Peace comes in the morning....

I'm going to make this short and sweet tonight, then I'm going to get to bed and get some much needed R &R  (for me that stands for Reading & Rest).

I entitled this post "Peace comes in the morning...."

For those of you whom have ever had their heart broken then you probably know what I'm talking about.   The nights are always the hardest.  I'm not sure why.  I'm not sure if its because you are alone, have quiet time to think, are exhausted from the day, or you notice your routine is different than it "used to be", but whatever the reason when your going through something the nights are always the worst.   Kind of like when our kids are sick, they seem to be OK, but the fever always seems to peak at bed time......I don't know the reason for that either.   Just something about bed time I guess.  Maybe its the enemy trying to steal our rest, the fuel we need to make the next day an enjoyable one, I don't know but seems logical, and why not blame Satan...if your going to blame anyone.  :)

I'm having one of those moments now....I did last night too.....and the sad part is I've been here before.   When I'm in the midst of it, I am calling to God asking him to stop the hurting and all I can think of is if I could take this pain away from someone else in the world I would because I don't want anyone to ever go to sleep feeling that way!   I'm assuming those reading know what I'm talking about.  I try to tell myself scriptures I know like "Greater is he that is in me than is in the world" and "all things work for the greater good of gods plan" (I may be a little off on that one) but you know all those that are supposed to make us feel better.   Notice I said a keyword:  "Supposed"....that's because they don't.   Why?  Because we don't let them.   We hear them as just words rather than from the voice of our heavenly father talking directly to us!  

I just received an email reassuring me that God is a patient God, he doesn't hurry us, rush us, he lets us take our time.....so if we are feeling "rushed" then it most likely isn't from God.   I haven't had time to meditate on that one yet, but I'm putting it out there because I think maybe someone else who reads this might need to hear those words as well.

I wrote on Facebook the other day a quote it was this "Don't be afraid to fall in love, you just fall in love with as many things as possible..." Gwyneth Paltrow from the movie Country Strong.

At the time I thought it was such good advice, and not that I don't now, but falling in love means you can get hurt, and that part isn't any fun.

So I'm going to give myself my own advice tonight:

"Remember this too shall pass, God doesn't give us anything we can't handle even when it seems like it.   Just think back to the times you've felt this way before and remember how you were able to gather the strength to get through.  When I think back to all those moments in my life the one thing I've learned is to look to God first, not after when you understand and are thanking him (not that you shouldn't) but look to him in the beginning for guidance, in the middle for strength, and at the end for thanksgiving!" 

That will be my own quote for this evening.

Because he is there, when you think you don't need him...he's there, when you are down on your knees....he is there, and when you are lifting your hands in praise....he is there!

So Good Night my Friends, and don't forget......He's there!

May you have Peace tonight & in the morning!



If I had it to do over would I?

If I had it to do over would I do it again?

I read this question in one of my books yesterday.   I believe that it was meant in the context of "your whole life".  So if you could go back from today and get a "do-over" as my kids often call it, would you? and what would you change?

I've always been someone who I believe and have told others "I have no regrets".   It just seems silly to think of your life in a way where you would wish you could taken and changed parts.   We've all seen those movies where they get a wish, and they wish to change just one "moment", then from changing just that "moment" their whole live ends up changing. 

How precious is a moment?  According to these movie producers, pretty precious.   According to God, I think he'd have to agree. 

People remember moments.  The first time you said I love you to your spouse.   The day you found out you were pregnant.   The day you hit that home-run and won the game for your team.  We all remember moments.  Unfortunately, we remember the bad ones too.....the time you didn't block the goal and lost the game for your team, the time the boy made fun of you on the school bus, or the time in P.E. where you had to pick teams and you were chosen last.  So which moments are more important, the good or the bad?   

I've had lots of good & bad moments I can remember so well I can remember what I was wearing, sometimes the song that was playing, what the other person was wearing, what kind of day it was, I remember moments distinctively.  I used to let the bad moments "haunt" me.   I would think of them all the time, and get that sick stomach feeling and think "why did I say that?" or "why did I do that?".   Oddly enough as much as I'd let them haunt me, it never ever occurred for me to ask God for a "do-over".   I have just always believed things happened for a reason, and I guess even as a child before I understood this concept, I still understood it in a childlike way that our life is what we make of it.  (I think I may of heard that from my mom a few times).  ;)

So my answer to the question is Yes.   Yes, I would do every single bit of it over, even though it means spending times I'd rather not..........laying on the bathroom floor crying so hard I would throw up over my divorce, or when I broke up with my first boyfriend and I thought the world would just stop for me right there.   Even the day the boys walking behind me on our way home after getting off the school bus lifted up my skirt, and then ran away (I was humiliated!).   Even the moments that I'm going through now that are not the best at times......I wouldn't change it.   I can change the future, but the past is what makes me who I am, and that it what I focus on.  All those bad and good things that happened to me helped shape me to where I am now, and I like me.  Jamie Lee Curtis has a book called "I'm gonna like me...." obviously its a children's book, but I read it to my boys often.   It talks about self-esteem and how at the end of moments like being chosen last, or doing the right thing vs. going with the crowd, or doing something nice, that is what makes you "like me" and others like you too!

So, even though I'm not where I want to be, I thank God I'm not where I used to be, and ask God to guide me to where he needs me to be.   All this is made up of moments, and even being a natural gambler, I'll "hold" my cards at bet where I'm at right now is exactly where God wants me to be!

A couple years ago when I could no longer afford to buy the expensive gifts my teenagers required I stopped trying.   I thought about what I could "give" them that would be special to them, but didn't cost a fortune.  It finally came to me, I could give them memories (moments).   So one year my two daughters and I left at 10:30pm and drove over to the coast in the middle of the night......we had our little adventures (I'll keep them between us) and got home about 4am in the morning (where I then had to be up at 7 and to a soccer game for another child), but it was worth every "moment".  You see at the end of our lifetimes, the "moments" will be what we remember.

So make your moments special, give your kids the gift of happy memories vs. Ipods, they will thank you some day I promise, and if not you can blame me!  :)

Here's to some good moments! (I'm having my in-laws stay the night.....gotta go clean!)