m.
To: Phil Thorn
Subject: Phil's Story

 

Read Phil's Story

The following website will take you to Phil's story which has been published in the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind's magazine called Outlook www.rnzfb.org.nz/outlook

FW: Phil's Story

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Phil Thorn

Don't forget to check out my blog phillywonka.blogspot.com

 

From: Andrea [mailto:motorboots@clear.net.nz]
Sent: Thursday, 25 August 2011 5:13 p.m.
To: Phil Thorn
Subject: Phil's Story

 

Read Phil's Story

The following website will take you to Phil's story which has been published in the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind's magazine called Outlook www.rnzfb.org.nz/outlook

Aim high!

I want to share a Proverb with you that has come to mean a lot to me.

“To achieve great things, you not only need to act, but also dream. You not only need to plan, but also believe.”

Another one I like is’”Rhe most important things in life are, peole need something to do, something to love and something to hope in.’”

 

Quite a while ago, I was given a poem by a friend of ours and I would also like to share that with you, It’s called, “A littlr bird I am.”

“A little bird I am, shut from the fields of air and in my cage I sit and sing to Him who placed me there.

Well pleased I am a prisoned to be, for my Lord it pleases Thee.

My cage confines me found, freely I cannot fly. Though my cage confines me found, my soul is at liberty, for prison walls cannot contain the flight or freedom of the soul.

I have learned to love the darkness of sorrows, for it is there I see the brightness of God’s face.”

 

There is a very cool verse in Hebrews in the Bible and I often run it through my mind, I am a real believer in the saying, “You are what you eat”and I believe that to be true for what you sow in words into your life as well. The verse says this’

“Jesus God’s Son, our great high Preist who has vone back to heaven to help us, never stop trusting Him. This great high Preist of ours, understands our every weakness and has been tempted in all was as we are and yet never once gave way and sinned. Let us come boldly before the very throne of God and stay there, to receive His mercy and to find grace to help us in our times of need.”

Another very cool one from the book of Hebrews, is;

“This certain hope of being saved, is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls, connecting us to God Himself, behind the sacred curtains ot heaven.”

This last one that I will shafe with you, has meant so much to me and is a very integral part of the Journey that I am on. This verse is from the book of Romans in the Bible and says;

“And peitence develops strength of character and helps us to trust God more each time we use it, until finally our hope and faith are steady and strong.”

 

I have proved it over and over again, our God is so totally trustworthy and faithful, His thought towards us are good continually. More often than not, I fail Him and I find I need to draw upon His amazing mercy and grace and He lavishes it on us as we become more and more aware of our weaknesses and fraility.

 

Kind regards,

 

Phil Thorn

Don't forget to check out my blog phillywonka.blogspot.com

 

Hi every one

Well it's Sunday afternoon and a lovely crisp sunny winters day
and we have just cruised home from Church.
On the way home my Babe received a text from a friend of ours who
was stuck at the bottom of the hill that leads up to where the
Church we go to is. She had a flat tyre and kids in the car and
my babe was able to call up the AA' service and get help for her.
This friend of ours has been to Church a few times and people
know her and in was interesting, as we were waiting with her for
the AA' to arrive, she said that a number of people from Church
had driven by and not stopped to offer her any help! I am not
saying that we are anything great in stopping to help, but one
thing that this crazy: amazing Journey that we have been on has
taught us, is never be to busy to care and the seemingly small
every day things of life that often pass us by in our hurry to
get from A to B, to so count!
dirty and even our Sunday best gets a few marks on it, in caring
for others, so be it! As we start to notice ? moments and become
more like the hands and feet of our Like, a greater sense of
fulfilment in our lifes journey will happen and hopefully less
importance on rushing madly from one appointment to another,
thinking we are achieving great things! People matter and what we
sow into other people really does count for this life and beyond!
As we rush less and ask God to help us be His hands and feet to
this hurting world of ours, believe you me, your life will never
be the same again and like the song says, "In touching heaven,
you will change earth".The small things are often very impacting
and often have a roll on effect to other people, one kind deed
more often than not, leads to anther kind deed being done by the
person rcving! I totally believe that God is so keen for us to
pickccup on ? every day situations that arise and if it means our
programmecctimetable has to be changed a little or our hands get
a little

FW: Delivery Status Notification (Delay)

Kind regards,

Phil Thorn
Don't forget to check out my blog phillywonka.blogspot.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Mail Delivery Subsystem [mailto:mailer-daemon@googlemail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 26 July 2011 8:39 p.m.
To: philly.wonkathorn@gmail.com
Subject: Delivery Status Notification (Delay)

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification

THIS IS A WARNING MESSAGE ONLY.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO RESEND YOUR MESSAGE.

Delivery to the following recipient has been delayed:

philly.wonkathorn.zorro@bloger.com

Message will be retried for 1 more day(s)

Technical details of temporary failure:
The recipient server did not accept our requests to connect. Learn more at
http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=7720
[bloger.com (1): Connection refused]

----- Original message -----

Received: by 10.142.6.8 with SMTP id 8mr1905413wff.371.1311493503811;
Sun, 24 Jul 2011 00:45:03 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path: <philly.wonkathorn@gmail.com>
Received: from your997d4f8c95 (121-73-240-83.broadband.telstraclear.net
[121.73.240.83])
by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id
u6sm3431597pbh.80.2011.07.24.00.45.00
(version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=OTHER);
Sun, 24 Jul 2011 00:45:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Phil Thorn" <philly.wonkathorn@gmail.com>
To: "Blog Page" <philly.wonkathorn.zorro@bloger.com>
Subject:
Date: Sun, 24 Jul 2011 19:45:03 +1200
Message-ID: <4e2bcd7d.c61e440a.2a88.394d@mx.google.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0001_01CC4A3A.30D6BDC0"
X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook 12.0
Thread-Index: AcxJ1ZkIq4A72CnaR5q70pOBD27aKw==
Content-Language: en-nz

Well as promised, I am back again with more updates.

