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Posts Tagged ‘spirituality’

Will You Have Me?

20 Jan

I really love the thought provoking video “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus || Spoken Word.” If you haven’t seen it yet, click here to view it first. It made the rounds through YouTube and Facebook, which is where I first saw it. I am not surprised to find out that it has stirred up a lot of controversy, but I agree with the points Jefferson makes in his poem.

Here is his explanation from YouTube for his video: “A poem I wrote to highlight the difference between Jesus and false religion. In the scriptures Jesus received the most opposition from the most religious people of his day. At it’s core Jesus’ gospel and the good news of the Cross is in pure opposition to self-righteousness/self-justification. Religion is man centered, Jesus is God-centered. This poem highlights my journey to discover this truth. Religion either ends in pride or despair. Pride because you make a list and can do it and act better than everyone, or despair because you can’t do your own list of rules and feel “not good enough” for God. With Jesus though you have humble confident joy because He represents you, you don’t represent yourself and His sacrifice is perfect putting us in perfect standing with God!”

Below is another video that was shared in response to “Why I Hate Religion….”, and it is a beautiful representation of who Jesus really was as a human being while He was on this planet with us, and still represents the kind of relationship He wants with all of us today. Listen to all of it, but really hear what is being said about Jesus in the last half of the video:

 

I appreciate this thoughtful response. A lot of people don’t know that this is really WHO Jesus is. They think He is the rule maker, the list maker, the fault finder. But He isn’t. He is the LOVE that accepts us all and loves us just like we are. He’ll hang out with you all day wherever you go, be your best friend and love you more than words can say…..if you’ll let Him. Will you try hanging out with Him sometime? It’s really up to you.

Either way, He loves you. Just thought I’d let you know that today. Jesus is saying: “Will you have me?” It’s all up to you. Angela

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Posted in Ponderings

 

A New Day….

03 Jan

Full of new mercies. Today is not Monday, but I am so grateful nonetheless. I am grateful I got to see so much of my family over the holidays. I am grateful my Dad and I spent a lovely evening with a couple of my cousins sharing old memories, and making a few new ones too. I am grateful for the love I saw on all 3 of my granddaughters faces when they received their Raggedy Anns. I am grateful for grandsons that enjoyed watching our frog eat. They were fascinated by her prowess in catching her crickets. I am grateful for Daughters and Son that let me know they enjoy being with me, even if all we can have are a few hours every now and then. I am grateful for Boyfriend and how much he helped me with my Christmas preparations. I am grateful for time shared with friends, dinners and game nights, and presents and fun! Boyfriend and I had a lot of fun Christmas morning watching little girls open presents. The 2 year old was so excited, the 7 yr old was too, although all of us adults were up before both of them were. :) I think we were excited too.

The holidays came and went too fast for me. I again find myself quoting Dr. Seuss: Don’t be sorry it’s over, be glad it happened. I also have plans to see some friends soon that I couldn’t connect with over the holidays. Another thing I am grateful for and looking forward too.

I am also very grateful for clean sheets! I guess being so busy making dolls I forgot to change my sheets, oops! But we did get them changed out yesterday, and they felt WONDERFUL last night. Ahhhh!

I have a wonderful feeling this morning. I feel fresh, and new, and clean. Kinda like my sheets I guess. But seriously, it’s kinda like I’m starting fresh, today, right now. Someone told me recently that the past doesn’t matter, God forgave us of it, why can’t we forgive ourselves? It’s not the old track record we need to focus on, it’s the new goals we won’t to accomplish that need our attention now. “…But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,….I press on toward the goal to win the prize…” Phillipians 3:13 & 14 We don’t have to sift through the trash of our old failures to “figure out” what we did wrong. We need to forgive ourselves for not accomplishing our goals, and be a little less demanding in some areas to ourselves as we set new ones. Don’t set yourself up for failure, be realistic with what you decide to try. Remember my plans? That document is living, I can change it as I need to so that I don’t use it to discourage myself, but continue to use it to accomplish my goals. I am learning more and more about how much and how little I can do. I am also learning at how badly I estimate things some time. Those Raggedy Anns took wa-a-a-ay longer than I expected them too. :) So promise me you won’t waste time beating yourself up over things that you didn’t accomplish….yet. Forgive yourself and try again in a more realistic time frame, ok? Help me do that for myself as well.

