Can you become part of a miracle?

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 25, 2022

Have you ever wanted to help someone but didn't think you could? If you're thinking that you are only one person and there isn't much you can do, think about it. A lot of people felt the same way, until they remembered how one person, just like them, helped them. Lives are being changed because people are using the power they do have to deliver miracles.

The Lost Son series are fictional, but there are survivors doing whatever they can to give hope to others that they can heal too. There are actual people all over the country doing the same thing because someone helped them along the way.

Read this from Alive Again and see if you can see yourself in any of this.

Greer from Alive Again, The Lost Son Part Two

“Good morning. We’re all here because we know miracles still happen. We know that because of Chris’s books, they were happening all around us, all along, but the world is a less lonely place now that we know they are. I’m sure you’ve heard on the news, even up to yesterday, that they also come when we least expect them, and least expect we’re going to need another one. Miracles happened to all the people behind me, and they happened to me too. The people behind me helped Chris heal in just thirteen days. That’s all it took for him going from wanting to end his life, to beginning to write about the miracles, and how all of us could become ingredients of miracles.” She looked at the crowd and the cameras.

“Many of you are doing video testimonies with the people from Netflix, so others will hear your stories and find hope. Our hope is you receive the same reward all of us did. Since the books came out, we discovered how much of an impact they had on people. They said it was priceless learning that what they did spread out to many others. They spread it even further, changing the world one person at a time, or in Chris’s case, millions.” She started to walk around.

“This is the reason we are asking you to open your hearts and wallets to donate to wherever your soul is leading you to. If you are touched by the homeless, find a shelter to donate to. If you are touched by hunger, donate to a food bank. If it is for animals, donate to a rescue shelter for them. Whatever it is, give what you can because you can. If you cannot donate money, but have some time, donate your time. If you don’t have money or time, then donate prayers because all of us know how prayers are still heard and are still answered. If you have a neighbor in need, help. If you are in a store and a clerk is having a rough day, smile or joke with them so you change their day. If you see someone acting out of anger, pray for courage to correct them.” She stood near Chris.

“Because of what happened yesterday, we understand that this event is being covered by reporters from across the country and internationally by the BBC. We are asking all of you to remember, ‘For God so love the world, He gave his only begotten Son’ and remember those in other parts of His world and care for all His children, no matter where they live.”

She smiled, “When you are feeling this world is too dark, remember that there are still more people walking in the light and join them. Realize the power you have to make a difference in this world and become a part of a miracle others are praying for. Thank you all for being a part of ours.” Greer turned around and David hugged her.

That is how you become part of a miracle. Doing what you can for the sake of others because you know how it feels to have little or nothing. If you know what it felt like to have someone help you heal PTSD, pass it on. Even if you only help one person, that help does not end with them. Whoever helped you, was helped by someone else, and they were helped before that. That miracle of hope spread person to person and lives were changed.

Over the last 40 years, I helped people because God guided me to search for answers and I was helped to find experts willing to teach me, even though I am no one special. I had no money, no connections to powerful people, but what I had was a strong desire to help anyone I could. Each and everyone of the people I helped, passed it on, for no other reason than they wanted to help someone else find their way out of the darkness of PTSD they had been living with. That's how miracles happen.

Chris with his therapist in Stranger Angels, The Lost Son Part Three

Chris looked down at the floor. “I don’t know how to say it. I’ve never told another person. I didn't even tell Mandy.”

Dariana leaned forward in her chair. “Whatever it is, it may be what is missing in your healing. Just close your eyes and tell me.”

Chris leaned back, closed his eyes and the memory came to life. “When I was young I wanted to become a Priest. That part I was able to talk about. It was a reoccurring dream that I never talked about before. I was in the sanctuary wearing vestments and carrying an empty challis, walking down the aisle, like the Holy procession but there was no one else inside. All the pews were empty. Instead of going up another aisle, I carried the challis out the front door. When I got outside, I was wearing a flannel shirt, T-shirt, jeans and sneakers, like I wore to school. I stood on the top step, looked down at the challis and it was full. I looked up and saw hundreds of people there. I gave Communion to all of them, and then preached on the the Parable of the Good Samaritan.”

Luke 10:30-37

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’"

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

You don't have to be Christian to do likewise. You don't have to believe in God or Jesus to do likewise. All you need to do is care about others and be willing to do what you can for the sake of others.

Like with all other books out there, these books are intended for a specific audience. Most people who do not go to church are not intended to get your body into one. They are not anti-church but are anti-hypocritical. The goal of these books is to empower survivors living with PTSD and fill them with the same things that filled me, nourished me and gave me peace with the past so that events no longer controlled me and people who hurt me, no longer had power over my life.

