December 28, 2017

Greetings My Friend,

Christmas Eve and Christmas morning I checked Facebook and the help sights. The holiday's are hard on people who are grieving ones who died recently and ones who have died through the years. Along with the grieving are people who are in physical pain from their various chronic health problems then the grief of being alone hurts. As I saw post after post of those struggling my heart went out to each of them. I know the lonely feelings of not being around family gatherings, the struggle to work up the energy to go to church, to day to day life. I found myself offering prayers then posted a reminder about those that struggle. As I write it is extremely cold, my hand aches from the cold, and at the same time I am grateful for the heat we have. We keep our propane heat set under 70, the wood burner stove pushes the heat to 70 - 73 degree's and I am grateful for the heat. The propane heat is comfortable compared to the forced air heat we had in Michigan and warmer than the heat pump we had put in to find out we really don't like it. I am grateful for our system we have in place, we don't depend on the power grid for heat. I think of those without heat, some with no roof over their head, more sadness and suffering. My heart goes to prayer for the sick, the lost, the homeless. Sometimes I don't think my prayers are enough until God starts to answer those prayers then I realize my praying for people on Facebook is a ministry I can do at home, I can pray for the homeless, those in assisted living and my heart begins to fill up with love. Sometimes people tell me they are praying for me, I feel honored, thankful for the prayers. For 20 years I have prayed for my son to forgive the dysfunction of his growing up. God has shown me several times I was not an awful parent, I tried, even his Dad tried even though we had struggles. This Christmas Season he has settled down, found his soul mate and the anger I heard for so long is gone. What a great Christmas present that is. Just as it took me 20 years to heal from the abuse I endured for 40 years, it took 20 years for my son to heal. God heard my prayers and I am blessed. He is working on coming to see me in the next year, I pray he makes it out to Virginia. If I was going to heal I had to get away from Michigan, God placed on my and Junior's heart to move, we chose Virginia because my sister moved here with her husband, he was from this area we live in. Christmas Eve, I felt completely settled, loved and wanted by our church family. They have loved us from the start, part of the settled feeling was God has been showing me how much healing He has done the past 20 years. I am ever grateful for the long hard road healing has been because I see how strong I truly am at the same time my strength is not from me but from God. God showed me how much He loves me, how much Junior loves me and my sister's and brother's in faith love me, some at church, in the community and many online. Just as God has been working on me He has been working on my son so at the right time we can be friends again.This Christmas will be one of those Christmas' I will remember for years. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet