The Colors of the Wind

To walk to the place you work--you thank Him every morning as you make your way to make coffee, you thank Him every afternoon as you make your way home to an entire afternoon of not worrying.

You step into the sunshine and let the fall light bathe your face in warmth.  The sun has set the trees on fire in a red-orange glow.  

Some are burned out completely and stand naked with their brown, barren branches.  Others are still green but tipped with gold.  

The dying, drying leaves clash in a rustling wrestle against an invisible wind.

Orange leaves drop from branches like snowflakes and flutter to the other side of the street.  Yellow-gold ones dance across the sidewalk in front of you.

The early morning darkness that once surrounded you, the darkness of the old familiar fears, broken only by the streetlights, the brightest stars, the warmest smiles, and the wind--the breath of the One who made you--even in this darkness, you feel the earth come alive with color as the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it. (John 1:5)

All Is Grace

Happy feast of Our Lady of the Rosary!

Four years ago yesterday, I finished the 54-day rosary novena that I prayed for my future husband.  It was almost exactly a month later, and not a moment too soon, that the man who is now my husband asked me out.  

I trusted in the Lord with my heart, with my life.  It wasn't easy.  The Lord's ways are often very different than our own.  The road to follow Him is paved with blood, sweat, and tears, disappointments and failures and pain.  The journey requires trust and perseverance, but at the end of the day (and sometimes that day feels like a lifetime!), the Son always rises in glory.

Recently, the timing and circumstances were just right so that I was finally able to root out a source of significant stress and anxiety in my life.  I believe that once again, the Lord was guiding me, patiently, faithfully, along the painful path toward freedom.  I know that everything that happened leading up to that life-change was as necessary as the life-change itself.  This change is a grace that I am extraordinarily thankful for.  I don't have enough words to express my gratitude, but I feel kind of like this:

#peace

Life is a roller coaster of highs and lows, but I believe that these highs provide grace to help us persevere through the lows.  It's much easier to praise Him when all is dripping with sunshine than when all is covered in overcast gray.  I love You, Lord.  I thank You for ALL THINGS.  I believe that ALL IS GRACE.