The Thankful Challenge – The Storm

A 365 day challenge to focus on being thankful. – Week 2, Day 3…and 4

Photo by Josh Sorenson on Pexels.com

Do you ever have those moments when you know the proverbial storm is coming and you think you are prepared but it turns out you just kinda weren’t? Well on Tuesday there was no proverbial about the storm that hit our area and I was definitely not prepared. Yes, the local weather stations had been predicting the impact of the storm would be rough but I didn’t expect it to be quite so bad. I thought there might be some sensationalizing about the storm. (It happens sometimes.) Turns out there was no sensationalizing. The meteorologists were spot on this time.

It was drizzling all morning and the winds were steadily picking up as the day meandered on. Eventually the rain decided to show itself in a big way and was coming down in sheets (and sideways) but it seemed the heavy rain moved on pretty quickly. Then the winds blustered and gusted their way into the evening hours. The wind was blowing so it was changing the pressure in the house. Doors were closing on their own and the windows were shifting in their casings. It was unsettling.

We have A LOT of trees in our yard which is always cause for concern when we hear “high winds” in the forecast. The trees were creaking and the wind was howling. If you’ve never heard a tree creak, the sound is very eery. It’s like the creak of the floors before a jump scare in the movies. You hear the creaking and hold your breath until you hear the crack of a limb or the thump of a giant branch on the roof. If you are fortunate, you hear nothing. The dread is there in the back of your mind, cautiously waiting for a limb to come crashing through the window (which has happened before on an otherwise calm day). Wind gusts were up to 55 mph and the trees were moaning and straining with every gust.

Night fell and the lights were still on. I thought we were going to be lucky this time, escaping this storm with only a tiny little leak in the roof and some branches to clean up in the yard. Then it happened, the lights flickered, on, off, on, off, on, then blackness. SERIOUSLY!?! I thought the storm was on its way out and we were home free. My daughter and I stood in blackness on the stairs waiting and hoping it was just a little blip and the power would be back on momentarily. No such luck. Time to find the flashlights.

We looked at the power outage maps and the number of people without power kept growing and growing into the thousands. There were people without power all around us. People, just like us, going to their lantern and flashlight stashes so they could find their way around in the night. Understandably, the power company was not sending anyone out to work on the lines until the storm had passed. Thankfully, it was approaching bedtime so we decided to turn in early. Surely the power would be back on when the sun came up.

The wind was blustery through the night and eventually the storm passed a few hours before the sun decided to show its face. The bright, still a little breezy, morning was a welcome sight but no power. This was going to present some challenges for the moring. We are beholden to our well and our well pump to supply water to our house. When the power goes out…so does our water. Take a moment to think about all the things we do with water every day. Yeah…if you know you know. There was no flushing, hand washing, or showering. We usually fill the tubs with water so we can at least take care of the essentials but this time I was scoffing at the storm and did not have any back up water supplies other than a few water bottles. It was turning into a bit of a mess. I did have baby wipes though. I ALWAYS have baby wipes. They can be useful in many different ways, this time more than most.

We took another gander at the outage maps and it looked like the number of people without power was dwindling all around us. Surely we were next. We all took our shower things and a change of clothes to school or to the gym to take advantage of water elsewhere just in case. I was at the gym when one of the neighbors told me the power had returned. Thank goodness!

I know this doesn’t sound much like a thankful post so far but I am very thankful. First, I know we were fortunate only to lose power in the storm. The other inconveniences turned out to be just that, inconveniences. Once the power was back on those problems were in the rear view mirror. That was not the case for others. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those that had more damage and injury.

I am thankful for the people from the power company that worked tirelessly to bring the power back to the thousands of people. I think we were some of the last in our area to get our power back and we were still only without power for about 17 hours. Truly incredible that everyone’s lights were back on so quickly. The lineman have skills beyond skills to do what they do with high voltage wires while high off the ground!

