Tag Archives: blessings

Thankfulness and Blessings

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Today has been a good day….but also an exhausting day (so this post may be a short one). Today has been a sad day as I leave this place….but also a joy filled day as I look forward to the future and look at the blessings the homes and families of DLC have been in my life. Today has been a day where I have felt loved but it also has been a day reflecting on the blessings this place has been to me (as well as I have been to them).

This place has wrapped me in their love and grace the last six years. Together we have been “christ-bearers” for each other. (My colleague preached this awesome sermon about being “christ-bearers” today…and if you haven’t guessed he didn’t preach on the assigned texts for the day. He focused today’s worships all around “service.”) This place has prepared me to follow the Holy Spirit’s calling and has prepared me to serve at First in Minot. I am so very thankful for all they have taught me.

Today DLC had this wonderful going away celebration for me. I was incredibly humbled by the cards and gifts that people gave me. I am still trying to take in the words of some of those cards. And I’m still trying to take a hold of it in my heart and mind tonight. The church presented me with this gorgeous wall hanging that says “Family and then underneath that it has the text from Joshua that says “For me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” They also had an inscription placed under the picture as well.

I am incredibly humbled by how much I have been blessed by the homes and families of this place. Tonight I am so very thankful for each and every one of those homes and families. Tonight I am thankful for all they have taught me. Tonight I am thankful for the love and grace they have always shown me these last six years.

And tonight I still feel wrapped in their love and prayers which will go with me as I follow the Holy Spirit’s calling.

Written on My Heart

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Today began the beginning of my last week at my current call. I chose to preach on two texts that have been engrained into our very being at that call over these last six years. I preached on Deut 6:4-9 and Micah 6:8. I knew that the likelihood of me shedding tears was extremely high so I stashed a box of Kleenex under the pulpit. Good thing too because tears were definitely shed.

After worship several people came up to me and gave me a hug because they are not going to be there next Sunday for my last Sunday. One hugged me and was like you’ve been here since my boys were little. So very true!

Another one was like you didn’t have to make your sermon so sad. That was not my intention but how do you recap 6 wonderful years in just 7-10 minutes? Impossible I say! :p Maybe not impossible but definitely difficult!

I’m thankful for this dear place that has blessed me in so many ways. They have written on my heart God’s love and their love and that love will always go with me no matter where I go!

As one of my friends reminded me on FB today, tears mean you care and they care and life together has been good! Tonight I go to bed feeling blessed; ready to spend this next week sharing one last time with these dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

For without them I wouldn’t be the woman leader I am today! They have watched me grow and shaped me into who I am today!!

“What If Healing Comes Through Tears”

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“What if healing comes through tears…” Driving home from a meeting at church tonight, I heard these words as the music blared from my speakers. I’ve heard these words many times. These words are from Christian artist Laura Story’s song “Blessings.” But for some reason, these words caught me more than ever tonight.

Maybe they caught me more than ever because  I am in the midst  of a transition; only 12 days left at my current call. Time has gone so fast. And the goodbyes are so very difficult to say. Tonight I was at church for my last Education committee meeting. They brought goodies to the meeting because it was my last meeting. I was touched by their simple gesture! And realized that this was yet another goodbye.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am Miss Emotional. I mean come on, I’ve been known to cry at Hallmark commercials. But tonight as I was listening to these words from Laura Story’s song, I found myself realizing that perhaps tears are one of my gifts…that tears are a way for me to express my emotions and to heal. Perhaps the tears I have been shedding these last several weeks and that will be shed over the next 12 days are a way for me to say goodbye; to prepare for this new adventure but also these tears are God’s way of helping me heal.

And perhaps tears aren’t such a bad thing after all…

September Blessings…

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Sitting outside on my patio; enjoying this cool crisp September night and watching the lightning in the sky! So thankful for this day as we’ve celebrated Labor Day but even more thankful for my amazing family and friends as I celebrated another year of life! Hard to imagine that 34 years ago today my mama was in labor with me on Labor Day Monday!! Love that woman to pieces!

I’ve been so blessed in my life with terrific friends and family! I wish I got to see a lot of you even more than I do!! So thankful for you all and feeling extremely overwhelmingly loved tonight! Thanks dear readers and friends!!

B L E S S E D!

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Have you ever met someone and felt kismet/peoria immediately? You know what I’m talking about…one of those people that the moment you meet them you feel like you’ve known them FOREVER! Before the Gathering, a dear Pastor friend of mine has been trying to connect me with his youth person. He was like, “I just think you two would get along great.” At the Gathering, we were able to connect via phone but werent sure if we would be able to meet in person. However due to rainy weather and my group wanting to hang out at the hotel, I was able to run away for a brief time. I found her and we hit it off immediately. We stood and talked for like twenty minutes or so! It was crazy because I felt so comfortable around her and just feel like Ive known her forever! She is like a sister to me already and we have only known each other a week. On the busrides home, we found each other texting each other and talking. I’ve met some pretty awesome people in my life and when I met them I felt so at peace, so full of kismet and they became and are still some of my closest and best friends. I have a feeling this new friend and I will be friends for a LONG TIME TO COME! So blessed to have her in my life! I can’t even begin to describe how amazing I feel about this friendship! God, thank you for the wonderful blessings in my life!

New Year’s Eve 2011

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It’s New Year’s Eve 2011! Once again I find myself just chillin’ at home….and somehow Im ok with that! 🙂 My Dad and I had a nice NYE dinner tonight. C was working so I was Dad’s date for the night! LOL! We had shrimp, prime rib, potatoes, and green beans! It was yummy! Then C came home and we watched Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin Eve on tv! So super exciting….LOL!

