I empower faith-based women like you to recover well after discovering their husband's or significant others struggle with the dark places on the internet. Every Monday you'll receive encouragement and other carefully curated content to help you heal and find the freedom you desire.
We heard the fireworks but never saw one
|
Dave and I stood at our window on July 4th, watching a thunderstorm roll over the city like a held breath finally released. Lightning split the sky. Torrential rain flooded the streets below us. Then came the fog, thick and low, swallowing the skyline whole. We could hear fireworks somewhere inside it, but we just couldn't see them. One weather forecaster put it perfectly: the clouds changed colors, but nobody got the whole show. Disappointing, sure. But thank God for a livestream from clearer skies across the country. We got our fireworks after all, just borrowed from someone else's night. And the humidity? Didn't budge an inch. Before living in an apartment, I didn't think much about air conditioning. But, thank God for AC, which kept us comfortable! What’s Been On My Heart Thankfulness followed me all week. Not the kind that arrives after asking for something big and getting it. The plain kind shows up for cool air, for solid shelter, for a husband who taught me to see the beauty of storms. "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." — Colossians 3:15–17 (NASB) All things. Not only the miraculous. The mundane too: the hum of an air conditioner, a friend who checks in, an ordinary Tuesday you almost didn't notice. Gratitude doesn't require a good week, only an open heart and eyes. Large, small, insignificant, difficult, mundane, or miraculous. Give thanks. Something for You Celebrating life matters more than we admit, and you don't need a milestone to do it. Check out these five simple ideas to celebrate ordinary days: the ones that don't come with confetti but deserve a little joy anyway. 👉 5 Ideas to Celebrate Every Day Try one this week. Then email me and tell me what you celebrated. I'll "whoop, whoop" with you. 🙏🏻 A Prayer for You Dear God, thank you for summer sunshine and warm rain, even the kind that rattles the windows. Thank you for Reader. You made Reader in your image, brimming with creative ideas ready to unlock. Even when life feels hard, would you loosen those creative gifts in Reader today? Teach Reader to notice the ordinary and name it out loud, thankful first to you for your faithfulness, then to the people Reader loves. Amen. |
Kirsten D Samuel LLC
I empower faith-based women like you to recover well after discovering their husband's or significant others struggle with the dark places on the internet. Every Monday you'll receive encouragement and other carefully curated content to help you heal and find the freedom you desire.
This week, America turns 250. The Semiquincentennial, now there's a mouthful. 🎆 We're celebrating some birthdays in our house, too. Dave turns another year older on July 3, and our daughter-in-love Emily celebrates on the Fourth itself. Honestly, it doesn't get much better than that. And I will confess: I become an absolute child at a fireworks show. Wide eyes. Audible oohs and aahs. Zero dignity. Every single time. Photo by Roven Images on Unsplash There's something about the way they...
Dave and I stopped into a favorite old-time soda shop on our trip last week. The kind of place that still makes hand-scooped shakes, malts, and sodas the real way: actual ice cream and a long spoon, because it's so thick you need the spoon. We indulged. Completely. And sitting there, I kept thinking: it's these small things. Memories you've made before and choose to make again. The particular joy of being close enough to someone to share something ordinary together. Connection you can only...
Have you ever walked into a room and felt like everyone else got the memo, and you didn't? Last week started there for me. That hollow, slightly embarrassing feeling of being the odd one out. Not excluded exactly. Just off to the side. But God had other plans. By the end of that same week, Dave and I had found a whole new family. Complete strangers became beloved people, right in front of our eyes. Once again, God proved himself faithful in the most unexpected setting—a cruise ship, of all...