Stuck
I’m late to the game, but at least I’m here!
The Five Minute Friday word of the week is: Stuck
Ah, Facebook! I love the memories you bring forth daily of days gone by. Most are happy memories, like my sweet mother’s birthday, which was yesterday! I got to see all of the previous birthday wishes and pictures shared on Facebook from the years before. At times, the memories are sad, like the passing of my mother-in-law a year ago on April 25th, and the days prior where I posted of her struggles and asked for prayer for her and the family. There’s some funny ones in the mix, too, like the time my youngest daughter declared she wanted to be a werewolf when she grew up. Or times like these that I was reminded of this morning from two years ago:
Dear rain and thunderstorms,
Don’t you know we want to ride today? While I think the distant sky lightning is pretty,
I’d prefer no streak lightning nor roar of thunder while on horseback.
But alas, the rain shall make my beautiful flowers grow in my garden.
And this is the perfect opportunity to snuggle with my loves.
So I’ll enjoy the fresh scent of rain with my favorite beverage on my front porch
while watching the birds play at my feeders. Riding will wait for another day.
I guess you’re not half bad after all.
It just depends on our outlook.
We tend to do that, don’t we? All of us get stuck in our negative mindset from time to time. I honestly don’t think it’s something we set out to do. Like, we don’t get up in the morning when our feet hit the floor and proclaim, “Today is the day I’ll be negative.” It just happens.
It’s when we change our outlook that things start to improve.
Turn
Five Minute Friday Word of The Day: Turn
We aren’t sure how things will turn out in life, are we?
The past couple of days, I’ve been out of sorts. It was something we couldn’t quite put our finger on. Until today.
Today is my grandmother’s birthday. She passed several years ago after struggling for two years, in and out of hospitals and just going through so very much toward the end.
And these were the last days of my mother-in-law’s life this exact time last year. It haunts me to this very day.
Just when you think you’re doing great and nothing can bring you down, you’re hit right square in the face with memories. I’d love it to always be happy, joyous memories. However, that is not always the case. You have to endure days of pain to appreciate the joy that comes in the morning. Or, you go through the storms to appreciate the beautiful rainbow that appears after the gray skies clear and the sun begins to emerge yet again.
I’m not choosing to focus on all of the negative that this time of year holds. In the middle of all of this, there have been great moments of pure joy. We celebrated my daughter’s boyfriend turning 20 years old, and one of my nearest and dearest friends turned 51 on the same exact day. I’ve laughed, smiled, and shed some tears this week. I’ve been a big ball of emotion, so hard to handle being in my own skin at times. I cannot imagine what people think that have had to endure all of this right alongside me this week. But I thank them for not giving up on me or turning away when I needed them to pull me out of my funk.
I didn’t want to tell my husband what was wrong because I didn’t want him thinking of his mother’s last days, if he wasn’t already there mentally and emotionally. So I held it in, often shrugging my shoulders when asked what was wrong. I was not withholding to be mean. I was thinking of preserving his feelings.
But there are brighter days ahead … another friend’s birthday is approaching … and my dear mother’s birthday is the very last day of the month.
SO I feel the feelings … and I turn the page.
Watching God In Action
Last night I sat in awe watching God in action.
After work, school, and working out at the local YMCA, my family and I decided to go to a little town known for their Amish restaurant.
I noticed the lady’s hair right away when I walked through the doors of that old restaurant. Her hair had several pretty shades of blonde, ash, and brown mixed into a very becoming style. When she got ready to fix our plates, I commented immediately on how pretty her hair was. She thanked me and added that she just did her own hair the night before. This lead to a brief conversation about how she was a cosmetologist and had just moved from Indiana. She started talking about how she had to take her State Boards again. The thought of this had made her physically ill especially since she was older and hadn’t done any of those things in years. Apparently, this was required to transfer her license to the state of South Carolina. Her anxiety was extremely obvious, so I mentioned that my daughter had just graduated from Cosmetology school and passed her State Boards with flying colors.
The lady’s face lit up with excitement!
She forgot all about the white plate she was holding in her hand waiting to be filled with our supper. At this point, though, I didn’t mind at all because I was witnessing God in action! You see, my daughter originally groaned when I asked her to go to this restaurant last night. She was tired after working out and really wanted something a little closer to home. However, I finally convinced her to go with us.
After they talked briefly, she asked my daughter to please see her before we left so she could get additional information. She didn’t want to hold us up from enjoying our supper any more than she already had. So, after we finished eating our delicious meal, my daughter went back over to talk to the lady. My daughter was very thorough and provided the contact information for her instructor at the college just in case she had any additional questions my daughter couldn’t address. The lady thanked her and even hugged her like they were old friends! She had this look of relief on her face and looked as if the weight of the world had been lifted off of her shoulders!
My daughter exited the restaurant with her face literally beaming! She was able to calm this lady’s nerves and help her not feel so anxious over the State Boards! My daughter provided the reassurance this lady needed!
Once seated in the vehicle, my daughter said, “Mama, I believe God placed me here tonight just for this reason. I was able to help this lady, so I was meant to come here tonight! It was part of God’s plan.”
Yes, Lord! Yes!!
