Good Morning Friends! Forever His, Friday! About 4 months ago I was blessed with the opportunity to reconnect with a niece from my ex-husband’s side of the family. Our families were very close when the kids were young, she is just a little younger than my Stacy (Stacy would have been 42 in December) and they were best friends. After the divorce our families drifted apart, never meant for that to happen, but somehow it does. The events that brought her back into my life were sad ones, but the blessing in all of the sadness is that I am renewing my relationship with my beautiful niece, Natalie. She has really reached out to my son in a serious time of need and I am ever grateful. Most of our communication is through email (she lives in CA), so right before Christmas I emailed and asked her for her address so I could send her a Christmas card; she in turn asked for mine. I was excited as I addressed the envelope with our Christmas picture and letter, excited to have her back in my life and looking forward to a card (hopefully a picture too) from her. Well, I never did get a card,(she did tell me yesterday that she and her fiancé had been very sick over Christmas and cards would be late) but yesterday, at long last…..lol! I had a precious email from her. In my response I asked her if she got her card and how she liked our silly picture (my thought was poor girl probably wouldn’t even recognize the old woman in the picture)! Her response surprised me! She said I looked just like she remembered and that she sure wanted the name of my night cream and I was as beautiful as ever! Can you imagine! Now, I have never once considered myself beautiful, so you can imagine how flattered I was by her comments! The sad part is, guess what I did with them……I emailed back saying the camera was kind and that I really had so many wrinkles and was not aging as gracefully as one might like…You know…I did not even acknowledge her kindness…..too busy griping about my flaws! Wasn’t until this morning that I realized I had not even thanked her for the compliments….shameful…..contradicting kindness….Her kindness came from love and love comes from God…..in a sense…seems to me I was contradicting God’s love….Oh my goodness, even in my deepest darkest moment I would never want to shun God’s kindness….Acknowledging the kindnesses given to us, is acknowledging that we are God’s precious children, loved….cherished…..blessed with family and friends that shower us with all types of kindness….blessings from our Father….Father forgive us when we are selfish in recognizing the kindnesses shown to us….help us to acknowledge they are from YOU! And help us to reciprocate YOUR love!
Every good and perfect gift (act of kindness) is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17. Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of one’s friend springs from his earnest counsel. Proverbs 27:9. So we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 1 John 4:16. To all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural decent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. John 1:12-13. How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2. Whoever touches you touches the apple of God’s eye. Zechariah 2:8. Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise. Hebrews 13:15.
Love you all!
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