The New Chapter

"Other people are going to find healing in your wounds. Your greatest life messages and your most effective ministry will come out of your deepest hurts.” - Rick Warren

First of all, I want to say HELLO to all my dedicated readers and supporters. It’s been a while since my last post, and I thought I would reconnect with you first by catching you up on where I am and where I am going with this blog.

The last 6 months I’ve been blessed with a completely new stage of life. It is as though all the hard personal work and healing and praying I did for the past year and a half all came to fruition at once. My prayers have been answered in such a way that I cannot even begin to articulate. I feel blessed beyond measure. The only way I can describe this period of my life is “a miracle”. Problems that I thought to be impossible to fix vanished overnight. Questions that I had about how things would ever turn around suddenly made perfect sense. Dreams I would ponder on and add to my proverbial “bucket list” were being ticked off at record speed. Not only did the Lord connect me with my life partner and future husband, He completely transformed every facet of my life in the process. Needless to say, I’ve been on quite the whirlwind of an adventure and haven’t had a lot of time to post on my blog!

With all this being said, I am happy to be in a position again to have some time to share with you. If you haven’t read any posts of mine before, here is an idea of what it’s about:

I’m not a professional writer, I didn’t go to school for this. I don’t know anything about web design or how to make it successful. I don’t have any desire to make money online or sell anything for personal gain. All I know is that God placed it on my heart to serve others through sharing my stories.

I’m an open book. I am transparent and I am not afraid to express anything I’m feeling. Above all, my compassion for others is something I cannot justly articulate. My heart longs for others to live a life of uncommon joy, peace and love.

I don’t claim to know it all, and my life is not perfect. I do know, however, some of the Truths of life that are unchanging. I do know the word of the Lord endures and that my life has completely changed by welcoming Him into my heart and into my life. I do know that some things in life happen so perfectly that they could only be explained as a “divine intervention”. I do know that although we each have the freedom to make our own choices in life, the plans God has for you FAR FAR exceed your wildest dreams and goals. I continue to be shocked and amazed almost every day at how He worked literally every angle of my life together for my good, and far beyond anything I ever thought was achievable in my circumstances.

As my life changes started to arrive, so did the opportunities to put into practice some of the lessons I’ve learned. I will continue to make mistakes and poor choices. I will continue to fail and fall short of all that I know I am called to be. I will never be perfect and neither will my fiancé. This new chapter in my life has blessed me so greatly, and I am also very grateful for the challenges that have and will come up – as I know I am continually being shaped and prepared for even greater things.

It is my goal to have my blog encourage you along your own journey - to help you escape from self-defeating cycles, and to take the high road. To comfort you in knowing you are not alone. To share with you the love that overflows out of my own heart. To inspire you to live a life of inexpressible joy, as I am. I hope you enjoy reading it. J

  

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:17

Life Seasons

I love the fall. It's the most beautiful season there is, in my opinion. I love seeing the leaves change colour, and the crunching sound they make when you rake them up in piles. I love fall fashion (I have a slight scarf obsession). I love pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks and butternut squash soup. But, with all the beauty of fall comes another long cold winter. I live in Alberta, and winter means -30 degree weather (-50 with the wind chill), and months of icy roads and shovelling snow. But hey, that's just life - the seasons change! Just as the weather changes with the seasons, I think that life also has certain seasons which bring about different changes for you. Just as the weather has 4 seasons, I think life also has 4 seasons. It's important to remember what life season you are in, in order to keep things in perspective. Let me explain:

Winter- The winters are the difficult and painful times in life. Tough times will come, it's inevitable. Life guarantees no shortage of difficulties, tragedies, pain and sorrow. The winter is a time to grieve. Some may take years to get out of the cold winter. You may want to hibernate, or go into seclusion. Be alone. That's ok! It's of utmost importance to properly grieve your losses. Just remember, that through this most difficult season there is goodness ahead...

Spring- This is the time of life where the idea of "you reap what you sow" is very true. After a time of great difficulty, you will eventually see opportunities arise.  The flowers will begin to blossom, so to speak. In this time, plant your seeds of greatness to come. Study, learn, sign up for a class, socialize, venture out, volunteer. Plant. Sow. Work hard. Focus. Take the necessary steps to create your desired future and meet your goals.

Summer - Enjoy the fruits of your labour! In this time of life, things start to come together. You're living a life of abundance and you couldn't be happier. Life is good! The sun in shining! Your hard work has paid off. Enjoy this time and embrace it. Summer can't last forever, so enjoy every second of it.

Fall - This is a time of life to sit back and reflect. With much behind you, you now have the opportunity to evaluate what has worked for you and what hasn't. Take an inventory of your life. Set new goals and dreams. Be honest with yourself. Do some self-inquiry. This is a time of quiet contentment, but overall you are at peace in your life.

Do keep in mind, life doesn't always turn around in the same timing and frequency as the weather seasons do. You may be in what feels like the longest coldest life season of winter. Or, maybe it's summer all year-long. The point is  - LIFE CHANGES. Nothing remains stagnant. So don't get stuck in one season - it can't rain forever, and it also can't be sunshiny everyday. Accept the changes as they come, and make the most of every day for a truly beautifully seasoned life.

I reflect back on my life in the span of less than 2 years, and I see that I successfully completed a full cycle of life seasons. I walked through the Fall, where I reflected on my past choices and behaviour. I took inventory of my life - where I am versus where I want to be. I accepted my lessons with humility and forgave myself for the mistakes I made. I persevered through the Winter - I survived some rather dark, lonely, days. I grieved my losses, I healed my heart. In the Spring I planted a mighty crop - I grabbed onto every opportunity with both hands. I put all my learned lessons together and took action. I made a few BIG moves, and opened my heart. I opened all doors. The next life season has just recently arrived - into my life walked a very special gentleman... and so now after all the seasons I went through, including the coldest winter nights -  all I see is clear blue skies and sunshine, for miles and miles to come.  :-)

Ecclesiastes 3

A Time for Everything

 ¹ There is a time for everything,
   and a season for every activity under the heavens:

 ² a time to be born and a time to die,
   a time to plant and a time to uproot,
 ³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
   a time to tear down and a time to build,
 ⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
   a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 ⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
   a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
 ⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
   a time to keep and a time to throw away,
 ⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
   a time to be silent and a time to speak,
 ⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
   a time for war and a time for peace.