On Faith: A Collective Journey

I. I have been working in retail for a long time.  I mean, it’s alright. I like a lot of the people I work with, and sometimes the job is actually fun. And even, once in a while, fulfilling. But it’s time to move on. II. I have dreamed of going back to school for a long time. But, for what?? What do I want to do with my life? And, most importantly, How can I afford it?? I’m not exactly wealthy. And I have three kids. Three amazing kids. Kids who like things like eating and wearing clothes and seeing in the dark and waking up warm and going places. So I can’t just quit my job, can I? Or… can I? III. So, as it happens, I stumbled onto a path that I would never have found any other way. And this path has brought me to school. Getting to school was challenging. From finding my SIN card to getting OSAP to talking to my boss to getting everything I needed for school, this path has been… Bumpy. One hurdle after another, for ...

My word – PEACE So for this year I have chosen the word PEACE. I picked this word for a number of reasons. Last year my sister gave me a necklace with the word PEACE written on it. That was the start – the little seed. I will admit though I didn't think much of it until around Christmas when I was feeling uncertain about how “Christmas” was going to go this year. So I started searching for answers and that is when I once again found the necklace my sister had given to me. My life has been a little topsy turvey over the last couple years and I want peace in my life. That gentle assurance that all is going to be okay. I want peace with myself and the choices and decisions I have made. I want peace with my children as I try to raise them in the ways of the LORD. I want peace with my prodigal when we discuss how to raise our children. I want peace with my family and with my husbands family. I want peace with my friends and with my children's friends. I want my home to be a plac...

I had not had a Crohn’s flare in eleven years.  Not through all the stresses and changes of bowel surgery, nearly losing my Mom to septic shock, stillbirth, c-section and funeral, job change, town move, new school, brand new house, new work.  Not once.  I have been bowel-perfect as proven by no symptoms, clear bloodwork and normal biennial colonoscopies and biopsies.  Prior to this, I was in flare for three years.  New parent, no strength, no stamina, continuous gut and joint pain, exhaustion, hunger, weight loss, constant diarrhea.  A Crohn’s flare garners little sympathy and understanding from others partly because the sufferer learns to deny or hide it well.  Three years of this, despite proper medication.  “A thorn was given to me in the flesh… Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness”.  2 Cor 12:7-9 Then God ...

I have had a longterm relationship with annual practice of New Years goal setting.  I still get excited by the act of putting to paper my ordinary and optimistic ideas and goals as I look to the year ahead. And better yet, to review the previous years goals to see what was achieved, or not, but more so to see if I was still in the same place- or how I have grown or changed. I have never used an annual theme word or verse, but I know others who have.  That said, I have recently been using a focus word to mark seasons I have been working through.  Not intentionally- but they came and felt right. Simplicity was the first word I adopted with intention.  When everything in life seemed a bit too much - I embraced this word.  I found word art- placed it on my fireplace mantel to keep it front and centre. Years ago I had worked through Richard Foster's 'Celebration of Discipline’ ( a book I highly recommend-BTW).  I revisited the chapter on Simplicity and mad...

I get bored really easily. My mind wanders quickly to a deeper, related thought. Or a completely different one. Or planet. I have very low tolerance for (my own description) of nonsense. For example, jokes that target particular groups, superficial chit chat (glad you can’t read my mind, lol!), gossip. Large parties are a nightmare for me. You would find me in the kitchen, finding a useful task, or, worse case scenario, plotting my ‘socially appropriate’ escape plan. I am happy to be at a life stage now where saying ‘no, not for me’ is easy. My 2018 experiment is to listen better when I really don’t want to. At least longer, working at staying in the conversation at hand. Resisting my well developed and ingrained habit of moving on. I have observed, and maybe even learned some things in this short experimental time frame. How people start conversations is rarely where the conversation goes. People do want to engage in interesting topics, perhaps not quite knowing how to get the dan...