People in Russia risk lives to protest invasion of Ukraine

Hundreds arrested as shocked Russians protest Ukraine attack

Associated Press
By DASHA LITVINOVA

One petition, started by a prominent human rights advocate, Lev Ponomavyov, garnered over 150,000 signatures within several hours and more than 330,000 by the end of the day. More than 250 journalists put their names on an open letter decrying the aggression. Another one was signed by some 250 scientists, while 194 municipal council members in Moscow and other cities signed a third.

MOSCOW (AP) — Shocked Russians turned out by the thousands Thursday to decry their country’s invasion of Ukraine as emotional calls for protests grew on social media. Some 1,745 people in 54 Russian cities were detained, at least 957 of them in Moscow.

Hundreds of posts came pouring in condemning Moscow’s most aggressive actions since the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Vladimir Putin called the attack a “special military operation” to protect civilians in eastern Ukraine from “genocide” — a false claim the U.S. had predicted would be a pretext for invasion, and which many Russians roundly rejected.

Tatyana Usmanova, an opposition activist in Moscow, wrote on Facebook that she thought she was dreaming when she awoke at 5:30 a.m. to the news, which she called “a disgrace that will be forever with us now.”

“I want to ask Ukrainians for forgiveness. We didn’t vote for those who unleashed the war,” she said.
read more here 

Global News

Russia Attacked Ukraine

 

CNN Live Updates

Readers of Wounded Times are around the world, including Russia and Ukraine. The people of Ukraine are in my prayers and so are the people of Russia that they open their eyes and see evil for what it is. This is an evil act committed against people who only wanted to determine their own futures peacefully. Most of the world are not blaming you for what your leader decided to do because we know you live in fear of his wrath. The question is, what will stop him when he wants more?

The Lost Son and Me

Wounded Times

Kathie Costos

February 23, 2022

When I created this image of me, I was trying for something that looked more like an elf. It didn't work but I got a big kick out of it and decided to keep it. It made the point I was trying to make, that although my wrinkles, scars on my face, bags under my eyes and graying hair, make me appear to be mean, I am far from it. The thing is, people who know me, know what I am all about, and know my character, don't need convincing about that. Only strangers do.

When I wrote The Lost Son, people in my life saw parts of me in the main character. Christopher Papadopoulos is mostly the male version of me.

The scars on his body were reminders of what he survived but the scars in his soul were reminders of why he didn’t want to anymore. Chris Papadopoulos was tired of waiting for his life to get better while he grew more bitter. Tired of paying the price for covering suffering while working as a report for an LA newspaper. Tired of the seven years he survived the bomb blast that ripped through his body while covering the war in Afghanistan. Tired of watching all he had erode like the fire escape from his window.

Seven years was long enough. He sat on his bed with a gun in his hand while a war between hope and despair kept him from lifting the gun to his head. He gave up and went to the bar figuring that if he got drunk enough, he wouldn’t have to think about anything much longer.

Chris thought everyone he knew burned down the bridges between them and him. He couldn’t see he was the one with all the matches and his friends were trying to find the firehose. Chris was dismissing the fact he had PTSD. He was right about one thing. Seven years was too long for him to be suffering instead of healing, but God had other plans for him. That night, Chris was sent on a mission to save himself and millions of others when he discovered a secretive society changing the world one soul at a time.

This is for the "churchless" children of God so you will know, that miracles do not come from a church, but they come from God.

Like Chris, I survived an attempted murder when my first husband came home from work one night and decided to beat me. He almost killed me. He stalked me, just like Chris's wife did to him.

Chris wanted to become a Priest in the Greek Orthodox church, so did I but, as a female, that was never going to happen. Later in life I was told I missed my calling and should have converted to another denomination they would let me preach. I became a Chaplain instead. My church does not support women in ministry, so I felt as if there is no place for me there.

Chris didn't know he had #PTSD and thought he would just get over it. I thought the same thing too. After all, I had devoted 40 years of research, writing and helping other people discover how much power they did have and nothing to be ashamed of as survivors of whatever caused it. The problem is, just like Chris, I turned it into a contest that I didn't want to win. So many others over the years, had it a lot worse than I had it. My panic attacks, mood swings, flashbacks and nightmares, only came to life when I heard the sound of a muscle car, because that was what my ex-husband drove. 

Like Chris never read anything about someone like himself, I never read anything about anyone like me. I survived over 10 events beginning at the age of 5. I saw two therapists and neither of them diagnosed PTSD. I dismissed what I was going through because it didn't happen all the time and did not rob me of a good, happy life.

Chris wanted to become a reporter. I always wanted to be a writer. When Chris started to heal he began to write a book to help others heal too. He wanted them to be able to read about people just like them so they would know they were not alone and their lives could be better. I wanted the same thing and tried through three other books, over 700 videos and countless articles on this site, as well as others. I wanted to tell the truth as much as I wanted to offer hope.

