Tag Archives: strong women

Survive the Storm

The storm lasted through the night, but today the thunder and lightning has passed leaving a gentle rain in it’s place. Before the storm arrived, I brought the wreath from the front door inside and I swear with the weather we’ve been having this year this wreath has hung indoors more than out, but thanks to my friend Dawn, I like it equally in either place.

During the storm, the Marvelous Mrs. M. Marco Polo’d me just to make sure everything was alright. She had seen a neighbor’s post on Instagram of the golf ball sized hail we received, but it’s been a long time since seeing hail come down as hard as rain and roll down the street.

I’m not a fan of storms and almost admire those who can sit outside to watch them pass through, but God has brought me a long way this year through storms both literally and figuratively. It began back in January with the simple and yet surrendering act of continually trusting Him through each and every one. The red banana tree planted outside my window took a beating from the hail of our most recent storm and I didn’t think quickly enough to even try to protect it.

There was no need for me to intervene because that’s a part of that ‘trusting Him’ in all things, even protecting a banana tree that’s too heavy to move indoors. Seeing it’s tattered leaves shredded by the hail it looks beaten, but it’s still standing tall and upright, so it survived. I think we all feel like this banana tree looks after a storm, but the storm does pass and it doesn’t last forever.

Our part is to make it through.

It’s outer leaves look rough, but let’s take a look inside.

There’s growth, shiny and new.

We may get the crap beat out of us like Mr. Banana, but there’s strength to be gained during each and every storm. The storm is growing us from the inside, but we won’t realize all the benefits of growth until after we survive the storm.

Joy in the Morning

The feature photo for this post is my current screensaver on my phone. I replace it periodically, depending on the type encouragement needed for the journey, and I do the same thing with my laptop.

There are quite a few songs that helped me walk through hell this year, but when I heard this song it said exactly what I needed to hear. When we’re living in circumstances beyond our control, our joy dissipates. I’ve had three rude awakenings this year and we’re barely out of March!

I like the saying, “It’s not happening to you, it’s happening for you.” At the start of the new year, I needed to strengthen my faith and trust God more that He’s got this, even when I don’t. The three words I whisper continually are, “I trust You”, and as soon as those words fall out of my mouth, I feel at peace.

The part of this song that kept jumping out at me was, “If it’s not good, then He’s not done with it yet.” I’m still not sure if that refers to the situation, or the work He did in me because everything I went through strengthened my faith and relationship with Him. Each day I’d do the possible and give Him the impossible, in hopes the next day would be a little bit better than where I stood.

It was slow going. It was not fun. I cried a lot… probably more than I’ve cried in years, but every day was a little bit better and my hope for you is that you keep going until you see… there is joy in the morning.

Tauren Wells-Joy in the Morning

I am taking care of you. Trust Me at all times. Trust Me in all circumstances. Trust Me with all your heart. When you are weary and everything seems to be going wrong, you can still utter these four words, “I trust You, Jesus.” By doing so, you release matters into My control, and you fall back into the security of My everlasting arms.

March 30th Jesus Calling-Sarah Young

You Do You Boo

It’s Friday morning around 10:00 am, and I’m sitting at the massive wood kitchen table that has evolved into a giant desk. Looking away from the laptop screen onto the window I spot the mail carrier’s van sitting in front of my mailbox. Laying my glasses aside I head for the door, step outside and stroll through the front yard, across the street to the mailbox. That’s when I spotted it…

My neighbors had company and they were still seated in their vehicle with a clear view of yours truly. It bothered me for half a second, but then I felt my back straighten to stand at full height and lifted my chin as if I belonged there.

Here’s a detail about my walk to the mailbox. I was still wearing my pajamas, robe and pink suede house boots. This is not unusual and sometimes you’ll catch me still wearing that at noon if it’s a Friday, or weekend. (The joys of being single and working from home.) None of my outfit matches, so I’m sure it’s a sight to behold for a stranger, but my actual neighbors seem to think it’s part of Barb’s charm. Hercules commented recently, “That’s a nice robe you have there Barbara.”

When people ask, “What do you do for fun?”, I exclaim…”I write letters to people all over the world!” Silence. I wrote about letter writing last year that you can read here, so seeing the mail arrive is happiness for me. I don’t expect a letter in return, but opening the mailbox and seeing a small stack of them is sweet!

Don’t give a single thought what other people think.

You do you boo.

PS. If you’d like to receive a hand-written letter, email your details to Inbarbsworld@gmail.com