As I wait upon the LORD

This afternoon as I was washing my dishes from lunch, I found myself quietly singing in my head the lyrics you will see listed below. It wasn’t audible singing but the kind of singing you do in your head and with your heart and with your spirit. 

You might be familiar with the song and the lyrics I was singing if you listen to Christian music. It’s a popular one.

When I realized that my spirit was singing this song, my heart and face began to smile. I was smiling because I NEVER sing this song on my own, like EVER. I only ever sing it at church. When I realized what I was singing through this song, I stopped what I was doing, looked up as if I could see God (wish I could) and whispered: "Thank you." I thanked Him for putting that song on my heart and for encouraging me in such a beautiful and unexpected way. I seriously never sing that song in my head or out loud on my own and that's how I know this was God's way of encouraging me. I believe this was His way of saying: "Sweetheart, if you continue to wait, I will continue to strengthen you."

That moment, this song, this reality signifies and seals that my hope really is placed in God's hands because this is the kind of song that your spirit will sing only when you are fully trusting and believing God. And I do believe Him and trust Him with all my heart. 

God knows that I'm in a season of waiting, and I think, .... no I take that back, I believe He deposited that song in me and on my heart to remind me that as I wait on Him, He will strengthen me because I'm trusting Him. Isn't that beautiful???  That is so-o God and so cool!

What a gift to recognize this blessing and what a gift to experience this today. I was so over joyed by this experience that I couldn't keep it to myself. I just knew that I wanted to share it with you, my readers.  

The lyrics to the song I was singing in my head and in my spirit are as follows. These lyrics are inspired by Isaiah 40:28-31.

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord

Our God, You reign forever
Our hope, our Strong Deliverer
You are the everlasting God
The everlasting God
You do not faint
You won't grow weary

Isaiah 40:28-31 says:

Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;

but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Until next time, may God bless you and strengthen as you place your trust in Him.  

xx, Ruthie

My Heart Song

This is the song [Search my Heart by Hillsong United] that my lips began to sing this morning shortly after waking up. I began to sing this song before my feet even touched the ground this morning with eyes still closed (barely open). It was a song I heard on the radio at noon yesterday and it's a song I'm calling "my heart song" because it came flowing from my heart this morning. It doesn't happen often when I wake up with a song on and in my heart but when it does, it makes me real glad. 

Beloved reader: Without God I am nothing, absolutely nothing. Everything good that comes from me, everything good that I produce is all because of Him. With all my heart and with all my soul, and with all I that I am, I want to spend the rest of my life following Him and praising Him and thanking Him for His goodness. I haven't always gotten it right in life and I haven't always done a good job really seeking His face and His will for my life but I'm so very grateful for His patience. And I'm grateful for His gentle Spirit because He never shames or makes you feel condemned. And I'm so grateful for this season in my life because He is taking me into a deeper relationship with Him and opening up my eyes and revealing so many things to me. 

I'm so grateful for His grace and for His mercy. I've had my share of seasons when I've drifted. The drifting was never intentional and it always began with a slow fade. In this season in my life, I've discovered that the slow fade occurred because I failed to guard my heart. In this season, my cup runneth over with gratitude for who God is and for how He is ministering to my spirit. In this beautiful imperfect season, God is doing some of His best work in me. Something really beautiful is happening to my heart and in my spirit. It's so beautiful, it makes me want to weep in deep gratitude. 

Just the other day I shared with a friend of mine that I'm feeling very pregnant these days, not physically but spiritually. I feel like I'm getting ready to give birth to something. And just like a pregnant woman becomes excited, super excited right before she gives birth, I too am feeling excited about giving birth. Only I'm not sure what I am going to be giving birth to, but I know in my spirit it's going to be GREAT!

It's a cool, quiet morning here. I haven't had coffee yet because I immediately wanted to play this song and worship God in spirit and I wanted to take a few minutes to write to you. The windows are wide open in the house today. I just love that season in the year when you can sleep and wake with windows wide open. And before me, I see an empty field and can hear the sound of crickets singing a glorious Hallelujah song as they chirp. This moment feels sacred and for that, I am thankful. 

