As I have been planning my new year, I just want to take this opportunity to tell you how much I appreciate your faithfulness in being a part of this community! Sometimes, I’m not sure if it helps or encourages anyone, but then I will get a message from one of you and it is thanking me for post. So, as a part of my new year, I will continue to share my thoughts and life with you in hopes that it will bring hope and encouragement to you just when you need it.
It has been an interesting start to my new year I have been sick since shortly after the New Year. I spent a week and a half just laying in bed, for the most part. I tried everything imaginable to help myself get over it rather than getting a doctor appointment, spending the money on a co-pay, and have them tell me, “Just drinking lots of fluids and (take some over the counter thing) get lots of rest.” So I doctored myself. Did ok, but my tummy is seriously a mess from whatever it was I had. The upside? I can’t eat very much because of the tummy issues, and so I think I am losing some weight! There IS a silver lining, right? 🙂
But I am excited about 2016 and have a few questions for you:
- So what does your life look like as you start the year?
- Are you happy to start something new?
- Do you feel any anticipation about this year?
- Do you breathe a sigh of relief that last year is finally over?
Go get your coffee, tea, hot chocolate, put your feet up for a few minutes and let’s chat about this.
What are you thinking as you live out the daily life of 2016? It’s not about a list of dos and don’ts. It’s about positive changes. For me, I remember God’s faithfulness to me last year and all that He did, and I look with anticipation for all He will do this year. But there is something about thinking of a new year that pushes us to believe that it is going to better than last year. Really? So… does that mean you are going to do something different this year in the way you live, the way you think, how you look at your life and circumstances, or trust God MORE than you trusted Him last year? Because if we don’t change “us” then we don’t change this year either. We will continue to have the same patterns. There may be things that iron themselves out, but over all, we are the ones that change how things go for us because we change how we do our life. We are the ones that choose how we look at things that happen around us. Not everything happens to us, but it can feel like that sometimes. I am thankful that I have a new year to change how I look at those times.
Here is what is different for me:
- Go to God first! Sometimes in the midst of emotions, we forget. Prayer is the key even more than last year for me.
- I have learned that making my life less busy helps me to concentrate more on the areas that I want to improve.
- It is about looking at what is right, instead of all that is wrong. I know for myself, I can get into what is wrong and right a book about it. I don’t want to be an author of that kind of book of life.
- I will look at what is right and build on it.
- If I have a hard day, or even a few hard days, it doesn’t mean I have a hard life.
- Just because things don’t go the way I would like them to go doesn’t mean that it’s going the wrong way.
- Be IN God’s Word. Get it down deep in my heart, not just in my head.
Take the walls down. Lean on people God has placed around you. Be a part of a community of people who you can go to and feel good about asking for help. Learn to lean. It’s ok to call someone and say, “I’m having a hard day and feel like I can’t keep going. Could you pray for me?”
I have had some hard decisions that have had to be made just in the last couple of weeks. It has been hard not to be disappointed, or get angry over the circumstances, or feel like I have always had to do things this way. It would be nice for just once, to have it be different, where what is a problem is never an issue for me anymore. Been there? But when I start looking at through the lens of gratitude, things shift and God changes my heart. I get back up, dust myself off, and say, “Ok Lord. I don’t know the why, but I know YOU, and you do. Now, help me, by the work of the Holy Spirit, to remember that the next time I’m a stinker about it.” It’s like playing a detective about ourselves and asking ourselves the hard questions, but then walking it out when the answer comes.
I am seeking to live well. I desire:
- Having good health
- Enjoying more quiet and reflective time
- I desire to walk deeper in God’s Word
- Spend designated time with my grandson
- Appreciate more and more the nature around me and with my camera to document God’s goodness
- More community with friends than last year
- Put more of the music back in my life
- Enjoy my heritage that God has given me
- Get a ukulele and learn to play it
- Live without regrets
I have a couple of pages in my little book so far of my goals for this year. It’s fun to consider the journey God will take me on to enable me to fulfill desires I believe He has put on my heart. I pray for each post that I write in hopes that it reaches hearts to encourage. So my desire for you is that you are encouraged not to look at your life as something too busy to implement any changes, but as a new opportunity to live each day in the moment, and totally change your life from something you live each day to something that fulfills you each day! God bless you to that end.
