SEEING THROUGH EXPERIENCE

I am reminded of a line spoken in the movie The Santa Claus; “seeing isn’t believing, believing is seeing.” When we believe in God, we begin to see how and where He is working in our lives and the lives of others. This ‘seeing’ is a byproduct of belief. Hope is a byproduct of seeing ones future through the eyes of Jesus. Staying close to God brings the byproduct of comfort. When we know who and whose we are, the byproduct is obedience and submission. The difference between seeing and SEEING is experience. It’s the difference between the head and the heart; this is only a few inches but can seem like a mile when thoughts and feelings are involved.

Yes, it matters!

Our thoughts matter; our words matter; their words matter; what we think matters; what we see matters; and what we hear matters.

I have learned about the superb seeing power of lions; they don’t see like people, they see well beyond. This is interesting to me. Another detail about lions is interesting to me. The males; with their big ROAR, sound off; in the hunt for food, while the lionesses lay in wait for the prey to run away from the roar only to become dinner, compliments of the lionesses. The prey thinks they see the way to living another day, only they are blind to reality; they are about to be done permanently. Running blindly in fear, leads to them being undone. To really SEE, would require the prey to run toward the ROAR which leads to LIFE and strength.

Show Sugi Ban is a treatment for wood that leads to it being beautiful and waterproof. The thing about this treatment is that for the wood to become beautiful and waterproofed, it is burned under high heat and a big flame. Before the wood is treated, you can see the character of the wood; however, after it is burned under high heat and a big flame the strengths and beauty of the wood is even more visible.

Zechariah 13:9 (NLT)

“I will bring that group through the fire
    and make them pure.
I will refine them like silver
    and purify them like gold.
They will call on my name,
    and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘These are my people,’
    and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”

What we have experienced in our lives matter to God! These things that we experience tend to be the lens by which we ‘see’ what we blindly believe to be danger; so we fear it and run in the other direction, not realizing that if we would trust God and run toward what we fear, we will become strong and truly LIVE with much greater SEEING ability. Through the experience of ‘feeling under the fire;’ those things that make us a masterpiece, become even more visible.

For so many years, I blindly thought that the best way to stay ‘safe’ was to run from those things that scared me because they had burned me in the past. It has been a very rewarding experience to SEE my past experiences in a new way. By running toward fears and trusting God, I have become stronger and those things of beauty that God has placed in my life have become more visible.

On July 10th; as my husband and I greeted so many loved ones who came to share love with our family in the midst of our grief over the loss of our son in a motorcycle accident, I stood where I was directed and hugged friend after friend and family member after family member. I was drained. I was tired. I was hurting. I was numb. I was existing on auto-pilot. Hour after hour passed by but it seemed like minutes. Then a friend blessed me in two ways. She offered me some of her strength so that I could keep going and the most amazing gift she gave me was the awareness to see something that; in my limited sight of the inches in front of me couldn’t see, she asked me a great question. “Can you SEE the LOVE in this place?” Truthfully, I couldn’t really see anything other than the person right in front of me. That is until I looked up and started to look around the room; I saw the line of people waiting to love on us and l saw the LOVE that God and these loved ones were pouring out on us! It was one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen. I could not SEE; until I looked at what I was avoiding, and then experienced the LOVE that God was showering on us.

Those hard times in life can serve as the refining fire that helps us to truly SEE and experience LIFE.

EMMETT’S THOUGHTS, GRAMMY’S THOUGHTS

Emmett and Grammy write a blog post.

I thought it would be fun to write a blog post with my 11 year old grandson Emmett and he agreed. He chose the topic of how reading the Bible is like building with Legos.

Emmett’s Post:

Have you ever noticed how reading the Bible is a lot like building Legos? Say I am build with Legos and I get confused on how it will work. Now say I am reading the Bible and I just started reading it and I do not understand. Once I finish reading the Bible or finish building the Lego set now I see the full picture of the Bible or Lego set.

Grammy’s Post:

Mark 10:13-16 (NIV)

The Little Children and Jesus

“¹³People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁵Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” ¹⁶And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.”

Proverbs 22:6 (RSV)

“⁶Train up a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

There’s so much love and wisdom in the Word of God. There’s so much love in the heart of a child. Legos are toys of a child that they play with for endless hours; just think of the things that we adults could build with our hearts and hands if we spent such time with God in His Word and with His Word (Jesus).