What word would you use to describe 2011? For me, it’s blessed! Blessed to meet new friends, blessed to spend time with family and friends, Blessed to serve a congregation I love, Blessed to have such great colleagues in ministry, blessed, blessed, blessed!

And as I look towards 2012, I find myself thinking about what my hopes are. I continue to hope to find my Mr. Right and start a family. Im so ready and I know it will happen when I least expect it but it’s so much easier said than done. I hope to save more money. I hope to spend more time with my family and friends. I hope that they find a cure for cancer. I hope that those that are battling cancer are able to beat it. What are your hopes for 2012?

Happy New Year my dear friends and readers!
May your 2012 be filled with many blessings!

2011 Blessings and 2012 Hopes Friday Five

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As you look back over 2011 share 5 blessings, they can be as grand or as simple as you like,if you year has been like mine they are probably a mixture!

1. Continuing to be blessed by the people and congregation I serve.
2. Attending and meeting some amazing new people/friends at the Lutheran Academy of the Rockies
3. Being able to spend time with my beloved family and friends
4. Finding a writing group at the local library that has helped me with my passion of writing
5. Simply just being blessed beyond my imagination throughout the year

As you look towards 2012 share 5 hopes- again, anything goes!

1. That I will finally meet my Mr. Right and be able to start a family
2. That the 7 youth going to the ELCA National Youth Gathering will be blessed by their experience.
3. That I might get to reconnect and visit with some WTS friends
4. That my life will simply continue to be blessed and enriched by wonderful friends and family
5. That I might win a poetry/writing contest

Happy New Year dear readers and friends!

Seriously?

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Something has really been on my mind since earlier today. I think part of the reason it’s on my mind is because it truly fits in with my last post and the conversation my colleague and I had. I also think it has been on my mind because of some fb posts I saw this evening. As many of you have probably heard or seen on their show, “19 and Counting,” the Duggars are expecting child #20. Now I am the first to acknowledge and thank God for God’s blessings, but I wonder about their actions. I understand that they feel like they will birth as many children as God will bless them with. But this is where my mind goes balastic and starts asking some pretty serious questions.  I know many friends who have struggled to have children. I also have many friends who have struggled but finally had children. And then as a single woman, I still feel called to “motherhood.” In each of these cases, I wonder if God would put these dreams so deeply on our hearts if they weren’t meant to be. Don’t we deserve these blessings as much as the next person? As a single woman, dont I have a right to be blessed with a child if that is what I am feeling called too? (I truly do feel called to “motherhood” and so how do I wait, do I take action, or what?—Im not planning on making any moves NOW but just thinking about what it might mean for my life later on). The last pregnancy the Duggars had resulted in some health issues for the mother Michelle. And their daughter was born premature. So I find myself asking, “Is it safe for her to give birth?” Or is it best to count their blessings and just live their life; why chance it?

Just my thoughts tonight. I hope they arent too disjointed..It’s late and late night blogging and a busy day dont always make a lot of sense! 🙂 Goodnight my friends!

“O Lord God, You Have Called Us….”

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“O Lord God, you have called us, your servants, to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, on paths we have yet to discover, through perils and joys unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, moving where your Spirit calls and empowers us, And knowing that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen” These words are words that I just need to hear and be reminded of sometimes! I love my job and in no way are these words geared towards that. I am just saddened how sometimes people treat other people. Let’s just say tonight…I am clinging to these words. But I am also continuing to choose to focus more on the blessings in my life. Today those blessings are as follows:

++ Getting to have lunch with two great ladies and one of their grandsons
++ Coloring,playing and spending time with one of my favorite three year olds
++ Friends telling me that they are thankful for me (Thanks S!)
++ Sharing my writing with others
++ A Salted caramel mocha over a great meeting with wonderful colleagues

Why???????

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Something really struck me tonight…As I was perusing my Facebook page, I found yet another friend who is engaged and got engaged in the last week or so. Now dont get me wrong, I am so 100 percent happy for them! However I still find myself yearning, wondering, and yearning some more to find my Mr. Right. Two of these friends found their spouses at seminary, I find myself asking the question “Why didnt it happen for me there?” I know that is a silly question to ask but its honest! I know that I am not the only one who wonders and yearns for this type of relationship either. I am thankful that my good friend L still is single! But why isn’t it happening for me? I know and trust in God. However at the age of 33, my biological clock continues to tick. I love spending time with children and hope to have mine someday but what if that doesn’t happen for me? I have so many friends who tell me that they are praying for someone to come into my life to bless me and I trust in their prayers and God’s promises. Yet it’s still so easy to yearn for what so many of my friends have; to yearn for that one thing that I deeply desire more than anything in the world. So today I am choosing to continue to trust, to continue to believe that it will happen at some point at point, to continue to be a blessing to others and in return hopefully to be blessed by someone else and eventually find the man God has in store for me!

And so I am going to leave you with the blessings in my life from the last several days:
+ Waking up to a little one saying “Mom, the ding ding woke me up.” I seriously was laying in my bed in the other room laughing and with a smile on my face
+ Spending time with wonderful colleagues in ministry
+ Having a member of the church leave me a beautiful message on FB
+ Playing the card game “Unpredictable”
+ A Child’s laugh
+ The return of fall and all my fave shows

What are you thankful for today?