I am still here - LOL

Hello there...I have been away for a while - according to my last post in June 2016.  A lot has happened since then and here I am again, on a very Canadian Snowy Sunday afternoon - finally sitting down to take a break.

We are into the 2nd month of 2017 already.

How is your year going?
         Have you kept your New Years Resolutions?
                 Have you made new friends?
                           Have you forgiven someone?
Have you made a fresh commitment to God?
        Have you started a new job or adventure?
                 Have you helped someone along the way?

I turned 46 in January!  Yup - I am on my way to 50 years of age.  And I don't know if it comes with the Territory but I find myself being more reflective and intentional in my living.  Not that I wasn't before but I have been more so these past few months.

There have been a lot of 'not so good' things happening - especially in our church family with precious loved ones passing away.  And while as Christians, we know the end is so much better than this world we are living in now - if you have made a decision, it is still so sad to see people going through difficult times.

We are all not immune to difficulties no matter what the color of our skin is, whether we are a follower of Jesus ,whether we live in the USA, Canada or another part of the world.  But one thing that we all have an opportunity to do is to make someone's life better when they are in the valley.

Ask yourself...

Don't isolate yourself and stick to the same people!  LOL - that sounds worse than I meant it to be.  One thing that I like to do is to connect with people.  I enjoy getting to know people and learning about their stories.   

Just today in church, with lower attendance than normal - due to the weather, I learned some new things about some members of my church family.  I won't use real names but what I learned was this....

The sweet lady who was a 'greeter' today used to be Youth Pastors with her husband who has since passed.  This came up when I was speaking with her about our daughter who just returned from an overnight event that our Division had at the Camp.   I had no idea!  

During lunch I learned that John loves pets and how he used to have a Farrot that was very special to him.  Farrot's don't have a long life so he doesn't have one now - as he got very attached.  I shared with him about a volunteer program I knew of at a local shelter.

Sadly I learned that a lady who is a member of our church is hospitalized and will unlikely be going home due to the severity of her illness.

I also received fresh encouragement as Pastor shared from the word on Martha & Mary.  This story is such a great one....

I love weekends....as busy as they can be at times.  

I pray that you had time to have some fun and relaxing time with family and friends on this weekend.

Perhaps I will come back a few more times and blog some more.

I am taking a one month break from Facebook and it is fun to blog.

Blessings - Dana

Friends

Wow, the weather must be starting to get nice as I haven't blogged since Mid-May.  I have been busy unwinding in our garden and enjoying it immensely.  

But tonight, ,I am skipping the gardening as I wait for Ashley and a friend who she met at home daycare at public swimming.  

I have been doing a lot of thinking and reading about Friends and Friendship this past few weeks.  So I thought why not write a little blurb about Friends. Because one day, Ashlely will be sitting back and reading my blog posts and who knows, she may need to read and hear what her mommy had to say when she was in Grade 6. LOL.

I posted an article this week from Focus on the Family which has some awesome things to say about Friends.  If you haven't read it, I would encourage you to do so.  Here is the link:

http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/teens/developing-friendships-that-last

It speaks about developing friendships that last.

I have quite a number of great friends but I LOVE to reconnect with friends who I haven't heard from in a while and pick up just where we left off.  Do you have friends like that?  It doesn't matter if you haven't spoken in 2 years ,you just start chatting and off you go.  I am not going to name friends as I am bound to forget someone but if you are reading this - you will know who you are.

One thing that I appreciate in my friends are those who we are prayer warriors together.  We can share what is going on in our lives and where we need prayer and we have assurance that when we say we are praying - we are praying!  

As I have gotten older - I am more appreciative of these prayer warrior friends an I am not shy about asking or requesting prayer.  I believe by sharing our stories and needs - that we are not pretending to be okay or not in need of help, is something that we all need to do.

Being a parent of a pre-teen, we have a lot of chats about Friends and what makes or breaks a friendship.  And Ashley & I have shared many prayers together at bedtime for various friends and friendships.  

We can't always be there but we can certainly teach ,train and model for our children about friends.  

We need to pray for our friends - even when they don't know.  Found another great read:

http://adivineencounter.com/prayers-for-your-friends/


Thank YOU for being my friend,

Dana

Our PRAYERS

Every now and then you come across some pretty cool reminders on facebook.  This is one that I shared today that came up in my newsfeed about prayers.

There are times when we don't even know what or how to pray to God about situations.  In our humanness, we don't have all the answers but it is such a comforting reminder that God understands our prayers now matter how we pray them.

Over the years and experiences of parenting & relationships ,our prayer requests have been different. Some almost begging to God to give us answers - and in HIS time He did.  But always - there was peace and knowing that God is working on the issues.

I have told Ashley more than once this year, that no matter where she is  - whether sitting at her desk in class, at recess or in the washroom.  She can close her eyes and whisper a prayer to God.  Because he is always there ready to listen and help us throughout the day.

At our church we have 2 awesome ladies who run the prayer chain ministry and Sunday morning prayer circle before our service.  When we gather together our faith & relationships are deepened.  I am growing closer to God through the experience of prayer for others.

Today we received a prayer request for a young girl age 14 who overdosed and is in hospital.  It is so hard to read a prayer request list this, especially as a parent.  Your mind just wanders in so many directions and I find myself asking WHY?  

Dear God, I pray for this young friend and child that we are asked to pray for today.  I pray that you will heal her body and be with her family.  Be especially near the teachers and students and counselors who will support classmates tomorrow.

And God, help us to never be too busy to pray and ask people if they have something they would like us to pray about.  

Giving thanks this evening for my Christian parents who modelled prayer at a young age in my life and for the Christian heritage in our families.

Want to change the world!  Pray!

Dana

Unconditional Love

I love Sunday afternoons and often spend it reading random magazines, articles.  I just read this weblink and thought I would share it on here.  A quote from it stood out to me:

"God didn’t wait for us to clean up our lives before he loved us. He loved us while we were sinners. To reflect His love to our children, we need to love them no matter what."

You can read the whole article here:

http://equippinggodlywomen.com/parenting/the-one-thing-this-christian-momma-wants-her-kids-to-know/

How true is that?  He comes to us right in the middle of our mess.  The world needs to hear more of this.  Kinda gets you thinking how many that are in a MESS stay away from church communities when they really need to be there.

Many of our friends are at different parenting stages with our kids & face different situations.  We need to pray for each other but most importantly we need to LOVE our children unconditionally no matter what.  That is how God loves us!

DANA