Walking the journey with you…
I have experienced a great and wonderful year this year! I am very grateful for everything; the bumps and valleys, and the mountain top experiences. I wrote in my last post about my word for 2016. Did you read the post? I won’t go into it again here because you can read, but suffice it to say, as the new year approaches, it is something we all do at this time of year.
God has certainly orchestrated some awesome experiences this year and I have seen many dreams come to fruition. However, it hasn’t been without some scary times, and some hurtful times.
One of my New Year Eve activities is to read through my Gratitude Jar Hearts and see with my own eyes all that He has done. It is truly a time of reflection for me. It sends me into my New Year ready to look for Him there in my everyday life. He never leaves me. His hand is always extended. I just have to put my hand in His and trust Him and then, keep it there.
Do you realize fully the power of words? Words have the power to heal, hurt, wound, build up or take down, to encourage, and… to change us. There is research that shows us how words affect our
once again asking God for His directional Word for my new year. After praying about it for a couple of weeks, I feel a Word pop into my heart, and I start praying about it. As is always the case, I then start hearing it, seeing it, hear people using the word in conversation, and even see it on TV! There is a knowing… that is my word for the year 2016. When I know what my word is, it is also clear each time, why that Word is for me in the new year. In my case, I had some fabulous times and some real divine connections that God has made this year and I am beyond thankful for them. BUT, I also know that those other irritating and sad situations come into all my life, and I feel that weight of them going into the new year. There are changes going on which will change my life up a bit. Am I ready? I believe that God is giving me this Word, so that, I can look back and see the importance of His hand in my life, whether it is in the great times, or the hard or sad times. I feel God wants for me to see what He HAS done. It also may be why for the last several years, I have had my Gratitude Jar. God never wastes a thought or idea.
hangs in my office now. I will remember God’s faithfulness everyday as I look at it. When a rough day hits, I will look at the visual snap shot of God’s faithfulness, imagine myself sitting on the hood of my car in a special place, and… I will remember. Yes. God IS faithful to me in everything!
I have been trying to write this post for several days and there is so much going on in my mind and heart that I have found it difficult to put down into words. First of all, it was almost like a dream that 
my husband suggested going to Norway this summer! I knew we had planned on going, but that it was going to be that soon, was something I hadn’t expected. So I was overwhelmed with this opportunity, and the fact that he wasn’t going with me, was sad too. But he felt that with some things going on in his immediate planning, he wouldn’t go this time. That left an opportunity for my youngest son to go with me. He was able to get time off! So…we were going to NORWAY!!! I couldn’t have been more thrilled! I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep. With all the planning that goes into an international trip, my mind was in high gear planning, helping my son get his passport, and getting him 
ready at such short notice too. He has always wanted to go and this was his chance to make his dream come true also. I was excited about sharing this trip with him. It was still hard to believe it even as we were boarding our plane to fly out of Seattle!!
I was there! What a blessing it was for me to go on this adventure together with them in that way.
As we landed in Norway, I was taking a shot or two of the country as we landed. So excited to get out of the plane and meet my cousin and her husband who were meeting us! We had talked so many times about sharing coffee with each other on her very beautiful porch with a view!! Now, I was here and we were going to have an opportunity to do just that!!!
I was also shown where my mother’s father, my grandfather, was born and raised. Although there is only a part of the foundation there today, it was so exciting to stand where he stood and walk where he walked and played. I also loved the scenes of the valley that could be seen from where the house would have stood. There was
another foundation there that might have been a meat house/cellar and we discovered it had a walk in area at ground level and possibly a floor above that where maybe dry goods were stored. It was quite emotional for me to experience all these things and come to understand first hand what their lives were like there and the parts of their life which made them consider coming to the US. Jesse and I took a rock from the foundation that was left of the home and brought it home with us!
I learned of my father’s father, and where he was born and where he grew up. I didn’t have much information on my grandfather on my dad’s side at all. 
Thanks to a great couple that are cousins, and a cousin and his wife, I have come to know more and more about Grandpa Johnson and his family. They graciously took me to see the churches in the area where my grandfather was baptized and attended. I got to see where he was born and grew up but there was no foundation particularly to see. However, Jesse and I found a mound of rock that was in the general area, so I took a rock from there also to take home with me. I saw where a home that my great-uncle supported for many years was located. Such a kind heart he had. He became a pastor and pastored in the US for many years. I even came home with some GREAT gifts, part of which was some genealogy of my dad’s side from this wonderful couple who drove us around that day. We had a great visit with them. Got to see a beautiful resort also!
