Carol Anne continues to peer into the deep recesses of her heart and write what she sees. Thing is, it's my heart, too. Heartaches and disappointments have a way of punching our card for membership into clubs we all would rather not join.
I've touched on this before, but CA goes even deeper. I am grateful for her friendship. (Yep, we're friends IRL; as in meet-for-coffee-and-hash-it-all-out-friends.)
She claims she's a fraidy cat, but she has more courage than I ever did when it comes to her willingness to get the the very essence of her struggles, my struggles. She inspires me to be a better writer, to step out and do whatever it takes, to seek with all my heart the life God created for me, the authentic life.
She probably has no idea she ministers to me in such a way, especially in the midst of her deepest hurt. She's probably reading this and crying, hopefully even laughing a bit.
The questions she asked today deeply resonated with me. I think these are questions we all have, but rarely take the time to root out the answers. Life has a way of getting in the way of the life to which God created us and calls us. We all make poor choices, rarely knowing the lasting effects those decisions have in our lives and the lives of others. Somewhere in the mix, those seemingly small decisions/mistakes/choices end up slowly pulling us away from the path on which God originally put our feet.
7 Things I Miss About Me
Are you willing to not only ask, but to seek out the answers to, the deepest questions? Are you willing to live the authentic life God has created for you?
As I look back over my life I have learned to be content to wait for my time to come.
ReplyDeleteAs a much younger woman my husband and I would sometimes talk for hours of what we would do in our "retirement". Great plans of traveling throughout the United States in a motor home or pull behind camper going from National Park to National Park. We have always wanted to work as volunteers with the National Park Service. Some of them even pay for services rendered. But several years ago before our "retirement" began we had a life changing event happen. What seems like at the time to be a short lived situation has now turned into a much longer event.
My mother came to live with us over 5 years ago. She is now almost 85 years old and has several medical issues. In the beginning my husband was still working and it was quite nice to have someone at home to talk to and from time to time go out to lunch with and share my days.
As the years waned on my husband was forced to retire from a job he loved. Thankful to God he was of retirement age and was able to begin receiving his benefits so we have had plenty of money to live on for the past 3-1/2 years.
But the life we talked about all those years ago have gone by the way side. Please don't get me wrong I love my mother. My husband and I are content with our life as it is now, but we do have moments of when we think back on how it could have been. But God knew my mom would need caring for long ago. We are the one that have been given to task of being her caregiver. My other siblings have had issues of their own and God knew where Mom would live. God has given me a wonderful husband, kind, loving, gracious, easy to get along with so he and I would be perfect to care for my mom. We may never get to travel the US or work with the Park Service but we both love God and are willing to do what He has planned for us.
Thank you, Aimee. I am honored.
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