New seasons

On my morning walk yesterday I became keenly aware of one season slowly turning into another. It felt different...the lighting, the smells, the air. Summer is bidding its farewell as fall is quietly making its presence known.

I often have a hard time with the passing of each of the seasons because it feels that my life is slipping through my fingers along with each one. Time has a way of sneaking past and suddenly a week, months and years have come and gone.

And it really does feel like it all happens in the blink of an eye.

Seasons come and go, continually changing our lives, and often in an unobtrusive way so we barely notice. We walk through seasons of heartache and struggles, joy and fulfillment, life and death. And with each season comes the inevitable cycle of budding, blooming, dying and lying dormant for periods of time. But always and forever there is a constant in our lives...Jesus Christ.

We can have the assurance that even as the seasons sneak past us and life moves too swiftly stealing away time, that we have an Eternity to look forward too where all concept of time will mean nothing. There will be no more pain, tears or sorrow...only rejoicing and continually praising of our Father.

So for now as I sit by my open window feeling the morning air shifting into the coolness of fall, I will remember to enjoy every moment of here and now, while continuing to count my blessings.

#151 a cup of warm coffee to gently nudge the sleep from my eyes

#152 the hum of the dishwasher

#153 seeing my son off for his first official day of training for his new job

#154 the ring on my finger which signals a new season about to begin

#155 morning walks to strengthen both body and spirit

#156 cleaning and sorting in preparation for moving in three months

#157 sitting and laughing together with her sons

#158 heart felt apologies and coming together again

#159 always just enough money provided just when needed

#160 looking into his eyes and feeling contentment

May you all find something to be grateful for today and may you savor each moment of your life.

Blessings,

Amy

Not many words...

I don't really have a lot of words today for a post....some days are just like that, don't you think?

We sit and ponder, pray, contemplate, pray, remember and pray some more. Some days don't need words, just thoughtfulness.

So, in spite of my lack of written words I will continue to be grateful for all that I have in my life.

#141 cool early morning breezes through open windows

#142 colorful hanging plants to greet me as I step outside

#143 the smell of freshly brewed coffee upon waking that my son made

#144 her son back safe and sound after a long weekend youth group trip

#145 the opportunity to teach childbirth classes again

#146 God's provision over and over again

#147 new skills that allow her more job opportunities as she seeks employment

#148 air conditioning in her car as summer suddenly appears bringing hot temperatures

#149 the safety of a friend and her family after a fire destroys their home

#150 a healthy relationship

What are you grateful for today?

Blessings,

Amy

Living for the moment

Living in the moment has never been easy for me. I am one to look far ahead with fret and worry. Always wondering how I will get through tomorrow instead of focusing on today.
After a tragic accident last month that took the life of my son's dear friend and left my son with emotional scars, I am learning to seize the day and live in the moment. The words spoken by the pastor on that somber, sorrowful day that a young life was laid to rest still ring in my ears..."seize the day." And that is how my son's friend had lived his short life...taking each moment and living it to the fullest.

Over this past holiday weekend I had the wonderful opportunity of not only celebrating my mother's 80th birthday, but introducing my family to a very special person in my life. And as the weekend drew to a close I started finding myself looking to the approaching week and fretting over all that would need to be done once I was back home. Then I suddenly remembered to seize the day and live in the moment, because truthfully, it is all we have.
Right here, right now, right this moment.

So I will count my blessings and pour out gratitude for all that God has given me, no matter how small or trivial it may seem.

131 celebrating 80 years with my mother

132 sunshine breaking through the clouds

133 first road trip with her sweetheart

134 bills paid

135 money discovered in a coat pocket

136 clean clothes warm from the dryer

137 sunburned faces back from a fun-filled weekend

138 the opportunity to fulfill a passion

139 the smell of blueberry bagels

140 holding hands while talking about the future



What are you grateful for today? Seize the day, live in the moment and give praise to God for the life He has given you.

Blessings,

Amy

Gratitude through the tears

As my son slowly recovers from a tragic accident that occurred over spring break last week, taking the life of his best friend and injuring him, I will take this opportunity to be grateful for all God has given to me.

