Standing in Awe

As we are preparing for our trip to Disney, I am reminded of a beautiful moment from a past trip that I will never forget. Our daughter, Addison, was two and her favorite princess was Cinderella. She lovingly called her "Rella". We had scheduled a princess breakfast where Addison would be able to meet the princesses. Our baby girl loved meeting, talking to, laughing with and taking pictures with Snow White, Aerial, Belle and Aurora as they came by to greet her. It was like she was catching up with old friends. Then there was a pause as she looks up and saw "her"..... "Rella" in the flesh. She could not move. She could not speak. Cinderella came over, took pictures and talked to Addison. She was lovely and so kind. Addison was never able to speak she stared in awe at the object of her adoration. I do not expect to ever see this reaction again from my daughter in this lifetime; but I wait patiently for the day that I will feel this adoration and bow to my King who I have waited to see. I can only imagine the feeling of matchless awe that will consume the moment. I just picture kneeling in a river of thankful tears and being overcome with wonder.  Thank you, Father, for giving me a glimpse of true wonder and adoration in that precious moment with my daughter. I await the day that I can stand in amazement at Your presence.

Which Path To Choose

I am back to my blog after a difficult month. I have seen first hand more clearly than ever before that we choose our path in life everyday. For those that may not know, Hal and I had a miscarriage. I have had to choose over the past couple of weeks which path of thought I will take. I have had the emotional thoughts of, "Why us", "I believe we are decent parents--we definitely try", "I dedicate my time and energy to help save precious little lives. Why would God take this one from me?", "We do try; we fail everyday, but we try to live our lives pleasing to God. Is this our reward?","Why would God give our baby a heart beat and then take it away. Why would God take being a big sister, 'The best big sister ever' from Addison.""My husband tries so hard to be a great father and husband, he doesn't deserve this pain... why, why, why???". These thoughts of course seep into my mind. Then I must make a decision to stay there or to take a dear friend's advice and "Go There! But do not stay there!!". I have revisited this advice often. It is human to wonder, to get angry, to cry, to hurt. Where we find our faith is when we choose to stay on the narrow path. I am hurt. I miss my baby. I grieve for the life it will not have. I mourn the events our family will never see with our angel because it is in heaven. BUT I know God has a plan for our lives. I choose to take the path of thankfulness and preserverance. I am thankful for the two wonderful children that we have. I am thankful that I did not have an emergency situation and that my care was second to none. I am grateful that God has restored our baby and taken her/him to live with Him. I am thankful so much for our church family, earthly family and incredible prayer warriors that God has placed in our lives who lifted us up to our Father and supported us through this experience.
The Devil uses tragedy to destroy our faith and to give ammunition to nonbelievers. A nonbeliever would use tragedy to try to discredit your faith. Faith is maintaining your belief in spite of anything that you encounter in life. Faith is knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that your Heavenly Father is not punishing you but the One who is carrying you through.

Thank you, Saran, for the words of Godly wisdom!