Here is to a gentler and kinder 2012, in every area of our lives. Remember folks that Jesus loves you, and I do too! Happy New Year everyone, let’s enjoy another trip around the sun! Angela

 

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Posted in Dad, My Plan, Ponderings

 

Affirmations and Declarations

11 Dec

Words are powerful. We throw them around really casually sometimes, but what could happen if we start speaking positive words, on purpose? I wanted to share a few verses, declarations and affirmations and to encourage you to use them. Look through the list and choose the ones that jump out at you, and speak them to yourself during your day. When I am consistent in using affirming words regularly, I see a difference in my life. My hope is you will find some encouragement and hope here today as well.

I  declare God’s incredible blessings over my life. I’m going to see an explosion of God’s goodness this year. I’m going to experience the surpassing greatness of God’s favor. It’s going to elevate me to a level higher than I ever dreamed.

I trust my hopes and dreams to God. – Psalm 119:116

I am perfectly healthy in body, mind and spirit.

I forgive and I am forgiven.

I am precious to God. -Matthew 6:25-44

I am healthy, happy and radiant.

I declare I am special and extraordinary. I have been custom made. I am one of a kind. Of all the things God created, what He is the most proud of is not that spectacular solar system, not the magnificent sunsets, not even the amazing animals. The creation that God calls His masterpiece is me.

I easily forgive all those that need forgiving and I forgive myself.

I love and accept myself.

I know that God is always with me. – Isaiah 41:10

I know that today’s discouragement will be replaced by tomorrow’s joy. – Isaiah 51:11

I express love to all those I meet.

The more resentment I release the more love I have to express,

I release the need to be right all the time and to judge others.

I know that God will give me the desires of my heart. – Psalm 37:4

I am free, I am well, I am whole, and I am strong and healthy.

I release the need to please others.

I know that God will fill my life with good things. – Psalm 103:1-5

I know that God’s unfailing love surrounds me and that I can trust Him. – Psalm 23:10

I am a radiating center of divine love.

I am healthy, and full of energy and vitality.

Forgiveness is a gift I now give to myself and those around me.

My sleep is relaxed and refreshing.

My body is healed, restored and filled with energy.

The past has no power over me.

I attract loving, beautiful people into my life.

I release old hurt, anger and resentment easily.

Instead of complaining about the economy, I’m going to believe for the best year ever. I declare Psalm 37:19 over my life, which says that even in famine the righteous will have more than enough, I’m going to believe God to bring increase in the middle of what looks like a bad situation. I will believe for more than enough so I can share with others.

I hope you find words to encourage you here today. Write them on sticky notes and put them on your mirror, your dash, maybe your desk, and think about them, meditate on them for a minute or for several minutes when you see them. We can use words to build up our lives. Speak life, hope, love and encouragement to yourself. You are special. You are worth it. Talk to you soon, Angela

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Posted in lists, Ponderings

 

Grateful Monday 12/5/11

05 Dec

I’m so grateful for everything in my life right now. There are still some hard things in it, but lots and lots of fun things are happening too. Busy, busy, busy! I’m sure many of you are in the same situation getting ready for the holidays. I have recipes I will be sharing with you, dolls I’m making for granddaughters. You’ll get the first peak. :) We’ve been Christmas shopping and wrapping and adding up ingredients for cookies, it all takes time doesn’t it? I am enjoying working on these things though, hope you are too. “Wherever you are, be all there.” Jim Elliot. Yes, I want to be all here and fully conscious of my life, it’s busy-ness and the joy that is here if I just let myself realize it.

