Hey Everyone!

I have thought about starting a blog for a long time already, so I finally decided to do it! Ever since I can remember, I have loved writing, especially stories!! My view for this blog is to encourage and entertain you with either fiction or real life accounts about, well, life. It will be stories and maybe sometimes an encouraging writing. I’m not going to put pressure on when to post next, but hopefully I can post once a week! I plan to post my first story in a few days so see you then!

New Year, New…SAME Me

The new year, new me mantra has never worked for me. I’ve made resolutions every new year and stuck by them for a week or two, if I did very good then maybe a month. Somehow I never saw them through and I hear from almost everyone that it works like that for them too. Why? Because we don’t magically wake up on January first as a brand new person.

This year I decided to do something completely different. I didn’t make any resolutions. Instead, I made goals. I made a few bigger goals and then I made smaller goals that will help me achieve the bigger ones. That way every time I achieve a small goal it will motivate me to take the next step and the next one and so on. I don’t know about you but achieving small goals motivates me so much!

For example, one of my bigger goals is to grow closer to God. The smaller ones I made that will help me achieve this are to spend time with Him every day, listen to a message every week, maybe even twice a week. You can never hear too much about the Word of God.

Another big goal I have is health related. I want to feel my absolute best. To do that the smaller goals are to eat better and exercise more. Focus on small things that will keep you going instead of just one huge goal that will keep reminding you of where you still aren’t. If you’re shooting for losing weight, set a goal weight that you want to get to and then focus on 2 pounds at a time. It’s a lot more encouraging this way! However, it’s not about being what society thinks of size and the weight! It’s about being healthy, never forget that!!

That being said, if you made resolutions I wish you the best of luck! I think resolutions are great, especially if you can stick with them. I just know that they’ve never worked for me and by the middle of January I usually felt like a failure and did the complete opposite of what I had planned before the new year hit.

I want to encourage you to make smaller goals, resolutions if you will, that will help get you where you want to go. Do whatever works best for you and don’t give up! Cheers to you achieving your goals and happy new year! Wishing everyone the absolute best for this year!

Faith Over Fear

COVID-19. The word is everywhere! I don’t know about you but I am getting sick and tired of hearing and seeing about this no matter where I look because it’s all so negative and it’s not going to go away right away. There are countless memes and news, as if the virus itself isn’t bad enough. It is a real thing and it is especially real to those who have it. The whole world is in panic mode and the media is not helping. How do we remain positive when everything sounds so beyond negative?

Doctors and nurses are saying to keep calm, that they see worse things every day! And what do you do?? You panic buy toilet paper!! Which is actually kind of funny. Everything that I’ve heard about the virus, and that’s from a few videos and posts from nurses and doctors themselves, is that even they think it’s weird that everyone is stocking up on toilet paper. What’s up with that? No where in the list of side effects does it say you’re going to need to go to the bathroom 50 times more than usual. Obviously if you’re quarantined you’re going to need a little more than usual, but really how much more will that be? If you normally use one pack a month, why do you suddenly think you’ll need 5 packs a month?? That’s crazy.

You should definitely be stocking up because there is a very big chance you will be quarantined, but how are you going to feed yourself and your family with 10 packs of toilet paper? Stock up on flour, rice, sugar, salt, beans, noodles, potatoes, meat, spices and whatever else you need to make a nutritious meal. The thing to remember while stocking up is to stock up in smart quantities. The best way to get rid of this virus is to prevent it and guess what? Other people are going to need toilet paper and hand soap too! It takes the whole world to stop this thing but how can they do that when every store is sold out of basic hygiene supplies?!

If you’re one of those who has a year’s supply of toilet paper, hand soap and hand sanitizer, don’t feel bad. That’s not my point. What I’m trying to get at is that social media has scared us all up in a frenzy where it’s hard to think rationally. I admit that if I had been at home when it first started, I probably would have panic shopped too. Since then I have gained a new perspective. It’s so important to remain calm right now!

Why is it important to remain calm? For one, if someone else sees that you’re acting sane and not running around the grocery store like a chicken with its head cut off, you might just have encouraged them a little. Nobody likes to be scared 24/7. Secondly, I think this is where we as Christians have a chance to stand out and not just cower at home on our couch, binge watching Netflix shows. Thirdly, if we only think negative and that, oh whoa be me I sneezed, I now have covid-19, then that’s the outcome we’ll get. Negative thinking leads to negative outcomes. Thinking every symptom you get, let it be a small cough, a sneeze, or whatever else is the coronavirus, then that’s what it’ll eventually be!

Why do I think that we as Christians have an amazing opportunity to witness? Because people watch us. They see what’s going on. We have the power of God on our side and if they see us freaking out, do you think they’ll want what we have? I doubt it. If they see us acting responsibly and taking care of our health and doing what we can to prevent the spread of the virus, but still remaining calm and kind, they’ll get to thinking that maybe they need what we have. That maybe if they had Jesus in their hearts they could be at peace too while the rest of the world is still panicking.

