HOPE

I have hope!  Two big changes happened in my life last summer one on the heals of the other. Our oldest daughter Grace married our son-in-law, Austin Humbles and 2 weeks later I drove our youngest child, Michael off to college. It was incredibly overwhelming for me. I had no idea that it would hit me as hard as it did. It was not the identity crisis that a number of women experience when the kids are grown and gone, nor the wring of hands, oh what will I do now? Dan and I so enjoyed raising and being with our children, it was like when you read a really good book and you don't want it to end. Life with our children was not absent of pain or struggle but there was much joy. M. Scott Peck began his book, The Road Less Traveled with, "Life is difficult." and more recently, Dr. Brene Brown said in her Vulnerability TED Talk, "We were born for struggle." And Jesus said, "In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world."

Grieving is a part of life that most people do not make space for anymore. And this year, I have made space for it. More importantly, Dan and my counselor have helped me to make space for me to grieve. A few dear friends have walked this road with me. Comforting, counseling, and praying for me, these dear ones held me up and held me close. One of these friends: Jamie continually held up the banner of HOPE and she believed for me that the LORD Jesus would see me through this season. Time and again, with the Life Giving WORDS of God's Holy Word, Jamie would remind me of God's Promises. The season is not really over but more and more, I am feeling hopeful and more importantly, I am believing in the HOPE of the Gospel, the GOOD NEWS of JESUS CHRIST.

The countless, phone calls, texts, emails and then a wonderful visit in the beginning of March of this year with Jamie and her dear husband, Craig have been life giving. It was so sweet to have some face to face time. The LORD is GOOD and Jamie is a great ambassador for Christ and counselor in Christ. I think counselors need to be compassionate and also carry the banner of HOPE. In Romans chapter 5, God's Word says:

"we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."

"Hope does not disappoint" and fortunately, Jamie reminded me of the truths and promises of God. In 2Corinthians chapter one it says, "As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. 20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him."  (Which I believe that I have quoted earlier this month.) The LORD JESUS is ALIVE and well, working through the body of Christ to help me to remember that my hope is in Him.
There is so, so much more that I could write about HOPE but we will leave it there for now. It is a topic that never grows old.

Comfort

fBlessed be the gGod and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and hGod of all comfort, 4iwho comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in jChrist's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.1 6 kIf we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you lshare in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. 2Corinthians 1; 1-7

Remembering those who still refused to be comforted and never recovered from the horrors of 9/11. If memory serves me correctly, our country had not seen bloodshed on our soil since the Civil War. Up until 10 years ago the bloodshed happened in other countries around the world. Plenty of American blood being shed in other lands. For the war on terror thousands of men and women in our armed forces have been killed. Our country is torn about whether or not we should have entered this new type of warfare.

The Apostle Paul continues:

For we did not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

2Corinthians 1;8-11

So we want to prayerfully support those in uniform and the lives forever changed by the events of 9/11 and to always hold out the Banner of Hope.

Days of Auld Lang Syne

In the early hours of the new year, I found myself reading about a song I kinda know and you kinda know but until today, I had never fully heard the words. It reminded me of being a sixteen year old girl who was a lector in the church I grew up in and not being able to hear or understand the words I was reading. The song is Auld Lang Syne. Did you sing it or hear others singing it last night? Or perhaps you know all the words and you actually know what you are singing.

I was at a party last night and we raised a glass to ring in the new year (a non-alcoholic one for me) and then a few people sang the song and I listened. My ears were opened today as I read this article from yesterday's Wall Street Journal by Peggy Noonan. In essence the song says, Remember the people who have touched your lives, those you have met along the pilgrim highway. Often, I have wanted to write about those people who have touched my life and highlight how they have affected me but often it is far too personal to be specific. Let's just say that the blessings of friends and family have far outweighed the wounds that I have received in this life.

Happy New Year to all that I have encountered upon this journey in 2010. At the risk of offending some, I will list these dear people and if you ought to be included here please comment and remind me of our meeting on the road of life this past year.

Dan, Grace, Katie and Michael Mullaney: my immediate family.

