After the First Year Post 3 August 2017
Summer vacation is over for many of the kids in our area this time of year. I go to the store and see parents with their children buying new school supplies and new clothes. I hear giggling teenage girls talking about seeing their friends again and the teachers they got. On Facebook, I see all the posts friends have shared of their little ones getting ready for the first day of school. My heart grows heavy. We have some neighbors who have 5 children. Very polite and sweet kids. The two younger girls have stolen a piece of my heart. The other day they came over to my house to watch a...
Read MoreBeauty from Ashes Post 5 August 2017
Turning to God in all situations has been a life long journey. A journey that has changed who I am, what I believe about God and knowing Who He is through experience. Years ago, I read “When Bad Things Happen to Good People”, by Rabbi Harold Kushner. When his son died he continuously asked the question, “Why did God let my son die?” “Why?”, is a question I asked myself. In his book, Rabbi Kushner writes, “God does not cause our misfortunes. The painful things that happen to us are not punishments for our misbehavior, nor are they in any way part of some grand design on God’s part. Because...
Read MoreBeauty from Ashes Post 4 Aug, 2017
This I know; God is Love. All love comes from God. God wants us to have what is good for us. God wants us to live abundantly. God cares for us. Then the phone rings. Or someone knocks on the door. They speak the words you don’t want to hear. In a matter of minutes your world falls apart. What do you do with this suffering that just came uninvited into your world? This suffering that brings you falling to the floor and you think you will never survive? This heavy burden that is for all intense and purpose meaningless, pointless, and with no redemptive purpose. This trial that leaves you...
Read MoreBeauty from Ashes Post 3 Aug. 5, 2017
Don’t Waste Your Suffering As I read and pondered Matthew 10:18 this morning, I noticed something that I hadn’t before. God is so good to me. Isn’t it wonderful that God’s Word is alive so that every time I read it, I am given new insight into verses that I’ve read hundreds of times before. “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves. But beware! For you will be handed over to the courts and will be flogged with whips in the synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. BUT, this will be your...
Read MoreCoping with Grief Post 7 August 20
“Have you considered writing?” This question was asked in a grief support group one evening. The facilitator of the group told us that writing was a wonderful way to help with the grieving process. I smiled softly to myself because I have been journaling most of my life. I had always journaled so it was natural that I would journal during the grieving process when Russell, Shawna, Tylee and Blake passed away. Journaling gives me an outlet to pour my heart out with the pain of grieving. Writing can sometimes help me sort out my feelings and emotions. Writing helps me slow down and ponder each...
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