I am thankful for my husband bringing my daughter and I dinner because we had not eaten yet when the power went out. I’m also thankful he arrived home safely from his work meeting. The neighbor that checked on us to make sure we were warm enough and had what we needed is amazing and the best neighbor! I am so thankful for her! 

Sometimes it is hard to see the silver lining or to look for the bright spots in our days when they are not going the way we planned. My goal for this year and for this “Thankful Challenge” is to do just that. Look for the happy coincidences. Find the sunny side when things aren’t going my way. Cherish the moments when things are going my way. Find as many ways to be thankful as possible. What are you thankful for today?

The Thankful Challenge – The Little Moments

A 365 day challenge to focus on being thankful. – Week 2, Day2

Photo by Adonyi Gu00e1bor on Pexels.com

When looking for things to be thankful for, I sometimes find myself looking at the big picture. I focus on the stand out moments instead of looking for the details in the smaller moments. There isn’t a wrong or right way to look for ways to be thankful but I do think we sometimes miss out on the joy of the little things because we are looking for the big life changing moments. Today I want to focus on some of the little moments.

I am incredibly thankful for the time I have with my kids. They are growing up so fast, with one already in college and the other one soon to follow. I don’t know what I will do when they are both out of the house. For now, I will cherish each moment I have with them. There are definitely big moments in both of my kids lives but I love the time I have with them in the little moments, time spent playing family games or car rides to and from school. In all honesty, I thought I would be relieved when I didn’t have to drive my kids to school anymore but when the time came, I realized that was our very special one on one time. We could talk in the car about whatever, a lot of times leading to hysterical laughter.

My oldest is off to college now. Can someone please tell me why is it so hard every time he leaves home to go back to school and does it get any easier? I miss him so stinking’ much! I do cherish every single time he calls from school. Thankfully he does call me a few times a week so we can keep in touch. I know I am a lucky Mama. I’ve heard a lot of stories from Mom’s with kids in college that never call home. If you are a college kid reading this post…call your Mom. She misses you!

When my daughter was little, we had a live skit we would do in the carpool line each morning. We had a tiny following but we had fun. I’m a little biased but I thought we were pretty hysterical and creative. When she moved up to the next school we had to stop doing the skits because her bell schedule changed and our morning live skits were no more. I still go back and watch them sometimes. I am thankful we had that time to spend together in the little moments while waiting for school to open.

As we move forward through the days, weeks, and years, I will continue to look for the little moments nestled in between the big moments. If we are only ever looking for the big events for joy, we miss so much of life. Life happens in the little moments. Do you have any favorite little moments?

 

The Thankful Challenge -Reconnecting with Friends

A 365 day challenge to focus on being thankful – Week 2, Day 1

Well, I made it through last week with my posts…sort of. I started this challenge on a whim without much preparation so I am working it out as I go along. I learned a lot from last week and I am certain I will learn even more with every passing week. Aren’t we all a work in progress anyway? Moving forward I will plan for 5 posts per week and I’m toying with the idea of adding a weekly video as well. Crazy, I know. I’m not entirely sure what has a gotten into me. This time, I did think about the vlog a little bit before I put it out in the world. (A whole couple of days at least.) I haven’t committed to the vlog yet but I would appreciate your feedback. What do you think about a weekly video to go along with “The Thankful Challenge”?

I started another thankful post for today but I wanted to clean it up before posting. It was another one of my midnight musings and a bit of a mess. I think it will actually take more time to fix the other post than it will to write this entire post. Sometimes my brain just needs a fresh start. Regrouping!

**Reconnecting with Friends**

Recently I joined my old gym again. (Not a New Year’s resolution kind of thing. Although I know the timing is suspect.) I’d been a member at this gym since just after the branch opened. When a certain pandemic (that shall remain nameless) descended on us, we dropped our membership and joined the thousands of others setting up home gyms with weights, bands, and a spin bike. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the convenience of having equipment at home and the spin bike was/is pretty fantastic. It was a good way to get through the quarantine especially for my kids when the school gym was not accessible. I didn’t realize it at first because we were all so secluded, everyone was staying at home, and we were all hyper focused on staying healthy. I didn’t really expect to see anyone. As time went on though, I realized how much I really missed my friends. (However, I did selfishly love having my kids at home with me all the time.)

