When you are tired, praise Him. When you are weak, praise Him. When you feel hopeless, praise Him. It is easy to praise the Lord, to give thanks to the Father when things are going well. When life hits a bump, or we feel tired and weak, sometimes we forget to turn to the Father, to praise Him for a new day or seeing us through that tough spot in our lives when all seems hopeless.
Was there a time in your life when it seemed as though everything was upside down and you weren’t so sure it would be right again? Or maybe you are going through something right now and it feels as though you’ll never see the light at the end of the tunnel. The Lord is your strength, sing a song of praise to the Father especially when you don’t feel like it. As you praise Him in the middle of the storm, He will lift you up. He will walk with you through it and give you the strength to endure. But here is the thing… sometimes you may not feel it until after the storm has passed and you are on the other side of it.
When life seems overwhelming and you think you can’t handle anymore, turn it over to the Father and sing a song of praise. Praise Him and honor Him and watch as He takes you through it to the other side. God bless! ❤
Abba, Your mercy and grace are new every morning. May we seek You out every day praising and honoring You. Help us to remember when trials come where our strength comes from and to turn toward You. Thank You for loving us and strengthening us to face today. Amen.
Happy Friday everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful week. It has been an interesting week. I want to share something that happened to me this week. Once upon a time….(Kidding! So not writing a children’s book!😄)
Years ago, my mother received the opened heart shaped ring above. Not long after my son was born, during one of our visits home to see her, she asked if I like the ring. I said yes and she gave it to me. She said “You’re a mom now, I want you to have it.” I asked if she was sure and she said yes, so I accepted it and wore it for a few years. This week I decided to wear my “mom’s jewelry” things that she had given to me throughout the years. I put on my earrings, put on my “mom” ring, and off to work I went. The ring didn’t fit on my ring finger, but it did fit on my pinky finger albeit a tad loosely. I thought I’ll be careful and it should be alright.
Walking to the mailbox at church to send off some mail, walking through the church building, sitting at my desk working. I did all theses things and managed to keep my ring on. As I sat at my desk working, I didn’t give it a thought. It was later on when I went to wash my hands that I noticed it missing. I thought, NO, not my ring from my mother! I’ve had this ring for over 23 years! I retraced my steps, I went to the mailbox, walked through the building, checked my laptop bag, checked my purse, but all to no avail. It was gone. I had lost the ring. The whole time I was praying asking the Lord to help me find the ring. I backtrack again all the while praying and talking to the Lord. I’m telling Him that it wasn’t the ring itself, but it was the sentiment, it had come from my mom. I tell Him that I know I shouldn’t be worried about material things but…it was a gift from my mom. I ask if it were possible, could I find it. Then I’m saying “I know its stupid to worry about it, it’s just a ring, but my mom gave it to me, if it is possible can I please find it. Please show me.” So I retrace my steps once more, still no ring, so I start going through my laptop bag taking stuff out one at time. No ring. I go through my purse taking everything out, and there at the bottom tucked in a corner, lay my ring.
I started crying, thanking, and praising the Lord. And I sat in awe of the magnitude of finding my ring. It wasn’t the fact that I found it. But what it meant to find it. Of how much I am loved and because He cares so much, He showed me where to find it. I thought about what that meant to me to lose a ring that had sentimental value, to find it, and in that moment, I thought about how far Jesus goes to find His lost sheep. He doesn’t quit. He doesn’t say I give up. He keeps searching until He finds them.
What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?
Luke 15:4
Jesus says in Matthew…
For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.
Matthew 18:11
Have you had a similar experience where you asked the Lord to help you locate something and He has? How did it make you feel? I’d love to hear about your experience.
A loving Father sent His Son to walk with us through the valleys.
As you travel down the path of life, have you ever looked back and wondered what you would change, if you could? I’m sure we’ve all at some point looked back and had regret whether big or small. We wished we could have done it differently, whatever the it in your life was that led to regret. Join me as we travel through time. A time when all seemed right with world that ended with regret and the journey back to right again. Our journeys are different yet the same.
