A Good Night's Sleep

Psalm 4:8 I will lie down in peace and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.

A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book.~Irish Proverb

I used to have so much trouble sleeping. I was in an abusive marriage in which we also had money problems. If I asked doctors why I could not sleep and why I hurt all over every minute of the day, they would just look at my circumstances, write out prescriptions that were highly addictive, and refer me to a psychiatrist to prescribe anti-depressants. End of matter. Maybe for them but not for me. In 2008, when the economy starting going bad, it caused a lot of people to have sleepless nights. Businesses were failing, incomes were falling, jobs were vanishing and the threat of foreclosure deprived many of a good night's rest.

All across the country, people who had been doing everything right: avoiding debt and living frugally, saving regularly and investing awoke one morning to find almost everything gone. There was a loud cry from sea to sea of unfairness. It is just not fair that this is happening to me when I tried so hard to do what I should. Some who know about this psalm of David still sleep soundly even while facing difficulties.

This psalm may have been written by King David as he experienced unfairness. His son was trying to take the king's throne for himself. This psalm is a prayer, a rebuke to enemies and of his testimony. David declared that he trusted in the Lord and could sleep in peace. End of matter.

At times, if you are normal, you have walked through some dreadfully dark valleys. Our soldiers, for example. Do you think they sleep very soundly when on or near the battlefield? We should pray each and everyday for them. For their constant protection and that despite the horrors around them, they might still be at peace. Regardless of the circumstances, we are promised that Christ is walking right there in our midst so that we never walk alone.

For our good health, we all need a certain amount of deep sleep every night to revive our bodies and minds. If you go long periods without good sleep, it can seriously negatively affect your health.

Whether you prefer the psalmist advice or the Irish Proverb is up to you.

I too suffered the loss of my job in 2009. Besides being humiliating, my severance package only went so far and soon the insurance benefits were gone. I kept one eye on the calendar and one on the computer as I watched time creep up on that last severance check. But for a long time—much before this layoff, I had been searching for work at home. Talk about crazy. Just look into one business “solution” on the Internet and you will wake up the next morning with your in box full, your scam protector full and overwhelmed by every kind of questionable opportunity.

Since I had been playing around with this for a while, I could quickly discern what were definite scams, might be scams and those that looked promising enough to risk opening the flood gates. I was literally signing up with a pills and potions selling type business when I received a tremendous invitation and explanation of an Internet marketing business that indeed had those 50-60 K income stories, but it got past those “eye-catchers” and explained their business.

I literally ran from the pills and potions sellers and jumped on board what appeared to be an amazing business that actually lived up to its claims. BUT this so called successful business also involved intensive ongoing Internet marketing training. You needed input, determination, willingness to work hard and finally, you had to follow directions or I should say follow the leader because that was at the heart of this system. If you could follow the leader like we did when we were kids and put some concerted effort into your business, you were told you would succeed and be able to sell anything to anybody. You could stay with the business and build, or use this system to bolster a faltering business all the while getting an education in the Internet marketing arena.

As for those with few computer skills: Remember, I said follow the leader? In no time at all, you would be involved in all the social media, doing email campaigns, writing articles and if you are overwhelmed by those few items, then that is good because the program can be overwhelming. You are told that upfront.

All the while you were to have a mentor to help you, a forum you could also seek help from, and contact with live persons for immediate help you might need. Unlike so many of the scam businesses out there, you are never abandoned, you have choices as to how much money you want to involve in your business which is what this will become—your business, not a hobby. It is possible to find an Internet marketing business to help pick up the pieces of your failing brick and mortar business but it takes time and a lot research to find what will help you and most people do not have that much time which is why so many people get ripped off by internet marketing business promises.

You know that we have all heard the saying: 'If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.' It takes a great deal of effort and time that most people do not have in order to find an online business that works. I wish I could tell you this one was it for me but it was not and I lost a lot of money to them which I truly wish I could regain and in which I had never heard of this so called carbon copy business that virtually promises you success that will help you sleep better or your tired mind and body could be refreshed.

No happy ending to this blog. Live and learn is a hard pill to swallow when you have put a lot of money into something you truly believed would improve your life and finances but ends up being no different from the fly by night companies. They just use better internet capabilities to make themselves look like a classy system that could help you have more to put into your pocket than into their pockets lined with the efforts of many people like me that gave it my all--literally--and did not get out until it was too late and vast sums of money could just be sitting in a savings account earning little interest instead of going to a company that claimed to be the answer to all my financial problems.