Leave a comment

Someone Moved

Posted by eph21920 on March 13, 2017 in Answer, Generosity, Problem, Stranger, Struggles, Tragedy

The other day, I saw a story on the news about a veteran who lost everything he owned in a house fire. He had a mobile home and while he was away, one of the propane heaters fell over and started the blaze. He thought one of his dogs may have knocked it over. In the fire, he lost all three of his dogs and everything he owned, including the medals he received from his service in the military. I was heart-broken when I heard the story and thought how wonderful it would be if someone would start raising money for him. Someone. Today I heard a follow-up to the story. A veterans group from the city rallied around their fellow soldier and raised a good amount of money for him. They visited him, gave him the money, and prayed with him. It was beautiful. I was so glad that someone moved and started the wheels turning to help the man.

I Found God today in a story of giving and caring.

Permalink
Leave a comment

Oldies But Goodies

Posted by eph21920 on March 12, 2017 in Connected, Faith, Life, Music, Past

Today at church, several of the music pieces were what I would call Oldies But Goodies. I could think of specific events where I learned each song. One was a retreat that I went to with people I hardly knew. During the years that followed, those people became my spiritual mentors and good friends. Since then, my life has changed and I have moved – twice. Unfortunately we didn’t keep in touch. I thought about them, wondered what they were doing now, and prayed for them. Another song is one I learned and then became a favorite during youth ministry. We sang it at gatherings and retreats. I thought about those great times, the young people, and the adults who were involved and prayed for them as well. It is amazing how a song can bring you back to specific times and places.

I Found God today in songs that brought back wonderful memories.

Permalink
Leave a comment

Christ in Me Arise

Posted by eph21920 on March 11, 2017 in Connected, Faith, Friends, Lent, Music

A friend of mine came over for a visit tonight and my sister was here too. We laughed and laughed, which we always do and is one of the things I look forward to when we get together. We can also have deep and meaningful conversations because we know each other so well. My friend told me that she went to church on Ash Wednesday and heard a song that brought tears to her eyes and stuck with her. The way the choir sang it was especially moving for her. She found the song on youtube – “Christ in Me Arise”– and shared it with us. My sister pointed out that the picture with the scrolling lyrics resembled the picture that we recently painted with the sun on the horizon. I hadn’t looked at it that way, but she was right. It was a beautiful song with a beautiful picture that made it even more meaningful.

I Found God today in a beautiful song with a meaningful picture.

Permalink
Leave a comment

Meeting a Mountain Man

Posted by eph21920 on March 10, 2017 in Creation, Stranger

Today we took a little trip up to the cabin in the mountains. On the way, we kept an eye out for wildlife as usual. We spotted a herd of bighorn sheep near the rocks we usually see them. Before I could slow down, we were past them, so I found a place to turn around. I figured I would pull into the dirt driveway that was close to the herd. When I got to it, there was another car there. I thought they had probably stopped to watch the sheep as well. I pulled behind the car and saw that the driver was out of the vehicle and closing the gate at the end of the driveway. He was the owner of the property. I figured it was only proper to explain why we stopped in his driveway. So, I got out and told him we had just pulled in to see the herd of bighorn sheep. He came on over and waved to my parents. He was your typical old mountain man with rough skin, long gray hair, a tattered hat, and a slow western drawl. I told him we hadn’t seen the sheep for a while. He said they wintered on his land. Right now they were eating the bailed hay he had for his horses as there wasn’t enough greenery for them since it has been so dry. He was concerned about that, as they don’t usually eat the hay. He went on to say that the herd would stay around until May or June and then would head to the other side of the mountain with their new lambs. He was a wealth of information and was happy to chat. I thanked him and we went on our way. You never know how people are going to react to you – especially if you are on their property. It was a great experience to meet this man and have a conversation with him.

I Found God today in a friendly old man.

