Because Autumn…

While it was still back in summer, Sarah asked us all to look at our calendars and find a date to meet at an orchard…we did and then we waited…sometimes patiently and sometimes not…for that day to arrive…

So Saturday was our day and it couldn’t have been more perfect weather-wise…

we consumed apple products…

and stopped to smell the mums…

We talked…

and corn-mazed…

We played fun games…

and games that evoked seriously traumatic childhood memories …

because who EVER thought up this game…was not right in the head…

and since my family has had a wonderful time sharing comments on my skill set regarding this horrid game, I will share the close up that has been discussed at length in text conversations following our outing…

to which I simply say, it is an advanced maneuver that is a brilliant combination of defensive and offensive expertise that should not be attempted by amateurs.

The time passed so quickly and we were missing some faces we love…the story of life, isn’t it?

Even on the Best Day Ever’s….

we know the reality of incompleteness.

As we settled in church yesterday for worship and communion and the teaching; our pastor closed our time by asking us to sit with our hands open on our laps as he prayed for us.

He told us he had been praying all week for this time and for the Holy Spirit to minister to each of us, individually, even in the midst of a crowded room.

I would say for me, the Lord heard and answered his prayer.

As Pastor Wayne prayed, he asked the Lord to remind us of times in the past of God’s faithfulness. He acknowledged the hard places some of us might be experiencing and yet prayed for remembrances of sweet times in the past.

Often when we are in the midst of difficult changes, the past has a tendency to mock us.

Good memories in times of sorrow and loss, in the natural man, can be far from comforting.

In certain situations, depending on the loss, they can almost seem to turn the past into a lie.

But in the hands of God, there is redemption.

And as we sat quietly under the prayers of our pastor, that were bathed in his intercession for the time we would have together…

the Lord washed layers of mercy over me.

It was a gift.

Because GRACE…is…after all… a gift…

I pray somehow the Lord would do the same for you.

To see and to remember things of the past…

when there were times of joy and laughter…

and to thank Him again for those days…

even in the midst of these.

May the Lord bless each of you with His Peace today whatever your current situations are <3