One way to do that is to be kind and helpful. What if we would offer to go grocery shopping for someone who can’t make it to the store? For example, do you think the sweet elderly are going to go into the public after hearing it’s an old people’s disease? First of all, saying that is rude and I ask you to please stop. Second of all, no they won’t. They’re scared too. They don’t want to willingly compromise themselves. Yet they will need things too. I have seen heart breaking photos of an elderly man getting tissue paper because someone took all the toilet paper and other things like that. How about we offer to shop for those who can’t run through the store grabbing everything they need before it’s all gone? Get it out there that you’re available to go to the store for them, that you’ll be by to pick up the money and grocery list. Or whatever you think of doing, just try to be a blessing to someone. The world so badly needs us to be a calm blessing right now!!

I’m not suggesting you throw caution to the wind and slack off on taking care of your health. I’m saying, please choose faith over fear. Practice personal hygiene. Don’t lick doorknobs. Wash 👏🏼 your 👏🏼 hands! 👏🏼 If you’re sick, no matter with what, by all means stay at home, get some rest and do what you can to get better.

We had an amazing message on this topic by Pastor Leon this last Sunday. I will include the link at the end of this post. I encourage you to listen to it, it’s only about 30 minutes long. If you don’t approve of praise and worship music, don’t let that close up your heart to what God wants you to hear from the message. I even checked and if you don’t want to hear that type of music, by all means skip it. The message starts exactly 13 minutes and 20 seconds in.

How can we remain calm in the middle of this storm? Because Jesus died for our sin and also the curse of the sin, making all, that’s right, I said ALL of His amazing blessings and promises available to us. The curse of the sin that He died for, includes sickness. That means He doesn’t want us to be sick and I believe we are protected and healed in Jesus’ name. There’s a little prayer you can pray to calm yourself down and if you really believe what you’re praying, it’s going to do wonders for you! It goes something like this: “Father, I thank you that you sent Jesus to die in my place. I thank you for all the blessings and promises you have made available to us! I thank you that we don’t have to beg for them, they are there, ready for us to simply claim and access them. I thank you that you have said that even though a thousand will fall to my side and ten thousand on the other, it will not come near me. I thank you that no evil will befall me and no plague will come near my house. (Psalm 91) I thank you that I am healed and protected in Jesus’ name. Amen.” It’s that simple. It’s a done deal through what Jesus did on the cross for me and for you! Believe it. Claim it. It’s yours. Bad things happen in this world but that’s not Jesus’ doing. He doesn’t let cars crash together. He doesn’t hand out cancer, and He didn’t pour the coronavirus over the world. Bad things happen, because this isn’t heaven. This is life and evil resides here.

I’m not sure if the link will work since I’ve never included a link but if it doesn’t, simply go into YouTube, type in Leon Fontaine official and watch the video from Sunday, March 15.

Keep calm and trust Jesus. Say it with me. Today and every day I’m choosing faith over fear!

God the FATHER

This isn’t a story but it’s been heavy on my mind for the last couple of hours. We all know by now that the world has twisted views on basically everything!! Don’t worry though, it just simply means that we live in a world where evil resides and it will be that way until Jesus comes to take us home.

Over the last few months I have noticed things that made me shudder! Netflix advertising a show that portrays Jesus as gay was by far the most disturbing and insulting thing I’ve seen in a long time!

Today I saw a post that made me sad. It said that because God is strictly viewed as a man, it has wounded women in many areas of their lives. There are women who go through horrifying trauma because they get raped, abused, trafficked, molested, and prostituted by men. They feel like men’s sinful desires are more important than their physical, mental, and spiritual needs. They think that because God is a man that they will be treated badly by Him too.

While that is incredibly sad, saying God might not be a man goes strictly against the Bible! He is NOT transgender! Nowhere in the Bible does it refer to God as female. Nowhere does it say God the mother! It clear as day refers to God with pronouns such as He and Him! It says God the FATHER!! It also says He is a loving Father. That’s all coming from the words of our God Himself!

There are women who claim to be feminists, fighting with other women because the one is pro-choice and the other is pro-life. Doesn’t sound very supportive of other women, does it? Women everywhere are aborting their precious babies simply because it interferes with their life or the baby MIGHT have an abnormality and the list goes on. Horrifying things are happening everywhere! Women are just as sinful as men and that’s why it’s ridiculous that some people are insisting that God should be referred to as a woman.

I realize that it can be tough to view God as a loving Father when you’ve gone through such terrible trauma. I myself battled with it for a while because I did not even know an earthly father’s love, how should I view and accept God as my loving Heavenly Father? After I did though I realized that God’s love is more than enough and it healed my heart! Was there something missing from my childhood because my earthly father abandoned us? Yes. Does that give me the right to blame God for it? No. Do I now fear He will abandon me too? No. God is there for you and He loves you more than there are stars in the sky and sand on the beaches. He loves you more than all the people in the world combined could even be capable of loving you!!

It is only when we drag God down to our small minded level that we even dare put Him in the same category as a sinful, fallen man or woman. How could we ever do that to our loving Creator?! He made us fearfully wonderful and perfect and in His image! He loves us so much that He gave us the ability to choose, because what’s the point of loving someone if they have no choice but to love you back? He wanted the joy of us choosing Him because He’s done so much for us! When mankind then chose not to do His will, He sent us His only Son to bear our sin and die for us, so that we could be His children once again! He doesn’t want heaven without us! So stop trying to change God’s image into something that tickles your ego and start finding out who He is by getting to know Him through His Word, the Bible.

