December 17, 2012 - Christmas Disappointments? or Blessings?...

"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to dance in the rain."

"Out of the fullness of His Grace, He has blessed us all, giving us one blessing after another." John 1:16

Monday - December 17, 2012

"Come to Me with your gaping emptiness, knowing that in Me you are complete. As you rest quietly in My Presence, My Light within you grows brighter and brighter. Facing the emptiness inside you is simply the prelude to being filled with My fullness. Therefore, rejoice on those days when you drag yourself out of bed, feeling sluggish and inadequate. Tell yourself that this is a perfect day to depend on Me in childlike trust. If you persevere in this dependence as you go through the day, you will discover at bedtime that Joy and Peace have become your companions. You may not realize at what point they joined you on your journey, but you will feel the beneficial effects of their presence. The perfect end to such a day is a doxology of gratitude. I am He from whom all blessings flow!" Jesus Calling - December 17

Today the "Jesus Calling" verses really spoke to me. "Thank you Lord for reminding me again - through these  words - that You are always there! That my life may have problems and disappointments, but I am only looking through a very small opening - into my life this week or next - or next month...never really seeing the "big picture" of the reason that I am here. Thank you for bringing my perspective back to where it should be - a focus on You."

"Help me Lord to put my focus back on the reason for the day that we are getting ready to celebrate. To realize it's not about the presents or the food or even the people that we will be spending time with - Help me to focus on You - the Savior of the world...The Father that has given me a new live - even though I certainly don't deserve it. This is what I should be preparing for. " 

There will be disappointments this time of year, there always are, but if my focus is where it should be, I will not be disappointed. God never disappoints! Things happen that we wish had not happened, but it is always "man's doing", not God's. God gives us free will & sometimes that is abused. Like the evil in Connecticut.

Anytime we are disappointed, it is due to mankind - not God. There will always be some that argue that God was not or is not there in certain circumstances...none of us have those answers...those are things only God knows. What I know,  is that if we live our lives trusting in God, He will take care of us...maybe not in the present, in the way we feel we should be taken care of (or so we think), but again, we don't see the infinite future that God sees.

I will focus this season on God and if my Christmas is not the perfect "storybook Christmas", I will be ok with that. Jesus is my Savior & that's really all I need ~ the rest is just God's extra gift to me.

"For God, who said, "Let there be light in the darkness", has made this light shine in our hearts, so we could know the Glory of God, that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ." -

2 Corinthians 4:6

Merry Christmas and may you have the Love & Peace of a Christ-filled Christmas this year.

December 6, 2012

Well, I have not posted anything on here for quite a few months. My maintenance treatments are going well - every 8 weeks. Dr. wants me to have another pet scan in January, because it's been a little over a year, since my last one. Hopefully that will be fine, too. I am feeling good & have no symptoms, so for now, my cancer is still in remission.

Today, I am writing to you about something completely different than my health. Since I already had this blog going, I didn't see any reason to start a new one & since this blog is about new beginnings & hope, I thought this would be the perfect place to talk about what is going on in my world this December.

A friend on facebook, put this on her page a couple of days before the 1st of December. I really liked the idea & decided that I would do it, too, but instead of starting on the 13th, I thought I would start on the 1st & do it all the way to Christmas (and hopefully beyond - as the opportunities arise).


NOTE: to check out these links below- highlight the link, then right click to "open link" & that should pull up both links & give you further directions.

Here's whats going on:
 http://www.chicagonow.com/chain-links/2012/11/the-2nd-annual-12-gifts-of-christmas/#image/1

and
 https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=556952991254&set=a.505766399594.2009195.167300211&type=1&theater

So, like I said, I decided to start on December 1st, instead of the 13th.

Each day, I say a little prayer that God will show me where, who or what I should do for my "random act of kindness". Since I didn't start this blog on the 1st, I have several days to tell about and then I will write about my experience each day after that (sometimes with photos)...

On December 1st, Steve & I went to breakfast at a little diner, where we always go for breakfast. (I said a little prayer before we started our day, that God would show me what I should do that day).