Permalink
Leave a comment

Fatima Rosary

Posted by eph21920 on March 9, 2017 in Faith, Family, Mary, Prayer

When we saw the Fatima statue the other night, we received a little booklet that gave details about the apparitions and some prayers. My mom read some of the booklet this afternoon and we talked about how if everyone felt their prayers could actually make a difference in this world, more people would be committed to doing it. One thing Our Lady of Fatima asked people to do is to pray the rosary every day for world peace. This evening, my dad picked up the mail and came back with a large envelope in his hand for my mom. It was a rosary from a Fatima organization. That seemed like a pretty big hint.

I Found God today in encouragement to pray the rosary daily.

Permalink
Leave a comment

Letters From Women

Posted by eph21920 on March 8, 2017 in Answer, Connected, Faith, Friends, Life, New, Prayer, Relationship

A few years ago, I was blessed to begin a faith journey with 6 other women – some I knew, some I did not. The new prayer group was organized by a good friend who takes God’s promptings seriously. We met about once a month, visited, ate, prayed, laughed, and cried together. When I moved away, this was one of the things I missed the most. I formed a very close relationship with all the women and missed the fellowship tremendously. In the past, I have been able to connect via video chat, which really fed my soul. Recently, a letter writing strategy was suggested. Each person would write a letter about what is going on in their life including prayer requests and send it along to the next person. Then that person reads the letter, prays for the intentions, writes her own letter, and includes it in the envelope to pass along to the next person. This sounded like a great idea and I was hoping it would happen. The group has been heavy on my mind lately and I was so excited when I received an envelope with some letters in it. I sat down in a quiet place with the fireplace on and read them, pausing to pray for each request. The letters were written from the heart – no “fake news”, no holding back. It was beautiful to read each person’s joys, sorrows, struggles, and faith journey. Tomorrow I will pen my own letter and mail the packet along to the next person. There are many women to celebrate on this International Women’s Day, but today these women top my list. They (We) are all just normal women, each walking a different path, each with our own specific struggles, yet each supporting one another, praying for one another, deepening our relationship with one another.

I Found God today in thoughtful letters from my prayer group.

Permalink
Leave a comment

Our Lady of Fatima

Posted by eph21920 on March 7, 2017 in Answer, Children, Faith, Hope, Mary, Peace

I have been hearing about the 100 year anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima – when Mary the Mother of Jesus appeared to 3 children in Fatima, Portugal. The other day, my mom found information in the bulletin that one of the travelling statues of Our Lady of Fatima would be in our church today. We had a busy day, but my parents and I were able to go to the church, say some prayers, see the statue, and listen to a presentation about it. My parents had heard about the apparitions when they were children and my mom was always curious about it. We learned a little about the statue and the requests that Mary made to the children to pray for conversion, for world peace, and to make reparation. She taught them several prayers and said to pray the rosary every day to make a real difference in the world. After the presentation, we were able to take a closer look at the beautiful statue. The original statue was created with the help of one of the children who said that it was not beautiful enough. I imagine it is impossible for us humans to try to replicate something that is heavenly. We were very happy that we were able to go and experience the event.

I Found God today learning more about Our Lady of Fatima.