Billy and Kelly Mullaney, Barry and Mary Mullaney, Bill Mullaney (dad), Jimbo and Karen Mullaney, Ellen and Paul Lippens, Shosh and Paul Babson, Smully, Paul A. MacDonald, Peter and Tammie MacDonald, Laura MacDonald, Paul and Joan MacDonald (dad and mum): our extended families.

Now I will got back in hopes that none will be forgot:

Becky and Cliff Mort, Mike and Kim Abendroth, Nancy Myers, Dave and Vida Farrar, Marie Steinmann, Fran Walken, Flo Paras, Marie and Tom Bertrand, Charlie and Elaine Crane, Cindy and Scott Farrar, Steve and Janet Cooley, Deb and Dana Peterson, Bruce and Lori Pelissier, David MacAdam, Joanne and Glenn Gray, Steve and Carol Gray, Elizabeth Kehoe, BonnieJean Wiebe, Kristen Neprud, Devan Wiebe, Diane and Clark Pitchford, Pam and Kenny Hopkins, Kelly and Phil Bower, Eunice and Au Au, Dina Webb, Cathy Creed, Misun Min, Helen Kim, Mary and Jeff Weix, Little Joe, Joe the Builder, Howard, Marilyn, Marcia, Charlie, John, John, Lorraine, Mr. Norton (Karen Mullaney's dad) Uncle Bill, Lorraine, Cousin Anna, Eileen, Elena, all the old men regulars at Endicott Variety, Sharon Scanell, Gail and John Lefferts (There are more I am sure but it has been a crazy 24 hours).

Again, I am reminded that people matter. It is in the context of human relationships that we continue to become who we are because we have been a part of one another's lives in big and small ways.

A new day and a new year is an opportunity for renewed hope.

Hope

I am really having trouble with posting my Advent Foretold posts and I still haven't figured it out. Perhaps, the revisiting of this devotional is for my personal benefit and not to be shared. Honestly, I have had a hard time getting into the Christmas Spirit this year. Tonight I am planning to go to a Christmas party and I am thinking that I want to just skip it. It is out of character for me. I am one of those people who drives her family crazy because I start listening to Christmas music in October. I am listening to some right now but even the music, I have been "eh," take it or leave it.

Nevertheless, Jesus Christ is the Hope of Glory, He is the Word who became flesh and He is the Light of the World. Jesus Christ is the Joy of our Salvation. He is the Alpha and the Omega and nothing I desire can compare with Him. My zeal, my love, my passion for my Lord has actually increased over the last few months, as I begin to see the Beauty of His Holiness. You read that right "begin." O Christians do you not believe what it says in the second letter to the Corinthians, "Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day?"

Now that I am writing I remember a song by my friend David MacAdam and in this song he writes, "Christmas can be everyday of the year when Jesus does your living. No longer a slave to yourself must you be when you can be forgiven." Yes, each day, I get up and say yes, LORD thank you for another day. With you there is Hope and with your Holy Spirit and by Your power will I live out this day. When (not if) I stumble and fall, your forgiveness, grace, mercy and yes, hope is right there enabling me to carry on. With this hope, I desire to bring life, joy, grace, truth, love and hope to each person I encounter because I have a personal relationship with the One who was born of a virgin, hailed as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, is called Immanuel, at birth was King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Jesus is the One who has given me His Holy Spirit. It is this Spirit that I need each and every day in every season.

So, I am not into the festivities or the mood or the decorating or shopping or even the music that is brought about at Christmas time, but that doesn't make me a Humbug. It just makes me human in the midst of life, changes and challenges, joys and sorrows, faith, hope and love.

Have a day full of hope!

December 2

Advent Foretold

written by Gary and Wanda Sanseri

originally published 1990 for their family

Looking at the first prophecy

Genesis 3;15

The stage was set.

Sin and death had entered the world.

God stated that there would be war and there would be the Victory.

All was not lost at the beginning of human history.

There is hope for those who believe in Restoration and The Restorer.

Read at your own risk*

I have just under 50 drafts sitting in my waiting to be posted file here on my blog. Today, I am just going to be risky and shot from the hip. I will post whatever I end up writing now. Consider yourself warned: READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

*This blogger is not responsible for the effects this blog post may have on your life in any way, shape or form.