It’s our job as believers to witness to others. Either with your words or with your life. I ask of all of you reading this, please think about how you portray God. Do you portray Him as a loving Father, or as a scary guy with a stick ready to give a whipping? Many people may not read the Bible. However, they are reading you.

The Outstanding Soldier

The thunder was booming and the rain was beating on the roof. Kacey Matthews didn’t hear any of it. The only thing she heard were the words that were still ringing in her ear, louder than thunder when lightning hits close. “Sean is missing in action. Believed to have been abducted by enemy soldiers.”

Kacey didn’t know where to leave her thoughts. Her heart had never before felt such despair. Was her husband still alive? Would he come back? Would she ever see him again? And if not here on earth, would she see him in heaven? She shook her head as if to shake out these horrifying questions and forced herself to focus on other things. Max would soon be home from school and he’d be hungry, so she needed to finish the snack she had started to make before the phone had rung. She dreaded telling Max the news.

The days dragged by. With every passing day it seemed that Kacey would lose hope. She knew she was supposed to be strong for her son, but it was so hard. It seemed that Max had more faith than her and was being strong for her. When she had told him about the phone call, he had looked very sad for a moment. Then he had smiled and said, “Don’t cry, Mommy. God will bring Daddy back.” How did her six year old boy have such a tremendous amount of faith? Every night before getting into bed, he would kneel and pray for his daddy’s safety and homecoming.

One night Kacey’s church had a worship and miracles night. They would come together and whoever needed something to be prayed for could come to the front and then the entire church would pray. That night the worship team played “Fear is a liar”, a song that seemed to speak directly to her heart. Kacey had left Max at her sister’s house and decided that she would go to the front and ask for prayers for Sean. After that night she felt more at peace and she started sleeping better.

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About a month later…

…Bang, bang, bang. The knocking at the door sounded desperate. Kacey nearly jumped out of her skin. She had just fallen asleep and it was already late. Who on earth was at the door? Should she go see? Trembling, she made her way to the window to see if she could find out who it might be. All she could make out was the outline of a man. She figured if it was someone who wanted to harm her or Max they wouldn’t be knocking and waiting for the door to be opened. She decided to get over her fears and open the door. It might be someone who needed help and she didn’t want them to have to leave without it.

She flipped on the porch light before cautiously unlocking the door and slowly opening it. Her mouth fell open and tears flooded down her cheeks when she saw who it was. There, standing on the porch in the middle of the night, stood her beloved Sean. She fell into his arms in relief and sobbed against his chest. Without a word, Sean wrapped his arms around her and let her take it all in.

“Daddy, daddy!! I knew you’d come home!” Kacey turned in time to step out of the way of an excited Max, barreling towards the door and jumping into his father’s arms.

It was a joyful and tearful reunion. After a while Max fell asleep and Sean carried him to bed. He then returned to the living room and settled in next to his wife on the couch, pulled her close and kissed her forehead. “I’ve dreamt of this moment the last few months. It’s way sweeter than I could have possibly imagined.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Kacey looked up with caring eyes, not knowing if she really wanted to hear all the things that Sean must’ve gone through.

“It was terrifying,” Sean began. “I didn’t know if I was ever going to see you and Max again. When I was in captivity, I began to wonder what life is all about. I knew that you were going to church and that you’re a Christian. However, with all the things that I’d seen in war, it was hard for me to believe that there’s a loving God. If there was, why are all the bad things happening? Why wouldn’t He have changed circumstances so that I wouldn’t have gotten abducted? Anyway, when you’re being held prisoner, things change. I prayed and I meditated on the few Bibleverses that I knew by memory. That’s when I realized. God isn’t the one making all the bad things happen. He doesn’t push and pull people around like puppets. He gave us the ability to choose. He sent Jesus to die for sin and the curse, but we have to accept it. Because of Jesus’ death, we don’t only get to go to heaven, but we can even have an amazingly blessed and abundant life here on earth! Isn’t that wonderful?”

Kacey was getting emotional. This was more than she had even hoped for! Sean continued, “Anyway, once I realized that, I felt at peace and I knew that even if I died there, I would see my family again. I prayed every day out loud and in quiet. One night the guard came into my cell. Every time a guard came in, I got scared and thought, ‘What if this is it?’, but that night I felt at peace and not scared. When the guard saw that I wasn’t afraid, it stumped him and he seemed unsure of what to do now. He asked me why I wasn’t scared. I wasn’t sure how he’d react, but I decided to share my newfound faith with him. I told him about what I’d realized and what I believe. I told him about my wife and son and that I was sure they were praying for my safety. When I was done talking, I wasn’t sure what to expect. This tough guard started to cry and told me he had orders to kill me that night. That didn’t surprise me. What did surprise me is what he did next. He told me to be quiet and to follow him. He led me through the compound, pretending to take me into the woods to get his order over with. Once in the woods he said that he would kick a tree and with every blow I was supposed to cry out in pain. He would then shoot at the ground instead of at me. When it was over, he turned to me and said, ‘Your faith and the peace I saw in your eyes, saved your life tonight. You are outstanding. Run! Get out of here!’ ” Kacey looked up at Sean and saw his eyes had filled with tears. “I found my way back to my troops and the commanding officer told me to go home, that I’d done my duty. After a medical examination they got me out of there on the next available flight, and well, here I am!”

