An essay with help for all Mothers, Aunts, Godmothers, Sisters, Wives, Friends...

I am writing a series on what I have learned in my spiritual journey;

which includes what I have now in the Eastern Orthodox Church. 

My first essay in this series is really about how many Christians

have found comfort and solace in their lives.

This is especially of note to use woman, as the Church

has provided a Mother who we can all go to when

no earthly help is found.

I hope you are all blessed by the example of Christ's Mother

and the prayers that can help us all - and our families. 

***

"I was at a friend’s birthday party awhile back and asked to see this friend’s icons. His icon of the Theotokos (the Mother of God) looked out so tenderly. The Mother of God is a deep Mother and I felt reassured of the protection for this friend"....

(read the rest here at Conciliar Post)

 

Here, today

So much I could share,

just popping in to say 'hello' and that I hope you are well!

I am in a super busy few weeks on my end.

***

Had some real joys lately and some real sorrows -

4th wedding anniversary, successful first Sunday School class -

but also found out about some heavy things with friends

involving various types of serious loss.

***

So my heart is a little heavy.

***

Just wanted to say that I am going to have very little time to blog

or read blogs for the rest of the month and

the very beginning of October...

so if you don't hear from me here or I don't 

comment on your blog, it's just that I am busy,

I love you all just the same...

I am having some family visiting time that I have been 

long looking forward too!

***

I will be back. 

Husband and I are doing well.

***

I am so thankful that we have been married 4 years already!

How times goes so quickly!

***

(ps: pictures are from earlier this week and last week).

Encouragement and Thanksgiving

We went to liturgy this morning... 

Tomorrow is my husband and I's 4th wedding anniversary!

I hope to write more about this later, but for now, 

these two things:

This happened today:

"The Lord always blesses me for our anniversary + St Phanourios celebration! 

This year I ordered 2 fillets of salmon as we are unable to have a full Slava this year.

 Only one of the fillets was in the package! Ack!!! I was going to prep them today. ... 

called our grocer immediately and the person could see 

that the mistake was indeed made. 

They not only are they crediting the cost, t

hey are giving us an additional credit and 2 new fillets tomorrow! 

What a blessing! Thanks be to God!"

***

And a bit more from my latest essay, for your encouragement:

"Elizabeth Goudge also speaks of what faith, in such moments, can look like. She describes, in The Middle Window, a man fighting in the highlands of Scotland, who nearly died before a kindly couple took him in, nursing him back to consciousness and health. He, having thought his life over, now had to come back to life, and realizes what troubled him most is his loss of faith. It is then that he realizes, “[f]lames may die down but nothing could rob one of the ashes” and that, perhaps, “he was, for the first time in his life, actually experiencing faith. This fighting with no certainty that there was anything to fight for, this going out into the night with no belief that dawn would ever come, was…the real thing…”(Goudge, 200-201)5."

Read the rest here.

When all seems dark and silent...

I first wrote, a month ago, about the often painful and confusing

times in our life when it seems that we are in utter darkness,

and God's presence is no longer felt.

***

This has happened to me at various times in my life.

It's never easy.

I wrote about this in the beginning of August,

and have written a longer piece now, on this and hope it will be

of help to others...

This piece is published at Conciliar Post today!

***

Elizabeth Goudge's books are a great help to me and

I used two of her books in this essay... Here's part of what I wrote,

including Elizabeth Goudge's wonderful book, The Dean's Watch . . :

"Elizabeth Goudge’s books also speak of this experience of God’s absence and even His abandonment. Goudge’s book The Dean's Watch is one. In this book, the root cause of the feeling of desolation, the experience of being forsaken by God, came in part from great grief and personal loss. This grief was coupled with the physical depletion of, Miss Montague, leading to extreme fatigue, what would be called “classic burnout” in today’s self-care/self-help milieu. I have found that this experience of feeling forsaken by God is often in relation to both deep personal loss and illness, as Elizabeth Goudge writes.". . .

***

If my essay encourages others to read Elizabeth Goudge and/or

encourages them in their life,

then my essay truly 'achieved' something! 

***

You can read the rest of this essay here at Conciliar Post or here, at my blog with

my published essays!...

Back from the baptism of our new godson!

Picture I took of the table with all that is needed for the
baptism this past Sunday!

We were in the Midwest this past weekend,

baptising our new godson!

***

The icons are from Holy Dormition Monastery and are

of St. Luke the Surgeon and St. Gregory Palamas. 

The candles are from St. Tikhon's. 

The Cross is from St. John's Skete, 

attached to Hermitage of the Holy Cross. 

The Cross is the identical to Mr. Husband's baptismal Cross!

***

It was a very blessed time!

***

I am catching up on lots of things now and hope to write more soon!

Thanking God for the honour of being a godmother to a dear

new young infant baby boy! 

So Happy...lunch time and normal routines

Yesterday was really nice.

Mr Husband's summer student has left, he can

resume his regular routine of working from home

Wed/Fri... and so I breathed a sigh of relief,

made a fun lunch of veggie burger, fruit and green salad...

For dinner it was simpler, bread and watermelon....

and for me a green smoothie :)

In the morning Mr Husband emptied the dishes from the

dish washer... all felt back together and in rhythm...

We even went swimming in the morning together at the local

summer outdoor pool!

It's like I woke up to all the delights of just having my husband home

and making lunch for us...

I am trying to slow down and savour the homemaking in this;

recently read a bit by Fr. Alexander Man who talked about 

being fully aware of what we are doing as we are doing it;

to focus our attention on it;

I want to learn more of how to do this....

***

I must of slept wrong though, last night, 

as I woke with pain between the shoulder blades, 

under the neck, as it were. Ouch!

But a hot bath with salts will help that and is in the plans for today!

I had a simple lunch...

Trader Joes Peppermint Hot Chocolate

and an English Muffin with PB & my cousin H's homemade

strawberry jam!

With my pretty tea cup for my 39th birthday!

Hard to believe this year will be year '40' but I am doing my best

to accept it with a sense of excitement,

and am calling it '40 with a flourish' :) 

It will indeed call for a tea party or two I think! :)

I decided that today was a good day to 

celebrate, and so I got out our white and gold rimmed plates!

I hope to make a really good casserole later today and finish up edits

on my third article....this one being more on 

the Mother of God, the beginning of a 6 part series.

I hope that it will be something helpful and comforting to others;

I am doing my best to include, in these essays, parts of daily life

and how our life can be lived in light of God's mercy

and that we can have help in our day to day struggles and even 

battles, that go on often in the dark, in our hearts,

where we seek to learn to pray,

and learn what it means to be in relationship with

God who made and loves us.

***

Well, I have a list a mile long and a day a yard short!

***

I do hope you are having some moments of peace today,

no matter what today brings...

for in all things, there God is with us.