Amazing Morning.... - Mary Bonner

I have had an amazing morning already! Let me start at the beginning…yesterday friends came to dinner with their family and John, Andy & I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. I think our friends enjoyed the afternoon too. Good friends, good food, and good wine…what more do you need for a great afternoon.
My quiet time materials stay on an end table in my family room. I saw that the wife had noticed the books and knowing she reads this blog I commented, “Just my blogging material.” She said, “Yeah, I can tell.” Long story short the husband comments on my blog and that he reads it too sometimes, then my own husband later tells me that HE reads it…this is getting a little scary!! The wife tells me that she gets a bit impatient if I am a little late posting. (Sorry, today is a bit later because of all that has happened!) So, I get some compliments on my blog and this morning as I woke up, I felt a little pressure!! But…God IS faithful, just like he always is and everything has fallen into place.

I came down the stairs and it was still dark outside. I started the coffee, fed the dog, got John out the door, poured my coffee and sat down with my books and computer. I looked out the window and saw the prettiest crescent moon through the trees. This picture doesn’t do it justice, but I just felt like it was God speaking to me.
Next, I picked up my Living Faith and looked at today’s title, “Take Grief to the Lord.” The scripture from I Samuel 1:5 spoke about Hannah and her barrenness, her inability to have a child. I Samuel 1:1-8 talks about how her husband loved her, even though she was barren and if you know me personally or have read this, then you know I am not Fertile Myrtle. Not only did the title of this reflection speak to me, but the reflection itself. The author really did a magnificent job. She noted that barrenness is not just the inability to have a child, but can be “brokenness, unfulfilled dreams…anything that hasn’t turned out the way you’d planned.” She goes on to point out that the place to take our grief is to God and that barrenness is not always a permanent state of life; Hannah went on to have Samuel. You could tell, this author was writing from the heart, as most of them do, but this was REALLY good. Or at least I thought so. So…what did I do? I used my favorite internet search engine to find out more about her. The first thing that popped up couldn’t be right, or so I thought. This person was a runner and it was a site connected to a popular running site and magazine. Try again…this time was someone else with the same name, but obviously not the one I was searching for. Third time’s a charm!! I found it! Kristen Armstrong…ex-wife of Lance Armstrong, Christian-Catholic, mother, runner (the first site I found was correct!), and contributor to Living Faith. WOW!!! No wonder the words on the page were so powerful…she was writing from the heart. Isn’t that the way it is with most things…at least it is for me. If I write from the heart, speak from the heart, give from the heart, share from the heart…in other words, if we FREELY give of ourselves in the right frame of mind, the Lord will bless us for our efforts. We may never know the results of our efforts, but the Lord knows and he will bless us and the effort! I am so thankful that the Lord is Faithfully Present, Faithfully Persistent, and Faithfully Permanent with shoulders big enough that allow me to “Take (my) Grief to the Lord”
I pray that you could follow today’s post. It is one of the times that I am so excited about what happened this morning that I am afraid my writing isn’t as clear.

Lord, thank you for this wonderful, beautiful day. Thank you for the moon, now the sun, for friends, for those that read this blog. Thank you, Lord, for your son that is faithfully present in my life, that leads me (when I let him) and stays with me when I don’t let him. Thank you, Lord.

Have a blessed day…and please, let me know if this makes sense to you.