As we were emerging out from under the giant shadow of the pandemic and life was sort of getting back to normal, I decided to try joining a gym again. I tried a different gym because it was a little cheaper and I wasn’t sure I how much I would be able to go. It was fine for what it was but there was still something missing. I decided it was time to leave that gym and go back to the place where I knew I would fit right in.

Last week I walked in the front doors of the gym that was my home for at least 10 years before the pandemic forced me to leave. Walking in those front doors felt like home. So many of the people I knew from before were still working there and they greeted me and welcomed me in. I got to see some of my friends from the gym and each day I go to workout I see another person I knew from before. I didn’t realize how much I missed those connections until I was able to reconnect. Even though it has only been a week, I am so happy to be home.

Today I got to see some of the fabulous women from my workout group. Those happy meetings made for a wonderful start to my morning. The women I used to workout with were always such a positive group of women. Never any judgement just an incredible support system as we all moved along our fitness journeys. I hope as the days go on, I am able to reconnect with more and more of the women who helped me through some of the toughest times and cheered with me through the best of times.

I cherish those friendships and I regret losing touch when everything went haywire a few years ago. I am so thankful I now have the chance to reconnect with my friends from my gym community, my peeps.

The Thankful Challenge – Day 5

A 365 day challenge to focus on being thankful.

Ok, I made it to day 5. Woohoo! I know it seems silly to celebrate such a tiny milestone but we have to celebrate the little victories along with the big. Some baby steps that will hopefully lead to leaps and bounds.

Yesterday I wrote about Mom. Today I think it is only fitting to follow it up with a thankful post about Dad. I’m so thankful I had two wonderful parents who loved me and always wanted the best for me. I know that is not always the case for everyone. Dad is no longer with us but there was never a dull moment when he was around.

There are so many anecdotes and stories about Dad, it’s hard to narrow it down. I will say that he provided for us and worked insanely hard to make sure we had everything we ever needed as well as some things we didn’t necessarily need. He loved to travel and wanted to make sure we had experiences that would last a lifetime. We had some really entertaining and adventurous family trips, all in our Econoline high top van. Dad loved loading up and jumping in that van for an outing. I can still see him sitting up in the drivers seat, whistling along, as we headed down the highway. We listened to the Kingston Trio A LOT. It was one of his favorite bands. I still listen to the Kingston Trio because of Dad. Listening to his music also helps me remember some of the very vivid memories I have of my Dad.

When I was a kid Dad loved playing in the ocean with us. I don’t know how many hours he spent holding onto me while I floated on rafts in the ocean. I was a little nervous about the fish and, in full disclosure, the seaweed. I would lose my mind when the seaweed brushed across my legs and would go running for the raft. I spent hours on those blue and red rafts (if you are a 70’s/80’s baby you know the ones I’m talking about). Dad held onto that raft and never made me feel silly for being a little afraid of the ocean critters and things drifting in the water. My brothers and I always had the best time in the ocean with Dad. He transferred his love of the ocean to me and to my kids as well. It is my happy place and I always feel a little closer to Dad on the beach.

On a side note, I was looking for a picture of the blue and red rafts to add to this post. I saw one of the rafts marked “vintage” and now I feel old. It was also for sale for $59.99. What in the world!? I don’t even know how someone owns a raft from that long ago that survived this long. We went through those rafts like fish went through the water and they were only about $5 each. The new $59.99 price…must be a victim of “inflation”.

Even though Dad has gone on to Heaven, his memory is still very much alive here on Earth. When we get together as a family, there is always some fun story of Dad that finds its way into the conversation. The Dad stories are the best and always get us laughing. I think about him every day and miss him terribly, but more than that, I am so thankful that he was my Dad!