Kacey knew there was so much about that story that he hadn’t shared and she wasn’t about to force him into telling her everything. With time it might come out, but if it didn’t then that would be ok. She was so happy to have her husband home safe. She smiled at Sean and held him close. “Welcome home! We missed you so much!” Then she looked up and whispered, “Thank you, Jesus!”

Supermom

Once upon a time in a country far away, there happened a real story. A story that deserves to be heard as inspiration for many. A true faith warrior story.

Down in the land of Mexico, in the year 1998, a beautiful young mother of six children, ranging ages 1-12, was left to raise her kids alone. So much had happened to this family before this point already, but I won’t go into that right now. The important things are the series of events that happened after.

This mother had to find a job to provide food and shelter for her and the children, and she had to leave the 12 year old in charge at home. Now mind you, this 12 year old girl was no ordinary child. She was very mature for her age and rose to the challenge to take care of her younger siblings while their mother was working hard for their daily bread.

It was now the year 2000. One day two godly men heard of this struggling family. They visited them and told them that they had a job offer for the mother and even for her oldest children. The offer was to work at their dairy farm in the mornings and evenings. She decided to take this job and moved her family closer to the place of work. She was able to send her children to school and they started attending church and she started reading Bible stories to her kids before bedtime.

The children made friends and they loved it there, and just like normal teenagers, they went through rough spots, but one by one they all decided to follow Jesus. A few years down the road, after a revival meeting, the mother told her youngest two daughters that she had also made the decision to accept Jesus as her Lord and Savior.

This wonderful mother managed to provide food and clothes for her children and send them to school. She could’ve decided to give up, too, but I don’t think that was even on her mind. She could’ve been negative all the time, I wouldn’t have blamed her, but she was positive, loving, and kind.

To this day she puts her children’s needs before her own. She always has time for them, even if she’s not feeling well. Her children are all grown up now and the family functions well. It’s a big and happy family. You should hear how it goes down when they all get together! It’s loud but you can hear that it’s happy!

This Supermom is my mom!!

The job that set off all the amazing events in ours lives, was definitely not the best smelling job in the world! However, because of it, I have wonderful memories of playing at the barn with the boss’s kids, rafting on a deep pond though none of us could swim, rolling down a hill in a manual car with my sister, and one of our cousins falling into the mud by the river, etc.

I believe that if my mom hadn’t taken that job, many opportunities we now had, we wouldn’t have gotten if we’d stayed where we were. For example, probably none of us would’ve met the person we’re now happily married to. I really doubt any of us would truly have a happy life if it wasn’t for our selfless mom.

My mom is my hero and I get sad every time I think about all the pain I caused her in my rebellious years. I know she has forgiven me and I’m thankful for how close we are now! She is the strongest woman I know and when I look back on my life, I see countless times where she put us kids before herself. I can’t thank her enough for not giving up on our family! There is so much more to this story, but to tell you all of it, I’d have to write a book!

If you think it’s all a bunch of coincidences, you’re crazy. It was the hand of God! He was leading in a way that none of us could’ve predicted, but can so clearly see now. Our family is as awesome as it is, because of God’s grace and mercy. To Him be all the glory!!

I do have one more sweet niece that’s not yet on the picture, but this is our latest family photo. I love this family of mine!!

So…

I know that might not be considered a real title, but bear with me since I can’t quite summarize into a few words the next few paragraphs. Haha

I started this blog in the beginning of last year. I’ve always loved writing stories and it seemed like a great idea to open a blog and to see if I was actually any good at it. About four months into opening my blog, the love of my life asked me to marry him!! Planning the wedding kept me very busy and kind of stopped the flow of interesting story ideas to my brain, but that’s not the reason why I haven’t written in over a year.

The real reason why I’ve been completely absent from writing on here is that I got a new phone last summer and when I tried to log into this account, I realized I had no idea what my password was. My mind drew a complete blank. Absolutely nothing there. Nada. Zilch. My old phone was completely kaput, always needing to be charged (my husband called it a landline) and also the home button wasn’t working. Imagine trying to have the patience to go from one app to the other if you have to continually lock your phone, unlock it and then you can choose again which app you want to use next. 🙄 So I decided to wait and see when my zeal to write would resurface and once it did then I’d work on regaining access to my blog.

I got married on August 4th of last year and I absolutely love being a trucker’s wife!! We are on the road a lot and with all the free time, I finally got back my motivation to write! So I decided it was time to start again. It took a lot of work of getting into my old phone, changing the password to something I can actually remember, getting back into my email which, by the way, I also lost my password for. I can be so forgetful sometimes!! 😂

I’m back! I won’t set deadlines for myself since I’ve found out that doing so sends my story ideas into a frenzy and I end up with nothing. However, I do have a story idea already cooking up in my brain and hopefully it won’t be too long before it’s ready to be published. I’m so excited!!

