Tag Archives: The Unexpected

January 7, 2016 · 12:02 am

When Gratitude Becomes Your Miracle

Fallen tree Christmas 2015

After a lifetime of hardships and tragedies, including the death of my only son four years ago, I’ve had to work hard to keep a positive outlook. The last couple years have taught me to try to find something worthwhile, even if only a splinter of goodness, when things go terribly wrong.

The word gratitude for me stands for: “Graceful attitude.”

I’ve learned that when our attitude includes bits of thankfulness it somehow transforms an otherwise miserable situation into gratitude, and that very gratitude can help us find a miracle in every situation.

My version of looking for the silver lining.

The Monday before Christmas a huge section of my neighborhood experienced a power outage for about an hour and a half which doesn’t sound too bad, except that I was babysitting a 2 year old child, and each power outage means no community-well water (that’s country living). The power continued to go off, then pop on as many as 8 hours later until we went completely black for good December 23rd. This time the power company predicted power outage for several days. A massive snow storm hit our heavily wooded Northwest area downing hundreds of trees, knocking down power lines, and leaving thousands of homes in the dark. Continue reading →

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Filed under Awed by His Love and Grace, Following Christ Has Changed My Life, Holidays and Special Days, Inner Sruggles and Heartache, The Miraculous

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June 18, 2015 · 1:22 am

Be the First to Smile!

So many of my smiles begin with youA few days ago I stopped at Fred Meyer’s, my favorite grocery store. It was so crowded some of the aisles were impenetrable. People were rushing their carts about everywhere I looked. It took an awful lot of patience to finally get the items I needed. Continue reading →

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March 26, 2015 · 4:05 pm

Stunted Faith

Yesterday I wrote God’s Delay on Answering Prayers is no Delay , and discussed that when we pray mightily over something we want, and God seems to be procrastinating on the answers to those prayers, it doesn’t mean that His delay is a mistake.  The more I thought about that, the more a new concept came to life for me. Do we stunt answers to our prayers thinking we know better?  Yes God, I want you to answer this prayer but you really have to go about it THIS WAY!  Do we expect answers with only partial faith?

The concept of our expectations from God and how often they intermingle with our incomplete trust in Him floored me as I examined Lazarus’ death closer.

In the death of Lazarus, his sisters’ (Mary and Martha) discuss their frustration with Jesus that He had shown up too late to heal their dying brother.

 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” John 11:21

Martha didn’t quite get what Jesus meant when He said to her:  “Your brother will rise again” 11:23. She thought Jesus was referring to the end of time resurrection.  Yet her words show she expected Jesus to do something about her brother’s death when she said,

“But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” 11:22 Continue reading →

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March 25, 2015 · 6:08 pm

God’s Delay on Answering Prayers is no Delay

I had just left my house and was on my way to a walk-in lab for some extensive blood tests the new doctor I began seeing required. I talked to the Lord about my level of frustration, concern, and anxiety over my health issues. As I always do when I drive, I turned on Moody Radio Station KMBI 107.9.  Within a few minutes a new program came on. I’m not even sure which program it was or who the person was, but he was talking about the death of Lazarus, and his sisters’ frustration that Jesus had showed up too late to heal their dying brother.

 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” John 11:21

I was surprised by what came on next.  The man on the radio said these words: Continue reading →

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November 21, 2014 · 12:37 am

20 Things You Might Not Know About Me Blog Tag Challenge

Booklovers1 tagged me to a blog challenge 20 Things You Might Know About Me Blog Tag .  I thought I would try it and pass the tag on to several bloggers.  Blog challenges can be a fun way to get to know each other. I enjoyed getting to know some personal things about Booklovers1. She has a great blog in which she reviews books, music, even a few movies and more.  She is the super sweet lady who reviewed my book Black Coat with a Silver Lining a while back. 