Can we come; as adults, to God with the heart of a child? Let’s build ‘Legos’ with God and see what He builds in us.

Reading Mom’s Writing

I often prompt others to journal; or as I sometimes call it, word vomit all over the page. Over the years, I have had seasons where I am really good at writing down my thoughts semi-regularly; and then there’s seasons where I don’t write anything down and regret not taking the time to let go of my thoughts onto the page. I have found writing my thoughts out to be quite releasing. The same thing happens for me when I write down all of my ‘to do’ list items on a page; I can release them and move on instead of these tasks weighing down my mind. I find writing my thoughts down can sometimes help me to process whatever it is that is rolling around in my mind. This journaling came to mind as I grabbed a book that belonged to my mom and began to reread her notes in the margins. My mom passed away; in her warn out earthly vessel, nearly 18 years ago from breast cancer. Thankfully, I know that I will see her again because she made known to me that she has a relationship with our Jesus.

The book is titled “God Can Heal Your Heart” by Marie Shropshire. This book is full of poetry that speaks of many characteristics of God. Mom’s notes spill over of the hurt and pain that build up in her heart over the years of her life. Without these notes, I wouldn’t know as much about the weight of the pain that her heart was carrying and the longings of her heart. Over the years, it has been a comfort and an ache for my heart to be able to read and know more of the heart of my mom. For so many years of my life, my mom was a mystery to me because the mental illness that she struggled with for the majority of her life kept her closed off and isolated from the world around her. I am thankful that she is free from the pain and brokenness of this world and is celebrating; for eternity, with the Savior!

In the past few years, I have been learning much about the Freedom that Christ died on the Cross for His children to experience with Him. The enemy of our souls would like God’s children to be in bondage to the things of this world; cut off from the Freedom of Christ and the peace that comes from Him, and isolated from the love of God and others. Reading my mom’s words in the margins of this book leaves me longing that she would have known God’s Freedom here on earth; but thankful that she can know it now in Heaven. Christ came to set the captives free; it is my prayer for more and more people to be free from the bondage of Satan and the traps of this world. I pray that more and more of us would chose the Freedom and Peace of Jesus Christ over the bondage of this world. The bondage keeps us in pain and isolation; the very things that we are trying so desperately to get away from. May we choose the Freedom of Christ every day!

Excerpt from “God Can Heal Your Heart” by Marie Shropshire

“I Am Your Strength”

Dear broken child, I am aware of the weariness you feel. Your despair has weakened you. Your body is absorbing the overload of your mind, reminding you that you are spirit, soul, and body. (Mom’s note: When reading this I could feel your presents and your empathy and compassion. But I can’t seem to take comfort or to rest in this knowledge. I don’t know why.)

Your brokenness calls you tp greater integration of spirit, soul, and body. I will strengthen you in every area of your being.

My grace provides you with eternal encouragement and hope and vitality. I am faithful to provide you with strength, with protection. The trial will not be too much for you. I never put more on my children than they can bear. (Mom underlined) (Mom’s notes: People who I trusted and cared for so much and perfect strangers who I blindly placed my trust and faith into, that have said awful things about me and have belittled and taken away my very existence as a valued human being, of substance and worth that has flooded my soul. I have always believed in you God, and I see the beauty of you all around me; and I am humble with that beauty; and also “Thank you” for it. But, I am human and I need human needs. Such as hugs, friends, human love. Praises from humans when warranted. And kind words without having to beg for them. But GOD! You are not the being that is giving me such trials. It’s people and myself.)

As you rejoice in me, in spite of circumstances, your strength will return. Praise me, knowing that I am working out all things for your good. In quiet confidence you will find strength.

I will give you a new song. You shall sing for joy and be energized as you become more aware of my presence, of my love.

Strength and joy are born of a calm assurance of my promises. So praise me, delight in me.

Face your future with me. Feel my nearness. Cultivate a sense of my joyful presence, and draw from my strength. “The joy of the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10). Declare with David, “For You are the God of my strength” (Psalm 43:2 NKJV).

I pray that you will put your thoughts on paper so that some day someone who loves you much will have your words to read and be able to know you a little more. And also, let’s take time now, today to be with our families. Let’s not fall into the isolation and bondage trap. Let’s love on our families and friends, with our words and actions. May you be Blessed with much love and peace, today and always.

