135 Main Blog

"God is close to the broken hearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed" - Psalm 34:18 Losing someone you love is, simply put, heartbreaking. This week I found myself wanting to reach out to my dear friend Fay for some encouragement. I wanted to hear what...

A precious soul and dear friend, Fay, left this earth today a little sooner than expected. Nothing prepared me for the news as her husband, Glenn, and daughter, Gillian, shared the details with me over FaceTime. Up to that point, Fay was still on life support and the...

We so often hear the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover!” I remember the first time I heard it, I was just a young school girl in the library with my class. If I’m not mistaken, it was my grade three class. We had this sweet, gentle librarian, Ms. Hearn, who always helped us pick out the best books and she knew the books we’d love. This one day while I sat on the floor scanning through the books, I overheard Ms. Hearn say to one of my classmates, “Don’t judge a book by its cover!” Curiously, I wondered what she meant by that.

Let’s be honest, 2020 hasn’t been what we hoped it would be when the clock struck midnight that last day in December. We all shouted “Happy New Year” while we hugged and kissed those who were there to ring in the new year. No bubbles, no restricted numbers, no lockdowns! Who would have imagined such a thing? I know my mind couldn’t even fathom the thought had someone pre-warned me! I think I would have taken a rain check on 2020! Or maybe skipped it altogether.

And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And...

As I kissed my girl goodbye and reassured her that everything would be okay, the nurse leading her to the OR looks over at me with confidence and says, “Okay, Mom, you can wait in this room until surgery is complete and the doctor will come talk to you.”

So, I wait…

Choices. We all make them every day. Some choices are simple, while others can be a little more difficult. Sometimes we make a choice and regret it later. Sometimes the choices we make change the direction of our lives. Sometimes those choices affect the lives of others.

We all have them in one form or another – scars. Whether they’re physical or emotional wounds, they have left us with a mark. Some marks are more visible than others. Some are well hidden. Regardless of how deep or wide or how big or small, scars are a reminder of pain.

I’m willing to bet that most of our scars came from our childhood mishaps. Some of mine have! I have one scar on my knee that’s been visible for 35 years. It happened after my cousin dared me to spin with my eyes closed in my pretty new Easter dress. When I did, I lost my footing and fell into the ditch and split my knee open. Every time I look at the scar, I am reminded of that moment, and I can relive it like it happened yesterday.

It was November of 1982 that Michael Jackson released his best selling album of all time, Thriller. I was only 7 years old, and to say that I couldn’t wait to get the album was an understatement! At the time, my parents were a part of the Columbia House record club (does anyone remember that?), and I knew the record was on the way! I vividly remember the day the album arrived! It was a cold afternoon, and when the school bus dropped me off at my stop, I ran as quickly as I could to my house. I knew Mom and Dad had ordered the record, so everyday I ran home with anticipation that it had arrived. Well, this particular day, it did! I was so excited that I couldn’t open the package fast enough! And, when I finally got the last wrapper off – truth be told – I started kissing the album!! Yes! Go ahead and laugh out loud! The first thing I did was call my cousin, Tracey, to tell her the great news, then ran downstairs to put the record on the player. Every song was gold except for one – Thriller!

It’s Mother’s Day weekend and I honestly can’t think of a more appropriate occasion to write about grace. I thought I understood the meaning of grace. It seemed rather simple to apply it to the many situations I faced or dealt with. I found it easy to extend and offer grace. That was until I became a mother and realized I needed a truck load of grace!

Grace is defined as “undeserved favour”. It’s the act of kindness beyond what is due. So, when you offer kindness to someone who’s wronged you or hurt you, you’ve extended grace! But, how about when you’re the one needing grace?