Every Monday I try to share my gratitude list. I am part of the community over at Ann Voskamp’s A Holy Experience. I love her introduction of herself, you can read it here and see if it touches you as well if you like. The list helps me focus on the good in my life, my happy moments. The simple things and the complex loves of my life. I am very grateful for this discipline that is growing in me to remember to appreciate the many good and beautiful things around me. You see, it is very very easy for me to focus on the heavy things, the hard things, the things that go bump in my life. I have to work diligently to remember to be grateful, to look for opportunities of gratitude. That may sound like a bad thing to you, but it has been a very very good thing for me. :)

Goodness is all around us, even in the busy times. Even in the hard times. We just have to learn how to appreciate it I think. So, here is my little list for today, I’m grateful for:

1. Christmas, and the love it represents. He came for love’s sake, not for the sake of rules and regulations.

2. Lists, and recipes, and books and ingredients and chocolate and sugar.

3. For friends and family to give to, for dolls to make and presents to find and joy to share in living life and giving and receiving love and comfort from each other as well as things as simple as a gift.

4. For Natilee, because she helped me today and asked me to tell you so. :) She is the eldest granddaughter that lives with me. I really enjoyed her helping me today, she was reading out the cookie recipes so we could share them with you in a few days. Yum!

5. For help from Boyfriend too. It comes in handy to have a couple of extra hands around sometimes, doesn’t it?

6. For warm home, and soft bed and running water and clean clothes. I am grateful for my blessings.

7. For remembering trust is important, when I trust that God loves me and looks out for me I don’t have to give in to worry and dread.

8. I’m also grateful I started sewing the dolls I aim to give as prezzies in 20 days or so. They aren’t going to make themselves.

9. For plans for my life, for my businesses and for the hope and promise the future holds.

10. For Christmas movies and cartoons that remind us all how important family and friends are. I especially love Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer. The Island Of Misfit Toys is where some of my best friends used to live. :)

11. I am grateful for fun, and some upcoming things will be fun for me! One will happen tomorrow, I will be the Fine Feathered Friend for the 12/6 Flock Together Tuesday Blog Hop hosted by Mom’s Best Nest. Then later in December I will be a Grilled Grandma on Grandma’s Briefs. Finally, the end of the month brings my next birthday, the big 5-0! Not to mention Christmas Eve and Christmas. Sounds to me like it’s gonna be more fun than one month can hold! “Woo-hoo,” as Yukon Cornelius would say. :) Woo-hoo indeed. Have a wonderful week! Angela

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Posted in Friendship, gratitude, lists

 

Grateful Mondays 11/14/2011

14 Nov

Well, last week  it wasn’t the change in seasons I was sharing, it was some of the current struggles I am experiencing and what I was hoping for. This week I have already had some positive changes come my way. God’s goodness is very real! I am changing jobs next week, and yes, this is a positive thing. I’ve really needed a change, and everything opened up for me on Wednesday. :) Yay! I am still planning on making some vision boards with the girls, and moving forward with a couple of personal business ideas: alterations and maybe some sewn creations as well as continuing with Juice Plus. So the new job will be a great place to start my new beginning.

The recent loss of my friends and family members has made me keenly aware of my own mortality. I have always felt like God has a plan for me. A favorite verse of my friend Kathy’s was Jeremiah 29:11- “I have it all planned out – plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.” Maybe I’ll pull a Cowardly Lion line from the Wizard of Oz: “I do believe! I do believe! I do believe! I do, I do….I do believe…!” Here are the things I am grateful for this week:

1 Family: it was youngest Daughter’s birthday yesterday, I am so grateful for my children and my family.

2. Friends that are loving and caring, standing with you when you have problems and concerns. Thanks for checking on me, listening to me and encouraging me through all of this.

3. New beginnings. New job starts 11/21.

4. Other birthday’s for friends this month, time to get out the cards and let them know how much I love them. :)

5. Celebrating the birthday of grandkids too! My sons youngest son turned 8 last week. It’s amazing how fast the grands are growing.

6. Fall colors! Fall is a beautiful season.

7. I am grateful for my readers. Today I would like to mention Marissa of Me, You and Creamed Corn. :) I love getting to know you all, and Marissa your encouraging words always touch my heart and bring a smile. If any of you have a chance pop over and say hello.

8. I am very grateful for special moments with the grands. The youngest grandaughter popped into my room a couple of days ago and caught me working on some dolls I hope to make and give them for Christmas. I have a face of one finished, and she grabbed it and said: “I love dis!” It took a little coaxing to get it away from her. Already knowing she will love it really made my day.

9. I’m so grateful for Thanksgiving and Christmas! Two wonderful holidays to celebrate all the things we are grateful for and to celebrate with those we love! It’s gonna be so much fun!

10. I am looking forward to the future I am hoping for. I hope you are too.

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Posted in gratitude, Holidays, lists

 

Grateful Mondays 11/7/2011

07 Nov

Pitch Your Tent In The Land Of Hope

Today I want to share a little about where I am spiritually. God is always a part of my life, even though I’m not a blogger that writes only about the things He is doing for me. I’m not called to that, I’m called to this variety of things you have seen and read. But today, I wanna share a little of my current struggles and belief issues.

All around us, God’s goodness is on display. The question is do we see it? The scripture talks about how God was in the midst of people, but they didn’t recognize Him. Too many times, God is working in our lives, showing us favor, protecting us, sending us good things, but we don’t recognize His goodness. For example, if you’re in a crowded parking lot and a car backs out so you can get a front row space, that’s the goodness of God. If you’re going through a difficult time and a friend stops by out of the blue and cheers you up, that’s the goodness of God. David said I have pitched my tent in the land of Hope. What are you hoping for today? Do you need to see goodness and love, favor and hope?  Where have you pitched your tent, what are you believing for today, trusting God to help you with today?

Listening to an old message from Joel Osteen I realized I have not pitched my tent in the land of Hope at all right now, more like the land of being overwhelmed. I wish I had a better job, a better situation at work, my own business, to be able to create the things I see in my head. But I’ve all but given up hope. . . and I didn’t even realize it until I was hanging on to the message being shared. I had almost let go, but this message showed up just in time to help me hold on. A little more of God’s goodness in my life maybe? I think so.

God wants to bring the things I’m hoping for to pass, I need to add my faith to the situation so I can believe these dreams can be reality. Positive thinking and books like the Secret have many of the same principles at work in them. I just don’t have to do it all alone like I’ve been feeling.We really do draw things to us by our belief. Sometimes bad or hard stuff happens that we aren’t hoping or believing for, that is also a part of life. But what am I consciously doing to believe for the changes in my life I want to happen? TD Jakes use to say to “Get ready! Get ready! Get ready!” Another verse just came to mind that talks about having your lamps ready and full of oil instead of needing to run out into the darkness to fill them. It’s time for me to fill my lamp, but what will that mean for me?

Maybe making a vision board would help me, having what I would like to see happen in my life in front of me so I can pray over it, believe for it, hope for it. I think that is part of what God wants me to do to activate my belief that these things can happen. Besides, it’s fun to get out old magazines and cut pictures out and create a scene, kinda like a collage of my future life. I’m sure my granddaughters would like to help me too. :) We can make boards for them too.

I will also be sharing my updated “Plan” in a few days that I was working on back in July. I’ve been updating it, and think it’s time to share it again. That’s another thing I can do to help feed the hope in me. So, what am I grateful for today?

1 & 2.Struggles and God’s goodness: I’m grateful for struggles, so I can see God’s goodness show up and work them out with me.

3. Recognizing God in my life.

4. Parking spaces

5. Precious friends

6. Realizing I can move my tent.

7. Having hope to pitch that tent in.

8. Being reminded my dreams can become a reality.

9. Something good is going to happen to me, that’s trust.

10. For ministers like Joel Osteen and TD Jakes.

11. I am grateful for the ability to “fill my lamp” and move from depression to hope.

12. Fun things to do to encourage myself like the vision board, and the granddaughters to eventually work with to create them.

13. Hope.

Who do you listen to, watch or read for encouragement? I would to have you share in a comment. HOPING :) you have a great week too! Talk to you soon, Angela

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Acknowledgements: Tent Picture: http://www.etsy.com/blo more...
 
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Posted in gratitude, lists

 

A prayer from the Holocaust – Grateful Monday 7/18/2011

18 Jul

Anne Frank and friends

I am sharing a very touching little prayer that was reported to have been found in a Jewish concentration camp after World War II. When I was in school, the Holocaust was a part of history we studied off and on in several grades. I was always deeply touched by so many of the stories of the heroism during that war, World War II. Until I started studying the history of it, I didn’t realize how many people the Nazi’s interned in their death camps, not only Jewish people, but also Polish people, gypsies, homosexuals, Russians and even Jehovah’s Witnesses. It was a dark and shocking period in the history of humanity. I hate war, but I am so glad our country stood up in this time and joined the war effort and stopped the atrocities that were taking place. The Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC is a strong reminder and testament to the suffering and victories of this war.