His Story, My Story

No matter our relationships, our loved ones are part of our story. The part of my story that I will share with you involves my son. He is my first born and only son. My sweet happy baby boy turned into a very active toddler with some behavioral issues. After talks with our doctor and a counselor, we saw better days with help of behavior modification and a medicine. This part of my mothering journey was prior to my relationship with Jesus. Now I know that prayer would have been a great resource for me back then.

At the age of four, my son was unofficially diagnosed ADHD and so began my journey to learn all I could about ADHD and what may possibly help us work through this. I explored meds, natural remedies, and book after book about the ADHD and child rearing in general. Trying to mother this boy was a roller coaster ride through the ups and downs of emotions and fits of throwing every toy out of his toy room at me in the kitchen. The times of being hugged and told “I love you” and in the next breath “I hate you;” this was my daily life. I remember the cycles of about six weeks of life being okay to six weeks of constant behavioral problems. The sweet times were so awesome and then the other times were so trying. Anyone with a child living with ADHD can probably relate.

When my Tad was ten years old, it was the greatest year! He was so compliant and happy. It was the reward before the punishment of the preteen and teen years. Those preteen and teen years were more of the roller coaster ride with the ups and downs surrounded by teen boy hormones. I saw my compliant boy turn into someone who attempted suicide; thankfully by weak means and no harm was done. Unfortunately, it was years later that he shared with me about this attempt so I couldn’t seek help for him, again. He began to get into fights at school, torment his younger sister, fight with me over every little thing, and become someone I didn’t recognize.

In high school Tad started hanging around students that smoked pot and who knows what else. Of course, most of what I know about his teen years came out much after high school. So why do I share all of this old story with others. As I process much about my son and his short life here on earth, I sense a huge nudge from God to share about Tad’s story as it relates to my story.

With a string of choices that Tad made, my life has been altered; not only by giving birth to him and co-raising him, but for the rest of my life here on earth. Out of protection of others I will not share at this time publicly all the details of Tad’s life; however, I will share that he learned first hand about having to deal with the consequences of his choices. Consequences were something that I; through his growing up years, couldn’t get him to comprehend. As an adult, he learned rather quickly how his choices led to things that he would regret down the road. Not only that, but those choices also impacted others around him.

Tad became a daddy to our wonderful Emmett at the young age of 19, without a way to financially support him.

Tad got his GED because he didn’t finish high school and didn’t want to go through adult education.

Tad quit college before he finished.

Tad attempted for years to self-medicate to battle the thoughts in his mind.

Tad was tormented every day by the choices that he made through his life.

Tad died at the age of 22 driving his dad’s Harley Davidson motorcycle; leaving his; then three year old, son to grow up without his daddy. (This accident was not his fault; he was hit by someone who ran a red light.)

My sweet happy baby boy was created by God for a purpose and God had a plan for his life. Tad brought his mama smiles, laughs, and great hugs. He also brought me along on the journey of his choices because they also impacted my life, my story. His story is part of my story. I thank God that Tad and I are both part of His Story!

Through the years since Tad’s passing, I have been thankful for the signs that God made sure were in place so that I could know that I will see my son again when I reach Heaven.

Here’s my prayer that I am inclined to share; only God knows why it is important for me to share this publicly.

Heavenly Father,

You gave Tad to his father and I for a season. That season was shorter than I expected but I so appreciate the love, laughs, and joy that you gave to me through my years of being Tad’s ma’. Oh how I hated that he called me ma’ but now I miss it so! I am so thankful to You for the miraculous way You worked in Tad’s life in turning him back to You in the last year and a half of his life here on earth. Thank you for the fabulous day as a family that You gave to us before he went to be with You in Heaven! Thank You for bringing me to a point that I can share with others about my story that includes Tad’s story! Lord God, You know how my heart aches and the tears sometimes flow because I miss Tad so. You also know better than I do the torment that Tad experienced every day because of the choices that he made earlier in his life. Jesus, as much as I miss Tad, I am glad that I can know that he is with You in perfection. Selfishly I want him with me but I would rather he be with You, the Savior of his soul. I love You, Lord God.

In Jesus Name I pray! Amen.

WHO AM I?

Have you ever been so focused on a task that you loss sight of the people around you?

