NOVEMBER 22, 2005
LETTER TO THOSE WHO ARE FACING THANKSGIVING
IN POVERTY POSTED ON YAHOO

The Annunciation
Rosetti

 

Dear Ravendancer, Laura & All,

 

You are a super good writer. I love the way you describe your personal experiences and the world around you. Laura, you have that gift also. This is what makes this group so special - the two moderators who post daily explaining their personal experiences as well as many others who are now following suit.

 

I was deeply touched by your description of financial doom, and also, the circumstances of the poverty around you. It sounds so real! I can see the old hotel and 'Dragonfly' store! What is the little town near you, is there anything there?

Some time today or tomorrow I will write my account of what I am grateful for. I am debating if it should be 'long version' or 'short version' just covering highlights of the last year. I think I will start it with 'short version' and then give 'overview.' Send the long one to the places I feel really close to - and the short ones to the places I am not so close to, or where they are always looking for things to pick on all the time.

 

About poverty and your circumstances. You said a lady healer was angry at you for being poor. What is that all about? Do you have wife and family? If so, how many children and what ages?

 

I have been very poor during many phases of my life. Poor in money, poor in spirit, poor in body, poor in love, poor emotionally, mentally, financially, physically, etc. (This poverty did not come to me through any wrong doing but simply situations of life, starting with family, and then the harshness and unfairness of this world.)

 

My entire life has been an effort to get out of this multi-faceted poverty and find a place of peace, rest and happiness. I believe I have succeeded, in my 'old age' to have finally reached Valhalla. Of course that is why I am trying to help others out of their misery. And there are many answers. One could write an encyclopedia.

 

One answer is this:

 

There are two blessings. The blessing of poverty and the blessing of prosperity. God gives both! You think,

 

'Are you kidding? Why would God give poverty? It is ugly, horrible, devastating. God is good. This is not of God!'

 

But didn't Our Lord say absolutely, in the Beatitudes, that 'Blessed are the Poor' and all that? The miserable, sorrowing, lonely, unhappy in any way, are BLESSED!

 

Now again, Our Lord and God also bring us LIFE, and not only life, but this life ABUNDANTLY. And should you worry about your future or condition? Does not God take care of the tiniest sparrow and is aware of the needs of the smallest bird? And you are as important as the tiny sparrow!

 

What are we to think? After long pondering, I decided this, that God gives prosperity, and God gives poverty. We need both to develop. We need the left handed and the right handed blessings.

 

What good comes out of poverty, deprivation and suffering of all types? We get closer to God, we grow spiritually. We don't always feel that growth, but later on when we come out of it, we know we are spiritually bigger and lovelier.

 

Now prosperity (and all the goodness of God) also comes at the right time. We little children can't handle constant suffering. Sooner or later God relieves us of it and then we are joyful again. God gives us love, money, fellowship, support and success, if we hold out long enough for it.

 

What would happen if we never had suffering? It would be woeful. Spoiled, proud, vain, we would begin to think life owed us. We would start to look down on the 'poor and weak.' ('Losers', we might call them) We'd all be 'losers' were it not for the grace of God. In our position of constant wealth and health, we would seek more and more contentment and earthly pleasure, until we'd be like the rich man who would not even share his crumbs with Lazarus. (Lazarus, the man covered with scabs lying by the road outside the gated community. The dogs licked his wounds. The rich man would not even give him the scraps from the table.) The rich man went to Hell, Lazarus straight to Heaven.

Need I say more?

 

I will be spending my Thanksgiving (like most holidays) alone. I am a widow who has been forsaken by family and neighbors. But no need to feel sorry for me. I chose my lifestyle of solitude, in a sense, because I dared to be different, celibate and a total individual.....

 

I have so many wonderful things. Usually a vegetarian, I will allow myself turkey and other meat, and even sweets - (which I almost never consume.) God has given me the money to buy whatever food I want. I am on a strict diet 350 days a year, but on Holidays I eat whatever and it is a treat. I share all my goodies with the dogs, cat, ducks and geese, chickens, deer, racoons, possums, skunks and birds.

 

I am not lonely any more because of the internet. Building this Church Site, and all the yahoo groups has brought me friends and family. My life revolves around these people - answering mail, writing articles and posting. I am the happiest I have been! This is my full time work and I do not have to go out and work for someone else, (I am working for MotherGod) as my beloved husband Richard provided for me. (His spirit is ALWAYS with me!)

 

On Thanksgiving day, weather permitting, I will go out with the dogs through the 50 acres of wilderness God has given me. We will have wonderful food and the joyful comraderie of the folks on the internet. Yes, I used to be in a living Hell of poverty and pain. It made me strong, it made me want to help others. Now I am free, in every way, and I am helping others. And they love me. What more could anyone ask for on Thanksgiving?

 

Much Love to All of You My Friends and Family!

 

Rasa Von Werder November 22, 2005

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