This little prayer is a tender reminder that it’s up to us whether we bear good fruit or bitter fruit in hard times. I can’t imagine living through life in a death camp. Yet this prayer is not angry or bitter, but an encouragement to look for good in any situation.

O Lord, remember not only the men and women of good will, but also those of ill will.
But, do not remember all of the suffering they have inflicted on us;
remember the fruits we have borne thanks to this suffering —
our fellowship, our loyalty to one another, our humility, our courage,
our generosity, the greatness of heart that has grown from this trouble.
When our persecutors come to judgment, let all of these fruits
which we have borne be their forgiveness. – Author Unknown

Forgiveness is not an easy thing. We want vengeance, we want revenge. We want retribution. But the truth is that unforgiveness and bitterness don’t help you, they hurt you. Physically, your heart can develop problems, your blood pressure will eventually rise too. Your body will eventually gain weight from the emotional baggage you are carrying. Care about yourself enough to forgive and let go. There are many stories of forgiveness and heroism available from that period if you search for them.

Corrie Ten Boom

This list of gratitude is pretty simple today:

1. I am grateful for heroes of service.
2. I am grateful for heroes of suffering, not that they suffered but that they have endured and overcome.
3. I am grateful for the history lessons I learned in school.
4. I am grateful for forgiveness.
5. I am grateful for the many men and women who have shared their personal stories over the years.
6. I am grateful for Corrie Ten Boom, and Anne Frank and her diary.
7. I am grateful for the things I have learned personally from studying these heroes of the past.
8. I am grateful for prayer.
9. I am grateful for the many sites on the internet now that pop up when you look for ‘Heroes of the Holocaust.’
10. I am grateful for God’s plan for my life, and the lives of others. His plan is full of love for us, even in our darkest hour.

Unfortunately, the choices of others often affect us. The choices Hitler made affected millions of people in his time, and a rippling effect remains today. History is doomed to repeat itself unless we remember it, and remember it correctly. Remembering is also a way to honor those events as well.

Is there a part of humanity’s history that touches you? Please share in the comments, I would love to hear from you. Until next time, Angela

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Posted in gratitude, Holocaust, memories

 

Love Is…

17 Jun

…something that needs to be cultivated, just like a field of crops or flowers you plant in your yard. If you don’t pursue the weeds and remove them, they will overtake your lovely flower bed. The same goes for helping love have a place to bloom inside of us. When we have unloving thoughts towards others, those are the weeds. Those thoughts won’t just leave by themselves. You have to pull them out and say “No!” to them and replace them with a loving thought towards the one the weed was growing against. Sometimes these word weeds are growing against our family or friends, sometimes they are growing against ourselves. Either way, you have to do something to make those weeds stop growing, just like you have to physically pull weeds out of that flowerbed. I want to encourage you to make a conscious effort to weed your heart and mind and replace all that with loving thoughts and actions. You’ll see a much more beautiful harvest of flowers in your life if you will.

Love is patient.  

Love is kind.

Love does not envy.

Love does not boast.

Love is not proud.

Love does not dishonor others.

Love is not self-seeking.

Love is not easily angered.

Love keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in the pain of others but rejoices with the truth.

Love always protects.

Love always trusts.

Love always hopes.

Love always perseveres.

Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8

Hope you have a love filled day!  Angela

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Posted in Ponderings

 

What Have I Been Up Too Lately?

19 May

Funny how I want to write, but don’t seem to have enough juice to do it. So, I have been reading other people’s blogs, people like Helen Clyde. This is a very interesting lady who I luckily tripped on to one day a couple of weeks ago. She is very creative, I have been enjoying reading about her multiple craft ideas and checking out things she has made. She adds a music video she likes to her blogs each day too, and that has been a lot of fun for me to listen to new music and see some familiar names too. I really like her blog. It is very encouraging to me to read whatever she shares. You need to check her out too.