My brother inlaw has been staying with me in the evenings, while my famil
have been on holiday and in the morning before I depart for work as we call
it, he has been reading me a Proverb for the day and I am goung to share
some of them with you, as they are very cool and so true.

"The greatest essentials for life, people need something to do, something to
love and something to hope in"

"To achieve great things, we not only need to act, but also dream, not only
plan, but also believe"

'If you want to cheer yourself up, start by cheering someone else up"

"It not important whether you fail, but how you rise when you do fail"

I believe these Proverbs and I believe it is so important what words we sow
into our lives, words have the power to grow us oe destroy os. I remember as
a kid, we used to say, 'sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can
never hurt me"that is so untrue, bones can be repaired and can be completely
healed. The damage that can be caused by words, can be life long if we allow
it and can hinder us from being the people that God wants us to be. In my
journey, I have had a number of words said to me and at times they have
rattled me a bit and hinded my recovery a littlt and I have learned not to
let aome words take root in my life and I have chiisen to totoally trust
God's promises cotanted in the good book, the Bible and I also believe it is
an attitude of the heart and even if we aren't feeling on top of the world
and life has dished up a bowl of pain and hurts, start sowing some good
words into your life and believe in them and what God can do through them
and see the power lf that acting and believing come alive in your life. I
can guarantee you, it will not be easy and at times you may feel like giving
up, but don't, that is the time to believe even harder and sow even more
good stuff in. In time it will bring a harvest in your life and you will be
in a place where you can help sow into other peoples lives who are

FW: Delivery Status Notification (Delay)

Kind regards,

Phil Thorn
Don't forget to check out my blog phillywonka.blogspot.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Mail Delivery Subsystem [mailto:mailer-daemon@googlemail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 26 July 2011 8:39 p.m.
To: philly.wonkathorn@gmail.com
Subject: Delivery Status Notification (Delay)

This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification

THIS IS A WARNING MESSAGE ONLY.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO RESEND YOUR MESSAGE.

Delivery to the following recipient has been delayed:

philly.wonkathorn.zorro@bloger.com

Message will be retried for 1 more day(s)

Technical details of temporary failure:
The recipient server did not accept our requests to connect. Learn more at
http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=7720
[bloger.com (1): Connection refused]

----- Original message -----

Received: by 10.142.6.8 with SMTP id 8mr1905413wff.371.1311493503811;
Sun, 24 Jul 2011 00:45:03 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path: <philly.wonkathorn@gmail.com>
Received: from your997d4f8c95 (121-73-240-83.broadband.telstraclear.net
[121.73.240.83])
by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id
u6sm3431597pbh.80.2011.07.24.00.45.00
(version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=OTHER);
Sun, 24 Jul 2011 00:45:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Phil Thorn" <philly.wonkathorn@gmail.com>
To: "Blog Page" <philly.wonkathorn.zorro@bloger.com>
Subject:
Date: Sun, 24 Jul 2011 19:45:03 +1200
Message-ID: <4e2bcd7d.c61e440a.2a88.394d@mx.google.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0001_01CC4A3A.30D6BDC0"
X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook 12.0
Thread-Index: AcxJ1ZkIq4A72CnaR5q70pOBD27aKw==
Content-Language: en-nz

Well as promised, I am back again with more updates.

My brother inlaw has been staying with me in the evenings, while my famil
have been on holiday and in the morning before I depart for work as we call
it, he has been reading me a Proverb for the day and I am goung to share
some of them with you, as they are very cool and so true.

"The greatest essentials for life, people need something to do, something to
love and something to hope in"

"To achieve great things, we not only need to act, but also dream, not only
plan, but also believe"

'If you want to cheer yourself up, start by cheering someone else up"

"It not important whether you fail, but how you rise when you do fail"

I believe these Proverbs and I believe it is so important what words we sow
into our lives, words have the power to grow us oe destroy os. I remember as
a kid, we used to say, 'sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can
never hurt me"that is so untrue, bones can be repaired and can be completely
healed. The damage that can be caused by words, can be life long if we allow
it and can hinder us from being the people that God wants us to be. In my
journey, I have had a number of words said to me and at times they have
rattled me a bit and hinded my recovery a littlt and I have learned not to
let aome words take root in my life and I have chiisen to totoally trust
God's promises cotanted in the good book, the Bible and I also believe it is
an attitude of the heart and even if we aren't feeling on top of the world
and life has dished up a bowl of pain and hurts, start sowing some good
words into your life and believe in them and what God can do through them
and see the power lf that acting and believing come alive in your life. I
can guarantee you, it will not be easy and at times you may feel like giving
up, but don't, that is the time to believe even harder and sow even more
good stuff in. In time it will bring a harvest in your life and you will be
in a place where you can help sow into other peoples lives who are