I have never been a big fan of hospitals. I’ve had my share of hospital stays and from what I can remember, for the most part they were survivable. 😅 Covid-19 only reinforced my dislike of hospitals. Not long ago my husband had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer. While waiting to find out when he would have surgery, he became ill and had to be rushed to the ER. That same day he had found out when he was to have surgery. That same day our nightmare began.
While waiting for my husband to be called back, I was allowed to stay with him in the ER waiting area. He was shaking and sweating profusely and his blood pressure was fairly high. He had a difficult time trying to control the shaking, so I wrapped my arms around him hugging him in the hopes of easing the shakes, but to no avail. It would be two, almost three hours before he would be taken to the back and I would have to leave. Now I personally believe ~ especially with COVID ~ that a patient should be allowed to have at least one person with them at all times. There is nothing more lonely than having to face being in the hospital alone without someone being able to be a voice for you if you should need one. Nothing personal to those in the medical profession, however, there are some out there that simply don’t care.
After I left the ER, I started to wait in the car like others were doing. I waited about twenty minutes before I decided to go home since we lived nearby. Boy am I glad I did too. It would be hours later when I would hear from my husband asking me to bring him an overnight bag. He was being admitted to the hospital. So I did. He had been in the ER since early that morning and by the time I heard from him it was mid to late afternoon. It would be almost midnight before they would find a room for him. His experience that day and into the next would be a nightmare. I mean NIGHTMARE. The next day he was asking me to come pick him up before lunch. We still had no idea as to what was wrong with him and we had no idea that if he did go home, he wouldn’t have another episode. By late afternoon he was finally released and was at home resting. There had been little to no communication during his whole stay. The little bit that there had been, no one seemed to know what was going on and there was a lot of confusion taking place.
My husband was told to call his surgeon’s office and see about getting in for surgery the next week since he had been tested for covid. Praise the LORD for He is good! My husband’s surgery was set for August 4th. Again I was allowed to be with him while he waited to go back for surgery. The surgeon came by and explained what would take place and told me that once the procedure was done he would call and let me know how things went. He said it would be about an hour to an hour and a half before I would hear from him. True to his word, the doctor called and said that everything went well and that once they had my husband awake from the anesthesia I could call and talk to him. My husband had to stay overnight, but this time his experience was totally different than the ER experience. Compassion makes a difference.
But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.
Psalm 86:15
The Bible talks about God’s compassion being gracious, longsuffering, overflowing with mercy and truth. When I examine the difference between my husband’s first overnight hospital stay and his second one, it reminds me of the difference between God’s love and compassion, and the enemy’s chaos and destruction. I can see how the enemy took the ER visit and attacked my husband. But I also see how God took that situation and used it for good. You see, my husband would have had to wait until 21st of August for surgery had this incident not happened.
Can you think of an incident that seemed like nothing good could come out of it only to be surprised when it did turn around for good? Isn’t our God so awesome? He takes our struggles, our pains, and our hurts and turns them around for good when we let him. God bless!💖🙏
He calls me up and says “Honey, I’m pregnant” and then proceeds to tell me… Humor. It gets you through the tough times.
2020 – What a year this is turning out to be. Who would have thought we would be going through a pandemic? Life still goes on. Several months ago my husband went for his yearly check up. Check in. Check something. 😄 I reminded him to ask about why his voice always seemed to fade toward the end of the day. He told me – I’d be hoarse too if I had to deal with twenty plus women all day. 🤣 But he said he would ask because he had noticed the hoarseness happening more often and even at work his voice would sometimes fade. I felt bad about asking him to sometimes repeat himself but he would be talking normal and it would sound like a whisper. Once when he had to repeat something he yelled (at least he said he did) and it sounded normal. When you make a living talking to people, it’s kind of important to be able to talk.
His doctor did blood work and the normal yearly check up stuff. He sent my husband went to an Ear, Nose & Throat Specialist. They didn’t find anything of concern and thought it was possibly stress related. Possible since he does have a stressful job. Meanwhile his doctor continued to keep an eye on things and sent him to another specialist when he noticed something. They did an ultrasound and then my husband was off to another specialist because his doctor had noticed the area of concern that he had been monitoring had changed. In the midst of the doctor visits, COVID-19 made its entrance into the world. Well after multiple tests, an area of concern growing, and more specialists, we found out my husband has…
Blog With Marie 