Have you ever been trying so hard to keep yourself together that you don’t see that God is right in front of you wanting you to hand over to Him the ‘stuff’ you are trying to hold together?

Have you ever said the words ‘sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me,’ and wondered why the words still hurt?

Have you ever heard the phrase ‘do as I say, not as I do’ and wondered why it’s okay for others to do things but not you?

Have you ever tried really hard to ‘measure up’ but always felt that whatever you tried was never ‘enough?’

Have you ever tried really hard to not be so affected by the words people have spoken to you but still ended up feeling completely wounded?

Have you ever decided to end a relationship yourself because you were afraid that the other person will reject you once they really got to know you; even though you desperately wanted to be friends?

Our identity can seem to be wrapped up in the words spoken over us; the things that we believe about ourselves; and the wounds inflected upon us. The old rhyme ‘sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me’ is a lie. The truth is the tongue can be like a sword and can aim cruel words like deadly arrows. (Psalm 64:3)

A spirit of rejection wants us to believe the lies spoken to us so that we can be isolated and vulnerable to believe more lies about ourselves.

What lies have you believed because of the words spoken to you or over you?

Can you give those words to Jesus and accept His healing and restoration?

The Truth from God is that we are chosen, adopted, valued, wanted, accepted, and worth the blood of Jesus on the cross.

Ephesians 1:4-6 NIV

“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son.”

1 Peter 2:9 NIV

“But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.”

We are not rejected! We are not worthless! We are not invisible! We are not unlovable!

We are accepted!! We are worth the blood of Christ, to The Father!! We are heard and seen by God!! We are lovable and much loved!!

Your identity is in Christ. It is not in rejection.

THE TRUTH ABOUT SHAME

I have recently been reminded that the deep feelings of shame plaque many people; even people immersed in the body of Christ, the Church. With the mass usage of technology, it appears that we are in an epidemic of people carrying great levels of shame in their day-to-day lives. With our easy access to the thoughts, feelings, and messages from so many different sources; it’s no wonder why so many are struggling to move beyond the grasp of the lies that shame wants us to believe and be trapped by.

What is shame specifically? Brene’ Brown describes shame as the “painful feeling or experience of believing we are flawed and therefore unworthy of love and belonging.”

Where does shame come from? “The godly hate lies; the wicked cause shame and disgrace.” (Proverbs 13:5) Shame can come from stolen innocence, violated trust, or an abuse of our deepest self. An unhealed wound; whether far in the past or something recent, can impact the present and continue to fester. When brought to the surface, it can lead to feeling that part of us is unlovable and being punished. Shame may lead us to believe that whatever we did or was done to us, we can never be forgiven for.

Shame can lead us to feeling exposed and needing to cover ourselves or hide. “At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.” (Genesis 3:7 NLT) Shame makes us believe that we have to or need to hide parts of our True Self. Shame becomes the covering or the hiding place where we can falsely believe we are protected. “They will dress themselves in burlap; horror and shame will cover them.” (Ezekiel 7:18) Shame can lead us to withdraw from any risk of exposing who we used to be.

Shame can falsely seem like our True Identity because it is an attack on our identity. Because it is hidden and can be so deeply rooted in our lives, shame can seem like a true part of our identity. Shame feels like it is rooted in who we really are but it is normally only rooted in something that’s been done to us or that we have done. Shame tells us that we are bad.

Some unhealthy responses to shame are: Feelings of inferiority; Engaging in destructive behaviors; Self-pity; Passivity; Withdrawal/hiding; Drivenness; Codependency; Self-loathing; Having a distorted body image.

The Truth about shame is that it’s a lie! Grace is God’s antidote for shame and grace is more powerful than shame! We are created by God; called by God; and equipped by God. God sees us as chosen, loved, adopted, wanted, valuable, redeemed, secure, and sealed with His Holy Spirit. “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10 NLT)

What do we do with shame? Shame is a lie that Satan would like us to believe so that we are halted in our relationship with God and halted in our spiritual growth. We no longer need to carrying the shame when we give our lives to Christ because He has already taken the sin that the shame is rooted in, to the cross where it no longer has power over us. When we are in agreement that Jesus is the Lord of our lives, we can give over to Him all the things that are tied to the lie of shame and be free from it. Out identity is in Christ; this is Truth, shame doesn’t have a right over anyone belonging to Christ. We can literally and figuratively hand over all the shame and anything tied to it to Jesus through prayer. Jesus has His hands out to receive that shame and His arms wide open to receive you in His majestic embrace. I pray that you choose to walk into Jesus’ embrace! You are His Masterpiece which He chose long before now for a purpose and His joy! May you be blessed with the Love, Grace, and Truth of God!

