A Life of Gratitude

I've never cared much about gardening but for some reason, since we moved into our new home, I've really enjoyed working in the yard. God has been using the plants and weeds to teach me so many things. This weekend as I was looking at one of our rose bushes, I kept thinking about how beautiful it had been a month ago, and I was sadden by how ugly, messy, and unkempt it looked now. I also noticed how many old dead flowers were hanging on it.  As I looked at all those old fading petals and brown buds, I heard God say, "Dead things are heavy." I thought about that for a moment and then decided to trim away the old dead stuff.  Some of the buds still had color, so from a distance they were masquerading as healthy roses. Others were brown and dried up but remained attached to the branch. Some of the branches had no buds at all but were laying on the ground because the dead buds around it were too heavy. There had been other plants near the rose bush that had been unabl

As I was reading the Bible today, I came across Isaiah 48:18, which says,  " If only you had paid attention to My commands.  Then your peace would have been like a river, a nd your righteousness like the waves of the sea."  I could help but wonder, what does God mean by peace like a river? So I started asking myself, what are the characteristics of a river? What words do not describe a river?  Rivers are a flowing body of water, usually with a quick moving, loud current. They can be wide and deep at times but also have places that are shallow and easy to walk through. Rivers lead somewhere, typically to a larger body of water, like an ocean or lake. Creeks, streams, and tributaries continuously flow into rivers. Rivers often contain waterfalls and are full of life including many species of fish, crocidiles, turtles, ducks, otters, etc. Rivers are vibrant and even exciting, at times. I think when most people consider God's peace, they probably envision something more like

Does gratitude ever leak from your eyes and roll down your cheeks? It happened to me yesterday. It was Mother's Day, which is wonderful for so many reasons but also causes a bit of a sting for me, as it does for so many others. I have two children in Heaven, one that I miscarried in 2007 and one that I aborted in 1999. My heart aches at the thought of never being able to celebrate special days with my babies in Heaven. At church we sang "God, I look to You." The first verse of that song says, "Give me vision to see things like You do." As I sang those words, the Holy Spirit gave me the most precious vision. He showed me my babies, peeking through the clouds. It was as if they were getting as close as they could to me, even though I couldn't see them. It's hard to explain the emotions that filled my heart and mind but it was something I couldn't contain. The tears streamed down my cheeks continuously. I wasn't sad. I was so full of gratitude for t