Happy day to you dear one. And as always, thank you so much for following me at Ruthies Corner. Thank you for taking the time to read as I share my heart with you. God bless you ... 

Until next time, 

xx, Ruthie

What your heart needs to know

When you walk through the storms of life, hold your head up high and do not be afraid because the God who fashioned you in your mothers womb, the God who loves you endlessly, walks before you and beside you and behind you. How wonderful is that?! So walk courageously and confidently in the knowledge that you are not alone. You are never alone and you never will be.

Because He over came, you can and will over come too.

What your heart needs to know is this: You are loved. You are beautiful. You matter and you are never alone. Please mark these words on the tablet of your heart dear one. 

Blessings to you and yours ….

Until next time,

xx, Ruthie

p.s. When I wrote these words, I had the heart of many of you in mind. I hope these words comfort you, encourage you and bless you in immeasurable ways. Below you will find a song posted on youtube that I thought was quite fitting for this post. The artist is Jason Gray and the title of the song is called: Remind me who I am. Sometimes we get a little lost in our pain or our discouragement or in our storm and we forget who we belong to (we belong to God, and God is for us, not against us) and we forget that we are loved and that we matter. Sweetness ... you are so loved and you do matter to Him. Don't believe the lie that you are not. God bless you ...

Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you. ~1 Peter 5:7

The Power of Vulnerability

* Please scroll to the bottom of the blog to pause or mute the music (Playlist).

The above video is a fantastic video on the topic of vulnerability. It's so worth the twenty minutes. I learned about Brené Brown three weeks ago through Shauna Niequist. After learning that Shauna became a big fan and so quickly, I needed to do some research and learn and discover for myself why her message was so fascinating. 

So last weekend I decided to look for Browns talk on the topic of vulnerability on TED, a website I'm not entirely familiar with but it looks cool and filled with interesting content. I'll have to go back and visit again soon. But for now, let's get back to Brown and her talk on vulnerability. I listened and loved it! And today I want to share the video with you. 

So because I loved Browns video on the topic of vulnerability so much, I decided to visit my local Barnes & Noble bookstore the other night in hopes that I would find all of her books. After all I've had $75 worth in gift cards sitting in my wallet for ages! I was hoping to walk out with three of her books but to my disappointment, I only found one. The one I found and purchased was: "I thought it was just me, but it isn't." I'm going to take that as a sign that this is where I should begin. Shauna just started reading this book and admitted that its destroying her in the best possible way and recommended buckling up. Oh boy ... 

Dr. Brené Brown is a writer, researcher, and educator. She's a member of the research faculty at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work where she has spent the past ten years studying connection - specifically authenticity, belonging, and shame, and the affect these powerful emotions have on the way we live, love, parent, work and build relationships. Click here to visit her blog. To learn more about her, visit her welcome page. 

Brown is the author of three books:

1.) I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t): Telling the Truth About Perfectionism, Inadequacy, and Power.

2.) The Gifts of Imperfection: Letting Go of Who We Think We Should Be and Embracing Who We Are 

3.) Wholehearted: Spiritual Adventures in Falling Apart, Growing Up, and Finding Joy.

Hope you enjoy the video and if you purchase any of her books, happy reading and don't forget to buckle up! 

Until next time, 

xx. Ruthie

Scars Don't Still Hurt

This is a very short but powerful message from Beth Moore. And here's my confession: I can relate to what Beth shares in the video 100% percent. I'm not proud of this but if I'm going to be an honest writer, I must admit that I've done some pretty stupid things in my past when I felt rejected or when I learned that I was deceived by a disingenuous person who I thought loved and cared about me. Truth be told, rejection hurts. It shreds your heart into a million tiny pieces. It's awful and can provoke us to do dumb things that we later regret deeply. And here's what I've learned when I've been deeply hurt and wounded: You have to give yourself time, space and grace when you're doing soul work and you must absolutely be kind to yourself on practicing good self-care during times of emotional healing. 