When I was at the age of my two younger children, 17 and 19, it was all I could do to just get through the day. I lacked gratitude, ambition, drive, vision, hope, dreams, love. I worked hard, drank hard, was hard on myself in the most destructive of way. Basically my philosophy was be "Life sucks and then you die." There were no thoughts about the future, because I didn't think I had a future. It is now my belief that I am to glorify God and to enjoy him forever and to be hard on myself in a way that will enable me to be who God meant for me to be.

Here I am nearly a quarter of a century later and there doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day. At the age of 21 the LORD God invaded my heart and changed the course of my life. By God's grace my husband Dan and I have had the great privilege of having children and raising them together. We were given the opportunity to educate and bring them up the way we believe God would have us.

Nearly 3 years ago, I wrote a blog post about being in the Heart break Hill of parenting alluding to where I am in the marathon of parenting via the Boston Marathon and now, I hear the roar of the crowd as I have now entered Kenmore Square and soon the finished line will be within view. My role as a parent is in the midst of a radical changes and it is not easy. As I can ONLY imagine, the runners coming into Kenmore the transition that takes place right then and there, you can either push through the pain and finish strong or succumb to it and drag yourself across the line.

It is really difficult to assess how I am doing but according to my kids I am pushing through and each one of them has been so gracious to me. Even though they do not understand what I am going through, at least they do their best to be understanding. Each one needs me in a different way and in many ways what they need me to do is let them go and let them grow.

"What is next for me?" is a question I am starting to let myself really start to think about seriously. And I am happy to report there is a plethora of things I am thinking about today.

Value life

This past Saturday was National Suicide Survivor's Day and I was made aware of it by a younger friend on Facebook. I just want to be another voice added to those who are crying out, "Life is worth living. There is an Author of life, He writes the book and you play your part. The role He has for you only you can play. Life is not easy but we tend to forget that Death comes to all and that it will be soon enough."

In an article in the Dallas News a young man committed suicide with a live streaming on the internet:

Montana Miller, an assistant professor of popular culture at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, said Biggs' very public suicide was not shocking, given the way teenagers chronicle every facet of their lives on sites like Facebook and MySpace.

"If it's not recorded or documented then it doesn't even seem worthwhile," she said. "For today's generation it might seem, 'What's the point of doing it if everyone isn't going to see it?"'

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/112308dnnatwebsuicide.10081a7.html

This quote from the article got me to thinking about living life to an audience of One. The question posed "What is the point of doing it [whatever 'it' may be] if everyone isn't going to see it?" So often the riches things in life are the hidden treasures. Right now our family is finding some in the midst of a small trial, it is those things that the Father sees done in secret that reap rewards. Those who are web camming or are fully documenting the deeds on a social network, you have your reward in full. I am not saying there is something wrong with documentation, we need to have documentation for many things, what I am saying is that some things are intimate and ought to be private. There are times when we need to be extremely courageous or humble depending on what our circumstances present us and to know that the Father has his eye on us is enough. (see Matthew 6;3-6)

To achieve balance between knowing when to keep your own life private and when to live your life as an open book takes discernment. We so need to continue to keep a check on ourselves as well as guide our children. I continue to make mistakes. If there is one lesson that I would like to have solidly down it is "to pause and to think before I speak or act." Failing to do this gets me in more trouble then anything else. There are many things that we could list definitely on each side of the ledger.

One thing that I would like to be more invested in is the sharing of ideas on the open book side. I think this is one of the hardest to discern. Some ideas come from left field and don't belong on either side, other ideas are excellent that we may share with a close friend and that friend may encourage us or help us to know whether or not to share it with others. The young man who committed suicide with an Internet audience, talked about it. Generally, those who really don't want to go through with it will start talking about it because they want help and perhaps they don't know how to ask. If you go and read the article it says that this guy was talking about it. It is not a joke. The pain of living does appear to be greater sometimes to some people but if someone you know starts talking about suicide, I implore you to help them to get help.

The hope that I have as a believer in the Giver and Sustainer of Life is the first thing I want to share with the hurting. God created each and every human being in His likeness, in His image. Let that be the first word, "You were made on purpose." There is a lot of help out there, counseling, medication and meditation. Most people need the right combination but all people need to know the truth, that their life matters.