Learning

Every experience has worth, especially if you learn something from it. The past several months I've experienced many great things, a few difficult ones, but all of them worth it. God family and country is how I best keep things in perspective and in order God is first in my priorities. I've drawn closer to Him this past while, and am very appreciative.

Family has been a major focus for this past little while. Its been appropriately time consuming. Not only have I been able to spend with my own family but my work these days has been largely focused on helping families come to a healing.

I've maintained some of my country focus through all this. I have the opportunity on Tuesday nights to co-host a blog radio program, you can catch it here if you're interested :), with Thomas Schmitz and Ranae Durfee. Its a blast. I've also been spending some time volunteering for organize4palin. If you're interested in being part of that you can go here to sign up to be a volunteer.

I've not taken time to blog, but I'm determined to get back to it. Its not much of a contribution but I still think its important to write and share Conservative principles and values and stand up for my country in anyway I can, including writing on a little known blog.

Today I want to just share some things I've learned from my experiences the past couple of months.

Fear Is Okay to Feel, But Do What's Right Anyway

Not long ago I was working with one of my kid clients on trying to learn how to trust. She kept covering her face with her hands, at one point I just took her hands in my own and looked right in her eyes. I could tell it was hard for her. But, then she did something that she hadn't done before, she told me how she was really feeling, how scary it was to try and trust somebody, and did it looking right into my eyes. It may not seem like much to someone who doesn't know this kid. But, right then I knew she was showing more courage than I could begin to myself. I've never been so utterly betrayed by the people who are supposed to love me, as she had. I've never had to re-learn how to trust, and not just specific people, but the whole concept of trusting. There she was actually trusting me with her feelings, and it was hard and scary. But, in order for her to truly heal she had to be able to learn to trust. In order to have a healed heart she has to learn to share it. Its going to be a roller coaster path for her, but she has continued to show courage in the face of fear. She's not the only one. I've been able to see that courage over and over again. It takes amazing courage to tell the truth, especially of that truth is unpleasant and we fear that it may have scary consequences. Americans need to have courage like that kid. We've got to look our problems in the eye and tell the truth about what must be done. Its going to be hard, but it has to be done if this country is going to truly heal.

Kids Aren't Just Our Future They Are Our Present

As I said there were some difficult experiences these past couple of months. I needed a bit of healing myself, nothing to big just life being life. One of the most healing experiences came with a family campout. There is nothing, nothing like greeting family again after an absence. Hugs absolutely rock. My nieces and nephews melt my heart. I loved sitting around a campfire and having them around singing silly songs and just being together. Having the healing experience of being with my family helped me to cherish my relationship with them more than ever. God has gifted us with relationships. What we do with that gift is incredibly important. Its important to acknowledge that what we do now will affect our children's future. But, while we work to secure a safe and prosperous future for them we must cherish the relationship that we have with them now. Through every difficult experience we have arms to hold us, and relationships to cherish. Love your family, love them dearly. Laugh and cry with them. Live life and honor those in our lives as gifts.

Miracles Happen

A couple of weeks ago I had a request of God. I asked Him to open my eyes to see more clearly the miracles He is working. I've seen too many in my lifetime to count. But, something unique happened to me in answer to that prayer. I was literally seeing multiple miracles a day. Big miracles. I saw peoples hearts changing, families turning corners to where they were actually starting to heal. Unexpected blessings came in the form of miracles including this rather humorous and yet merciful one in which someone lost my phone number. That's a hard one to explain but for me it was most definitely a miracle. Miracles happen every day. When our eyes and hearts are open to it we see them clearly manifest. And as we see we also are filled with another miracle, gratitude. I call gratitude a miracle because its more than just a feeling. It literally changes our physiology to be grateful. It moves us to action, to humility and most importantly it moves us closer to God. Miracles do happen in all of our lives, and they will continue to happen for our country. My eyes and heart are more open to it, and I'm excited to see it all go down.

I'm grateful for my experiences and I'm grateful to be learning. I'm also grateful to blog :) and will be doing more of it. I want to be anxiously engaged in good causes, keeping that perspective of God, family and country.