The Thankful Challenge – Day 4

A 365 day challenge to focus on being thankful.

Want to know one of the fun things about my midnight musings? You get to see the inner workings of my very tired brain. It’s always a fun time when I try to make a post when I really should be snuggled down and fast asleep. I probably should go back and check the posts to make sure I didn’t make too many typos (or say anything too crazy) but maybe I will do that another day. Today I am trying something a little different and writing while the clock still says “a.m.”.

Today, on Day 4, I want to give a huge shout out to the most influential person in my life, my Mom. She has been my inspiration, my confidant, my friend, and my biggest supporter to name a few of the qualities that make her the best. It’s amazing to think God could put so much goodness, kindness, and compassion into one person. She has a spirit of helpfulness and giving that I think may be unmatched. I wish she had kept track of her pie giving when she first started taking pies to people that were homebound or recovering from sickness. I’m pretty sure the pie count would be 500 or more. Did I mention she makes a mean lemon meringue pie? It’s not the thing I am most thankful for about her but it is definitely up there on the list. I’ve tried a lot of lemon meringue pies in my time and no one makes one like my Mom. She also makes a fabulous coconut pie, and pecan pie, which are also fan favorites, but I would arm wrestle someone for the last piece of her lemon meringue pie!

Oh goodness, sorry, I got going on a pie tangent and couldn’t reel myself back in. It happens.

I am one blessed woman to have a Mom like my Mom! We talk and text a lot, sometimes about really random things. She has a great sense of humor and tolerates mine. She laughs at my jokes and comforts me when I am not in the most joking of moods. She has never ever given up on me even when I wasn’t the easiest to love. And she has supported me through everything, even when I moved across the country to pursue one of my dreams. As a Mom with a child that just left for college, I know those years apart were not easy for her but she never made me feel guilty about being so far away.

Mom has supported me always and in every way. Now she does the same for her grandkids. Whatever the weather, if she tells them she is going to be there, she is there. Scorching hot track meets, check, torrential downpour football game, check, freezing cold regatta and cross country meet, double check. She has been there for my kids the way she was there for me and that is something I will never forget. I want to support my kids and be the best Mom I can be for them because of her.

I could go on and on and I will likely revisit Mom stories later in the year. There is one thing for sure, the bond between a Mother and daughter is so special and I am thankful God saw fit to put us together! I love you to the moon and back!

I would love to hear your favorite stories about your Mom. Please leave a comment to let me know one of your favorites!

The Thankful Challenge – Day 3

A 365 day challenge to focus on being thankful.

Well folks, so far I have yet to make a post or really start writing a post before 10pm. Suffice it to say, I have not quite figured out how to work this into my schedule. I hope I can eventually shift to writing the blog before 10am but so far this is what we have. I came into this year long blog making a snap decision to start this challenge and didn’t give it too much thought. The one thing I did realize…if I started overthinking this thing I would never start it. That means I would never start writing. I thought If I start with little blurbs to dust off my keyboard and strengthen my typing fingers, I could build it into something more.

An interesting and encouraging thing has been happening in these first few days. Some people have read the first two posts and have offered positive feedback. Others are asking me how the New Year is going and if I’ve made any resolutions. While I don’t consider this a New Year’s resolution (people rarely keep their resolutions), I do share my Thankful challenge idea with them. Everyone’s reaction has been so encouraging and some have told me they want to start the thankful challenge with me. How exciting! I do hope more will join in with the challenge!

So today, for Day 3, I am so thankful for all the encouragement and positive feedback I’ve received in the first couple of days. It helps me realize I am actually doing the “write” thing. (Tee hee! See what I did there?)

Ok I better go to bed. So far I’ve fallen asleep with my finger on the eeeeeeeeeeeeeee and the nnnnnnnnnnn. Now I just need a ddddddddddd to make it to the eeeennndddd of this post! See you on Day 4.