#121 an 18-year-old young man that touched so many lives in his short time here on this earth

#121 my son safe and sound in his own bed

#122 the coming together of a community to offer an outpouring of love and support

#123 friendships that change and grow, but never die

#124 unconditional love

#125 a new college term of classes beginning

#126 new beginnings

#127 a kitchen filled with food from caring friends

#128 enough money to pay bills

#129 spring buds bursting open the promise of new life

#130 my God who is good always and through everything

What are you grateful for today?

Blessings,

Amy

Good-byes

Andrew Roberts 1993-2011

"In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you."
~John 14:2

This was the verse for my devotional on the day my youngest son's best friend died.

What started as a spring break camping trip full of laughter and fun, turned tragic, turning the lives of three families upside down.

One boy killed.
My son badly injured.
And the third, the driver, facing possible manslaughter charges.

An accident. A tragedy.
Nothing more, nothing less.

I praise God for keeping my son safe and I pray for His comfort and peace to shower down on Andrew's parents.

Blessings,

Amy

Seasons of our lives

Just as the new spring season has arrived, so too do seasons come and go in our lives.
The seasons of our lives are in constant change. Nothing ever truly stays the same.

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace."
~Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Change is inevitable and can be good, but it can also be so hard.
Yet in the midst of change there is always one constant, one thing that never, ever changes. God.
He is the same today, yesterday and always.
And it is in Him that I can place my trust when changes occur in my life, when people come and go, and the changes hurt, causing the tears to flow and the heart to ache.

"He has made everything beautiful in its time."
~Ecclesiastes 3:11a

And through the tears I will still continue to count my blessings and be grateful for all that He has and will continue to do in my life...

#111 God's Word

#112 friendships

#113 a quiet house

#114 dinner with my boys

#115 new textbooks

#116 being cared for unconditionally

#117 shared laughter

#118 bills paid

#119 love

#120 reconnecting

What are you grateful for?

Blessings,

Amy

Gratitude of love

Yes, my heart is full of love these days. Some would venture to say it is because of a new someone in my life, and although that is certainly a big part of my smile, the love making my heart burst at the seams truly comes from knowing how much Jesus loves me.

Going through an emotionally and mentally abusive marriage for two decades left me feeling dead and bruised inside. Try as I might to be enough for someone else, I realized that I never would be. Feelings of being unlovable filled my heart and soul. Perhaps I really was incapable of loving and being loved, as was often told to me.

Yet an amazing thing happened a couple years ago as I choose to leave behind the abuse, I found love again. The most amazing, pure love. God's love.
God whispered to me constantly how beautiful, strong and capable I was through Him. He turned my tears into a smile and took the heaviness which had invaded my very being upon His own shoulders.

He gave me rest.
He comforted me.
He loved me.

I am loved and that love penetrates my very innermost being. It brings a smile to my face.

God has blessed me in so many ways. Even through the most difficult of times He has given me much to be grateful for.

#101 the ability to give thanks to God for all He has done and continues to do in my life

#102 His most genuine and amazing love

#103 my job no matter how mundane which provides for me and my boys

#104 a second chance at love

#105 friends that stand beside her and encourage her through all of the hard times

#106 raindrops and sunshine intermingling together

#107 another birthday to celebrate

#108 too much to do each day

#109 the hum of the dryer resounding through the quietness of the house

#110 a beautiful life

No matter where you are today or where you've been or where your journey is taking you, can you see the blessings? Won't you count with me all that the Lord brings into your life, no matter how small.
What are you grateful for today?

Blessings,

Amy

Doing the hard thing

"But I'm so afraid," I say, "I just want it to be over as quick and simple as possible."

I like the easy road. I've always been a peacemaker, trying to make everything easy. After all, then I don't have to really deal with it. I don't like making waves.
I just want the hurt to end and I will, as I always have, do whatever it takes. I want it all over and if taking the easy way out will make it happen, then I'll do it.

My attorney gently encouraged me the other day to remember that "God sometimes asks us to step out and do the hard thing."

