When Your Heart Hurts on Valentine's Day



Valentine's Day isn't a day of hugs and kisses for everyone. Devastated from a break up, a death, a difficult marriage, or never feeling loved by anyone, you feel Cupid's arrow shot right into your heart, and you hurt.

I hurt for you too. Please know you have a God who loves you.  He will never hurt you. You are His own precious treasure and His arms of love surround you. He cries "Cling to me!" and yearns to embrace you with His lavish love.

What can you do to celebrate Valentine's Day?  Choose to love!

Here are some suggestions to take you out of the Valentine's Day blues:

1. Bake heart shaped cookies and take them to your neighbor, a hurting friend, a nursing home, a widow, your newspaper carrier, a military family, your Pastor's family, anyone! Who doesn't love a sugar cookie!

2. Call someone who needs a word of encouragement!

3. Find a friend who is alone tonight and go out to dinner and celebrate the gift of God's love for you.

4. Volunteer to babysit for a young couple who needs a date and can't afford a babysitter. I know babysitting can be exhausting, so take a friend who can help. If you have the financial ability, bless the couple with money for their date.

5. Grab a Concordance and read every passage on love.

6. Take a hymnbook and sing all the songs with "love" in the title!

 At the end of the day, wrap yourself in Jesus's arms and sing "Jesus loves me. This I know. For the Bible tells me so." Rest in Him aware of His great love for you. It's true, you know. Jesus loves you.

There are so many ways to celebrate love! Let's hear some ideas from you.

May your Valentine's Day be filled with love as you love others!


 

Say "I Love You" Every Time You Say Good Bye.

In my travels as a speaker, I am blessed to stay in the homes of lovely people. Many are precious   widows. I love hearing their stories, for they have much to teach me.

Some watched their beloved suffer over years. Other deaths were sudden. The blink of an eye and their sweetie was gone. Whether a long death or quick, they all were final, and they all remember one thing:

The last words their beloved spoke to them. 

Sitting around the kitchen table, talking over chamomile and honey, my widowed hostess and I     were eager for more conversation, but our eyes were drooping. We decided to do the wise thing and get a good sleep.

"Do you mind if I say good night to my hubby before I turn in?" my widowed hostess asked.

She hit the "1" on the answering machine. The male voice echoed "Hi honey! I'm going to bed  now. I hope you have a good sleep. Good night. I love you."

"Those were his last words to me. I listen to him say 'I love you" every night before I go to sleep"

 He died years ago, and his loving voice still brings her joy as she heads to her empty bed.

Tears flowed as I witnessed an intimate moment in the life of a widow and her dear man. I'll never forget the lesson they taught me that night. I never leave Dan without telling him I love him.

What will be your last words to your beloved? Make sure you

 say "I love you" every time you say good bye.

“. . .  let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely” 

Song of Solomon 2:10 

Sweet words are splashes of serenity on your life and marriage every day! Say them often. Every day. As often as you have opportunity.

This Blog Could Save Your Life



My friend's husband died last week. Wow! Not expected. My heart aches for her.

Earl had pulmonary fibrosis. I know this disease well as my father died of pulmonary fibrosis. It's fatal. There's no reason to have it and no way to prevent it. One day you wake up and breathing is difficult as your lungs harden. Two weeks to two years later, you will die unless you receive a lung transplant or healing from the Lord Jesus.

Earl was Number 1 on the National lung transplant list, but no donor died so Earl did not live. My father was 87 and too old to be considered for a lung transplant. Earl was 58. He died young.

Nadine is the sweetest person. I love her. Wanting to do something to make her smile, I'm writing this blog in hopes someone will decide to be an organ donor. Trust me. When you are gone, you won't need those organs. There is a loved one surrounded by family as he/she dies and waits and prays that an organ donor will be found.

Every year 28,000 people are granted life because someone donated an organ.

Yet, every ten minutes a new name is added to the waiting list.

Eighteen die each day waiting for an organ.

One organ donor can save eight lives.

It's easy. Make your death count by giving someone else life. Go to www.organdonor.gov and register as an organ donor.

Please let me know if you do. You'll be a splash of serenity on my day.

 I love Nadine. I remember her years ago when we were both baby Christians. She came into my house all excited because God encouraged her with Romans 15:13

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,

so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

 

My prayer for you dear sweet Nadine is that the God of hope will fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

Praying splashes of serenity for Nadine and her family in these days,

 



When the One You Love Dies

Christmas is a time when hurts hurt deeper. Especially if you are facing Christmas without the person you expected to share a lifetime of Christmases. If you are a widow, or you know a widow, there is hope and help this Christmas.

My friend Ferree Hardy, a widow herself (now remarried to a widower), has just released her new book, Postcards from the Widows' Path — Gleaning Hope and Purpose from the Book of Ruth. I love Ferree's explanation to me, "Widows don't need a letter, they need postcards."

For more information, please see Ferree's website and blog, www.WidowsChristianPlace.com. You'll be blessed by both.

I met Ferree at the Montrose Christian Writer's Conference where we sat in the same critique group for five days. I listened as she read Postcards from the Widows' Path. Wow! Ferree has wisdom from God and a way of writing that touches hearts.

Let Postcards from the Widows' Path be a splash of serenity on your life. Check out www.WidowsChristianPlace.com where you'll find people who understand.

Praying for those who hurt this Christmas,