by Sharon O | Jan 7, 2016 | Uncategorized
So far the year has been interesting and quiet.
I love quiet and have learned to love my alone times as well as times with others.
My natural preference is to have down time by myself to think, or ponder.
(Our Pastor told us that to ponder is to have conversations with yourself like Mary did in the Christmas story when she pondered all that was said about her baby.)
This is not the same as ‘talking to yourself’ as in a psycho state of mind, it is just conversations to sort things out.
As a writer I think it makes perfect sense to write, read aloud what was written, ask questions of ‘what’ is the main point, then finish it.
My husband was off the two weeks around Christmas. It was very nice to have him home but in saying all that it also ‘changes’ my days.
When I am home alone I am in quiet. There is most of the time no noise other than my cats meowing at the den door because it is shut.
When he is home he enjoys football or old ‘John Wayne movies. He will also watch a NCIS marathon.
I can watch that a little because who doesn’t like to look at Mark Harmon? but the violence gets tiring.
Soon we will be together all the time. It will be good and also a bit challenging. I like to set aside Tuesday and Thursday for writing.
If we are retired together that might not happen as often as I would like.
I must learn to be flexible. I must also be able to say, today I need to write.
But also I must learn to do what he enjoys and wants to do. (except camping in a tent)
My word of the year is reveal. What a fitting word to show us and reveal to us, our new way of living.
Looking forward to the lessons to be learned and the time spent together as we explore our new life of retirement.
by Sharon O | Jan 2, 2016 | Uncategorized
Every year I try to choose a new word of the year.
It must have purpose and meaning and it is often God given or inspired.
A week or so ago as I laid in bed sleeping in the quiet of the night, I woke up to hear the word.
It felt like it was from God as I was in a deep sleep then I woke up.
After listening and studying it I am realizing so much how it will fit into this ‘new’ years plans.
In Deuteronomy a book of the Old Testament, there is a verse in chapter five, number twenty four.
[Our God has revealed to us his glory and greatness.]
In the entire bible the word is used sixty times.
In the book of Psalms one nineteen between verses forty one and forty eight we find this.
[Oh I’ll guard with my life what you have revealed to me.]
I woke up out of a deep sleep with the word reveal in my mind. It was very clear and it was very firm.
Reveal means: to make known, disclose, divulge, (as in reveal a secret), to lay open to view as in display or exhibit.
It also means to uncover as in (the fog lifted and revealed the harbor or beauty). To disclose the plans.
After thinking about this word and wondering what significance it would have for the year it made complete sense. We are planning our ‘retirement’.
My husband is ending his job and retiring. It is a mystery to us how this is all going to work.
We are trusting in the process and those who know how to handle our funds and insurances and bills.
I clearly heard, if we can say we hear from God. “I will reveal to you what you do not yet know.”
“I will make your path clear and I will help you see, that your fears and concerns are not reasonable.”
There are many things we do not know about retirement and there are many things about it that is scary.
It is also very exciting but to know how it is all going to play out and become real is a mystery.
But I believe with all my heart that when we look back at the year we will be sure in our hearts, He did reveal to us the plans.
It is a strong word full of mystery and anticipation.
Just as the fog covers the scene so one cannot see the whole picture.
God has said ‘He will reveal to us’ what we will need for this next phase of life.
The word for 2016 is Reveal .
As we go into the path that is unknown HE will make known to us what lies ahead. We will trust and we wait.
by Sharon O | Dec 31, 2015 | Uncategorized
I have been waiting and praying for a new ‘word of the year’.
Each year words have been given to me, and each year I have waited with anticipation, of how they will play out in the days and months ahead.
It feels like the new word for this year has come to me.
I am not yet ready to share it, but soon I will share the ‘meaning and the story’.
For now I wait and listen and wonder and pray.
This last year my word was Hope.
I needed that word for many reasons and I do believe it was the right one given to me.
Within the year we saw my husband have and recover from a full knee replacement.
That was very major and hard for both of us.
Within the year my best friend moved hours away from me, but she is happy and healing in a beautiful marriage designed by God.
Within the year I was able to rekindle a relationship that was broken and needed healing.
Within the year I was able to find out some health issues that have bothered me and how to deal with them.
Within the year I was able to heal another relationship that had been hurtful and we are now talking again.