Permalink
Leave a comment

Adventure at the Mall

Posted by eph21920 on March 6, 2017 in Family, Shopping

My parents have wanted to go shopping for a while. It has been a very long time since either of them have been to the mall.  My dad has been wanting to buy some new jeans, but wanted to make sure he was getting the same kind that he likes, so I recommended he take a picture of the tag with his phone. My mom saw the eye doctor recently and received new prescriptions. She has been rummaging through several pairs of glasses that she has kept deciding which ones she would like to use. This morning we looked at the mall directory and made a game plan that wouldn’t involve too much walking for my mom. We headed there this afternoon. We dropped my dad at the store he wanted to go to while my mom and I parked as close to the entrance as we could. We made our way to the eyeglasses store. The woman there was super nice and patient as my mom explained which frames she wanted to use for every day and which she would use for her “music glasses” to help her read her piano music. I noticed a little boy and his mother being helped in another room. After a while, the little boy came out and walked by us, looking intently at my mom. His mom came out and he went to her side. As they both walked past, he said, “Hello!” to my mom. Then he told her that he like her glasses. It was so sweet. Soon, my dad joined us. He had received some help from one of the sales people at the clothing store. He is still trying to get used to his phone, so when it came time to share the picture of the tag, unfortunately he couldn’t find it. But, he did remember the brand and was able to find and buy a new pair of jeans. As the woman got my mom’s new glasses figured out, she said that one pair would only take an hour to be ready, so we headed into the mall to waste some time. We went to the bath shop that was nearby as my mom wanted some new shower wash. We found a clerk who directed us to the right place. She held up one of the fragrances for my mom to smell. Due to the Parkinson’s, my mom has lost her sense of smell. When I told the salesperson that, she was somewhat stunned and it took her a bit to recover. She showed us some natural body wash that was good aroma therapy, then said it wouldn’t matter since my mom can’t smell. However, I learned recently that aroma therapy is actually still effective, even if there is no sense of smell. I found a scent that I liked and that is what we bought. Then we went to the food court where my parents both bought an ice cream cone. As they sat there side by side, licking their ice cream, I could picture them doing the same thing 65 years ago. We went back to get my mom’s glasses and headed home. I quite enjoyed our little adventure at the mall.

I Found God today in the interesting happenings at the mall.

Permalink
3 Comments

Priestly Similarities

Posted by eph21920 on March 5, 2017 in Connected, Priest

We had a new priest at church today who reminded me so much of another priest that I know who is very close to my heart. There were so many similarities. During his homily, the priest said that after college, he worked out in the secular world for a few years and was very happy doing so. But he felt God’s tug on his heart to become a priest. He tried to ignore it, then decided to talk to another priest about it – hoping he would talk him out of it. After a couple of years, he finally gave in and pursued the vocation that was on his heart. My friend had a very similar story, calling God the “The Hound of Heaven” referring to a poem by Francis Thompson. The new priest said that he was terrified to speak in public, yet he appeared very comfortable and seemed unscripted. The same was true for my friend. During his homily, he asked for the participation of the congregation to reply when he asked a question. My friend did the same thing. It was uncanny the way they resembled one another. The only thing missing was the boisterous Italian mannerisms. It made me happy to see the new priest and remember my friend who made such an impact on my life.

I Found God today in a priest who was so similar to another loving priest I know.

Permalink
Leave a comment

An Adult Stroller

Posted by eph21920 on March 4, 2017 in Love, Stranger, Struggles

It was another beautiful sunshiny day today, so I took advantage of the opportunity and went for another long walk. As I was walking downhill on one sidewalk, I saw someone pushing a stroller walking uphill coming towards me. There appeared to be a couple of dogs walking with the person. As we got closer to one another, I saw that there was indeed a dog walking off leash enjoying the grassy area. I watched the dog and wondered how this was going to play out. The dog reached me before the people and I held out my hand as I kept walking. The dog sniffed it briefly as he continued his run in the grass. I heard a voice telling the dog to mind his own business. I looked up and saw that there was a man pushing a woman in the adult sized stroller. She was holding another small dog. She apologized for her dog’s “rude behavior”. I told her it was fine and he was a good dog. I pondered the beautiful scene I had just witnessed. The woman was all bundled up so she wouldn’t get cold in the breeze. It was evident that her legs had little motion – if any at all. I am sure it took a great effort to get everyone out the door and it would have been easier to stay inside. I thought about the committment and responsibility of the man to take the woman and dogs out for a walk. Obviously I have no idea of their relationship or home life, but this one moment in time showed great love.

I Found God today in the love a man showed walking a disabled woman and her dogs.

Permalink