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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HaPpY NeW YeAr 2016!

New Year is not about changing the dates but direction; it’s not about changing the calendar but commitment; it’s not about changing the actions but attitude.

May each and every day of yours is renewed with lots of happiness and love.

 

 

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Label Your Light!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We can feel Christmas everywhere. Beside the commercial excitement, you can also see how people decorate inside and outside their house. The big give away is lights covering most of our neighborhood homes and yards, so beautiful, so colorful, shining and bright, eye blinding ones, and even some crazy decorations. Why so much work?

Honestly, we felt left out and were thinking to do the same with our house. Then I began to think: why would we want to spend that much money on decorations and then risk my boys’ life climbing on a ladder just for what: Christmas feeling? Showing off our decoration skills and how beautiful our home is? I’m not saying it’s necessary a bad thing. But, by asking myself those questions, I evaluated my motives and started thinking about focusing on the kind of light I’d rather be shining during Christmas time. So, what kind of light am I?

Am I a CANDLE? Do I light up the room with myself, but am I vulnerable to other influences that might snuff out my flame?

Am I a FLOODLIGHT? Do I shine so strongly in people’s eyes that they are blinded rather than enabled to see?

Am I a FLASHLIGHT? Do I click on only in emergencies?

Am I a CHANDELIER? Do I shine with beauty and make those around me look better?

Now, my friend, what is your reasons to decorate your home and how can you reflect that on yourself? What kind of LIGHT are you? How can you shine during this Christmas time, more effectively in your neighborhood, in your world?

Label your Light!

Luke 8:16-18

 

“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…