Happy Sunday,
How are you all doing on this amazing Monday afternoon? Gosh, it sure is beautiful out today. Loving life and enjoying the views. I am beyond thankful to be able to wake up to this view most days. It definitely is my calm and happy place. Johns been enjoying the views too. He’s excited to wake up every morning once he moves up to the lake and being able to open his office window and just take a deep breath in and be grateful for our home. How about all of you? What’s new in your world? Shoot me a text or drop me a comment, I love hearing from you.
As I sit here reflecting and enjoying this amazing view, I can’t help but feel gratitude for where I live and for all the love that surrounds me. I went through quite a storm and nearly drowned before making it to the safety of the shore. On the other side of my many storms, I’ve been blessed to call this home. For the last 8 years my life was in such a conundrum. I had lots of good days while surfing the waves of life, but I found myself stuck in the riptide of difficulties for many more days then I care to count.
Some of my difficulties were what I created in my head. I mean, I absolutely had many struggles that were beyond and are beyond real, but some of those perhaps could have been lessened if I had only gotten out of my head. I think we’ve all been guilty in life for making some difficulties worse then they should have been. The mind is quite powerful when it comes to overthinking.
By nature, I play out every scenario in my head. I absolutely hate it when I let others down and it hurts my heart when I upset others.
“When you care too much about what others think, we are never free to walk the path of life that is right for us.”-Live Purposefully Now.
This happens to be one of the hardest things for me. Finding the balance between loving myself enough to not care what others think to the point of losing myself, all while caring and appreciating what those in my life think about me. Make sense? Anyway, being free to walk on the path that God has laid out for me is so important. I want to be in service to others and I want to serve God by helping others find him and seeing him for the amazing creator he is. I feel this is my path. I’ve been telling John for years, I needed to some how find the platform God wants for me to be on.
I think it’s true, not all storms come to disrupt our lives. Some come to clear a path for us. I do think however, we don’t always see clearly how certain storms in our lives are good for us. Sometimes all we see is the pain. Other times we see no way out and there are even times when we just say, “I give up.” We throw in the towel. At the end of the day though, things do eventually turn around.
I spoke to my brother yesterday. It’s been awhile. I did answer his call and we had a nice conversation. I’m so thankful for that. While he’s still angry with things in life, he’s finding his place of solace. I think for the first time, perhaps ever in his life, he’s going to be okay. He shared some exciting news with me and while he was sharing his story, I said a silent prayer and thanked God for giving him this gift. None of us are worthy of God’s grace, but he finds worth in each and everyone of us. He found worth in my brother and I couldn’t be happier for him. He deserves this piece of happiness he’s found. He’s been through many storms in his life and finally, he can breathe a sigh of relief.
“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow you gotta put up with the rain.”-Dolly Parton.
Sometimes the rain lasts way too long, that is, in our minds. We never know what our different life outcomes would be if the storm stopped sooner if on our time or later based upon His time.
“And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.”-Gilbert K Chesterton.
Have you walked outside after a huge rainstorm and seen the sky lite up with God’s promise? The rainbow. This was His promise to never destroy the earth again like he did back in Noah’s day.
The rainbow today, for many of us is a symbol of hope and promise. When we see the wonder of the sky after a rainstorm, we can’t help but be in awe of it’s beauty and all the good it does for the nature surrounding us.
John’s always telling me that our storms are how the Universe challenges us. The more challenges we face, the more lessons we learn, the better we’ll be in the next life. While I do agree with John, I also think the more lessons we have in life, it’s the Universe or God saying he knows through our trials, we can help others.
As I change my mind set of poor me to thank you Lord for helping me survive, I believe he opens my heart even more to find my way to telling my story, because I know someone out there needs it hear it and I pray, they can avoid my many mistakes, my endless heartbreaks and my wonderful journey to falling in love and having a man who loves me for me. I hope whoever reads my story will find their strength way sooner then did.
I hope we can all remember, not every storm is meant to disrupt our life, instead, maybe it’s just there to help clear our paths. “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about getting out there….And dancing in the rain.”-GoodLightscraps.com.
Maybe the next time the Universe gives us rain, I hope we can all take a moment and step outside and dance. Let’s do it before the storm passes. Let’s embrace all seasons of our life, after all, what do we have to lose, other than maybe the best experience of our lives. We’ll never know unless we take that chance. Are you with me? I promise you, the next time it rains, I’ll walk outside and just open my arms and let the water beat down on my face and I’ll thank Him for the many blessings awaiting me on the other side of the rainbow.
Until next time, don’t forget, Love Life++ Hugs.
Love Life with Dawna 