6 Hours and a LifeChange

1 giant decision made months ago resulted this week in:

2 sisters and 1 mum
All my transportable earthly belongings
6 hours in my Andromeda car
And arrival to the gently rolling prairie country.

A life change.


Sadness because goodbyes
Anticipation because Future
Fear because 200 new people
Excitement because changes
Courage and peace because
My God is with me wherever I go
Joshua 1vs9

Because I'm Old Now

I just became 21years old not 2 months ago. Which means I'm old enough to have learned some wisdom already. And since I am so old and wise I accidentally made a list of life lessons I wish I could insert into my little siblings' lives to make growing up easier for them. Since life doesn't work that way and humans really like to learn by trial and error not by being told, I just buried this list in my diary and forgot about it for weeks. Now, reading back through diary entries for inspiration, I came upon this again and decided I need to keep it near me cause guess what. I still have mastered all these perfections myself.

Advices to Littler Ones* **
*not a comprehensive list; sporadic accidental inspiration is all this is
**because this advise is directed at me I must be littler than myself??



➡Don't fight the truth.

➡Be absolutely certain the people you trust are the right people. To my sibs: your parents (/family) and your church will always be the right people. Not everyone else will have your total happiness in mind and not everyone else will tell the truth. But your mum and dad, they always will.

➡Something I wish to never forget is that everything I do will affect someone else in some way. Everything. Don't hurt the ones you love.

➡Being kind, being merciful, showing grace, forgiving. You can never do too much of these things. Always be kinder than necessary.

➡Fighting things by yourself or fighting yourself by yourself is lonely. Share your battles; usually that makes them easier.

➡There's always someone who has life harder than you. Truth.

➡Think more about others. Right now I can hear 4 year old sister asking "how's school [brother]?" And even after his grunted answer continuing with "how WAS school? Was [your friend] there? Did you play hockey? Huh [brother]?" How sweet of her.

➡Let the other person win. The argument, the discussion, the reprimand, any conflict, any time you are tempted to fight back. Winning will never make me happier especially if I made someone else sadder by doing so. Never.

➡Feel pain. But shut out useless angry feelings, injustice, unkindNess. Feeling pain and sadness for good reasons is a good thing just...

➡Don't let sadness be who you are. Rise above your past, your regret, other's cruelty. It just wastes time you could spend being happy and having a good life.

🌅from the Littler Sunset Watcher

of GIANT encounters

Last week in my thankful stories (which I wrote exactly a week ago even though I didn't publish them then...I'm not too good with timelines) I wondered why I was afraid when I met giant Goliaths in my life. Well that was a good thing to wonder but since I wondered that I have came upon several giants and shivered in fear in front of each one, needlessly. For some terrible reason I failed to immediately ask for power to fight goliath but instead cowered for long minutes in front of him, fearful, until he sensed my fear and began to chase me back to the safety of dismissal. He would go away for a while but then suddenly, through the valley, would ring his loud taunting cry "are you afraid to fight!?" And I would begin the scared cowering circle all over again. But God is endlessly merciful. And when I decided I needed help He helped me fight goliath. Kill him til he was so dead that all his friends ran in the opposite direction; this time it was them who were afraid.
I don't don't don't deserve the kind of mercy God showed me, the kind He was waiting all week to extend as soon as I asked him for it. Why do I let my fear for goliath control me instead of my love for God? God has so much more to offer than Goliath.
Off to another week of Goliath-encounters. And this time I'm going to let God do the fighting.

It's been a rather difficult week, mostly emotionally, for me. I've cried I've sighed I've ranted. And one night courage overcame and I learned from the difficult things I was facing.

The Things I Learned This Week:

•always be kinder
•just when I think I know a person they surprise me
•make the best thing of whatever happens to you. There's always something to be happy about.
•don't allow Satan to control me. He doesn't deserve the power I give him over myself
•the Bible is more alive than I am
•be a humble hero (derived from bs discussion)
•I might have been happy and content yesterday but that doesn't mean I am today. Every day I have to choose faith over fear.
•learn from the negative things people say about me (cause they might be true) but don't let them break me
•popular. Typical. Trendy. Normal. Labels don't matter. Be my strange self but always be kind. In the end it doesn't matter whether I'm like everyone else but whether I'm a kind person.

(And it's only Wednesday)

>>sunset watcher, watching the clouds set tonight; not the sun

Tiny Stories of my Life

First, a background. I often make lists of things that make me smile or that I'm thankful for and send them to my friends who do the same to me. This is my latest compilation;

Little stories that are my life or that I observe are the things I'm thankful for this time around.

I watched someone young helping someone old, listening to his garbled unintelligible words; understanding that person's needs when he couldn't even voice them. And I was in awe because that is a good picture. A picture of how life should be. The able helping the unable. The strong helping the weak. The young honoring the old and wise.

In contrast: I also watched someone older bending down to help someone smaller, listening to the child's little voice, understanding it's needs and focusing on the child more than on himself. I was in awe because that is a good picture of how life should be be. The able helping in the incapable. The learned helping the small innocents.

