SOMETIMES YOU JUST NEED TO LOL…

Sometimes you just have to say… I love you.

DAY 38 (2015)

Forgiveness is like the sun reflecting on the water. It makes everything it touches sparkle.
(Picture by Lisa R. Everglades National Park)

Remember being a kid? Life was simpler, we didn’t worry about our choices, and there was always someone older and wiser to rub our backs and calm all our fears. We called that person mom, but really deep down we thought she was a super hero. In my family moms rule. The aunts out number the uncles by a lot. The Smith women are known for their strength, their resilience, and the eyes in back of their heads (I swear it’s true). Today I made a sad trip across the border so that my mom could spend sometime with another mom. Her sister. My Aunt is sick and doesn’t not have many days left. This moment has made me think about life, and how for most of our lives we somehow manage to take this one person (our super hero) for granted. Yet she still loves us unconditionally and still gives us the best if herself. I can’t imagine the pain my cousin is feeling right now, but I can clearly see her love demonstrated. She gives this love because she received it in unlimited abundance. She loves her mom, because her mom first loved her. Life is fragile it ends as quickly as it begins. And even if we live for a hundred years it feels like such a short period of time. Love those around you with unconditional abandon. Love them so that they can love others. Love them because you don’t know how long you have them for. Love them because you don’t want to miss a minute. Today I was reminded of God’s unconditional love as I watched my cousin lovingly and selflessly take care of her mom. The lesson: in this life we need to love and we need to share that love with others.
“We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

So what am I thankful for today? Love and family.

DAY 21 (2015)

We can’t do it alone, we all need help on the journey.
(Picture taken at House Of Hope, S. Korea)

So I got the best compliment ever today from a friend. Our friendship has had ups and downs and for a while, we weren’t as close. But a little while ago we repaired the rift in our friendship and took steps toward regaining our closeness. Today we were texting back and forth and she said the coolest thing, I think anyone has ever said to me. She told me that God had used me to help put her back on the right path. Now to some reading this it may not be a big deal, but let me explain why it is. I don’t always feel like I am doing the right thing, or saying the right thing. Especially with this friend, because I felt like I let her down a lot in the friendship. The beauty is that God restored it, and even in the midst of my insecurities and not doing it right, she still was able to find a “good”. After that text I realized God really does redeem our mistakes, He gives us beauty for ashes, and restores what the locust has taken away.

“The LORD says, I will give you back what you lost to the swarming locusts, the hopping locusts, the stripping locusts, and the cutting locusts. It was I who sent this great destroying army against you” (Joel 2:25).

So what I thankful for today? Friendship.

SOMETIMES YOU JUST NEED TO LOL…

Yup. I wait and wait… and nothing.

DAY 8 (2015)

Just like unexpected snow in Spring. Life can throw us curve balls. When that happens we either take a swing or get hit.
(Picture by Lisa R.)

Today we had a blizzard, in Buffalo and I was not expecting it. Why? Because this morning when I drove to work it was bright and sunny, cold but not a cloud in sight. Now I am going to tell you a story about a God who sees and knows and who puts His plans in action in a such a way that blows our minds. I was hired for my job two months before I actually started working, I didn’t start working till November. In August I tired making an appointment for my mom to see a doctor before work started, however, I was unsuccessful. The earliest appointment I could get was for January (yeah, crazy I know). So in August I made an appointment for January 8th, for my mom to see her doctors. On Monday I requested to leave early to take her to her appointment. Today when I walked out to my car and saw that the snow, I was freaked out (can’t lie). But as I was driving home I realized that God knew that it was going to snow today. He also knew that it was it would be easier and safer for me to drive when the sun was out than it would be to maneuver the slick roads in the dark. He planned my safe journey home almost five months prior. I am blown away, that He cares about me that much. The irony I was so irritated at how far out the appointment I was, that I had actually thought of cancelling it, but I didn’t and today I understood why. Here’s the truth even when we don’t realize it God’s at work, and He uses even the most normal of circumstances to bring about His miracles.

“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” (Deuteronomy 3:18).

So what am I thankful for today? A God who plans ahead. 😀

DAY 7 (2015)

Don’t worry about what’s to come. Instead let God’s peace fall like snow.

Mmmm… almost forgot to post today. it was a long day, not a bad one by any stretch of the imagination, just long. This morning it snowed really bad and I was nervous about driving. But my awesome brother gave me an out when he offered to take me if I didn’t want to drive. So at 7 am I called him, woke him up and asked if his offer was still good, and it was. Yes!!! The drive was beautiful, but that is not my point of thankfulness. No, today I want to thank God for a brother who doesn’t mind getting up at seven am to take his sister to work. Even although he didn’t have to go to work. Life is lonely if we try to travel it alone. Lonely travelers are easy prey and fall quickly to the schemes of the enemy. But when we have a companion we have accountability and friendship. So thanks Jon for taking me to work, and thanks God for giving me a brother that didn’t complain about being woken up.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor” (Ecclesiastes 4:9).

So what am I thankful for today? Companions on the journey.

DAY 6 (2015)

So true!

Today we got a raise at work thanks to the state of New York. New York raised the minimum wage and thus the company I work for gave all the employees a cost of living raise. I was so blessed because while I get paid well, it has been a tight lately it took me a while to find a job when I first moved here, so I blew through my savings paying bills. When I finally started to work, I started at a deficit so to speak. I prayed asking God for financial wisdom and He placed me in a company that rewards hard work, so getting promoted is not a struggle, but then today was an extra blessing that I just didn’t see come. Here’s what I realized: God hears and He understands and in His time he gives us just the right answer.

“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20).

So what am I thankful for today? A God who hears and answers.

DAY 5 (2015)

 

As we grew each lesson helps us make better choices the next time around… learn the lesson.

Today I woke up to my car door frozen shut. Ice on my windshield and 13 degree temperatures. Yup, it was cold, really, really cold… still is. But I also woke up to clear blue skies, and brisk refreshing air. The fact that God allowed me to wake up at all is a blessing in itself. Today work didn’t go as planned. I am still learning to navigate a system that I have never used before, but today I was better at the job than I was last week. Today I felt more confident in what I was doing than I had previously. Today is when it hit, that life is a lesson and we are all called to learn and grow.  Everyday whatever trials we are going through will get a little easier to bear, a little easier to handle as we learn to navigate better. Who I am today, is not who I was this time last year (and that is a blessing). Today I feel like someone standing at the beginning, surveying the horizon and realizing that I can do and become anything I want as long as God is my guide. Today I am a billion percent thankful for the lessons I have learned and for the hardships I had to go through in order to learn them. Here’s the thing: lessons and hardships will always be there, but we have a choice, learn the lessons so we can grow to the next steps, or, don’t learn and stay right were we are… The choice is ours to make, that’s what free will is all about. Choose wisely.

“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).

So what am I thankful for today? Learning to make wise choices.

AND I QUOTE…

Let God take care of it.

Random (hopefully inspired) Thought

I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

2 Samuel 17. “So Absalom and all the men of Israel said, ‘The advice of Hushai the Architeis better than the advice of Ahithophel.’ For the Lord had purposed to defeat the good advice of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring disaster on Absalom” (Verse 14). It is a good thing to allow God to defeat “good” advice. Yesterday I was giving myself “good” advice and thankfully God defeated it. In the case of the scripture God gave Hushai favor in order to save David from his son. In our lives God will defeat our “good” advice in order to save us from ourselves. We see finitely, just what is in front of us. God sees it clear to the end. So if He thwarts our advice let Him. It is because He loves us and has a better plan.