Here are the Tag Challenge questions and my answers:

Question 1: How tall are you?  I am definitely taller than most women.  This greatly bothered me when I was much younger as I wanted to look feminine and petite, but it sure comes in handy when I need to grab something off the top shelf!
Question 2: Do you have a hidden talent? If so, what?   Well, if it’s hidden I wouldn’t know. LOL.  I do tend to enjoy all sorts of arts and crafts.  I gave my walls a Mediterranean texture with drywall mud, and put up Italian tile in my kitchen and they turned out pretty well. I have done many other things I never really tried until I did them.  I guess the best way to find out if you have a hidden talent is to try something new!
Question 3: What’s your biggest blog-related pet peeve?  That I don’t have enough time to go on more of the blogs I would love to read.  As for a pet peeve about my own blogging experiences, it’s when I have combed through my post several times, hit publish, then later find some obvious errors. Continue reading →

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June 14, 2014 · 3:51 pm

Things Aren’t Always as They Appear

imageSome days just go a little awkward, you know?

Like the hot summer day over twenty years ago, when I sat by an open window repeatedly doing the a wolf whistle (the kind a man does when a pretty woman goes by), in an attempt to teach our new parakeet, Jesse, how to whistle.  After Jesse’s 10 minute lesson, I stood up and noticed that just a few yards from my window, my neighbor’s shirtless husband was wiping his car dry. Apparently, he had been washing it for at least 10 minutes.  Continue reading →

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Filed under Gottalaugh, Humor, Just for Fun, Life Lessons

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May 5, 2014 · 5:06 pm

What’s With the Falling Trees?

In the silence of night, in the tranquility of the darkness, a tree fell in our front yard approximately sixty feet from our house; and we did not hear a sound.

 

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Trunk broke at the bottom.

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Tree approximately 60 feet from house.

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Half top of tree laying on the ground green but bottom half branches dead. Will have to check out other trees also.

God Spares Us Once More

I don’t know what it is about trees falling and me, but this is the third tree that’s fallen in my yard. One was 22 years ago, then another one fell, mid November 2013.

It’s a frightening thing to think that something so huge and destructive can happen so close to the house. Thankfully, it only caused some damage to the pasture gate. Continue reading →

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April 20, 2014 · 11:46 am

He is Not There; He is Not Dead!

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Here are two Gospel accounts of the resurrection.

Mark’s account:

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. Continue reading →

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April 5, 2014 · 11:12 am

A Spoonful of Sugar

In the movie “Mary Poppins,”  Mary, the governess in charge of two children, tells them through a very catchy song that “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down in a most delightful way.” Mary is referring to the nasty tasting medicine, probably cod-liver oil, they are about to take that has been magically sweetened.

But in my opinion, the term “a spoonful of sugar” can apply to anyone doing an act of kindness for a struggling person.

Sometimes, all it takes to make someone’s day is an effortless or generous act of kindness. For some, it can be life altering like it was for a lady named Andrea, as she wrote in her blog about a stranger, a woman who paid her grocery bill of $17.38 when she had no money to pay, and the EBT machine was not working. Andrea, mother of five, and her husband had been unemployed for months, and had at one time even been homeless.

I am especially tender towards homeless people as I am now almost finished revising my fictional memoir of a homeless man named Nick, in the book called Black Coat with a Silver Lining.

Continue reading →

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February 25, 2014 · 5:48 pm

When the Church Lets You Down

“Are you withholding sex from your marriage?  A man needs to have sex every 72 hours, and if you are not available that could be one of the reasons why your marriage is having such problems.”

I sat in the chair with my mouth dropped open to this pastor’s counseling words, and left the office more dismayed than when I entered it. I could not believe his preposterous statement. We had been attending the small church for over a year and it had taken me some time to get comfortable enough to go to the pastor for help. The pastor agreed to “counsel us” but after I left his office, I felt very little hope.

I had unwittingly signed up for an abusive marriage; the problems began almost immediately after the wedding. Though there was never any physical abuse, the verbal and emotional blows to me as a person were equally devastating, except unlike physical abuse; the wounding left deep scarring that seldom healed.

My expressions of feelings of despair and heartache were ignored and easily dismissed with.

“Hey, I’m perfectly happy. You’re the one with the problem.”  Another time he said.  “I don’t know what your problem is, I don’t beat you.”  He did emotionally!

Of course he was happy.  He was the one doing the lying, cheating, drinking, gambling, manipulating, controlling, criticizing, partying, ignoring, avoiding, abusing and oppressing. Continue reading →

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