2012 feels like the beginning of something....yes, the beginning of a new year. But something more...
I'm not sure what, yet. But I have this hopefulness about this year...I guess that's what I'm feeling.
One thing I'm really excited about is this book I found over Christmas at my parents' house. Actually, I didn't find it. Isabel did. It had been kicked under the couch in the family room, and she was peeking under there looking for cats. (We had 3 cats merge their lives over Christmas, and it went exceptionally well, I might add). But back to the story: So she finds this book tucked away under the couch, pulls it out and hands it to my mom. My mom in turn, finds a chapter and gives it to me to read. Well, it was like Jesus speaking to me from the pages in that moment, regarding a certain situation I was going through! And I was hooked.
It's called My Daily Bread and it's a tiny, pocket-sized book by Anthony Paone, S.J.
The book is in fact, what I would call the original version of Jesus Calling....just written by a Catholic priest back in the 1950s. And it's fantastic. It is just what I needed to start off this new year. To have a moment of reflection every day to bring me closer to God. It's written as if Jesus were speaking to you, and then it has a passage to think about, and a prayer passage. I'm feeling hopeful that it is going to really help me in my spiritual walk.
We had a good Christmas. I really felt the joy of His birth at the Christmas Vigil Mass we attended! Even though I was a little anxious about how Ian would do during the extra long service...usually I would have been much more stressed, but I was able to relax and really enjoy and participate in the Mass. It was great. Other parts of our Christmas vacation did not go as I had planned, or as I could have even begun to anticipate (!) but, I am thankful for those moments too. God has a plan for every moment and every single thing that we might experience as "going wrong"...and we can find meaning in those moments too. So I am thankful for that, because it has given me more focused intentions to pray for in this new year!
Speaking of prayer intentions, we are really grateful to any of you who might have offered up a prayer for Rob's dad. He is out of the hospital and in a specialized nursing facility, and we are now praying that he will get transferred to a facility that is closer to the area where we live. It is currently about a 40 mile trip (one way) to go visit him.
And finally every now and then I wonder if it's time to end this blog. Just because I wonder if it's useful to anyone, or if it's now just me rambling about random things. And today God revealed that it is still useful. Even though our experience with losing Mary Grace and the other pregnancies is in the past, that experience is still helping others! And that is really just amazing and humbling to me, that God could use our pain and heartbreak for His purposes and draw good from it. It is just such a neat thing.
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2 comments:
I know that book! It's a great one. I used to work at a Catholic bookstore and we sold TONS.
I thank Him everyday that you kept this blog going. Your words are such a source of strength. I find myself going back to read certain entries because they help to strengthen my faith. Thank you!!
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