The Thankful Challenge – Day 2

A 365 day challenge to focus on being thankful.

Well, this is another skin of my teeth posting. I’m squeaking in just before midnight but I didn’t want day 2 to go by without posting my thankful challenge for the day. Plus, how silly would it be if I couldn’t even make it past day 2 of my self imposed challenge. Ha! That would not be good!

For day 2, I am so thankful for the people around me that build me up and keep me sane, a.k.a my support system. My Mom is at the very tippy top of that list but she deserves her very own day and I want to have a little more time to write about her. She will be “appearing” in a post all about her in the next few days.

I cannot name all the people in my support system, for fear of leaving someone out, but they know who they are. It’s the people I can go to with anything and they are ready to step up and help however they can and at a moment’s notice. It’s the people I may not see every day or we may not even live in the same town but whenever we see each other it’s like we have been together all along. It’s the people I can call or text and tell them anything and they do not judge or “throw shade”. (…do we still say that?) It’s the people who will come over in monsoon-like weather to let my dogs out…on multiple occasions. (I still owe you some flowers for that!) It’s the people who will bring me a meal just because they know I had a rotten day. It’s the people who check in on me even though they are going through a tough time themselves. It’s the people that humor me and aren’t afraid to keep our streaks alive with goofy photo filters on a certain social media app. Oh the lol’s I get from those pics. I could go on but hopefully you get the idea. These are the people in my support system.

My support system is filled with the people that truly make my life easier, help me maintain my sanity, and aren’t afraid to laugh with me when things just seem to go all sorts of crazy. Some I have know my whole life, or most of my life, and some I have only known in my adult life but I love you all! I am so thankful for you, my most fabulous support system.

Let me know how you would describe the people in your support system.

Stay tuned for Day 3!

The Thankful Challenge – Day 1

A 365 day challenge to focus on being thankful.

This morning while I was in the middle of my devotion, there was a focus on being thankful. As I stepped through the different focuses outlined for me, it occurred to me that I have become forgetful to be thankful. I’m not sure what happened over the last few years to pull me away from my generally positive, thankful, bright side personality but I decided this morning (yes this morning) that I needed to make a change in 2024. Was it a snap decision? Absolutely! Although, I do want to focus more on writing this year. What better way to get started than with a thankful focus? I know a lot of people pick certain months out of the year to be thankful (especially November for some reason) but I thought to myself, “What if I take on the whole year?”. Could this be a life altering experience? Quite possibly. Am I biting off more than I can chew? Probably. Will I succeed? Who knows? Is it worth a try? Most definitely!

So here is the first post of (hopefully) many to get this year started. What am I thankful for today? It is hard to figure out where to start. What is the best first thankful post for 2024? As the clock ticks down toward the end of this day, I probably need to go ahead and figure it out so I am not behind before I even get started. I’ve been thinking about this all day, and it turns out I truly have many reasons to be thankful, big and little reasons, funny and serious, joyful and grace filled. I’m not sure if it makes sense but I’ve also been thankful in sadness. So to get the year started, is it cheating to say I am thankful I have so many things to be thankful for? Seriously! I tend to focus on the big things but as I was thinking through it today, there are so many little things out there as well. I cannot expand too much on it because, well, I need to be able to keep this up for 364 more days. If I write about everything now, what will there be to write about the other days this year? So for now, I am thankful I can be thankful. Short and sweet, but very true.

If anyone wants to join me in this challenge or just wants to chime in from time to time, please leave a comment. I would love to hear from you.

PS: I’m especially thankful I was able to figure out my login for WordPress. It’s been a while (read: years) since my last post and the struggle was real! My thankful quest was almost over before it began.

