Originally written on:

Tuesday, February 15th, 2022

Have you ever been in a large group of people, not really ease-dropping, but can’t help yourself from listening to the stories being told…

Count your blessings daily is my advice. I was recently on vacation at WDW and while standing in line for an attraction I over heard a conversation between two women. One of them said, “there’s a special place in hell for me because I didn’t go see my mother before she passed.” My thoughts immediately went to my own experience of my mom’s passing. I know and believe that all things work for God in God’s world. I cherish the last visit I had with my mom, if I close my eyes I can still feel her arms around me from our last hug goodbye. I always hugged and kissed her goodbye; even if I was planning on seeing her the next day. We also had a weekly practice of calling each other on Saturday afternoons, I certainly miss those calls. At the time of her unexpected passing I lived nearly an hour and half away from my parents home. By the time I arrived at my parents home, the funeral home had already taken my mom. I know many of you have heard this story from my before, this time I just want to emphasize the importance of loving. Love is free to give and receive, do so with humbleness and grace. None of us are promised length of days, you can decide how you will live them out.

“Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
— James 4:14 (NRSVA) —

Although, in this particular event of standing in line, I was not intentional in ease-dropping, but some conversations just seem to break through any barriers we may have in place. But I’m happy that this over-heard conversation took my memories to the most incredible human being I had the privilege to call, MOM. She taught me so many value lessons and a lifetime of memories. I thank God for this precious gift. The Lord is my strength and my refuge!

“The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.”
— Psalm 90:10 (NRSVA) —

I’ll end with this, no matter what you hear throughout your day, as the receiver of information we get to choose how to use or process the information…on this day I found clarity in the story overheard and used it for good. I didn’t share the story through means of gossip, I turned inward and found a blessing in my own circumstances.

Thanks for stopping by today, I am honored by your visit.

~Charlotte, Seeker of unexpected Comfort, Happiness, Joy and Patience.

References:

https://www.biblegateway.com/

ASH WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2NDA TIME OF INSTRUCTION Today we come to Jesus for our time of instruction, a teaching time to grow in wisdom and relationship.…

MENTORING MOMENTS – FOLLOW ME

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2022

Today marks the beginning of the Lenten Season. It’s a time of preparation for Easter. In Wester churches Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, six and a half weeks before Easter and provides for a 40 day fast, excluding Sundays, in imitation of Jesus Christ’s fasting in the wilderness before he began his public ministry.

Ash Wednesday is a solemn reminder of human mortality and the need for reconciliation with God and marks the beginning of the penitential Lenten season. It is commonly observed with ashes and fasting.

The ashes symbolize both death and repentance. During this period, Christians show repentance and mourning for their sins, because they believe Christ died for them.

🔲 ◾️ 🔲 ◾️ 🔲 ◾️ 🔲 ◾️ 🔲 ◾️ 🔲

I found the following items very interesting from https://www.christianity.com/

• Our Creation: Genesis 2:7 – Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
• Our Curse: Genesis 3:19 – By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
• Our Cry of Repentance: Psalm 51:7- 10 – Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me

A Prayer for Ash Wednesday

Lord, Holy One, have mercy on us. We confess our sins to you. We have fallen short of your glory and without your mercy and grace, we would be dust. We repent now. Lord, as we enter into this Lenten season, be near to us. Help us, by your Holy Spirit, to feel the right conviction and repentance for our sin. Help us, by your Spirit, to have the strength to overcome the enemy.

Thank you, Lord, that Easter is coming! Death has no sting, no victory, because of Jesus! Glory and honor and praise to His name! Thank you for rescuing us. Help us keep both the weight and the joy of this season in our hearts and we move through the next several weeks. Help us bear the good fruit of your Spirit.

Thank you that the ashes on our forehead do not symbolize our ultimate reality. From dust, we might have been formed, but our bodies, our spirits, ourselves, await beautiful redemption and the restoration of all things. Help us long and look forward to that day, and let it come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Ephesians 3:14-21

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.”

~Charlotte, Seeker of unexpected Comfort, Happiness, Joy and Patience.

References:

https://www.christianity.com/church/church-life/what-is-ash-wednesday-why-do-christians-celebrate-it.html?amp=1

https://www.biblegateway.com/

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2022

Hello my friends —

It has been over a month since my last post, I have missed this community and writing. I am typically more prepared when approaching the spiritual journey of the Lenten Season. Honestly, I have struggled with getting ready for Lent and, perhaps more accurately a wrestling within myself. I recently began working with a group of women planning some church activities relating to Lent and it has had an exhilarating effect on me. I have known for several weeks the study guide I would use for my personal Lenten journey and utilize while blogging. I have chosen a book written by, Asheritah Ciuciu called, “Uncovering the Love of Jesus.”

Much like the author, I did not really come to know or understand Lent until I was an adult. I have tried the “giving up” of something meaningful during this season in hopes of some revelation at the end of Lent only to be disappointed. I have found more success in “adding” things to my life during Lent to experience Jesus in new ways. Things like intentional devotion times, intentional kindness and a blessing journal. We each travel through this season differently because we are different, each uniquely created by God with a purpose and a plan. This is a season for deepening our personal relationship with God and then to share it with the world. As I ponder this season, my heart is heavy…our world is hurting, many hurting individually and collectively. The past two years have been difficult at best with the pandemic and now there is a war raging; inflation is crippling, and people, myself included are tired of the madness. It’s enough to make ones head spin. And yet, God calls you and I to love others, to love whether or not we agree or disagree with them. Lent should not be considered an obligation; No, it is an invitation to draw closer to Jesus with intentional thoughts and actions.

How Do/How Can I Love Everyone?

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’” —John 13:34-35 (NRSVA)

“Notice that the definitive marker of a person who belongs to Jesus is not Bible knowledge, it’s not evangelistic zeal and it’s not passion for social justice. It’s love. In fact Paul reminds the Corinthian church that even the most sacrificial acts are pointless without love. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).” -Quote Page 15, Uncovering the Love of Jesus by Asheritah Ciuciu

I hope you will consider following me through this season of Lent, my hope is that together we will uncover the Love of Jesus in new ways. I encourage you to see Lent as an opportunity to be kind to yourself, to be open and even vulnerable, allowing grace to freely flow from Christ to you and for your soul to feast upon God’s word for growth and understanding. Together we can love one another and shine the love of Jesus to world.

“Lent is a season of somberness, a time in which we can come face-to-face with our frailty as humans, our sinfulness apart from Christ, and our mortality in this body of death. We grieve the brokenness in this world, and we cry out against the injustices we see around us. We mourn and lament sickness and death and cry out for forgiveness and deliverance from the sins that plague our own souls. Quite frankly, Lent is not a fun season. It’s heavy. But it’s beautiful too, precisely in it’s permission to recognize that the Christian life is not all smiles and sunshine. In this world, we will have troubles, Jesus promises, and the season of Lent permits us to be honest about those troubles, even as we press on towards Easter Sunday with the hope that Jesus has overcome the world. “Quote Page 13, Uncovering the Love of Jesus by Asheritah Ciuciu

COOL FACT:

A period of preparation and fasting likely has been observed before the Easter festival since apostolic times, though the practice was not formalized until the First Council of Nicaea in 325 CE. *Britannica.com

~Charlotte, Seeker of unexpected Comfort, Happiness, Joy and Patience.

References:

https://www.biblegateway.com/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lent