Another blog I like to visit is Blogging About AF life. I believe I found this one through The BlogFrog, but I’m not 100% sure. This is a blog about real life, and she is also a crafty kind as well. I feel like I know her when I read what she shares, and again I just really like her blog and her posts. A very interesting lady. :)

I am also reading Princess Warrior Lessons. She battles a disease that causes her great fatigue. I don’t have any known cause for this myself, but I do have problems with my energy a lot, and understand fatigue more than I want to. She is a busy mom, wife and woman and her struggles sometimes run similar to mine for different reasons. I really got a lot out of her recent post named ‘Unplug.’ I have been wondering if Facebook and some other things are eating too much of my time. She is looking at similar issues and has decided to unplug from it for the month of May. It is an intriguing thought to me. I am pondering something similar myself.

As I was reading Princess Warrior, I found a link to The Gypsy Mama and found an older post of hers that really spoke to me, For The Sundays When You Wonder If You Matter At All. I use to really enjoy going to church and being part of a community there. But the last few years have not been geared that way. At times I really do miss it too, but when I do go it just doesn’t seem to be right. My belief system is similar to a lot of churches in some ways, and very different in others. This post gave me a different perspective about going to church. I really love to have people come to things I am involved in, to participate, to be involved or just to be there to support me. This post made me realize that sometimes Jesus just gets happy because I came to be with Him in His Father’s house. It’s nice to feel wanted. I am wanted by Him because He loves me. The post talks about Jesus celebrating our being there with Him.  We can get a lot of ‘go to church’ because you’re suppose to, or because you should. But obligation is not getting me there anymore at all. But hanging out with Jesus like this post talks about, yeah. I would really love that. For me it was a very touching post. Thank you Gypsy Mama.

I guess I’ve needed to soak up some of these things. I am drawn to real life blogs right now, people sharing their lives and their hearts and the honesty of that is very appealing to me. There are other blogs I visit and follow, but these are the ones speaking the loudest to me. We all have extremely busy lives now, and that’s not always a good thing. I want to remember to enjoy my life, to embrace the wonderful moments and savor them to help give me strength to get through the harder times. We have both good and hard in our lives. I don’t want the hard to drown out the good for me. And I’m willing to do something to keep that from happening, even if it is only finding blogs that encourage me to keep on keeping on. :) Hope you are finding the best way to do that for yourself too. Let me know how you are. Hopefully over the weekend I can share about the fun we had at Artisphere last week. Have a great Friday! Angela

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Posted in Ponderings

 

Shirley, Goodness and Mercy…

14 Apr

April Fool’s weekend was a very busy and happy weekend. Sorry for the delay in sharing, but the headaches have made it hard for me to do much other than work. We started the weekend off on Friday, which was April 1, and one of my grandson’s 10th birthday. The party was great! We got him a really cute toy, basically a cardboard guitar called Paper Jamz. It was the hit of the party! The other 2 grandsons were wanting to play it bad, but the birthday boy wouldn’t lay it down. However he very generously shared his other presents with them, as long as they didn’t touch the guitar. :) It was an impulsive gift that paid off big dividends, let me tell you. He can really learn to play guitar with it if he wants to as well. It comes with instructions for that, as well as 2 or 3 demo songs he can strum along to. It also has a pretty decent volume button, so even though it was kinda loud I did get a couple of points with my son and daughter-in-law for NOT buying the amplifier to go with it. It was a very successful party as far as I could tell. We enjoyed it and so did the kids.

We got ready to go home around 9 or so, and I was gonna run to the bathroom before we left, but found it was occupied. Since the occupant was going to need it for a while, ;) , we gave everyone quick hugs and kisses and headed to the gas station for a quick potty break before our 35 minute trip home. We get there and dash in, thinking we will be on the road in just a minute. Then, I met Shirley. Or kinda, well maybe not met her but heard her. Well, wait. Let me explain…..

