Good morning Ladies ~ It is a new day, let us rejoice and be glad in it. It is a gift from God, let us thank Him for it as we go about our daily living.
We had a really good meeting on Monday. We met in our renovated room. We were served a sit down meal too instead of buffet style and that was nice for all.
We sang, we played a game or two, we did lots of hugging.
These three dear ladies below, are part of our staff and ‘greeters’. How you are ‘greeted’ anywhere is an important part of whatever is going on. I will never forget being ‘greeted’ by these three the first time I went to FNF Florida. They made me feel welcome, gave me big hugs and told me ‘it’ would get better. It being grief, and it has.
Sally, Ramona and Ellie.
Some serious hugging going on here.
A Simple Hug
One of our staff members was our guest speaker this month and she gave an encouraging and inspiring post on ‘Focusing on Jesus’, by Sue D.
Focus = A central point, attraction, attention, activity, concentration.
Can you point to Jesus as the central point of your life?
F ~ Frees us From our sins.
Sometimes when we lose our spouse, our sinful nature makes us mad at God. But turn that madness with a prayer to God to soften our heart. Focus your thoughts on God alone. He hears and knows your heart.
O ~ Our Lord, teacher and friend
So, now we are on our own, our "friend" is gone. Oh yes, I was assured by my husband he would show me what to do with the checkbook in case something happened to him first, but that never happened. So there you are, alone to focus on this checkbook and bills staring at you. But then our Lord, teacher and friend shows us the way to focus.
(Bill rounded off figures, check book a nightmare.)
Then it may also include pumping your own gas and if not used to driving, just ask Jesus to help you "take the wheel."
C ~ Christ is the center of our lives.
When our spouse was with us, we put our focus on him, making meals he liked and other thing to make him happy, our focus was on him. We also celebrated all those special occasions, birthdays, anniversaries and the other holidays. We have to put our focus in Christ and He becomes the central point of our lives. Celebrate with Jesus and the memories he allows us to remember in our hearts.
U ~ Under His grace and mercy we live
Without His grace and mercy what would we have to focus on? We continue to serve the Lord as we did our souse.
S ~ Savior, Shepherd who suffered for us.
Suffer, did our loved one suffer, did we suffer too? Our focus would be drawn to that and feeling helpless trying to make that pain and suffering go away for them. But Jesus did suffer, more than we can imagine and died too. But He rose and will always be there for us. Our loved ones will one day rise too and we will also be with them. We need to show Jesus that we need Him and to just plain Focus on Him.
I asked everyone a question in the very beginning, can you point to Jesus as the central point of your life?
Even though I invited Jesus into my heart at a young age, I rededicated my life when I was older and could understand what it was like to have a personal relationship with Jesus.
I had trials to face, ones that I could not have gone through without Jesus as the central point in my life.
He is the Savior who saves us at all times.
I pray today that you also have Jesus as the central point of your life.
by Sue D.
I will close this post with a medley of three songs about focusing on Jesus.
Open Our Eyes
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
Open My Eyes, That I May See
by Maranatha Vocal Band