Healing can be a very messy process. There are so many emotions involved. For the most part, when the wound is fresh, we feel small and fragile and we're always seconds away from crying. Can anyone relate to this??? We don't feel very strong or courageous or confident when we're wounded. In fact, we feel joy-less and every day looks gray even if the sun is shining. And yet if we are going to heal and move on, I have learned that healing is for the courageous at heart. It takes real courage and true guts to fight through staying stuck in the pain and rising above. It's hard and gutsy work. Healing is possible and you don't have to do it alone. God will help you if you let Him in.

I've also learned that forgiving those who hurt us is absolutely essential to God healing our wounds. Forgiving them doesn't mean that you condone what they did. In fact it has less to do with the person who hurt us and has everything to do with letting go and liberating ourselves. It's about accepting that the past could have been any different. It's about moving on. I've learned that when we make the decision to forgive someone, it's an act of obedience to God and God meets us in the pain and delivers us from hurting. It doesn't happen over night, but it does happen. 

I've also learned that God is our only true healer, our only true tear dryer and heart mender. Beloved reader, if you're in a season of emotional healing, please be kind to yourself. Please give yourself time, grace and space. Please be patient. Healing will come. It takes time and until it does, I hope these words will bless you and encourage you. 

Wishing you peace and wholeness today and always.

Until next time, 

xx, Ruthie 

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear. ~ Psalm 46:1-2

God never wastes a hurt if we let Him write our story.  ~ Steve Saint

Grace

I love this quote (the one in the picture about grace) by Anne Lamott and wanted to share it with my readers today. I hope it blesses you. 

There is someone I met a year ago, well almost a year ago and this person that I met almost a year ago has experienced one very difficult year. Today is a very special day for her. I've thought about her on-and-off all day today. I prayed that today was richer, lighter and happier than what it felt like a year ago today. I hoped and prayed that she celebrated life and the extraordinary and beautiful woman that she is. I prayed that she felt super celebrated and loved and that her day was filled with gladness and beauty and indelible moments. If this special someone is reading this today, I want you to know that I have been praying for you. And if your days or if some days still feel difficult and heavy, don't believe the lie that it will feel like this always. Please believe in a better tomorrow despite how things might look and feel. Please remain hopeful and believe that God see's you, and hears you and wants to heal you. 

I trust and pray that you have been carried by my many prayers and that your days are filled with lightness and not darkness. Sometimes things happen for reasons we may not always understand and yes, these life-hurts will cause us to feel angry in our pain. Please choose better and not bitter. Bitter will kill you, it will cause you to feel dead inside and better will heal you. It's okay to be angry, just don't park yourself there. Allow me to share with you that you are never far from God or His heart or His healing touch. He loves you extraordinarily and if you seek Him and lean on Him, He will help you and strengthen you and heal you fully, totally and completely and in a beautiful and super-natural way. He will walk with you and guide you and help you see and understand in ways that will amaze you. 

My wish for you today, on your very special day is for God to bless you with the desires of your heart. I wish and pray that you will live and move and breathe with the knowledge that you are deeply loved by a holy God. I pray that you can feel His love in your inner-being. May God bless you in wild and extraordinary ways. 

Until then, remain hopeful. Keep on keeping on. Hope-fully. Seek-fully. Trust-fully so you can live-fully to experience joy, peace, truth and love as you have never experienced before. It can happen. God is way bigger than your pain. Release it, release it all to Him. He can handle it. A better and brighter tomorrow awaits you lovely lady because God specializes and delights in creating beauty out the ashes in our lives. Allow Him to do that for you. He waits for you, patiently, lovingly and with open arms, arms stretched wide. Blessings. 