As we sat having breakfast, I noticed at the counter, an older lady, all alone, having breakfast, too. I knew this was my "target". I called the waitress over & told her I would like to pick up this woman's breakfast ticket, without her knowing. She cleverly brought it over & slid it under our bill. (So sneaky & so "James Bond like"). :)
She was still there when we left, nursing a cup of coffee, so I didn't see the exchange between her & her waitress, but I hope it was a happy exchange.
Day 1 - done - Mission complete. :)

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Day 2 - I had a lot of errands to run & one of them was to Walmart, so I thought that would be a good place to leave a Christmas Card on someone's windshield. I stop & bought one- wrote a little sentiment about what I was doing & why they had received the card & started out on my quest. A little prayer later... - I had ask God to show me which car should receive the card - something old & beat-up, maybe...thinking that a car like that would have an owner that was a little more strapped for money & might need a little "boost" this time of year. Drove all over the parking lot & all I saw were new, nice cars... nothing that really caught my eye. So I decided to go in & take care of my errands and maybe when I came out, the "perfect" car would be there. It was already dark when I came out. I walked out to my car & directly across from me, in the next aisle, was a beat up old truck...looked like a work truck. My target!! I got my card & started over to leave it on the windshield. I was on the far side of the parking lot, not a lot of cars out there. Dropped off the card & started back to my car...then I heard - in a Middle Eastern accent, "Hey, do you have one of those for me?". As I looked around to see where the voice came from, (from a taxi - sitting there in the parking lot) my reply was, "No, not today! :)". As I walked back to my car, I thought "Ok, God, maybe THIS is the person that was suppose to get the card." So, I yelled out, "Hold on a second".
Walked back over to the truck, took the card & walked toward the taxi. On my way over, the driver said, "How you doing tonight? I told him I was doing fine. I walked up to the passenger window (the one he had been using to talk to me) & handed him the card. "Merry Christmas", I said & he replied the same and with a "thank you". I hope that card brightened his day.
Day 2 - done - Mission complete. :)

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Day 3 - My father-in-law died last Spring. My mother-in-law lives alone in a tiny apartment, close to our house. I was talking to her about Christmas the other day & she mentioned that she didn't have a tree. I don't think anyone should go through Christmas without a little bit of decorating, so over the weekend I bought her a tree & some decorations. On Day 3, we took it over to her & I set it up with the decorations & the ornaments. I forgot to take a picture of this, but she was thrilled beyond words, I think. I believe it made her Christmas a little more merry & bright. :)
Day 3 - done - Mission complete. :)

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Day 4 - I wrote an encouraging note to someone on facebook that was having a really hard day. I hope it helped, I think it did. See, every kindness does not have to cost money... sometimes just a kind word is enough.
Day 4 - done - Mission complete. :)

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Day 5 - Our Women's Ministry at church opened a Christmas Closet last night & I was in charge of this. We had sent out flyers to certain target groups in our church, that gave them all the information about the Christmas Closet. They would receive $100.00 in "Church dollars" (that I printed) for each child that they had. They could come & shop in the "store" for the things they needed. There will be 20-25 kids that will receive gifts this Christmas because of this project. So much fun for the mamas that came & so much fun for those of us that helped with this. Perfect "Pay it forward" - "Random Act of Kindness" type of project!!

Day 5 - done - Mission complete. :)

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Day 6 -  I sell vintage items on ebay. Around this time of year, I sell a lot of vintage Christmas ornaments. A few weeks ago, I sold some ornaments to a sweet lady in Texas. She wrote to me to let me know she had received them & I mentioned something about going through Chemo last year. She was very sweet about this & very concerned about my health. We started emailing back & forth. I found out that she has two daughters, she is estranged from one & one lives in another state, so she rarely sees her. I guess from her emails that she doesn't have a lot of friends & is starving for communication with someone (even someone that she has never met & only knows through ebay messages).
Sent her a new message today. Hope that lightens & brightens her day today. I'm sure we will never meet, but I will be happy to send her messages & give her something to look forward to. If you feel like you are all alone, sometimes even a talk with a stranger is a day brightener.

Day 6 - done - Mission complete. :)

I hope these examples give you some ideas for "Random Acts of Kindness" that you can start today. Or if you don't want to try to come up with things, check the links I posted, that might help.