Heroes Don’t Quit

The wailing of sirens could be heard in the distance. To Shane Matthews it sounded like the cry of death. His heart cringed each time he heard or saw an ambulance drive by. Each time he walked past that school building, only two blocks from where he lived, he’d remember the nightmare that was August 19 like it only happened yesterday. But it hadn’t happened yesterday. In fact, tomorrow it’d be exactly a year ago since he lost his little sister to the accident. He couldn’t help but blame himself for that tragedy and he let himself think and overthink that day again.

It was a clear summer day and Shane was walking Kylie to school. “I want to be just like you when I grow up!” Kylie looked up at her brother with admiration.

Shane bent down until they were eye to eye. “How so, sweetie?” he grinned as a sparkle lit up her eyes.

Her chocolate brown eyes turned serious as she answered. “I want to help save lives one day, too, just like my big brother.” Kylie grinned sweetly as Shane picked her up in a hug.

They were about to cross the road when Shane got a call of an emergency. Kylie, not noticing that her brother had stopped, kept on chattering and started to cross the road. The last things she heard were the sound of screeching tires and Shane yelling her name.

A knock on the door pulled Shane out of his thoughts and grief momentarily. He opened the door and found one of his buddies from the paramedic team on his doorstep. Shane was surprised to see him there, especially since he’d abandoned the team after what happened. The team kept in contact, hoping that one day Shane would come back, but so far he refused.

Clark thought that Shane looked like he hadn’t slept in months, which he knew could easily be true. He wondered what the right things to say would be, considering the grief he saw all over his friend’s face. For a moment the two of them sat quietly on the couch. Clark knew what he’d come to ask his friend would probably only fall on deaf ears, but he had to try. After all, he missed Kylie, too! She had been such a ray of sunshine to the whole team when she’d come to visit her hero, her favorite nickname for Shane.

“Hey, so I know you probably won’t listen, but I need a favor.” Clark had finally broken the silence. It looked as thought Shane hadn’t even heard.

Finally Shane looked up. “You know I’m done with the paramedic life.” His head dropped into his hands and the guy that used to be so tough, seemed to be broken and helpless. “I couldn’t do anything, man. Her body lay there so limp and fragile and I couldn’t help her. I can’t forget the nightmare of watching her slip into eternity. She was so young. Why her?!” Shane’s body shook as he wept the much needed tears. Clark knew he couldn’t do anything to ease Shane’s pain. Only God could do that, if Shane would just let Him.

Shane slowly ran out of tears. After they stopped coming he felt a lot less stressed. He looked up at Clark. “You understand, right? You know why I can’t go back there?” Clark nodded. Shane thought if Clark understood then he wouldn’t expect him to return, but Clark wasn’t finished. He hadn’t come here just to let Shane crawl back into his shell of misery.

“Yes, I understand. I also know that some of Kylie’s last words were that she wanted to be just like you when she grew up. I don’t think she’d want you to sit around mourning her forever! I think she’d want you to make sure that no one else has to go through the pain you’re going through. She’d want you to be happy! Are you happy, Shane? If not, what would make you happy? Would it make you happy to be able to go back to that day and do everything differently? Or would it make you happy to go out there and do something about all the other people that could be experiencing the exact same pain? Think about it, Shane! You might be the one that saves a little girl’s life and her family from the terrible grief of losing her! But you can’t do that by sitting in here and wondering what all you could have done differently. What would Kylie say if she were here?” Clark waited for a while before finishing. “She’d say, ‘Heroes don’t quit!’ I’ll be at the station tomorrow. I hope to see you there.” With that said, Clark exited Shane’s apartment.

Shane was shocked at everything Clark had just said. He also knew that his friend was right, but he just wasn’t sure if he was ready to go back. The memories were still so strong! After a while, Shane decided to walk by the cemetery and leave a bouquet of white roses on Kylie’s grave. They had been her favorite flowers, and Shane felt somewhat close to her when he visited the cemetery.

A cool breeze played with the grass in the cemetery. Shane knelt by her grave and gently laid the roses on the gravestone. For a few minutes he knelt in silence. Then Shane started to pray like he’d never prayed before. He asked Jesus to say hi to his sweet baby sister, and to tell her he was so sorry for not being able to help her. He also asked if it was ok to not go back to his old job. Maybe he could work somewhere else? He started to think of Kylie and how she would’ve responded if he had told her he quit his job. He could see how the sparkle in her eyes would’ve switched to disappointment. Shane couldn’t stand to disappoint her, but he also couldn’t stand the thought of not being able to help someone and then seeing the pain in their loved ones eyes. He just couldn’t! But what if he could help someone and he refused just because it might not work?

Shane suddenly realized that he couldn’t control life or death. He could do his best by working with the team to help the injured, but only God could control if the person survived. Shane smiled at the thought of Kylie racing through heaven, chattering about everything. He knew what she would want him to do. He asked God to help him do his best at the job He was calling him to do.

The next day Shane entered the station with a smile on his face. Even though it was one year ago today that he lost his sister, it was one year ago today that heaven had received a sweet little angel. He knew she was ok. Shane’s mood had improved and he was thankful that God had used Clark’s words and thoughts of what Kylie would want him to do to set him back on the right path.