2020: The Quarantine, What I’ve Learned…so far

The quarantine, social distancing, shelter in place, whatever you want to call it, Covid-19, the coronavirus, has turned our lives upside-down.  There is a new normal, at least for a little while.  This temporary shelter in place order has people finding a whole new outlook on their daily lives.  Kids are home from school.  Parents who are used to spending their days at work are now working from home in the midst of the chaos.  Everyone is being forced to home school or move to online schooling.  Peace and quiet are hard to find.  How are you coping?  Here’s my story.

I’m going to be completely honest.  The first few weeks of all of this, I was a hot mess.  I’m so used to being scheduled down to the minute each day that I did not do well when I had a really open daily schedule.  There was no goal or purpose…just blah.  I was losing track of days and felt like I was going a little bit crazy.

I was ok letting that first week go into oblivion because there had to be some sort of adjustment period.  But when the second week started rolling on down that same slippery slope, I knew something had to be done.  Admittedly, I totally laughed when I saw all the social media posts about the strict “homeschool schedules”.  In the words (and southern emphasis) of one of our dear departed friends, I thought, “Ain’t no way!”  Everyone in my house would be so stressed out if we kept a schedule that strict while also trapped in the house together.  Can we say, “pressure cooker”?  I always expect a lot out of my kids and sometimes they have too much pressure on them. I didn’t really see the need to keep all that pressure on when their worlds had been turned upsidedown.  However, there had to be some kind of middle ground between sloth and busy busy bee.

Middle of the second week, I decided to post up a free-flowing schedule outside my kids’ rooms each morning.  I guess it was more just a list of things they needed to accomplish each day instead of a schedule.  It took some tweaking and guidance but it seemed to work.  I breathed a big sigh of relief.  Was it perfect?  No.  But we were making progress in the right direction and moving away from sloth-hood.

The kids were on some sort of schedule now, but I was still struggling.  I couldn’t shake the feeling that I wasn’t getting enough done.  It was like that annoying piece of gum you can’t scrape off your shoe.  As much as I scraped and poked, I couldn’t get rid of that gummy, stringy, sticky mess, aka my inner brawl with guilt.  I got up in the morning and did all the usual things but for some reason, I felt like I wasn’t getting anything done other than laundry and cooking.  It was weird…”Twilight Zone” weird…”Groundhog Day” weird.  Every day felt like the day before.

What to do?  I pulled out my seemingly useless 2020 planner in an effort to get organized.  I started tracking the things I did and other things I needed to do.  Taking a short break, I closed my planner and stepped away for a few minutes.  When I went back to my planner, I thought I had lost my mind.  I couldn’t find anything I had written down.  Maybe I wrote it in another notebook?  Was someone playing tricks on me?  I didn’t really know but my head was feeling all scrambled trying to figure it out.  Turns out I was playing tricks on myself.  I had, indeed, written everything down in my planner…just in the wrong month and on the wrong days.  Sheesh!

After figuring out what was going on and realizing I wasn’t losing my mind, the exercise of writing everything down was really helpful.  While we were not changing the world with all our free time, we were doing alright.  We had taken food to school for the kids that were missing their lunches and made some other donations.  We also did a few small projects like sidewalk chalk in support of all the frontline and essential workers.  I tackled some home projects of which one resulted in me almost ripping my daughter’s fan off the ceiling.  Sooo that project was a net-zero.  Now I have a new project.  Replace my daughter’s ceiling fan.  In any event, my daughter and I laughed hysterically after we did a quick check to make sure neither of us was impaled by fan blades.  Yes, I forgot to turn off the fan.  Yes, fan blades will sheer clean off when the fan is on high and you hit the fan with a ladder.  Oh well.  She wanted a new fan anyway.   Keeping it real, check.  Laughing at the small stuff, check.