Until next time ... wishing you peace and wholeness and a life time of happy days.

xx, Ruthie



Cast all your anxiety on Him because he cares for you. ~ 1 Peter 5:7

I Can Only Imagine

This is the song that was on my heart this morning. It's been one of my faves for over ten years. I'm not a singer, seriously, I'm not. I can barely carry a note but when I hear this song, I can hardly resist and MUST sing along. I sing along, like every single time. I have a theory and my theory is this: If you sing from your heart it sounds perfect and lovely and beautiful in God's ears. Yes, like every single time. I'm pretty certain of that. I hope you enjoy it as much as me. It's called: I Can Only Imagine by Mercy Me. 

It's a beautiful sunny day here in Chicago. Oh how I love the sun / Son ... 

Until next time, 

xx, Ruthie

When a Woman Trusts God

Can I share something with you? I just love Sheila Walsh. She's such a lovely woman. And what makes her most beautiful is how she loves God. I've attended many Women of Faith conferences through the years and have had the pleasure to hear her speak about God's love for us in ways that cause me to draw closer to Him. She's incredibly gifted as a speaker, author, evangelist, talk-show host, singer and songwriter. I found the video below today on youtube and wanted to share this with you today. The video talks about trusting God and her book that is mentioned is called: Beautiful things happen when a woman trusts God. Hope this blesses you today .... xx, Ruthie

I'm With You

Beautiful, beautiful song!

Blessings

Below you'll find a another music video to a very beautiful song.

The artist: Laura Story. The song: Blessings.



I Shall Believe

Below you'll find a youtube music video to a song I heard on the radio yesterday morning. I'm not familiar with the artist nor the song but I think it's lovely. The artist: Matt Brouwer. The title song: I Shall Believe. The melody and lyrics: beautiful and evocative. I hope this blesses someone today. As always, many thanks for stopping by. Until next time, lets keep believing.  ~ Ruthie

Awake My Soul - Part 7 - Psalm 23

Click here to view a very encouraging message delivered by Darren Whitehead, teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church. Darren offers fresh insight on Psalm 23 and teaches on the very nature of God. It's a fantastic message, one I hope you'll carve out some time to listen to and watch. 

If you're going through difficulty, please listen. 

If you need encouragement, please listen. 

If you need a fresh word from God, please listen. 

My prayer tonight is that this message will bless you and encourage you in some way, big or small. It's no coincidence that you're here. It's no coincidence that you follow my blog and visit regularly. If you're reading this, please listen and watch this message. I'm certain there's a take-away message for you. I'm learning that God is a creative God and draws us near to Him sometimes in the most surprising ways and through the most surprising people. I trust that your visit today has great purpose. I believe God wants to encourage you today. 

Until next time, 

xx, Ruthie  

YOU

Wow ... this is a powerful video delivered by a lovely young lady by the name of Amena Brown. The quality of the video from a technical stand point is not the greatest but the content is nothing short of amazing. I don't know who Amena is and I certainly don't know much about her but I can tell you with absolute certainty that she is an extraordinary individual and has an amazingly humble spirit that makes her beautiful. I remember watching this video for the first time several years ago and still remember how hair raising it was. I can't recall who originally sent the video to me but I do remember that I was glad they did because it blessed me. My response was: "Whoa!" The first time I watched this video was in my home, during the work week, in the evening and I remember that I was sitting at the dining room table. I must have watched it three or four times repeatedly because  I had never seen a video like that in my life, like ever. I thought it was so beautiful. I watched the video again tonight on a prompting and it's still incredibly powerful and incredibly beautiful. I trust that someone will be blessed by this video. Perhaps many someone's. And may it do just that, may it bless you richly and beyond measure. Blessings dear one ...

When God's story becomes your story, you hear a voice you can trust. ~Max Lucado

Scenes we love

Have I shared with you how much I love, love, love Cary Grant??? Well I do and this is one of my favourite Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman scenes. It's lovely, isn't it?

Happy Sweetest Day Luvahs! 