RISE UP AND PRAY

“When he [Jesus] rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”” (Luke 22:45-46 NIV)

Jesus spent time in passionate prayer with The Father, knowing what He was about to experience at the hands of those He came to save. Rising from discussion with The Father, Jesus three times approached His Disciples who repeatedly fell asleep instead of praying like Jesus had asked them. In prayer; in His humanness, Jesus asked The Father to remove the suffering that He would endure; however, in His divinity, Jesus surrendered to The Father’s perfect plan. The Disciples; in their humanness, gave into their desire for sleep over Jesus’ request for them to pray. He knew of the temptation that they would come against very soon and warned them to pray so that they would have the strength to say no to that temptation.

Rise up and pray so that ‘you’ won’t fall into temptation.

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7 NLT)

The Apostle Paul had just reminded the Philippian church that the Lord is coming soon and followed that reminder with the charge to pray; pray about everything with a grateful heart. Paul’s charge to pray is a warning. Praying with a grateful heart strengthens God’s people so they are able to say no to the trappings of temptations within the life of the believer. Not only will God’s people have strength to endure temptation, but also possess His peace that surpasses understanding.

Rise up and pray with a grateful heart and experience God’s peace.

Rise up and pray!

Rise up and pray; you will be strengthened!

Rise up and Pray with a grateful heart; you will experience God’s peace!

Rise up and pray!

Retraining Our Brains

“The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.” (Lev. 16:2 NIV)

My Thoughts

Aaron’s sons recklessly; maybe selfishly, attempted to approach God’s presence when they wanted and it resulted in their deaths. The Israelites were having to learn; as we do, Who God really is and who we really are. God is Almighty and All-knowing and thee creator of all things. He is to be obeyed and revered; not treated as a sub-ordinate. God is God; we are His created children. He chose us! In that time, the Israelites were learning about God and God was establishing the boundaries for His children. It must have been difficult to go from total slavery in Egypt to total freedom in the desert. God’s people were having to retrain their brains and learn God’s laws and where He drew the lines.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, Thank You for establishing boundaries with Your children. It seems that people; in general, have lost sight of Who You really are and Who’s we really are. People have an identity crisis going on, to the extreme; also ignoring Who You are! You are Thee Creator of all things! You are to be revered, honored, and glorified. We must have our eyes opened to Who You are and Who/Who’s we are for this world to change. You have set us free from bondage of sin but we are choosing to stay in that bondage; those chains. We have to retrain our brains to live free within the boundaries that You have set for us. Please God show us the way to retrain our brains. Please open our eyes to see you more clearly; open our hearts to receive Your love more openly; and open our ears to hear from you. In Jesus Name! Amen!

AFTER THOUGHTS AND QUEEN ANNE’S LACE

Lately I have become abundantly aware of the vast amount of Queen Anne’s Lace that is all around. At first I really didn’t think much of it but over the course of a few weeks I realized that Holy Spirit may be leading me to something that I needed to pay attention to. This led me to look up what natural uses there are for the plant; this is a common practice for me because I have learned that God in His infinite wisdom gives us what we need for our health and wellness. What I found about Queen Anne’s Lace is that it was used in times past for a contraceptive; a ‘morning after’ remedy and it was also used for a hangover, another ‘morning after’ remedy. This seemed kind of interesting to me but still didn’t turn on any bright light bulbs; that is until today. As I was traveling done some long country roads; again seeing much of this lovely plant along the road and in the fields, the bright light bulb finally turned on. I am not saying that I am slow in my thought process; God made me a ‘processor’ and a ‘deep thinker,’ which leads me to think about things for a while before the message is revealed to me.

The realization that I came to is that the Queen Anne’s Lace is representative of where we; as a people, are right now. We make many small decisions; maybe not realizing the big impact down the road, until we get to the’morning after’ and want to undo what we have already done. We want a remedy that will reverse the decisions that we wish we would have gone a different route on. I will let you think on that and see where God takes you with it.

