by Sharon O | Sep 29, 2015 | Uncategorized
The Service was very moving.
Incredibly sad, I have never been to a service for two people at the same time.
Lot’s of beautiful flower bouquets. Lots of pictures.
The children who are now grown did the service. Each of them taking turns sharing something special about their parents.
The slide show was a wonderful example of ‘who’ they were as a couple and as individual professional counselors.
They loved each other. They loved their family.
They were full of energy and life until it was cut short one evening.
The service showed how they were as grand parents and as parents.
It showed how they loved.
I still cannot believe they are gone.
David and Tara
We will always miss you
It was too soon to have you leave.
You are together and you truly loved.
by Sharon O | Sep 19, 2015 | Uncategorized
Our good friend passed away yesterday morning.
It is a bittersweet ending to the tragic life ending story that unfolded a week ago.
A normal day, riding your bike out on a country road ends in tragedy and sorrow.
We grieve. We ask why and have no answers.
We trust when we don’t know how.
God knows the day we are born and the day we die.
It is not for us to know, only for us to live our lives right and good and in peace so that when tragedy happens, there are no words left unsaid or regrets never solved or healed.
We will miss them and I ask for prayers for their immediate families.
For the upcoming holidays without parents.
For the ‘first’s that are so hard to manage at any age.
What a reunion they must have had when he arrived after her, in heaven.
They were believers so we know that is their final place now.
Our sorrow is for a season and our memories are for a lifetime.
It is a hard feeling to lose a loved one and if that loved one is a parent it leaves one feeling alone, in a very different way.
I know because my parents have passed in the last two years.
Please pray for their four children as they move through this very difficult time.
by Sharon O | Sep 17, 2015 | Uncategorized
Our family friend is still in critical care ICU.
We pray for the family who is left, his four grown children and grandchildren.
We pray for doctors to have wisdom, strength, knowledge, and of course compassion.
This has been an incredibly hard and difficult time as the waiting room becomes a place of residence for them, until they know his stability, his recovery process, or even how to make critical decisions for him and his care.
I personally do not know how to pray.
He is so broken, so injured. It will be a miracle of God if we see him wake and even move.
We believe in a God of miracles.
We also know He works within his own time frame.
Our time is not God’s time, nor is our wish His will.
We all wait and pray and ask God for hope.
It’s all we can rest in now.
by Sharon O | Sep 12, 2015 | Uncategorized
I had written my first word prompt for the five minute challenge.
Then I thought what was really up front on my mind was the prayers for a family friend.
So I am asking those who read this ‘blog’ to pray for a friend of ours.
His life will never be the same again.
On September 9th he was riding his bike on a rural country road with his wife.
They were hit from behind and she was killed instantly.
He is currently still in the hospital with very critical injuries.
His life will never be the same.
I have prayed for the driver who hit them.
I would imagine that person’s life will never be the same either.
It was a normal day of sharing life together. Doing what they enjoy.
By evening a nightmare had happened and life changed in an instant.
Nothing remained the same.
In a single moment in time.
There are many hurting hearts surrounding this story, hearts full of sorrow and deep concern.
On that moment, in that instant, nothing remained the same.
Just like on September 11th, 14 years ago. No one knew it was coming.
There was no warning.
It was a life changing, life altering moment for everyone involved.
Please pray for this man our very dear friend.
For his health to return. For the wisdom of the doctors.
For his broken shattered heart and body to heal.
For his family and friends who will surround him with love, prayers and help.
We ask God for healing but we also ask God for his will and perhaps even a miracle.
We don’t know how the future will look for him for there will be many struggles ahead
as he journeys through this ‘season of sorrow and recovery.’
Nothing will ever be the same.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted: he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. Psalm 34:18
by Sharon O | Sep 11, 2015 | Uncategorized
The word for the day is Same.
On this September 11th… the day we all remember in history as horrific and horrible.
We will never be the same as we were then.
In fact on many levels we are worse.
Our laws are changing. Our leaders are not as strong or patriotic.
I don’t feel the same pride we all had in our United States of America.
It is sad. It is remorseful. We need repentance and hope.
I am fearful for our freedoms and our ability to choose for ourselves.
This climate of removing our ‘laws’ and traditions and moving away from
God and his mercy.
It is dangerous. It is and can be scary.
Those who hope in the Lord and trust in his provision know we have hope.
But it is still very unsettling to see all that is going on and with another election two years away from now, a lot of things can take place that we might not like.
Or want or believe in.
We must remain strong and remain patriotic and proud.
Our flag will fly and bring freedoms to us.
Our USA is amazing and good and wealthy and can be deep down spiritual.
Let us hold onto to our ‘truths’… and may God continue to Bless America land that we love.
cross and sky from heart and soul reflections
by Sharon O | Sep 10, 2015 | Uncategorized
We still have some warm days ahead of us here in the Pacific Northwest, but the temperatures at night are dropping which tells me fall is soon to appear.
My favorite time of year. Where leaves change colors and radiant yellows and oranges are painted all over the landscape.