We had lunch and coffee and treats at a couple different homes and so much fun to share life with them. Pictures came out to see if we knew any of them, and some I got to take home. We were taken to a couple different farms and got to learn of the farming in my grandparent’s time, and what life was like during that time. It was so hard for them. But what a joy to learn about their lives! At one of the farms, we saw beautiful rosemaling work that was done by a relative. I would have loved to get a few of those pieces!!!
One fun side trip I got to make was to see a sweet lady that I had been writing to for a while. I had first contact with her husband. He and my mother had communicated in earlier years. I have a letter from him that he wrote that I treasure very much! He passed away, and I began writing to her and using my cousin, her daughter, to help in translation. But then I used Google Translate and tried writing in Norwegian. 🙂 She and her daughter have sent norwegian socks to me a couple of times and I just LOVE them and use them like slippers at home. Every time I wear them I think of her hands making them. So of course, if I could, I wanted to meet her and her daughter while I was there. It wasn’t looking like I could. But, we made contact with one that knew where she lived. So…we were able to find her home, and I stopped by! My other cousin helped me to translate my apologies for just dropping in on her, but I didn’t want to leave Norway without meeting her and her daughter, and not be able to give her a hug and say thank you for the gifts she made. I wasn’t able to connect with her daughter, which I was sad about because we had been communicating back and forth on Facebook. But I was happy that I could visit for a few minutes while we were passing through. What joy to finally meet her in person!
The cousins that we stayed with took us on a drive up the mountains so we could see the falls. It was so beautiful up there and the water was ice-cold and so refreshing! Once again, we had coffee and some cake sitting on a rock right by the falls! That is the life! Stopping long enough to enjoy your surroundings. I think we miss out on so much of life by not slowing down and living simply. We got to see the inside of a cabin where people that came up to the mountain have stayed. There was a guest book to sign too. Forest workers and whomever, have used that cabin. Pans and utensils hung on the walls, and other items that would be needed to spend a night or two there if needed. Even some wood for the wood burning stove.
I love how Norwegians love to enjoy life and the outdoors. They love to eat and have coffee together and to actually enjoying being together. It is a priority to them it seems. They don’t sit around on computers and phones, although they use them, but they get out and walk, ski, hike, pack a lunch or coffee and treat, and away they go. They NOTICE the beauty around them and breathe it in! They live it and live off the land and what it provides. They grew up learning that way and it is a part of their culture. It is their therapy so to speak. They enjoy simple times; simple things. It isn’t something they fit into their life. It IS their life. I LOVE that. We went for a ride to see the area, we went to the mountain to enjoy the mountain and all the beauty that surrounds it, the echoes of voices across the mountain creek both groups of us walk down the mountain on either side, the sound of running mountain streams, blue skies, and how about that coffee and cake by the falls? They will go down to the water’s edge, and put up a platform just so that they can gather with neighbors, have a bonfire and enjoy drinks and snacks together. Now THAT is cool! It doesn’t get any better than that!
I learned the fun and importance of learning about where we come from. I wish I would have asked more questions than I ever did. But, I have determined more than ever, that my kids know more of the things that they may not have known about my grandparents, my parents, and myself and my hubby. They won’t ask most likely. But its important for them to know. Someday, they may desire to know and if I don’t share it now, they won’t know. It was a grand experience for me to watch my son get to experience this with me. His reactions, his excitement of learning, and as much as he enjoys the outdoors, watching him love it every time he was out there. That is life. It’s all part of the legacy I leave behind. I have had a box that I have shared with my grandson since he was little. I add things all the time to that box and he learns the story behind each item. I want him to remember the stories about life.
Now What?
I know I will live differently here because of my experience there. I have always incorporated my heritage in my own home, but I will do more of that in months to come. That makes me happy every day I get up. I brought a big lefse rolling-pin all the way back home with me, and a butter mold, and pewter ware, and a sweater, to name a few. I have pictures up to remind me of the beauty. The memories are a part of my life here now. I feel grateful that God allowed me that dream. He made it happen. I know my parents would be so excited for me to have had this opportunity to go and as I said earlier in a post, they were with me in spirit.
PRAYER REQUEST:
Journeys of My Heart 