Encouraging and equipping women over 60 to live their best life!
In this series I hope to open your mind. I want you to gather all the facts. My goal is for you to see that marriage is so much more than the Fairytale, Prince Charming stories, or that the reason to get married is to have kids. Because, if that was you’re “why,” what happens to your marriage when the kids grow up and leave home.
I’m going to pray about my podcast and see if the Holy Spirit answers. Lord, what do you want me to do with my podcast?” I waited and I listened, and I swear I heard him say: “I want you to talk about marriage. I want you to help women that don’t want to get a divorce.” It was so real. I’m like what? I wrestled with the idea and thought and thought! I knew I wasn’t going back to sleep. So, I got up quietly, I didn’t want to wake up my husband, and I came downstairs to my desk. I just started writing. I wrote for over four hours. It was the most amazing time. I could feel God’s presence. I wrote down what I feel God put on my heart. It was such a beautiful time.
I’ve counted it up and my clothing went to more than 10 different people and causes. From fellow speakers, family members, single moms, friends, and women in need. This was neither a fast nor simple process, but, as my sister said, “I know I am always happier to give my treasured items away when I see them going to someone who will love and appreciate them.”
Fall brings on a little melancholy. I struggle with being as productive as I want to be. Instead of “falling hostage” to it, I have chosen to embrace it and work through it. I am also thankful for a little rule I learned to help me in those August, September, and October months to help me stay focused. It is called “The Five-Minute Rule.”
I think it’s easier to share misery than it is to share celebration. I’m not saying I don’t fall into this trap from time to time. But what I want to address here is re-training our brain. Taking the time to evaluate our default thoughts and, if we don’t like them, we can make a conscious effort to see them and redirect those thoughts and change them. We are creatures of habit. But I fully believe we can change.
Remodeling your bathroom is one of the best investments you can make in your home. Depending on your age, different factors come into consideration. Is your personal preference most important, or is resale value? What is the value of the surrounding homes in your area?
I did nothing to deserve this striking floral showpiece that sticks out her neck to show off her beauty. What I did was to keep my birdfeeder filled with a mixture that contains black oil sunflower seeds. The birds do the rest. As they peck at the feeder, cracking open resistant seeds with impressive acuity, some fall to the ground. Unnoticed by birds, chipmunks and other interested creatures who call my garden home, they tentatively open to the hospitality of the soil, the warmth of the sun and the hydration of the rain. They courageously begin to put down roots, fragile tendrils initially. Their journey, stretching toward the sky, has begun.
Everything we do, even the most mundane task, we have a reason for why we do what we do. Most people never think this way, but with everything we choose to do, or not do, there is a payoff. There is a reason why we are doing this all day, every day. We may not even be consciously thinking about it, but this is the way our life works. Everything from the big decisions to the little mini choices, we have reasons why we do the things we do.
Mark was my father’s wife’s son from a previous marriage and legally became my father’s child after the adoption. Dad and my first stepmom got divorced several years after the adoption. Over the years all of us became adults and went our separate ways. I had very little contact with my stepbrothers, or my half-brother, after my father’s second marriage dissolved. Until this moment.
The legacy continues! What my husband and I experienced in our youth, we passed on to our children. We supported and participated in their musical endeavors and now, today, we see that carried on in the lives of our grandchildren.