Within the year I was able to restore my thoughts about childhood hurts and wounds that had ‘molded’ who I was as an adult.
Within the year we had to say good bye to my husband’s good friend’s as they were killed in an accident together.
Because we have always known but feel deeply, that life is short and anything can change in a day we made another decision.
That my husband is going to retire and end his life long career as a design engineer so we can travel and have time together.
Each of these circumstances and issues needed hope to restore and replace the hurt or the misunderstanding.
Each of these decisions needed hope to rekindle a new awareness of life and living each day to the fullest.
Each of these choices we have learned to make or not make, have been for our good and the good of others.
Our God said, “Hope deferred, makes a heart faint.” I say, “Hope given, makes a heart healed.”
Soon I will share how my new word came to me.
It is a good word full of anticipation and shall I say, Hope?
by Sharon O | Dec 27, 2015 | Uncategorized
I have taken a few days to think about and enjoy the Christmas season.
Christmas Eve was spent at church for a service and it was wonderful to sing and rest in the words of our Pastor.
Christmas day we had family over and of course the children enjoyed their gifts and brunch was good.
Clean up is always not too fun as it requires hand washing of china and special glasses.
But I did it and it was all not too bad.
The few days between Christmas and New Years is always a quiet time, taking decorations down and putting them away.
Getting the house back in order. I am praying about my new ‘word for the year’ and many other things.
The story of Christmas is not quite done as our Pastor said today, the story continues.
He shared today on Anna and Simeon. Can you imagine just living in the ‘temple’ day in and day out?
They waited with expectancy for the Messiah.
THE Messiah, the one who, they would understand and know without any question, that this is the one.
Some thought the Messiah would save them from the rulers of the land and set up a new kingdom.
God had other things in mind.
He not only wanted His Son to come down to save us, he also wanted His character and the kingdom to pursue us in a deep and abiding love.
He wanted to love us so deeply and to give us a way of ‘redemption’ through the Story of Christmas.
Everyone loves a story. Everyone loves a ‘beautiful story.’
The Story of Jesus, the Spirit of Christmas is all about the story of God’s perfect plan.
A foretelling of His desire to come alongside us and not leave us alone without Hope.
God waited for the right time. The right place in time for Jesus to come to us.
There was an expectant HUSH throughout the galaxies. A baby was born.
I read a note on face book that spoke of the expectant hush, when all of creation stopped, for an instant.
And it said the stars, and the angels and everyone held their breath and beauty.
Till the baby was born. Waiting for the expectancy of a Savior. The fulfillment of a promise.
Who would save us from not only ourselves, but from times of being alone for eternity.
God loved us SO much, that He gave, His only son so that we could believe in him and find hope.
God had other things in mind. He had love from the depth his heart to us.
by Sharon O | Dec 19, 2015 | Uncategorized
There is so much to share and study about the Christmas story.
I pray that as you have read these little devotionals, you have been challenged to think of the Season in a much different way.
The Spirit of Christmas was everywhere. Holy Spirit orchestrated in each and every person and activity.
The players all played an important part in telling the story. It was simple yet very profound.
It had to be that way, the miracle of a baby.
The miracles taking place over and over meeting each one on a very personal level.
How did God plan this very perfect birth? We will never know fully.
We just know it was Holy, it was ordained and a son was born.
We often sing songs like “Oh little town of Bethlehem, or “away in a manger,” Or even the more meaningful ones like “Oh Holy Night.”
We hold our candles in the Christmas eve services and we know and understand that without a little baby, born in a manger, we would not have salvation and hope.
Hope is so necessary for life to continue for us. It allows us to trust more and love deeper .
The song says, “Fall on your knees” and we breathe deep as we listen to the powerful words of the singers.
When Silent Night comes on we slow down, we listen and we remember.
It is good to remember the reason is not just Santa and Rudolph and candy canes.
It is about a Savior who changed lives. Mary’s and Joseph’s and the Shepherd’s and the wise men.
We cannot forget Zechariah and Elizabeth, or Anna or Simeon.
We cannot forget how the Angel Gabriel shared the good news in a powerful and moving way.
I think he tells us, “do not be afraid” too.
God brought us a redeeming love so we can sing, “Oh Holy Night” and mean it perhaps for the first time.
The Spirit of Christmas is right where we find it…in our hearts if we truly receive.