I walked the lengthy path through the cold air after hockey expecting to get into a chilly car but to my happy surprise I found that some kind anonymous had turned it on for me so I could happily climb into a cozy vehicle. I like being the recipient of anonymous kindness. Or any kindness really. Thankyou, Kind Anonymous. I hope I chance to do something kind for you one day.

The brave boy sat there and calmly admitted that he'd stopped doing that (something none of us had even thought of Not doing) because he'd heard questions about it at conference.

Another story I didn't want to forget to add to a thankful list and almost forgot now: The happy event of the biz Christmas party wherein my employers treated their employees (6 of us) to Brazilian deliciousness and gave them sumptuous gifts and let them fail miserably at archery to their ♡s content. Beautiful singing on the way back to town and then a cup of tea completed a perfect evening.

The story of this busy week of singings and meetings and hockeys and out-4-suppers and pancakes&swatgames every night and an after party at papa&grannys with AllTheCousins (⬅a very nice chapter, this one) is too long to narrate but let it be said, it is a good story.

A child sleeps in the bed across from mine, perfect and beautiful and in, her sleepingness, totally angelic. I love her and every night before I go to bed I look at her in awe that God lets us have her. Her story didnt begin very happily but I pray for the following chapters of her story to be better, so much better.

I read a good story today, about a boy fighting a giant very bravely with only his faith in God and some tiny stones to help him win. I was supposed to be teaching this story to young children, telling them about this superhuman feat and that God can help us overcome any giant, if we ask Him. Somewhere in the story, or maybe in the things the children said about the story, I learned new things about God and the courage and power He will give anyone who asks Him and I wondered why I am ever even afraid of Goliath.

I like stories. I like writing the (true) stories of my life but also I like hearing the stories of your life. I hope you are living a happy story today.

From the Sunset Watcher

In Everything

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
1 Thessalonians:5:18

I was inspired by the people of faith and dedication and courage who surround me every Sunday morning and the following was spontaneous after returning from church this Sunday: The People of my Church

=The humble ones who make awkward speeches even tho it is difficult for them

=The free- spirited tiny ones who dance off to Sunday school totally unaware that the whole church's attention is focused on them

=The growing eager imaginative ones to whom I get to teach Bible Stories every other Sunday

=The leading ones who allow God to pour out His Words through their words

=The background ones who are unimportantly doing very important little kind things where very few people see (my church is full of these people.)

=The Brave ones who are shy but stand up anyway and say what they believe or what they think or what they need

=The faithful ones who are always there with cheerful and reliable stability

=The weak ones who timidly come to the only place they know will find Strength.

=The courageous ones who utilize the Power of God to fight giants, and who win. (I think everyone in my church does this.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>



Generally i dont make thankful lists unless im inspired; but really what's the point of only articulating the things I'm thankful for when my life is full of good things? This week I'm not much inspired (except for above) but I will make a list anyway.


*SRC, a precious blond-haired child who we cared for during the first year of her life. And who comes to our house sometimes so we can love her and spoil her again. Also I am incredibly grateful that S has people who love her and care for her


*for the amiable camaraderie of life with sisters, whether we're working or doing fun things or even doing nothing.


*relatable song lyrics


*a new cat who was coincidentally brought 2 us the day Little Sis had been begging for a cat


*very much funny stories from family members


*my little black car


*the Grey Skies of this week; depressing though they were, they also were beautiful, ruffled and dripping silvery showers over the brown earth.


*summertime, happy summertime. it is much easier 2 be happy when the sun shines and the earth is green than when the sky and the air is grey and my mind and the earth surrounding me is a dull brown.


*the Sun thAT still shines In my heart.


<>

did ya'll see the rainbow?

Driving home from work I chance to look high in the pale silvery sky where a tiny quarter of a rainbow is glowing.  The beauty of it there, poking its ravishing face through the thick curtain of cloud makes me catch my breath in a moment of raw amazement. I love the significance of rainbows. To me their beauty is synonymous with Promise from God.

A couple minutrs later I'm chattimg with a group of friends. "Did ya'll see  the rainbow?" T asks. "It was the most beautiful rainbow I've ever seen!"
K says she didn't see the rainbow in the shop where she works.
I think she did see the rainbow though, in the flash of colours as guys in muddy clothes walked by, Mostly colours like gray and brown with a lil red from their wind-beaten faces.
R says she didn't see any rainbow either, because she was in her classroom, teaching and missed it.
"But you did see the rainbow," I  tell her. "You can link the Promise of the Rainbow to things in your classroom...the children's words and actions and personalities; the swaying trees through your tiny dungeon window, etc."
My mum didn't see the rainbow either. She was inside the rainbow, the cacophony of singsong  baby voices, and unexpected cuteness and occasional kisses from the toddlers in her care.
Dad didn't see the sky-rainbow either but Im quite sure he saw and felt it during a few moments of idle chitchat with a lonely customer.

It seems to me that anything of worth or of beauty is a rainbow, a significant promise from God. And so I will be always on the lookout for rainbows. What about you. Have you been looking for rainbows? Where did you see a rainbow today?

from the sunset watcher, turned rainbow watcher