Clark looked at the time. He was about to give up hope that Shane would come when he heard the team cheering and greeting someone and he knew that Shane had come. He barely saw Shane entering his office before he got the call. “You ready?” Shane nodded and the excitement and adrenaline he used to feel before jumping into the ambulance, were back and he knew he was doing the right thing.

Royal at Heart

Once upon a time in a land far away, a princess was born at the castle of Costa Estrella. Her name was Joelle Gonzales. News spread like wildfire that the king and queen now had a beautiful baby girl! However, on one dark and dreary night that the king and queen would never forget, their beloved daughter was stolen from them. Though heartbroken, they never lost hope and never stopped praying to one day see their daughter again.

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The gypsy woman ran towards the dark woods, frightfully looking over her shoulder to see if soldiers were following. The baby she held close to her chest was crying with all its might. “Hush! Somebody will hear you, so shut yer trap!” she whispered hoarsely as she slumped against a tree, relieved that she was in the woods’ safety.

She looked at Joelle, whose face was red from crying. “It’s like you know you are no longer in protection of the castle anymore. Then again, look how much good that did you. Your new name will be Tasha. I don’t like Joelle.” Twyla dashed on into the woods again.

Into the woods they went, farther and farther. Finally they arrived at the gypsy camp. Twyla was greeted by her husband’s haughty laugh. “So you actually did it!” his mouth spread into an evil grin. Twyla grinned at her beast of a husband, Thor, the most feared gypsy man in camp.

As Tasha grew, she was taught the gypsy lifestyle. For some reason she didn’t understand, Tasha always felt guilty if she had finally stolen something to gain her father’s approval. It got so bad that she vowed never to take something that wasn’t hers again.

Tasha always played that she was the princess of the castle at Costa Estrella, a castle she had heard some of the older folks talking about. The other children wanted her to join them in their game of pirates and pillaging, but Tasha refused. This made Thor furious!

Some years later, Tasha wandered off into the woods. She had taken so many different trails and turns that by the time she realized she didn’t know this part of the woods, it was too late. She was lost. She gave up trying to find familiar sights and decided to just go straight. Suddenly she stepped out of the woods and her mouth dropped open. Standing not so far away in front of her was the castle! It was much bigger than she’d ever imagined!

Tasha decided that she wanted to go inside. She started walking, but just before she reached the gates, she stopped. “What reason do I have to give the guard that I need to inside?”

A tap on her shoulder made her jump. “Are you alright, miss?” the guard had approached her. “Are you lost?” She nodded and was about to walk away when another voice stopped her in her tracks.

“What have you here, James?” The king had been walking around the castle grounds and was curious about who this girl could be. He thought he knew everyone in his kingdom.

“A lost maiden, your highness,” the guard bowed respectfully.

The king looked at Tasha and when she looked up at him, his heart skipped a beat. “Why don’t you bring her inside? My wife will love to meet her.” King Julian was awestruck at how a complete stranger could look so much like his wife, Queen Rosalinda.

Inside the castle, Tasha met the queen and was then sent to wash up and put on clean clothes. Queen Rosalinda determined to get to know this girl. She felt there was something special about her.

Tasha was walking through the castle halls on her way outside to meet the queen for tea in the gardens. She stopped to look at a painting and read the caption beneath: King Julian, Queen Rosalinda, and Princess Joelle. Tasha resumed on her way to the garden.

“Queen Rosalinda, what happened to the princess? I haven’t seen her yet.”

“You probably won’t meet her. You see, dear, a few days after Joelle was born, she was stolen from us.”

“I’m so sorry. How old would she be?” Tasha’s heart was sad when she saw the queen’s eyes dimming at the thought of her lost daughter.

“She would be turning 14 on October 25th.”

“Really? That’s my birthday!”

“How exciting! How old are you?”

“I’m 13.”

“I see you two are getting along well. Honey, don’t you think Tasha looks a lot like you?” King Julian sat down at the table and a maid brought him a cup of tea.

“I hadn’t noticed before but she does! At least when I was that age. Although her nose looks like mine, her eyes look exactly like your-” the queen gasped when she realized what could be happening. “You say you’re turning 14 on October 25th?”

“Yes, why?”

Rosalinda took Julian’s hand. “Could it be?” She searched his face questioningly.

“Joelle had a heart shaped birthmark behind her left ear. Tasha, do you mind if I check? Just to be sure.”

“Ok?” Tasha was confused and it felt weird to have the king fold her ear to check behind it.

Years filled his eyes as he motioned for Rosalinda to take a look. The queen and king burst into happy tears as they gathered Tasha in their arms. “God has answered our prayers! Our Joelle has returned!”

“You mean I’m your daughter?!” Hope filled Tasha’s eyes as she realized she’d never have to go back to the gypsies.

“Yes. You are Princess Joelle of Costa Estrella! Welcome home, dear!”

Happiness and joy rang through the kingdom as news got out that the lost princess had been found.

The moral of this story is that no matter what the circumstances are, no matter how hard it may be not to go with the world, you need never let go of the fact that you’re God’s kid. You are royal!

Fearless – Part 2

Kylie’s face went white. “C-cancer?”