The crispy weather and the often times rain comes with a force we have learned to love.
We need rain so bad in our ‘area’ it has been very dry and the rivers are just beds of rock.
Rain is what we are known for, and overcast cloudy days.
School is back in session and the kids were very excited to end summer and get into a new routine.
I am sure mom’s were very excited too.
The next few months my plan is to clean and tear apart rooms and purge out what is keeping and what is leaving using the ‘do you like it or love it’ method. Or is it sentimental and a keep sake or did you purchase it at a garage sale and you don’t care where it goes.
My husband is retiring in less than a year.
We will be doing some traveling in a motor home too.
I must do this organizing this fall and winter and just get it done.
We are also considering a move to a condo or a smaller home on one level with no stairs.
So with that kind of move it is going to be important to only take what we love.
The joy of organizing is really worth it, just hard to get started and motivated to do it.
by Sharon O | Sep 6, 2015 | Uncategorized
The word for the day is Yes.
Dictionary.com says: it is used as a strong expression of joy, pleasure or approval. Used also to express affirmation.
to express hesitation, uncertainty or curiosity as in yes?
I say let’s do a bit of stirring right now and challenge our thinking.
The word Yes can be both encouraging and positive and also discouraging and negative.
How can that be? well take for example a lab report.
Yes your cancer has returned. That is a negative… the other side of it could be, Yes your cancer report is negative. A positive (using the word yes) negative. Both are true and can be possible.
Yes you got news you are hired on the new job, it is true, this yes could be a negative if you must leave home and family or friends to take the job. A positive negative.
Yes your lab test is positive and because of that you must get life saving blood draws the rest of your life.
A positive negative. Reverse that and the negative eventually becomes a positive as you feel better.
Yes you were stopped by the officer because of a few ‘issues he saw while observing your driving’, the negative is a ticket from him.
A positive is his correction of you at the same time as getting a negative.
You said Yes, when he asked you to marry him, but it could also mean a life style change of name and or location.
A positive negative.
Life is always going to be filled with the word Yes and it’s various forms of meaning.
We can either reach out to it and accept it, or we can fight it and be discouraged.
I think we can choose to let Yes be a choice.
Yes I will receive all that it delivers to me.
Do you remember a time in your life when you had a positive negative at the same time?
It’s kind of confusing and I am hoping this little ‘writing’ makes sense.
by Sharon O | Sep 2, 2015 | Uncategorized
Today I am honored to be a part of Emily Wierenga’s blog kicking off her book tour.
Her new book, Making it home is a must for every home library along with the other books she has written.
I am so thrilled to be a part of this team and to help and encourage Emily.
She is an awesome writer and a beautiful wife and mom of two boys and who was just recently blessed with a new baby girl. God is using her words to help many. May we encourage her and purchase her book, spread the news about her book in any way you can.
click the link to my words:
http://www.emilywierenga.com/
http://www.emilywierenga.com/blog/
by Sharon O | Aug 29, 2015 | Uncategorized
Here we are again on a Friday with a word prompt to write about.
The one chosen for this day is relatively easy for me.
The goal is to write for five minutes with no editing and no over thinking.
Alone
Ever sense I was a little girl I played mostly alone.
It was my safe spot, a quiet happy little place for me and my dolls or books or later on my music when I became a teenager and my room was my ‘hiding place’.
I am by nature someone who thrives on and must have ‘alone time.’
It is nice to be with others but the quiet of being alone is healing to one’s soul and spirit.
When my husband is gone it is totally alright for me to be alone for a few days.
Night time is still a bit of an issue just because it’s night, and dark and things magnify themselves in the shadows of the night.
Imagination can move quickly in the dark of the night.
I enjoy my alone time. It is a must for me.
When I start to feel frustrated or irritable too much or too often I think of and ask the question,
have I had any alone time lately?
Alone… dictionary.com says it is to be isolated from others.
separate and a part from others, without aide or help.
When I am alone I enjoy the peace but I also know that I don’t want this time to be permanent.
I also enjoy the company of others.
What are your thoughts and feelings about being alone?
by Sharon O | Aug 26, 2015 | Uncategorized
I am late on the word prompt from last Friday as we were not home.
So I thought I would try it this time in the middle of the week.
The word for the day was Find.
Proverbs 8:35
For he who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord.
There were many directions I could go with this word but what came to me over and over.
Is this thought. Who ever finds me finds life.
Life that is different. Full of hope and rest and constant knowing love and acceptance.
Proverbs 8:17
I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently find me.
Wonderful promises to hold onto. In order for something to be found usually one has to be seeking.
On a search, a mission to find it. Looking for it with great anticipation of finding it.
What a lovely thought that God in his wisdom put the word find 270 times in the bible.
That is a lot. It has impact and power.
Those who diligently seek me find me.
He knows our heart and He doesn’t hide from us.
He makes himself available.
Are you looking today?
He is available to you, I can even venture to say, He is waiting for you to find him.
Let me find favor in your sight, oh Lord.