At that moment, I made a conscious decision to stop being so hard on myself.  The kids were getting their work done, we had food to eat and clean clothes to wear…if we opted to put them on.  My trips to the grocery store were relatively successful with the exception of finding toilet paper.  (We are getting close to desperate on that but it’s not for lack of searching.)  Everyone is healthy and thriving, thankfully.  The kids are getting along splendidly.  Really, with all things considered, all is good.  I don’t know why I was panicking and being so hard on myself.   I love having the kids home.  I hardly ever get to see them when life is going full speed ahead.  I have to enjoy this slow down while it lasts.  When things gradually make their way back to normal, I will miss my kiddos and want to take every opportunity to spend time with them now.

All of this to say, if you are going through the same struggle I was, take a minute, take a breath and stop being so hard on yourself.  Not every day is going to be perfect or, really, even near perfect.  What is “perfect” right now anyway?  Do the best you can.  Stay in your jammies all day if you want.  If you have kids, enjoy the time you have with them.  The time will go by faster than you think.  Mine are teenagers so I have to resist the urge to get in their “space” too much lest I be deemed clingy.  Thankfully, my son doesn’t mind me in his space too much and my daughter and I take our dogs for walks to get some Mom/Daughter time.  Oh and did I mention, our dogs love having us home?

Right now, the world and our daily lives seem so crazy and complicated.  Try to see through all of the crazy and get to the good.  Don’t sweat the complicated and take each day as it comes.  We are in a time like none we ever imagined we would see in our lifetime.  It’s ok if you have to muddle through until you find your way.  No one has all the answers, even if they act like they do.  We are going to make it through and be all the stronger for it!  Remember to take it easy on yourself!  You’ve got this!

*Many thanks go out to all the frontline and essential workers risking their health to serve others.

*To all the families that have lost loved ones during this crisis, you are in my thoughts and prayers.

 

 

Anchored in Hope

Anchored in Hope

We have this hope, in Christ, as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.  Hebrews 6:19

Hope!  What an amazing word.  “Hope” can be used in so many scenarios every day.  Talking to my kids: “I hope you have a great day at school today.”  With concern: “I hope everyone is safe in the storm.”  With expectation: “I hope I get that job interview.”  In exhaustion: “I hope I can have a few quiet moments to collect my thoughts today.”  We can also hope for better things to come, “I hope tomorrow is a better day!”

We can hope for so many things.  Unfortunately, sometimes those things we hope for do not come to fruition and we feel let down, frustrated or sad.  I can remember several times in my life when I worked so hard toward a goal and hoped I’d done enough to reach it but in the end was left heart broken and disappointed.  Now that I am a Mom, it breaks my heart even more to see that same disappointment in my kids.  I remember how raw that feeling was when I was a kid and it makes me feel sad, and a little helpless, when I see my kids going through that same cycle of being hopeful then let down.

Sometimes we lose hope or feel like we are in a hopeless situation.  For me specifically, there was one year in my life when I felt the most hopeless.  In that one year, I struggled with the unexpected death of a family member and a bad accident involving one of my children.  I had lost hope, not because all hope was lost but because I was so angry at what life dealt me I refused to see the hope that was readily available to me.  Not until I sought the one true, unshakable, unfailing hope, was I able to heal.

Hebrews 6:19 says “We have this hope, in Christ, as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.”

During that year, more than ever, I needed an anchor for my soul, firm and secure.  Christ was always there, waiting for me to return to Him, to find my hope in Him again.  He never left my side,  I just needed to call out to Him, to place my hope in Him.  When we anchor our hope in Christ, *like an anchor safely holds a ship in position, our anchor goes up to the true, heavenly sanctuary.  What better place to be anchored?

The great hope we have in Christ and the security of knowing He cares for us so much that He would lay down His life for us is incredible.  The word incredible doesn’t even seem to cover what Christ did for me, for us.  It is mind-blowing, staggering, extraordinary, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8  How can I ever repay Christ for what He has done for me, for the hope He has given me?  Truth is, I cannot.  I can only accept Him and have faith that He is the one true, Great Hope and the anchor for my soul.

 

 

*paraphrased note from Hebrews 6:19 in the Zondervan NIV Bible