Lainee nodded and quickly wiped the trail of tears from her cheeks. All fell quiet in the apartment.

A few days later…

“Lainee! We didn’t expect to see you again so soon. Welcome home, honey!!” Lainee held tight to her parents. “We are happy to see you, but what are you doing here? We were barely in the city two weeks ago.”

“You guys might wanna sit down.” Her parents eye her suspiciously, but they head inside and to the living room. Reclined comfortably, they looked at Lainee to explain. “I was having some health issues and eventually decided to visit Dr. Rogers. Long story short, after many tests they discovered I have acute lymphoblastic leukemia. It has advanced to stage 3 and there’s nothing anyone can do for me, except pray. They say I have weeks, maybe months to live if I’m lucky.” Her mom covered her mouth with her hands as the news sank in. Her dad’s face drained of all color. Lainee left the room to give them some time to talk and went to her old bedroom to unpack.

That night everyone ate their supper quietly. It seemed as though a giant shadow was hanging over the entire house. The food was flavorless. The sweet tea seemed to have no sugar.

Lainee’s mom eventually broke the silence. “How are you so together about this?”

“I know it’s weird, but in a way I feel like this is the wake up call that I needed. There are so many things I’ve always dreamed about doing and now I know I have to do them yet. The first few days all I did was cry and mope, but eventually I realized that that’s not how I want to spend my time now yet. I want to go skydiving and skiing and I want to climb the Rockies. I want to live my life yet before I…” her voice trailed and she couldn’t finish.

Her dad raised one eyebrow. “Die?”

Lainee nodded and tried to swallow around the lump in her throat. She looked at her plate and shoved a few pieces of food around, suddenly realizing that this was probably one of the last suppers she’d have with her parents. “I’m gonna miss you both so much!”

Her parents gathered her up in their arms. “Sweetie, you can’t think that way.”

“I have to. I want to let you guys know how much I care so that when I’m gone, you’ll never have to doubt it.”

“Hush now, Lainee. You’re gonna fight this thing!” Her dad gently stroked her hair.

“Dad, you don’t understand. The best doctor in the country sent me home ’cause there was nothing left to do.”

“We’re going to get everyone we know to pray for you. God works miracles even today and we need only have faith!”

The next day Lainee was up at the crack of dawn to begin working her way down her bucket list. She had a couple hours drive to Lufker Airport to do #5 on her list: SKYDIVING!!!

She boarded the plane with her jitters all intact. The only thing that comforted her was that she wasn’t allowed to jump alone. When the airplane reached 13,000 ft, the door opened and the instructor had her step closer to the edge. She tried to keep her mouth shut but the sudden burst of air and the tickle in her stomach was just too much so she let herself shriek with excitement for a few seconds before regaining her cool. She might have been a bit scared, but Lainee was sure she’d never regret this day!

Every chance she got from that day on, Lainee tried something new. Slowly but surely she crossed off the items on her bucket list. With all the new things she’d dared to try, Lainee started to feel more and more like she could do anything, that she was fearless.

The days went by, some slow and some fast. Some days she felt better, other days she suffered a lot of pain. She took the meds regularly that they’d given her to see if they could improve her health for as long as possible. It had been a few weeks since she’d quit her job and moved back in with her parents.

Lainee looked at the calendar and groaned. Tomorrow she had another appointment in the city. She knew her mom would be furious if she skipped it and so she started packing since she’d have to stay with Kylie if she didn’t want to drive back yet after the appointment.

Lainee sat in the waiting room, dreading the upcoming tests. She hated feeling like a pincushion. A couple hours and what seemed like a million tests later, Lainee waited in the doctor’s office when she heard a commotion in the hall. She peeked out the window and saw doctors and nurses in a cluster, exclaiming in wonder and disbelief. Her heart fell. She had a feeling those were her test results and that something was surprisingly interesting about them. That couldn’t be a good thing!

After a few minutes, Dr. Rogers entered with the specialist in tow. “Lainee! How’s my favorite patient?”

“You say that to everyone.”

“Yeah but I mean it with you!”

“You say that to everyone, too!” She tried to sound upset but a smile cracked and Dr. Rogers chuckled.

“Lainee. You are something else. We’ve never seen this before!” The specialist handed her the results, but she looked at his face for clues. “I’m guessing you don’t know what you’re looking at so I’ll just explain it. We don’t know how and we don’t know why, but every test we took came back lacking the previous signs of cancer! You are a real medical marvel!! It’s almost as though the cancer left ’cause it was afraid of you or something.”

“Does this mean I don’t have to come back?” Lainee stared at the results, unsure if what she’d heard was real.

“You’ll need to come back every now and then to make sure the cancer hasn’t come back, but for today you are free to go!”

“Really?” Lainee looked bewildered and relieved at the same time and then she jumped up and hugged both doctors before heading for the door.

Outside the hospital she looked up at the sky and smiled. “Thank you, God!!” She could hardly wait to go home and tell everyone the good news.

Shattered Dreams – Part 1

Lainee closed the book and pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders. She leaned her head back against the bay window and watched the softly falling rain for a few minutes. “Oh to be like the heroes in storybooks. Fearless.”

