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Personal peace and self confidence grow with each new level of family preparedness we achieve. Through careful preparation we can free ourselves from concern over the impact of world situations or personal problems such as economic collapse, drought, famine, energy crisis, illness, reduced standard of living, unemployment, war, death, or natural disasters.

In this choice land we have the greatest asset in the world in preparing for the future. We have the freedom to think, create and develop new ideas to solve the problems of an uncertain future.

There is increasing evidence today of the need to prepare for a changed way of life. Most of the last two generations in this country have never known “want.” It isn’t easy to prepare until we are convinced of the need or benefits to us personally.

Sure, to be prepared for possible emergencies we need foodstuffs basic to the preservation of life. We need wheat, powdered milk, honey or sugar, salt, maybe some peanut butter or raw peanuts, tomato juice, food supplements, seeds to plant, some beans, a little rice, corn and perhaps other grains, a little meat, dehydrated foods, candles, work clothes, and soap and water. We can go out tomorrow and buy all these things, if we have the money; and if we don’t, maybe we could sell something, or borrow the money.

However, at this point, I’m as concerned about emotional preparedness as I am about temporal preparedness. How we think about the future will have a great deal to do with how we act and feel physically. “As a man thinketh, so is he” is not a new concept.

In order to cope with the future and not be depressed, we will need all the latest tools of mind control we can get. These training techniques have come forth at a time when the world needs them most, and are being taught across the nation to businesses, colleges, industries, athletic teams, and in prisons.

I feel that if disasters and hard times come, the ones that survive will be the “elite command”-and there will be a separation of wheat and tares! Calm assurance comes from being ready to accept what comes. I have made a bold definite commitment that I, Esther Dickey, am going to be ready, if necessary, to give birth to a new way of life in dignity and peace. How? Besides the things I have stored, I have a bright mental picture of living as my grandparents did:
-Getting water from other sources than from my five domestic water faucets.
-Wearing darker clothes with white collars and accessories to keep clean easier.
-Walking, walking, walking-to church, school, music lessons, etc. (in walking shoes, not high heels or sandals).

-Raising a little meat-rabbits, chickens, a goat or calf.
-Planting food crops, harvesting them, and preserving the surplus.
-Gathering greens from the fields and ditch banks in the spring.
-Keeping warm in the winter and cool in the summer the way old timers did-in the shade of a big tree or around the stove.
-Burying our dead.
-Waging a war against rats and mice.
-Staying close to home.

But we need to envision the possibility of serious events which can result if man allows civilization to abandon its reason and balance:
-Nuclear fallout, explosions, fires, burns, hair falling out, nausea, weakness for some.
-Famine in many parts of the world.
-More people banding together for safety-some gravitating to urban areas; others leaving for a place of refuge they have prepared.
-Widespread death and destruction-of people, animals, and plants.
-Violence such as our ancestors could never conceive.
-Degradation of the human race.

With these possibilities growing more real each year, it is becoming increasingly obvious that we must truly be a prepared people.

Someone said we have grasped the mysteries of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than about peace. We know more about killing than we do about freedom-personal freedom as well as political.

I’m always thankful for the support of my husband, family and friends. With them I feel confident I can have comfort, peace, beauty, dignity and order before, during and after these experiences if they occur. Learning is not without anxiety, fears and efforts. We need to help each other learn. I want to put my arms around many people in thankfulness for their great contribution to the cause of family preparedness.

Like a duck, I seem to be paddling furiously under water in order to be calm and undisturbed on the surface when my lifestyle may change-not by choice. I’ve tried to “tell it like it is.” Hopefully my readers can get the vision of what is ahead in some areas. With additional research and preparation, none of us need fear the future. We can be a prepared people.

http://www.horizonpublishersbookstore.com/books/1219.htm