Our eyes look to the heavens, where does come our help...

 

Feast of the Holy Cross 2011.
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Victory only comes through the Cross.
The Resurrection of Christ happened in the
tomb of Christ.
In the time of greatest suffering,
came the time of our salvation,
the Lord's Great and Holy Pascha.
Today let us be with Christ
so we can die with Him
in order to be raised with Him.
To be a Christian is this.
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How hard it is for us to suffer, how very hard.
We must keep eternity in view and
the goal must be to be with Christ now and later.
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It is these truths that I find it all comes back to...

A mercy of God

(This is my Mom's nice dish set; they were my

Grandmother's mother's dishes.)

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I just wanted to note that I talked to my Grandma

tonight (not to be confused with my 102 year old Oma)

and it was such a blessing.

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I reminded her of one of my Aunt's playing a joke on me

many Christmases ago;

we have name gift exchanges and my Aunt had my name...

I was about 18 or 19 at the time

and had asked for two possible gifts:

a popcorn popper

or a

devotional book.

I know... strange combination!

Anyway...

The gift I got from my Aunt's family was their

old beat up 1970's popcorn popper

in a box.

Later, after much laughter,

my Aunt gave me a new copy of

Joni Earekson Tada's recently published devotional,

diamonds in the dust

which I remember beginning to read in the new year...

I think I had just turned 19.

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You know, her book had a huge impact on me;

I remember it so vividly;

she wrote on such simple topics;

including sin and frankly

it was some of the first movements in my more 'adult' life

(as opposed to a life of a young adult or child)

that moved me towards the life-giving gift of repentance

and hope.

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I had given my Grandma an older copy of a Joni E Tada book

for Christmas that I had for years.

She is reading it now and enjoying it.

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What a blessing it was to remember that Christmas past

and to talk with my Grandmother.

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It is not easy to grow older

(she is 80 now but you would not know it);

one of her relatives through marriage

who she'd known for some years

died on Saturday; even though she had been ill

it was still a surprise.

She lost my Grandpa 6 years ago, she knows

how hard this is.

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She is an example to me;

she prays for so many people,

is active in her church and still

has a volunteer job

3 times a week.

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I hope when I am older

God willing

that I will be like her.

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It is moments like this phone call

that remind me of God's love and how blessed I am

to have such a Grandmother.

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Thanks be to God!