Happy 2016!!

Sisterhood of Widows S.O.W.  Psalm 126:5-6  Please share on your Facebook so that others can see my blogs and maybe help them through their grief.

2016 is just hours away!!

How are you spending tonight?  With your family?  With new/old friends?  With a new love?  With your puppy dogs or kitties?   There are all kinds of ways to spend this night, but please do not spend it alone. 

A new year can bring a flood of emotions and thoughts; a sea of regrets or a new hope of a better future.  Do you make resolutions?  I do sometimes but not a big fan of them.  I did have one that I did finally get to do.  It was fun and worth the wait since I had made it a couple of years ago. 

If you do resolutions there is one that I hope you decide to make and keep this year.  That one special resolution and hope I have for you is to spend more time in God's word.  You will find love, faith, trust, and hope for a better future and for your eternity.  I know all too well the feeling of being heartbroken and feeling despair after losing Kirk.  But I made a promise to myself that I would keep reading God's word and keep trusting Him.  I kept myself tethered to His love and promises.  Hebrews 6:17-20 NIV says, "Because God wanted to make sure the unchanging nature of his purpose was very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed with an oath.  God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.  We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf.  He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. 

You may feel overwhelmed by a flood of emotions and feel as though you are drowning.  Please do not lose hope and trust.  Just know that our Lord Jesus Christ is there for you holding out His hand to you.  Remember that He is our Savior that has walked on water. He will reach down and pull you out of that lake of despair.  Peter and the disciples witnessed first hand Jesus walking toward them on a lake that was swirling around Him.  Matthew 14:29-31 NIV we read, "When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. 'It's a ghost,' they said, and cried out in fear.  But Jesus immediately said to them: 'Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid.'  'Lord if it's you,' Peter replied, 'tell me to come to you on the water.'  'Come,' he said.  Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on water and came toward Jesus.  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink, cried out, 'Lord, save me!'  Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. 'You of little faith,' he said, 'why did you doubt."   The point I'm trying to make is that even Peter lost faith and Jesus was right there in front of him.  It's human to lose hope and faith, but just don't stay there.  Reach your hand out and call on Jesus.  He will be there every single time; waiting to pull you out of that lake of despair and hopelessness!! 

I pray that this year you will find courage and strength through Jesus to start a fresh new year.  If you haven't put your faith in Jesus, He is waiting to renew your heart and spirit.  He will extend grace and love to you!!  I want to wish every single one of you a very Happy New Year and I pray that this year you will stand tall and keep your eyes on Jesus.  I pray you keep looking up and start living the life Jesus wants you to live.  Share love, laughs, tears, and compassion with everyone you love and ones that need you!!!!

Lord I pray that this year we will become more like you every day.  I pray that we all keep our minds filled with You.  You are love and we all need more of You every single day.  In Your Precious Name I pray, Amen!!

Happy 2016!!! 

Merry Christmas!!

Immanuel = God With Us!!!

Merry Christmas!!

What a bittersweet time of year this can be for many of us.  On one hand we want to celebrate the birthday of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and on the other hand we are missing our loved ones.  Grief can be magnified during the holidays and shadow the glow of the month of December.  I know my first Christmas and New Year was hard.  I wanted to put on my festive face and enjoy the celebrations as I always had, but it wasn't in my heart to do so.  I didn't want to disappoint my family and friends, and especially my daughter Emily.  I wanted her first holiday season to go as close to tradition as possible.  Christmas morning was so hard but together her and I went on with opening gifts and eating a good breakfast.  We went to the cemetery and took a small drag car for Kirk.  He loved drag racing.  When Christmas night finally came, I was mentally and physically exhausted. 

Is this your first Christmas without your beloved?  One piece of advice I want to give you and your family and friends; give yourself permission to grieve and to take it easy.  Don't push yourself into uncomfortable or hard situations.  Maybe this is your fifth Christmas without your loved one like me, or maybe it's your 50th year!!  Whatever year or whatever situation you are in, give yourself permission to breathe and be easy on yourself.

I am also directing this advice towards divorced or single parents.  Loneliness hits all of us in different situations.  You could be grieving for a parent or a child this Christmas season.  Many of us are missing siblings, grandparents, or aunts and uncles.  Not only do I grieve for Kirk this time of year, but also for grandparents and aunts and uncles. 

My thoughts always turn to Mary this time of year for obvious reasons.  Can you imagine giving birth to Jesus, the Savior of mankind?  Matthew 1:23 NIV says, "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel which means God with us."  God is with us always, never forget that.  We are never alone on this journey of grief.  I know you feel that way sometimes, I myself have felt like I have been dropped in the middle of the desert this past week.  I remind myself that God is with me, He is with all of us.  He never changes, we do.  He never strays from our side, we choose to ignore Him. 