I met Shirley last night in the bathroom of the gas station. She was talking on her cell phone explaining to whomever was on the other end: she knew she was slightly lost. She had passed Spartanburg, she was maybe in Landrum (yes, she was. She was in a bathroom in Landrum). She kept talking about places in the area, but not really like she knew where they were, I could tell they were just names to her. She wasn’t admitting it, but she was really lost and pretty confused, but she was trying to not worry her friend on the other end of the phone.

I was drying my hands when she came out of her stall. She had the most beautiful white head of curls I have ever seen. Lots and lots of fluffy curls. She was probably around 65 to 70. I’m not sure, but I’m almost 50 and as beautiful as she was, she was a good bit older than me. I stopped her as she was leaving, and told her I wasn’t trying to pry but I couldn’t help overhearing her phone conversation. Was she lost? Could I help? I told her I grew up in the area and knew a good bit about it.

Shirley started telling me her story. She was traveling to Boiling Springs. She had missed her exit, and wasn’t sure where she was. She knew she was past Spartanburg, and she needed to be. But now she wasn’t sure where she was and she needed to get to Boiling Springs. I smiled, and patted her hand. I knew exactly where she was headed and what she had done wrong. I tried to tell her, but she needed me to write it down for her. We stepped out to the gas station, and I got a pen and some paper from the attendant, and started writing the simple directions out for her. She was so happy, she was patting my arm and smiling. When Boyfriend came out, I introduced them and kept writing and explaining directions to her.

I could tell she was coherent, but she must have been tired. She was getting the directions confused. I told her to turn right out of the parking lot and take an immediate right onto the interstate. She kept pointing left. I told her to go 10 miles and take the exit and turn left to go to Boiling Springs. She kept pointing right. I let her read the directions and she would say the right thing, but point the wrong way. I got worried. She wasn’t going to be able to correct this herself. I looked at Boyfriend, then I looked at her. Sweet but tired face. I couldn’t throw her out into the night and not know where she was! I tell her we will lead her to the exit ramp of the interstate, then I will be sure she has her bearings and she can go on from there. Is that alright with her?

Beautiful smile! Oh, she just can’t believe we would do that for her! She is so thankful she stopped to use the bathroom here. I guess it worked out well for us to have to stop too.  She and I exchanged phone numbers. She gets in her car, we get in ours and off we go down the interstate, with Shirley, goodness and mercy following close behind. :) I kept telling Boyfriend to not go too fast, she was having trouble keeping up, and when cars passed her she would swerve a little to the right. We didn’t lose her, and she stayed with us. It was a long 10 mile drive, but soon enough we got to the exit and at the top I got out to see if she was ok.

I told her this was where she would turn left and at the end of the road turn right and she would be in Boiling Springs. She pointed right again, and then I had her repeat it to me. She didn’t want us to go any further with her, she thought she could do it. I go over directions again, while a car passes by and she thanks me profusely and tells me she will call me if she gets confused again. We turn right to go the long way home, she turns left and heads toward Boiling Springs. Boyfriend and I talk about her all the way home. It takes us about 45 minutes to get there. I sit in the car looking at my phone. I haven’t heard form her. Is she ok? Should I call her? Will it confuse her, or cause her to miss a turn or something? I slowly put my phone away, thinking I will wait a while. Right as my phone touches the bottom of my purse, it rings! It’s Shirley! She is with her sister and they are so happy and thankful she ran into me. She calls me her guardian angel, and I tell her I am very glad she is safe with her sister and off the road for the night. She thanks me again for helping her, telling me she is thanking God for me. We say goodbye. I close my phone and we go into the house, happy and smiling at each other.

A psalm of David, number 23

1 The Lord is my shepherd. He gives me everything I need.  2 He lets me lie down in fields of green grass. He leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He gives me new strength. He guides me in the right paths for the honor of his name. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid. You are with me. Your shepherd’s rod and staff comfort me. 5 You prepare a feast for me right in front of my enemies. You pour oil on my head. My cup runs over. 6 Surely (Shirley) goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And I will live in the house of the Lord forever…. my ‘translation’ of Shirley of course, but I think it fits very nicely with our adventure. :)

I had to go to the bathroom at the gas station. I am very glad indeed! I’m glad I was there to help. Hope you are having a wonderful day! Remembering this has brightened mine. Thanks for reading! Angela

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