The easy road may give us less blisters, fewer obstacles to maneuver around and possibly less chance of falling, but the easy road often does not allow us to become stronger and grow in the way that the Lord would have us.
Doing the hard thing, stepping out in faith, means relying on God to lift us up and make us strong. It can be scary, but we are not to have a spirit of fear.

A pastor once told me that I was putting my fear in the wrong place. Placing our fear in man instead of God is backward and not what our Lord wants from us.

My prayer would be for all of us who have tough choices to make and hard paths to travel to remember that God will take our sufferings, our trials and troubles, and transform them into joy. He will walk beside us through it all even when all around us fall away. He will not leave us nor forsake us.

As I step out off of the easy path and choose to do the hard thing today, I will continue to count all the blessings in my life.

#91 waking up in a warm bed

#92 warm, clean clothes fresh from the dryer to fold

#93 a job to go to this day

#94 people that surround me with love and acceptance

#95 God's continual provision

#96 two sons that continue to grow into young men and yet remain boys in need of motherly love

#97 God's word to refresh me and revive me when the road becomes too long and hard

#98 warm coffee on a cold, cloudy day

#99 an internship as a medical assistant

#100 love that surrounds me and keeps me going each and every day

May you continue to count your blessings no matter what hard thing you have in your life. And may God give you His strength to step off the easy path and do whatever hard thing He has for you.

Blessings,

Amy

Why so long?

"God will always give what is right to his people who cry to him night and day, and he will not be slow to answer them."
~Luke 18:7

The last two years of my life have taken me on quite a journey. Traveling paths laid out before me that just seemed impassable at times and marked with much heartbreak and sadness.
Yet while navigating those paths I found strength, courage and mercy. Not within myself, but outside of myself.

When everything was yanked out from under me, the Lord said to follow Him. He showed me that I had nothing else and He would not abandon me nor hurt me. Only He could truly set me free.

"In my anguish I cried to the Lord, and he answered by setting me free."
~Psalm 118:5

One night as I lay sobbing in my bed in the early morning hours, I picked up my bible and opened to the verse above. How I had cried out to the Lord for years in anguish, in emotional pain, in desperation. He had heard me.

Why did it take so long though?

My devotion this morning really spoke to this. The suffering is so real for so many people. Broken marriages, foreclosures, unemployment, and the list goes on.

"Why does God wait until the money is gone? Why does he wait until the sickness has lingered? Why does he choose to wait until the other side of the grave to answer the prayers for healing?
Though you hear nothing, he is speaking. Though you see nothing, he is acting. With God there are no accidents. Every incident is intended to bring us closer to him."
~excerpt from A Gentle Thunder

I don't know why it seems the Lord doesn't answer us, I don't know why He appears silent when we cry out to Him.
Or does He answer us? Does He speak to us?

When it was darkest and it seemed that all was lost, and I would never be able to go on, the Lord whispered, "wait on Me and trust."
I did.

I learned to wait for Him and to listen for Him. And an amazing thing happened...I heard Him and in His timing He worked in my life in ways I would never have imagined. Some of the ways He chose to work in my life were painful, certainly not seeming to be from the Lord. Why would He make me wait so long and then bring one trial after another?
Because I believe he knew how hot the fire needed to be for me to trust Him completely and to help refine me.

Today is full of good things compared to almost two years ago when the hardest journey of my life began. I am still being refined by the Lord though and continue to see trials in my life, but I will until the day I leave this earth.

In the meantime, I will continue to count my blessings and be grateful for what the Lord brings into my life.

#81 a warm cup of coffee to wake my sleepy self

#82 just enough money to pay the mortgage another month

#83 morning fog to signal a sunny day ahead

#84 warm towels fresh from the dryer

#85 God's provision just when needed

#86 a job that is perfect to work around my school

#87 my tattered bible which contains on its pages my walk with the Lord over the years

#88 love that crept in one day when I was trying hard to avoid it

#89 returning health to a child that has been sick a long time

#90 an opportunity to journal my thoughts and give thanks to our Lord

What are you grateful for today?

Blessings!

Amy