Remembering My Sweet Rose

Today was a beautiful sunny day. It was still cold but the sun always makes it better. More cheerful, especially when it has been so dreary for weeks here in Tennessee. We have had more snow and ice in the past couple of weeks than I have seen in the past five years that I have lived here. Not typical for this area. That's why I love living here. The weather is so mild compared to Illinois during the winter, which is where I grew up. Yes the sun always makes everything brighter, more enjoyable. This day, two years ago, for me, started out much the same way. Beautiful sunny day and it was a holiday so I didn't have to work-even better. My little sister had spent the night with me and we were going to spend the day shopping. But one phonecall changed it all. The phone rang and it was my dad crying on the other line. I knew something was terribly wrong. He could barely get out the words but my mother had passed away. My heart sank! How could this be? My world, our world had changed in an instant. I had to look my little sister in the eye and tell her that Mom was no longer with us! That was heartbreaking and almost unbearable! Life as I knew it was changing and changing fast. And so it has. Life has changed since that day. Someone once said that life after tragedy eventually goes back to normal but it is a new normal, not like it was before. This event in my life changed my life forever, in so many different ways. I miss my mom very much. It still seems like a dream that she is gone. Do I still have questions on why God allowed it to happen? Yes! My mom's illness was hard to understand(I will share more about this at another time). Over the past two years there have been many tears shed but this year I wanted to make a point of remembering the happy and fun times that we had together. What my mother stood for and how she loved people and oh how she loved to serve her savior, Jesus Christ. My mom was complicated in many ways but one thing I knew for sure was that she loved Jesus. That's really all she could talk about or cared to talk about. My dad sent an email to my siblings and I(I have 3 brothers and 1 sister) that I thought summed up what I was feeling. "I decided early this morning as I woke that we can choose how we will spend this day in memory of mom. We can dwell on her difficult passing and what this broken, sinfilled world stole from her and us, or we can celebrate the wonderful, beautiful person she was in her heart of hearts. The love she had for us and for others." I am choosing to celebrate who she was when she was well. I knew she loved me. And that is worth celebrating! Unfortunately we live in a fallen world where death and sadness touch us. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Some of the answers to my questions will not be answered until I meet Jesus face to face. One thing I do know is that Jesus loves me too. He died on the cross to save us, to give us a hope and a future(Jeremiah 29:11). I am confident that I will see my sweet mother again. The Bible gives us that HOPE.

"There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. If God is for us, who can be against us? Christ Jesus, who died-more than that, who was raised to life-is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, netither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to spearate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 8

Sweet memories will always follow me. I have so many things to be thankful for! Yes I will celebrate her life. How she lived and loved. Because it is not life that she lost but gained-eternal life!

Blessings,

Suzy

Inspiration

I was inspired today to create a blog by my beautful friend Stephanie Blackiston. I was so blessed to be able to take part in the delivery day of her fourth child yesterday, February 13th. Hope is this beautiful child's name. It was such an awe-inspiring event that truly has brought hope to my sweet friend Stephanie and her family. It was so amazing to witness a new life coming into the world. Well, sort of witness. Steph, the most amazing, brave mother, decided to have Hope through natural childbirth, with no painkillers. She has 3 boys that were delivered with the help of an epidural. The reason she decided to make this brave choice is a whole other blogging opportunity. I will post her blog site in case you want to hear her story from her perspective. She was a trooper and baby Hope is beautiful just life her mommy. So on my drive home I started thinking about how so much beauty could come from such pain and suffering. How I'm sure Stephanie, while the pain is still fresh on her mind, is amazed at this sweet bundle of beauty that she now hold in her arms. As I think back on my life and the hard situations that I have gone through, how typical it is, that I have fresh perspective on my situation and how God always brings something positive from it if I allow Him to. It makes the good days so much more meaningful, almost like you can savor them. I pray I never lose that perspective. It made me think of these verses in Ecclesiastes chapter 3:

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what has been planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace."

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

All the seasons of life that we go through, God has something for us in each season that will make us stronger. I pray that even in the hard times that God will give me His perspective, to see through His eyes, to really absorb what He has for me in that season. Thank goodness that we don't have to do it alone. God, in all His love for us, came that we might have life, no,not just ordinary life, but life abundant. He came and died for our sins, to save us from death that surely our sin would bring upon each and every one of us, to bring us HOPE beyond this life. Can it truly be, beauty from the ashes of death? Only through Jesus Christ do we have that chance to rise triumphantly from death to life. So what do our sufferings offer us? Why can't life just always be easy? Would we turn to Christ if life was always easy? Why to we always try to rely on ourselves to get through life when Jesus asks us to come to Him.

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Matthew 11:28-30

I encourage you today if you are going through something difficult, to turn to Jesus. He promised this life would not be easy, but that He would walk through it with you. I don't always choose to turn to the Lord when I need to. Most times I try to do it on my own and then find myself so discouraged that I end up crying out to God in desperation. God wants us to turn to Him first to save us from some of the heartache we bring upon ourselves. Let us view our difficult times as a way for God to teach us something and to trust that He is using it redemptively in our lives to make us stronger. Only God can somehow turn our ashes to beauty and use it to our benefit.

"More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

Romans 5:3-5

May God allow you to see your trial through His eyes and may He offer you His peace beyond understanding as you walk through it. May you know that His intentions for you are always good and always loving. If you are reading this and don't know Jesus and desire to have a relationship with this one that offers beauty for your ashes, life in the midst of pain, and eternally security, please contact me to find out more. On this Valentine's Day, may you know and feel His love reaching out to you.

God Bless, Suzy

"So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf."

Hebrews 17-20