Jesus is THE ultimate gift that we can ever receive.  What He offers us cannot be bought or bartered.  There is no negotiation or gray area when it comes to Jesus.  You either accept Him or not; either for or against.  Jesus became flesh to live among us.  He was born as human to ultimately sacrifice Himself as the perfect lamb on that cross for our sins.  He bought us with His blood so we can be saved and spend eternity with Him in heaven.  Romans 6:23 NIV tells us, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

Will you give yourself the best gift you will ever receive?  Have you put your faith and trust in Jesus?  If not, will you think about how you want to spend your eternity?  The Bible tells us we will either spend it in heaven with Jesus or in hell where there is torment and torture.  Do you realize that for some of us this will be as close to hell as we will get here on Earth; and for some this will be as close to heaven as you will get?  Take some time and let that sink in and open a Bible and read God's word.  Start with the Book of John, most pastors will tell you to start there.  If you have not accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, give yourself the greatest gift ever and just read, learn, and ask questions. 

I will leave you a passage from Luke 1:46-50 NIV and they call it's Mary's song.  Mary didn't understand why God choose her to be the one to carry and birth Jesus, but with faith and trust in her heart she walked that path with God and wow what a journey she was blessed to walk.  I try to use that same faith and trust in my walk on this path God has me on.  Different paths but same faith and trust in Him, our Almighty.

And Mary said: My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.  From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me--holy is his name.  His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation."

Lord Jesus, thank you for coming to earth as a humble baby born in a manger.  You are God's word that walked this earth in flesh.  Your sacrifice and my acceptance assures me of an eternity with you and all of my loved ones that have gone before me.  I pray Lord that my family and friends that have not yet taken that step to accept you will consider, read, and pray about taking that most important first step.  You are the BEST GIFT I ever received and I pray others will accept your gift also.  Happy Birthday Jesus!!  In Your precious name I pray Amen!!

I will keep all of you in my prayers during this most difficult time of year.  If you have no where to go, ask around your family and friends.  They probably don't know you are alone this holiday.  If you know of anyone that will be alone, invite them along.  I am telling you that you will feel way more blessed than the person you invite. 

Merry Christmas!! 

Happy December!!

Sisterhood of Widows S.O.W.  Psalm 126:5-6  Please share on your Facebook so that others can see my blogs and maybe help them through their grief.

Happy December!!

It's December which means for a lot of us family and friend gatherings.  December is so great with all  the lights and sounds of joy.  I have always enjoyed seeing all the pretty lights that brighten up the dark of winter.  Decorating for Christmas is great, but it's a lot of hard work.  But once we have everything done and in place, it is worth the time.  We enjoy the glow from our big pretty Christmas tree.

Christmas is my favorite time of year.  I enjoy celebrating the birth of Jesus.  Such a precious baby that started from humble beginnings in a manger.  This baby came to rescue us; He came to be our Savior.  Can you imagine today thinking about a baby being on a rescue mission?  I can only imagine what was going through Mary's mind as she looked at her precious baby boy knowing that her beautiful child came to SAVE mankind. 

Luke 2:11-12 NIV says, "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."  As the Angel was saying this to the shepherds it is written that a great company of the heavenly host appeared with this angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on Earth peace to those on whom his favor rest." Luke 2:13-14 NIV.

I, for one, am ecstatic that Jesus came to Earth to rescue us.  I am happy that 25 years ago I accepted Jesus into my heart.  The day I was saved I could not have imagined how much I would need that special moment.  I can tell you that without that moment, I don't know how far I would have walked this path that I find myself on today.  I know every day that Jesus walks beside me. I know I am not alone.  Deuteronomy 31:8 NIV says, "The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."  If you take away one thing from this post, remember this verse.  He will never leave or forsake you. 

I am living proof.  I could not find joy every day or want to look for happiness.  Just knowing that He is in my corner every single second of the day encourages me to get up, brush myself off, look up and give thanks, and put one foot in front of the other. 

Will you join Jesus in His rescue mission?  I encourage you to at least think about it if you are not saved.  Jesus took the nails for all of us; He took that crown of thorns while pouring His love out to us.  He wants to have a relationship with YOU!!  YES YOU!!  He takes us just the way we are...broken and bruised with exposed scars of life. 

Something I want to suggest to the ones reading this that aren't widows or widowers.  If you know a widow or widower please check on them during the holiday season.  This time of year isn't joyful for some.  I can tell you that it's nice when people just drop a line to make sure we have stuff going on during this time of year.  It can mean so much to anyone that is hurting. 

Lord, thank You for Your rescue mission. Thank you for coming to us in human form and delivering us from our sins.  The greatest gift of all is Your grace that You poured out for me on Calvary.  Please bless everyone that is reading this and for all my family and friends.  I pray that those of us that have a hard time with this beautiful Christmas season can find joy.  In Your precious name I pray. Amen!!