Chris spent 7 years regretting he survived because he thought everyone he knew walked away from him and God sent the suffering to him. On September 13, 2019, seven years after a bomb blast changed his life and caused the nightmarish series of events, he decided his suffering should end. So did God, but God disagreed on how that should happen.

In 13 days, he was led out of the darkness he had been living with, to enlighten the world of what was possible when miracles walk in the door, when he least expected them. Within 6 months, he wrote a book about miracles workers in a secret society of Chaplains and a miracle worker named Mandy living in a cabin in Gabriel New Hampshire. As for me, I wrote 3 books in 6 months because I prayed for a new way to say what I've been saying for 40 years. No one should choose to stay in darkness when the road has been cleared to make it into the light of God's love, even without a church.

Most of the people I helped all these years, believe in God and Jesus, but no longer felt they belonged in a church where they would be accepted. These books are for people like me. It is important that they see what is in the Bible and the beauty of it without feeling as if someone wants to beat them over the head with the Bible they refuse to read, instead of emulating what Jesus said His followers should actually be.

The books are on Amazon, Kindle and Paperback

Are You A Stranger Angel?

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 19, 2022

Part three of The Lost Son, Stranger Angels

2022 began with a new mission for Chris and his friends. In the process of writing a new book, Chris wanted to address the traumas that happened when some of his friends were young to give hope to others living with abusive parents and bullies. He also had to find closure for the abuse he survived in LA.

Dreams were haunting him and grew stronger. He kept his promise to go into therapy for PTSD and finally had to admit the thing he had been hiding all along.

From Stranger Angels

“Remember, we didn’t want to talk about anything outside the house. Anyway, once they got her into bed, we were sitting in the kitchen and they were talking about how they rationalized it by things that happened to them. How they just forced themselves to get over.” Bill saw the shocked look on the others. “Don’t look at me like that. All of you did the same thing. You thought just like I did, that you’d just get over it and you waited.”

Chris said, “I know I did and it just got worse. I have to tell you that if I knew how many others had PTSD just from living, and not just from combat, I would have gone into therapy a long time ago. I had no way to know it was too often part of surviving. I’m just wondering why your Dad didn’t connect what happened to Brenda to what happened in Vietnam?”

“Don’t get me wrong but, the only way I can explain it is, since he understood so little about it, it was almost like a contest in his mind. He got over it the first time, the second time and the third time. He couldn’t just get over it the fourth time. It was too much. God must have agreed because after he got wounded, the docs discharged him and sent him home. The thing is, he said his wounds weren’t bad enough to be discharged. He just knew somehow, they knew he needed to get out.” 

“So he thought Brenda should get over it too?”

“Pretty much.” Bill took a swig of beer. “See the thing is, no one they knew talked about any of this either. When we went to Afghanistan and Iraq, that was all anyone was talking about back home, but we didn’t talk to each other about it. I didn’t talk to David and he sure as hell wasn’t gonna tell me since he was the strongest and bravest of all of us.” He looked at David and he was nodding his head agreeing. “Folks back home pretended that PTSD and suicides only happened to our generation and only because of war. Everyone else was being ignored, like veterans like my Dad. Even he didn’t connect Vietnam to PTSD until I was diagnosed and I was explaining it to him.” 

“I know I tried to pass it off too. Like I’d just get over it. I saw what you and David went through and that you guys had it a lot worse than I did. Now I get it. I turned it into a contest too.”

David agreed, “It’s easy to do. I did it too but it was a contest I didn’t want to win. Maybe that’s why I was fighting a losing battle until I met Mandy. I don’t know but I do know, she didn’t just save my life, she gave me a reason to live.”

Greer nodded her head, “So did I. I was a tough Black MP. Admitting I needed help was the last thing I was ready to do. The stupid thing was, I had no problem asking for backup when I needed it doing my job. I had no problem trusting the other MPs with watching my back but I had a huge problem trusting them with what was going on with me. The crazy thing was, until a few months ago when we got all that publicity, I had no idea how many others I served with were going through the same thing and thinking the same way I did. Like, we could trust them with our lives but couldn’t bring ourselves to trust them with our thoughts and struggles.”

The purpose of this series is to let you know you are not stuck suffering with PTSD and give you a way to fuller, happier life.

Studies show that suicide risk is higher in persons with PTSD. Some studies link suicide risk in those with PTSD to distressing trauma memories, anger, and poor control of impulses. Further, suicide risk is higher for those with PTSD who have certain styles of coping with stress, such as not expressing feelings. (PTSD VA)

The other thing I hope you take away from these books is the fact that you are human and while it may seem as if no one will understand what you're going through, ask the other 15 million people in the country joining the PTSD club every year that no one wants to be a member of. They may not understand what combat did to you, but they sure as hell understand what living and surviving did to them.

If you don't try to fight PTSD alone, then you learn how vital it is to have help to heal. You also find the need to help others heal too and you become a Stranger Angel!

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
Hebrews 13:2