Dear Friends,
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries today!
Do you ever have difficult days on the anniversary of the death of a loved one?
March 22 is usually a day of grief for me, because it's the anniversary of the day my younger sister died in a car crash. She was only 33 years old and I miss her.
I asked a friend to pray for me yesterday and the results were amazing! Instead of my usual tears and depression, I felt happy and productive, even painting into the evening.
I received a call from my mom who was having a good day too, so apparently the prayers extended to my family as well.
Thank you God for friends who pray and thank you for answering those prayers!
Love, Sue
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
Healing Friendships
Dear Friends,
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries today!
Where is your sanctuary?
Yesterday as I was getting ready to head out the door to my painting class, I received a phone call from the school practically pleading with me to substitute teach for them that day. I said, "I'm sorry, but Thursday is the one day that I am not available to teach."
All day on Thursday is the time I devote to my friends of 13 years to get together, paint, talk and of course eat! Yesterday, I did more talking and listening than I did painting, because that was what was needed. I sat and listened to my grieving friend who had been away on vacation for two weeks and couldn't wait to get back to our group to be with us, because we help to heal him from the horrible grief he endures daily.
We welcome new people into our group every season when the new class term begins and we instantly make them insiders. They bring new blood and fresh ideas to our group.
We pride ourselves on loving one another unconditionally, overlooking one another's foibles, focusing on everyone's gifts and graces, and empathizing with each other. We are genuine yet kind in our critques of one another's art and encourage each other in our creative endevors. As a result, we are getting to be better artists every week and the growth in our skills and our ideas is remarkable over a year's time.
We value our relationships so much and frequently recite, "We wish everyone had this kind of a group!"
If you have this kind of support in your life then you are blessed. If not, then how could you create it?
Love, Sue
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministries today!
Where is your sanctuary?
Yesterday as I was getting ready to head out the door to my painting class, I received a phone call from the school practically pleading with me to substitute teach for them that day. I said, "I'm sorry, but Thursday is the one day that I am not available to teach."
All day on Thursday is the time I devote to my friends of 13 years to get together, paint, talk and of course eat! Yesterday, I did more talking and listening than I did painting, because that was what was needed. I sat and listened to my grieving friend who had been away on vacation for two weeks and couldn't wait to get back to our group to be with us, because we help to heal him from the horrible grief he endures daily.
We welcome new people into our group every season when the new class term begins and we instantly make them insiders. They bring new blood and fresh ideas to our group.
We pride ourselves on loving one another unconditionally, overlooking one another's foibles, focusing on everyone's gifts and graces, and empathizing with each other. We are genuine yet kind in our critques of one another's art and encourage each other in our creative endevors. As a result, we are getting to be better artists every week and the growth in our skills and our ideas is remarkable over a year's time.
We value our relationships so much and frequently recite, "We wish everyone had this kind of a group!"
If you have this kind of support in your life then you are blessed. If not, then how could you create it?
Love, Sue
Friday, February 5, 2010
Happy, Happy, Happy!
Dear Readers,
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministry today!
How did you feel when you woke up this morning? I hope you felt good and if not, I hope you will feel better soon.
Today I woke up happy, for the first time in the last six days, since my husband's hours were cut at work. I attribute this joy to having spent a day painting with my friends at the Art Center of Battle Creek. We have been getting together for over 12 years and love one another unconditionally. We talk, we paint, we offer one another artistic advice, we eat and we pray a Native American prayer of thanksgiving before our meal.
I always feel good the day after we get together, because we support one another artistically and emotionally too. We discuss anything: politics, religion, etc. and we have a rule that anyone may express their opinion, but no one is allowed to criticize anyone else's views.
Some people are naturally cheerful. When our son was a toddler, he used to run around saying, "Hoppy, hoppy, hoppy!" with a huge smile on his face. It made me feel like a success as a mom to have such a cheery kid!
God must feel that way when we are happy too. I love the scripture in the wisdom literature that says, "God delights in his people." Some people see God as stern, but not me, because even we human beings look at our loved one's foibles as part of their charm and we are less perfect in loving than God is. God must love it when we smile, laugh, clap our hands and dance!
Of course, we can't be happy all of the time. But it sure feels good when we get back to feeling joy again after a period of sorrow!
God bless you, your loved ones and your ministry today!
How did you feel when you woke up this morning? I hope you felt good and if not, I hope you will feel better soon.
Today I woke up happy, for the first time in the last six days, since my husband's hours were cut at work. I attribute this joy to having spent a day painting with my friends at the Art Center of Battle Creek. We have been getting together for over 12 years and love one another unconditionally. We talk, we paint, we offer one another artistic advice, we eat and we pray a Native American prayer of thanksgiving before our meal.
I always feel good the day after we get together, because we support one another artistically and emotionally too. We discuss anything: politics, religion, etc. and we have a rule that anyone may express their opinion, but no one is allowed to criticize anyone else's views.
Some people are naturally cheerful. When our son was a toddler, he used to run around saying, "Hoppy, hoppy, hoppy!" with a huge smile on his face. It made me feel like a success as a mom to have such a cheery kid!
God must feel that way when we are happy too. I love the scripture in the wisdom literature that says, "God delights in his people." Some people see God as stern, but not me, because even we human beings look at our loved one's foibles as part of their charm and we are less perfect in loving than God is. God must love it when we smile, laugh, clap our hands and dance!
Of course, we can't be happy all of the time. But it sure feels good when we get back to feeling joy again after a period of sorrow!
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