The Pain of Grief written October 31, 2014

This past weekend we celebrated the life of my sister n law who recently passed away. It was a beautiful celebration for someone who gave herself to her family. When I married my husband she treated my children from my first marriage as if they were her own kids. These past few years we were getting together weekly to spend time with our granddaughters and do some special things. Just before she became ill we had made plans of all the things we were going to do with them in the upcoming months but we are not promised tomorrow. I am eternally grateful to her and for the memories she provided for myself, my kids and grandkids.

Grief takes over the mind and spirit when there is a death in the family or anyone close to us. The grief comes in different forms such as deep sadness, anger, numbness, and anxiety.  It will manifest itself in different forms physically and mentally. When we are at our weakest is when Satan and our enemies become more vigilant in their attacks. With God's help we have to guard our hearts and minds when we are grieving.  Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Romans 8:37

Grief causes the mind to imagine the worst and feel as if we are in a choke hold. The pain from grief is deceiving and the imagination of all is lost can be overwhelming. We can't resist those emotions and feelings on our own. We have to draw near to God who will give us what we need  to renew our minds according to James 4:7-8a Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. 

This picture was taken of my sister n law Glenda fishing with her granddaughter Mackenzie. A great reminder that life is like a vapor which appears for a little while and then vanishes away...James 4:14

Courage and Blessing

Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel, and the man was very rich. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance; but the man was harsh and evil in his doings. He was of the house of Caleb. I Samuel 25:2-3

Abigail was intelligent and beautiful but her husband Nabal was a fool and cruel according to these verses. How many times have we seen two people married where one is delightful and the other grates our nerves? 

David was still on the run at this time from King Saul and was in the area where Nabal had his sheep so they protected them from any harm. It was customary at that time to be compensated for the protection of your flock but instead Nabal was rude, critical and refused to do anything for David and his men.

David was upset and set out to go up against Nabal for his foolishness. Abigail met him on the road with her servants and compensation for David and his men's protection of their flock without her husband knowing. When she told her husband the next day about what she had done he was so upset he had a heart attack and died. David found out what happened to Abigails husband and asked her to be his wife and they were married.

This is a great love story but more than that it is about a woman who had the courage to do right and God blessed!

This picture was taken while visiting Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania, October 2014.

Who Is In Control?

This is “mixed media” art that I did with shreds of paper left over from another project where I added my devotional on being a control freak!