God is a gentleman and He will not make His people choose Him but at some point; when we get to the time where we are looking for the ‘morning after’ remedy for our faith, it could be too late if we wait too long. I hope that you will choose God now; everyday! and be a people that help others to choose God now so that there will not be a regret.

Another way of looking at this; as I type these words, is that Jesus is our ‘morning after’ remedy. The reality of life is that there has been sin in the world since Adam and Eve choose to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. With some of the decisions that we make ourselves, we do the same. Praise God that He has made a way for us through the Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus. Praise God that we can be redirected in our earthly life from the decisions that we regret through our ONE decision to accept and receive Jesus as our Savior.

God in the Courthouse

So often we; as human beings, can forget just how present God is in our everyday lives. We get caught up in the day-to-day activities and get really comfortable with our routines; even to the point that we start to get our security from our routines. It’s only when these routines get shaken up that we start to see just how much we derive our security from those day-to-day routines. Am I referring to the current Coronavirus pandemic? Maybe, but really I am thinking about an event that happened five and a half years ago. For those that know me, you will realize that I am talking about the death of my oldest child, my son Tad. His accident and death rocked my world and has taken me on a journey that has had such far reaching impact on my and my family’s life that I don’t think I could craft the words; on my own, to describe any aspect of it. However, I woke up this morning with the drive to put into writing things in my life that have impacted me in hopes that; by doing so, at least one other person’s life could be impacted. If one person can be blessed by my story, then it will be worth however long it takes to share it.

My personal journey after my Tad’s passing has been marked with so many scars. By scars, I am referring to experiences in my life that have marked me; both positively and negatively, but have not been the end of my story here on earth. God has made His presence known to me through so many avenues; whether it be friends who prayed endlessly for us, friends that provided so many meals for us, or even now hearing about churches that were praying for us then and God has brought individuals from those churches into our path that have let us know just how we were covered in prayer by so many. His presence has been made known through music, through books and through Tad’s son who at the tender age of four was speaking God’s truth to his grammy in a way that could only be God because this little boys knowledge could not have been established enough to know these things on his own.

Tad’s accident occurred while he was driving his dad’s Harley Davidson motorcycle on July 4th, 2014. The accident was caused because a young man was approaching a traffic light that was green when he looked and then turned red when he looked behind his shoulder to change lanes. Their collision caused the accident and Tad’s death. Because of great signs that God provided for us, we can know that my son was immediately ushered into Heaven where he gets to spend his days and nights surrounded by God. This eases my pain but far from removes it. The ache in my heart over this loss is like nothing I have ever experiences before. Even through the pain, God’s comfort was all around me. I couldn’t deny it. His peace that I felt in the midst of this storm was beyond my understanding. The hand of God was and is my guiding star and His love has carried me through all the waves of grief that I have experienced. Because of this being an accident involving another person that was at fault, we found ourselves dealing with an attorney and the court system. The day that we had to appear before a judge for the sentencing of the at-fault driver was one of the most awe-inspiring days of my life. As my husband, daughter and I sat waiting in the courtroom for our turn to stand before the judge, the other driver asked us; through his attorney, if he could approach us to apologize. We accepted and he approached us with a sincere apology. What was to follow is what blew me away. During our turn in front of the judge, the judge shared with the other driver how fortunate he was because this was the first time in all his years that the family of the victim did not want revenge; that he should offer an apology and hugs or something because he was very lucky. I do not say this for a pat on my back. I say this because this is the power of God in us, not something that we can muster up for ourselves. When all was finished, the other driver with his family and pastor, and my family and I walked out of the courtroom to the courthouse lobby where we spent time talking a little. We exchanged addresses and his pastor led the two families in prayer. I don’t think that I can put into words the majesty of God for you to see what happened in that courthouse lobby. The driver that caused the accident that led to the death of my son, his parents, his pastor, his attorney, my husband, my daughter, and I stood in a circle holding hands while his pastor prayed for the two families involved. WOW!!!!!!! Cannot put into words the emotion that I felt as I left the building and went to my vehicle and sobbed for MY GOD that just showed His Mighty Hand in a government building where He showed His love for His children, no matter what side of the accident they were on.

God is with us! God is for us! God will never leave us! God loves His children and He will work all things for the good of those who are called according to His will! What the enemy meant for evil, God can and will use for His Good!

Hope's Table

What do we do with Life Experiences?