Lainee was a successful fashion consultant in New York. She lived in a nice apartment just down the hall from her best friend Kylie. She’d often visit her parents, who lived in the beautiful countryside about 2 hours away from the city. Her friends always said her life was perfect. She thought of all the things she did have. A good job, great friends, amazing family, more than she’d ever dreamed of having. “Something’s missing…”

“Excuse me?”

Lainee opened her eyes to find Kylie sprawled out on her living room couch. “When did you get here?”

“A few minutes ago. Figured you were sleeping. What’s missing or what do you mean?”

“I don’t know. I can’t really put my finger on anything specific that’s missing. It’s just a certain feeling that I can’t shake.”

“You’re weird. I can’t possibly imagine what’s missing from your life, except maybe that cute businessman that buys way more suits than he possibly needs, just so he can talk to his favorite stylist?” Kylie’s eyes twinkled as she sat up.

“Oh, give it a rest. It’s my job. Nothing else. Even where he’s concerned. Besides, everyone needs someone to talk to every now and then that they don’t see every day.”

“Alright, alright. Ok. Talk to me. What more would you like to have in your life?”

“Just something that’ll spice up my life a little. Maybe a promotion at work. Hey, I could start my own fashion line!”

“I knew it. You’re turning into a workaholic.” Kylie rolled her eyes dramatically.

“I am not.” She picked up a nearby pillow and aimed for Kylie’s head.

Over the next few days Lainee drew sketches of a fall line she’d been thinking of. It was possible nothing would become of it, but she had to try. She even took her sketchbook to work, in case a brilliant idea would pop up.

Kylie dropped by every day to see how everything was going. “Hey! I see you’re still busy drawing. How’s that working out for you?”

“Hey! It’s pretty good. I have a few sketches all done.” Lainee looked up and smiled and it was then that Kylie noticed it. Lainee looked exhausted.

“Have you been overworking yourself with this project?”

“No, why?” Lainee stood up and stopped to support herself on the chair.

“That’s why. You’re tired, Lainee. Put the book away and get some rest. It’ll be there when you wake up.”

“I’m fine, really. I get 8 hours of sleep almost every night. I just stood up too fast.”

“Are you sure? You don’t look fine. Have you been eating at all?”

“Of course! You know how I love food. My schedule is just like always and I only sketch in my free time.”

Kylie scratched her head. “Ok, well I’ll come by tomorrow again, but if you don’t look any better, I’ll make an appointment with Dr. Rogers.”

“You worry too much.” Lainee sat back down. “Thank you.”

“It’s what I’m here for.”

The next day Kylie came by as usual. “Hey, I brought some takeout from that Italian place across the street.” No response. “Lainee?” She found her snoring on the bay window. Even though Lainee was asleep, Kylie could see she was still as tired, if not more, as yesterday. A few minutes later she’d made an appointment with Dr. Rogers for the next day. She knew it would be hard to get Lainee to go.

“Kylie…I do not want to go!”

“It’s just a checkup. He’ll probably just give you something to help you sleep better or something.”

“I sleep just fine.”

“Then you should have nothing to worry about!” Kylie smiled as Lainee glared at her.

“Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.” Lainee hated the idea of going to the hospital. “You know I hate needles. Plus, it always smells weird. Oh well, I guess it won’t take very long since I’m the picture of health.”

A few minutes later Lainee was sitting across the table from Dr. Rogers. She noticed the certificates on the wall and her mind was put to ease a little. She explained how she’d had bouts with fatigue and some dizziness.

“I see. We’re going to draw some blood for the usual tests and check your vitals for now.” Dr. Rogers left the room and came back with that dreadful needle.

“You know what, I feel just fine. How about we go home?” Lainee stood up and made for the door. Kylie laid a firm hand on Lainee’s arm and she reluctantly sat back down.

Half an hour later Lainee was lying on the couch staring up at the ceiling, still lightheaded from seeing her blood flow into the vial. She was waiting for the call that would tell her everything was fine and she could go bout her life as usual.

Lainee stood at the window and watched the thunderstorm roll in. Usually she loved watching the lightning, but today it felt like a sign of impending doom.

The phone jolted her out of her daze. “Lainee, I have the results back.” This didn’t sound like a good news voice. She grabbed the phone tighter and almost crawled into it to hear better. “We’ll need to do more tests to be sure, but it seems you have acute lymphoblastic leukemia.”

Lainee swallowed hard. “What does this mean?” Tears flooded her eyes and she tried to choke them back.

“We need you to come in for more tests tomorrow. We have called in a specialist on ALL to explain the procedures necessary to treat it.” There was a moment of silence. “I’m so sorry!”

Lainee dropped the phone and buried her head in her hands. Yesterday she had thought she was the picture of health. Today, terminally ill. This was not the type of change she had wanted in her life. Her plans for the future had been shattered with one phone call.

Thunder crashed in every direction and raindrops battered against the apartment window, almost as big as the tears rolling down Lainee’s cheeks. The storm outside was almost as rough as the storm inside. “I still can’t believe you passed out at the sighting blood.” Kylie laughed as she closed the door. She saw the broken phone on the floor and started to tremble. “What is it?”

The word, heavy as an elephant, barely made it out of Lainee aloud. “Cancer.”