Today's Word: SUCCESSFUL

http://johnmaxwellteam.com/successful-2/

My friends and family know all too well that I have a great passion for words. If you've been following my blog for a while, you might have gathered that as well. I love words because words are incredibly powerful and because words create change. The right words encourage, motivate, inspire, empower and heal. The wrong words are toxic. They're hurtful and they break people down. They destroy. I like choosing words that breathe life into people. I prefer to choose words that encourage and empower. That's my preference and I believe it's how I'm wired. In April 2009, I wrote a piece about my love for words. If you're interested in reading it, you'll find it in my blog under April 2009. It's called: I Love Words! Today I happened to find a video from author and speaker John Maxwell. John Maxwell has written extensively through the years about leadership. I've read many of his books and attended a leadership conference during the summer of 2005 where he spoke about adding value to people. I walked away a changed person. It blessed me richly and it helped me become more demonstrative in appreciating others. If I can find a video on what he spoke about regarding adding value to people, I promise I'll post it on my blog. It's worth listening to.

The above link covers the topic of what success really means and what a successful person might look like. His words are true and resonate with me 100%. I hope this video blesses you today.

Until next time, 

~Ruthie

Success is defined inwardly, by who we are. ~ John Maxwell

Those who know you best, love and respect you the most. If you can say that's true in your life then you my friend are successful. ~ John Maxwell 

Stupid Cancer!

Stupid cancer. We all want a new car or a new phone or a new something but a person who has cancer only wants one thing. They want to live. They want to live long enough to celebrate 100 more birthdays and to see the sun set 36,000 more times. As a breast cancer survivor, I know all too well how that feels. I’ve met scores of people in the last two years whose lives and bodies were invaded by cancer. Cancer is incredibly intrusive and it has an ugly and exhaustive ripple affect on the person’s body.

My heart rejoices every time I learn that someone has beat cancer. That feeling is incredibly delicious. My message to all the survivors is: Hurrah! I’m so-o thrilled for you. And my message to those who are still fighting is: Don't quit! Never quit. Keep fighting! Keep praying. Keep hoping and keep believing. To those who left us too soon: You fought a good fight. You did your best. You will not be forgotten. And I promise I'll do all I can to create awareness and to fund research to find a cure. I'll do that until its time to meet my Maker.

So would I love a new phone? Sure. Would I love a new car? You betcha. But if I could trade those things for a world without cancer, I would do it in a heart beat.

The above video was a commercial I saw this evening while watching television. I was in the kitchen preparing dinner when the commercial aired. When I heard Ricky Martin's voice, it stopped me in my tracks and caused me to pause to watch and to listen. At first it made me smile because I love Ricky, his voice and how beautiful he is. I also smiled because it’s a happy song and also because I just celebrated a birthday on Saturday. Birthdays for me are no small thing. It's a gift to be here. I'm thankful for my gift and I live with gratitude every single day. I won’t deny that life isn’t always continuous bliss but there's always something to be thankful for, to be grateful for and to celebrate. The end of that commercial is what got to me. It tugged on my heart strings immediately. My eyes welled up with tears and I had this HUGE lump in my throat. It was instantaneous. I've played this video many times over and the end still gets to me. It gets to me because I feel like such a lucky woman. I feel so blessed. And I want EVERY ONE to feel and experience that kind of lucky, that kind of blessing.

Would you do be me a favor? Will you join me and pray for a world without cancer?

