I'm not going to be "deep" tonight . . . I'm just going to share some of the BLESSINGS that God bestowed on me today . . .
- I had a job (that I MOSTLY love) to go to today.
- I have great co-workers and I LOVE the kids at school!
- The weather warmed up some and it was a pretty nice day - even some sunshine peeked through!
- I went for a RUN . . . (3.16 miles) then I stopped and tanned and napped (yes, I was SO TIRED I fell asleep in the tanning bed!), I shopped (yes, there is shopping at my tanning place - and I have a CUTE pair of SHOES picked out - so glad I didn't buy any when I shopped this weekend - I must have tried on 50 pairs yesterday!)
- I RAN home - and took the llooonnnnggggg way home . . . which resulted in 4.65 miles (and took me past the cemetery - of course I ran through and told Rick about it!) . . . so my TOTAL run for the day was 7.81 miles . . . If you had told me six months ago I would be running, and enjoying it, and going ALMOST 8 miles in a day, I'd have told you that you were CrAzY! :)
- I hauled a bunch more garbage to the dumpster - it is scheduled for pick-up tomorrow, but thanks to my girls and my dad, it is nearly FULL and the garage and basement are looking AMAZING!
- A friend got good news about some medical tests she had done that we'd been praying about, still some "unknowns", but initial good news!
- A good friend (who lost a daughter so she "gets" the grief thing) stopped over tonight. She reminded me that it's only 6 months, 6 months is yesterday (in terms of forever!). We had a really nice visit and she assured me (again) that so many of my thoughts/feelings/emotions are totally normal! I'm so thankful that God sends just who I need, just when I need them!
- A sweet friend sent me the lyrics to an old song I'd forgotten, but LOVE, and she said she thought it was written for me . . . and it is amazing - I've included the YouTube link below - "Through It All" as sung by the Gaithers who I also love! The abbreviated lyrics are: "I've had many tears and sorrows, I've had questions for tomorrow, There've been times I didn't know right from wrong; But in every situation God gave blessed consolation that my trials come to only make me strong . . . Through it all, I've learned to trust in Jesus, I've learned to trust in God; Through it all, I've learned to depend on His word . . . I've been to lots of places, and I've seen a lot of faces, There've been times I felt so all alone; But in my lonely hours, yes, those precious lonely hours, Jesus let me know that I was His own . . . I thank God for the mountains, and I thank Him for the valleys, I thank Him for the storms He brought me through; For if I'd never had a problem I wouldn't know that He could solve them, I'd never know what faith in God could do . . . THROUGH IT ALL . . . I'VE LEARNED TO DEPEND ON HIS WORD!"!
- I also had the song going through my mind that reminds me "I know WHO holds the future and I know WHO holds my hand"!
- Along with that, I posted on Facebook last night . . . " I LOVE my girls ... and my friends!!! .... And yes, this weekend marked 6 months since our goodbye to Rick, but, we are also 6 months closer to our eternal reunion!! :) " . . . and as I thought of that, I also thought that every day, every moment, I'm one more breath into my "future" . . . the FUTURE that the LORD has planned for me! With that thought came another of my favorite Bible verses . . . Jeremiah 29:11 "I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you HOPE and a FUTURE"! What an amazing promise - even though I can't see past this moment in time, HE can, and HE knows, and HE promises to prosper, not to harm, to give hope and a future! And I know that my ULTIMATE future is eternity in Heaven!
- I have AMAZING kids (I know I've said that before!)! So often, people tell me they can't imagine having 3 teenage girls, or that they dread when their girls are teens, to which I reply, "For me, it's a BLESSING"! I also have 2 great step-kids! They were raised more in their mom's home than in ours, but I love them so very much! They have grown into AWESOME "people" with great spouses and amazing children. I'm thankful to their mom who did such a good job with them! ♥
I hope this gave you a little "peek" into my day. Even though Rick is not with us any longer here on earth, he is always in my heart. We shared a wonderful life which I am so thankful for. I KNOW where Rick is today (and it's not in that cemetery I ran through today - it's just the last place I know his earthly body was placed - so I feel "connected" to him a bit when I'm there!). So, in spite of the grief that does follow me each day, I can also praise God for each and every BLESSING He sends my way! ♥
I miss Rick, my brother and I LOVE YOU!
ReplyDelete