A Picture of PEACE

Today, the sun is brightly shining, six adorable kids are running, screaming in the house and playing football outside. My husband is on call (work) but is home and able to help around cleaning the garage. Life is great right? But, you know what, I feel agitated… The reason? Dear friends are in the hospital right now fighting with their 16 years old boy recently diagnosed with Leukemia…

“The story is told of a kind who held a contest to find the perfect painting of peace. Extraordinary works of art were entered, but the winning painting depicted a raging storm on a mountainside. Lodged in a crevice, a mother bird sat on her nest, protecting her young.” What is wrong with this king? Where is peace in that picture?

Oh wait, such a picture of peace resembles the one I read in my Bible: Mark 4:35-41. The disciples and Jesus were in a boat on the sea of Galilee. Jesus was sleeping when a wild storm came up. As the waves broke over the boat, threatening to sink it, the disciples cried in terror to their sleeping Teacher, “don’t you care if we drown?” At this, Jesus got up, rebuked the wind and the waves and questioned the disciples. Did they have no faith?

Well, my agitation, the raging storm our dear friends and their son are going through, the king incomprehensible choice have their meaning in Jesus response to the storm and his question to the disciples:

Peace is Jesus asleep in a boat in the middle of a storm.

Peace is a calm trust in God in the midst of irritation rather than its absence.

Convinced of God’s control over every detail of our lives, PEACE is the presence of FAITH even when the world around us screams that there is no reason to believe!

PS: This is going to be a long journey for our friends and their boy, If you would like to know more and would like to help, here is the link to the page https://www.youcaring.com/lucas-neudorf-and-his-family-496036

God bless you!

 

 

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“I’m SORRY”

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The words escape from our lips and slice, like a sword, at your spouse and your kids heart or a friend… Our temper flares and now our dear one is hunkered down hurt or/and in tears. Someone acts irresponsibly, (who doesn’t…), and we berate rather than carefully correct. Love requires apologies.

Apologies tie up the loose ends left by misunderstandings. They finish unfinished business. And they offer an opportunity for healing. Three words reach out across an abyss and build a bridge: “I am sorry.”

Love means taking the responsibility for our errors and admitting them, first to ourselves, then to God, and then to the one we’ve wronged. No, an apology may not magically make it all better. But it is a beginning.

And all who are committed to loving relationships take the step that begins healing. And then they take the next, and the next, and the next…

 

 

When Exhaustion Wins…

You’ve been up all night because, how can I explain it: “you have toys in your head” (according to one of my twin daughters, insomnia=toys in the head) or only God knows why.

You’ve been in the car for hours, juggling between doctors/specialists appointments, sitting in that waiting room in emergency for hours,  your bottom is numb, you feel so sore and your neck is tight and a migraine shows up for days from stress…

You’ve been juggling between so many: kids schedule, husband very demanding job, household, very demanding family and friends… phew!!! You’re tired. You feel like you’re neglecting the ones you love the most, and you cannot remember the last time you did anything for yourself or someone really did anything for you.

For most of us, these feelings arise daily. We assume that this stage will pass and the next one will be better, and then we discover in the next stage that the challenges are different but just as numerous. What do you do then?

When exhaustion wins, we must take time to refuel otherwise we are no longer able to be a blessing to others. Sometimes it’s ok to let others go ahead to fight the/their battles while we stay behind. We need to find some way to relax, choosing whatever method works best for us.

We benefit when we recognize our need for rest and respond to it. And those we love benefit as well. Take care!

Mom’s Devotional

 

Kidnapped by Aliens!

Dear Diary

“I think, last week, I was kidnapped by aliens. ”

OK, my friends, that’s certainly what I would write in my diary to explain my unusual experience from Friday to Monday.

I had again a serious health problem on the night of Friday. My husband played “again” the ambulance to take me to the emergency at Victoria General Hospital. The diagnosis was: a surgery!

 

 

You should know that among my history of visited hospitals (Belgium, Africa, Edmonton) this was such a special experience that I thought I was in an alien hospital. Judge for yourself:

• I was immediately admitted as soon as they understood my problem (in previous experience: I will still be waiting for 4-5 hours in pain …)
• Nurses took turn to make sure I did not need anything (in previous experience: only one will showed up and disappeared for at least 2 hours …)
• The doctor doing the surgery visited me 3 times to explain either the surgery process or to check on me, (previous experience: I will see the doctor only once, often with no clear explanation or nothing at all and you leave the hospital without ever remembering his face…)
• There were more serious cases than me, but we had all their attention (previous experience: if you’re not a priority, you’re left behind in pain …)
• Medical staff calls you “darling, sweaty, honey, my dear, beauty …”, very attentive and full of humanity. Do you think this is an exaggeration? (Let me tell you that elsewhere, my color was often an obstacle to treat me well …)

I spent 4 days in Victoria General Hospital (VGH) with the feeling of being in a 7-star hotel or with aliens or in heaven … No, I haven’t been kidnapped by Aliens, I was on the earth with real dedicated, conscientious, special Humans… and I am very grateful to God for the medical staff of VGH, YOU ROCKED!!

By the way, today I feel much better, thanks God! 🙂

Birds singing !!

This morning I heard the birds singing in the trees across our house. It caught my attention because, I don’t remember seeing or hearing bunch of birds in October in Edmonton!

Then, something heartbreaking happened: I heard a big “boom” against the living room window and saw about five birds making a lot of noise around a lying bird. I went out and this is what I saw…

 

Poor bird, I couldn’t rescue him, He was instantly dead 😦