Until next time,

~Ruthie

The Storms of Life

The other day I was speaking with a friend of mine who happened to share with me that just about everyone she’s talking with lately appears to be going through something really difficult in life. What I found particularly interesting was how she shared this information with me. She delivered it as if she was surprised. I'm no longer surprised by storms. Not mine. Not yours, not anybody’s. Storms are a part of life whether we like them or not. And trust me; I don’t like them anymore than you do. But I do believe we delude ourselves when we try to convince ourselves that we’ll reach a day when we finally meet our "storm quota" and shout to the world in the affirmative that we're finally done with storms. Nobody gets through life without trials or storms. Unfortunately, no one is exempt. Storms are just a part of life and they’re often filled with hardship, suffering and or loss. Life has many seasons. Some are great and some are hard. They’re filled with twists and turns, ups and downs, joy and deep sorrows. But it’s when life feels hard that we must exercise our faith muscles and believe that in spite of how we feel things will get better and that we will feel strong again. We have to believe in that. In fact, we must believe in that if we’re going to experience a better tomorrow.

Storms often make us want to scream: UNCLE! (Which means enough!) I know this because I’ve been there, done that and have screamed "uncle" many a times my friend. All too often, the storms of life leave us feeling discouraged. They make us want to quit and give up and cause us to feel like we don't have the strength to keep going. But don't be deceived my friend. That's just a feeling, not a fact. You're much stronger than you realize. I can't deny that storms have a way of making us feel weak but I promise you that if you continue to press forward, it’s simply a matter of time before you realize how strong you really are. What I know for sure is that God equips each and every one of us with everything we need to endure our trials. My advice to you is to draw upon past experiences, past storms and recall how you survived past trials and over came them. The Bible says that if we draw close to God, God will draw close to us. It also says that God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness which means that His strength is made perfect within you if you invite Him into the process. When we can’t, God can and will so draw near to Him when you need strength for your journey. And allow Him to hold your hand instead of holding on to His. His grip is far bigger and far greater than ours. If you're experiencing a storm in your life right now, stay encouraged my friend because all storms come to an end. They don’t last forever. I know personally how awful life feels when you're in the thick of one. You feel depleted, sad and frustrated. But remind yourself that you're stronger than you feel. You really are. Your storm is never bigger than God. Never. Nothing is impossible for God and with God. With God, there's always hope for the helpless and rest for the weary. There is also grace and forgiveness so call out to God. He's there to hear you and He's there to answer you. And trust His timing for answers. His time-table is not our time-table. His answers and His blessings always arrive on time. And whatever you do, don't allow yourself to get stuck in your storm. You gotta keep praying, you gotta keep believing and you gotta keep moving because if you don't, you'll miss your possibilities for tomorrow. Better and brighter days are still part of your future. You have to believe in that and hold on to that. 

Here’s what I’m learning about humanity: We all want to be bright. But sometimes we have to be broken before we can be bright. And sometimes we have to be broken before we become better, greater, wiser. So if you've been broken through the process of your storm, don't be discouraged. It happens. It happens to the best of us. What I know for sure is that God creates beauty from ashes every day. Allow me to encourage you to never quit and to keep going. Keep going when life feels hard and heavy because life is still so beautiful and filled with wonder. And pain always has purpose. And God wants each and every one of us to be bright so we can shine on.

Stay encouraged always. May God's light shine brightly within you and around you all the days of your life. 

Shine on my friend ...

Wishing you peace and wholeness today and always,

~Ruthie

The Prayer of Jabez: "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested.  ~ 1 Chronicles 4:10

Behold I make all things new. ~ Revelations 21:5

Today's Prayer:

Dear Father God,

Thank you for Your presence whether we feel You or not.  Be our wisdom and be our strength today and every day. Father I pray that You would bless each and every person who is reading this right now. Bless them with peace and bless them with joy. Release revelation in them. If they're going through difficulty, I pray that hope will emerge in them, hope that could only be found in You. I pray that You would replace any pain and any confusion with Your promises. Remind them that the Bible is filled with Your promises. Remind them that Your love is large and vast and constant. And remind them that You are the God of second chances. And if they have drifted away from You, help them remember that You haven't gone anywhere and that You allow u-turns. Allow them so see a vision of You with out stretched arms waiting to embrace them. Bless them in their coming and bless them in their going. Comfort them during their darkest hours. And lastly, remind them that everything good they experience is from You because it all started with You. We thank You for that. Thank You for Your goodness and thank You for Your grace. We don't deserve it but we receive it and we accept it.  

I pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. 

Necessary Endings

Today's message at Willow Creek delivered by Dr. Henry Cloud was brilliant! It was amazing, powerful and packed with wisdom. The topic: Necessary Endings. If something in your life needs to end so your new beginning can start, its worth the 48 minute investment. If you decide to listen, and I hope you do, I hope you'll listen carefully and reflectively. I must confess that I've listened to the message four times today. It really, really spoke to me and it really got me thinking. 

Click here to watch and listen to the message:

Dr. Cloud's key question today was: What's present in your life today that is not in line with what you want for your tomorrow? 

Hope this message blesses you ...

Yours faithfully, 

~Ruthie

P.S.

Dr. Cloud wrote a book about this very topic (neccesary endings). To learn more about his book, click on the Amazon link below.

http://www.amazon.com/Necessary-Endings-Employees-Businesses-Relationships/dp/0061777129/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313362118&sr=1-1

Happy birthday Lucy!

Always loved, never forgotten. Thanks for all the laughs toots!

Lucille Ball August 6, 1911 - April 26, 1989

Shut up! I'm a hundred today?!!!

Bittersweet, a book recommendation

‘Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way' by Shauna Niequist

A year ago yesterday, my copy of Bittersweet was delivered to my home. Bittersweet is a lovely book written by an extraordinary young lady in her thirties. It became one of my summer favorites last year, one that I’ve decided today I will re-read again this summer. I’ve experienced a lot since the arrival of this book and for me, books reveal different things about myself when I re-read them. Something in my gut tells me that this book will be an even bigger blessing to me the second time around. I can’t wait to dive in again to soak in each word, each story, each lesson, to uncover in this season what I might be discovering and learning about myself. This time around though, I'm going to take my time and read each chapter slowly and carefully paying close attention to my thoughts and what I'm feeling.

Bittersweet is the author’s second book. Her first book called Cold Tangerines was a great read too. I love her clever expressions and honest truth telling stories and while Cold Tangerines was great, Bittersweet was different, different in a really good way. It’s richer and deeper and more evocative and you’ll find brilliant and clever expressions in this book as well. Reading about the author's life experiences, her struggles, and lessons learned caused me to think about my own experiences and struggles and the lessons I've learned and the one's I'm still learning. This book was incredibly captivating and many of her stories tugged on my heart strings and caused me to cry. Yes, I cried. I cried for her, I cried for me and I cried for the many who experience pain because pain has an interesting way of waking us up and revealing things to us we never noticed before. I've learned through the years and I'm still learning that pain teaches us. Pain not only teaches us but it helps us to pay attention and discover things about ourselves that we probably would have never uncovered if we hadn't gone through that one horrible hard thing in life or a series of hard things in life. I've learned through the years that pain is inevitable, in fact, its biblical. That's where I learned it, and life, my life has reinforced the message through the years. But what I've learned through the years is that pain can help us grow if we let it. And I love that we have a choice about that. We can either choose to be bitter or we can choose to be better. I choose better. In fact, I want everyone to choose better. Yes, pain is awful and dark and makes us want to stay in bed all day and healing is a process that takes time, sometimes alot of time. But we can't let bitterness win. We must press against it. We must fight against bitterness and persevere in spite of our pain, our fears and our sadness. I'm so grateful for Shauna's courage. It took alot of courage to write Bittersweet and to share her stories. Here's what I know for sure about Shauna: She's one brave gal who isn't afraid to be vulnerable. Gosh, I love that about her. And I believe that everyone who reads this book will be richer because of it. If you pick up a copy, I hope it blesses you richly and beyond measure.

Happy reading and happy summer to you dear ones ...

Wishing you peace and wholeness today and always,

~Ruthie

We've all been sorry, we've all been hurt. But how we survive is what makes us who we are. ~ Rise Against