Brenda Warner {woman of faith}

If you've come to Angela talks today looking for my favorite blogs, you will not find it.

But you will find some phenomenal Christians who are fast becoming some of my favorite people.  This week and some of next week, I'm featuring women and one guy who I will be preparing to hear this time next week at the Women of Faith over the top Conference. 

I am forever indebted to Thomas Nelson Publishing company for finding me worthy to send.

I wish I had an "I love Thomas Nelson Publishing" shirt to wear next week to show my gratitude.  I don't so all I can say is, "Thank you."

Next week my plans are to show videos and pics of people at the conference, hopefully, just maybe I will even have an opportunity to sneak in an interview or snag one of the speakers and get them to share a few words.

If not then you will all be bless to hear from 'Lil ol' me.'

Okay . . .

While browsing through Brenda's book, I became stricken with her words on lost.

Her first experience with lost came when she had to give up her blind horse, Flash.

God truly is amazing to me.  He is always preparing us...working things out on our behalf.  It is not by accident that the first thing Brenda loved and cared for became disable.

Through her sensitivity at age seven, Brenda was able to love her blind horse and teach him about trust.  While she was teaching Flash, God was preparing her.

Years later she, again, would have to draw from her well of compassion and pour it into the life of her four month old son as he lay in the hospital bed with a swollen head, connected to tubes.  Like Flash, Zach, too would become blind.

Brenda says that giving up Flash was her beginning lessons in "How to say good-bye."

It would not be my last.  Some good-byes would be unexpected and abrupt.  Some would be wordless, just the turning of the back and walking out.  And some, like this one would be filled with sorrow.

I said earlier that I was stricken by these words because her words caused a mirage of losses that I've experienced to flashed through my mind.

I relate to her anguish.

No one really likes to say good-bye to someone they love, or to dashing hopes, but sometimes in life that is exactly what's needed.  Sometimes it is more fitting to just turn the back and walk away no matter how painful it is.  We do it because it is what's best.  We hurt nonetheless though.


Brenda gave up Flash.  I gave up ...  You gave up ...


{Don't forget to scroll down to quiet the music.  This is a very touching interview}

{Video: Kurt & Brenda Warner: putting first things first.  An interview with CBN.com}

Sometimes our good-byes and the pain of lost is exactly what prepares us to have strength for what's to come.  The good-bye is what prepares us.  It is the experience of the hardship that makes us better.

Think about Joseph and what he went through in saying his good-byes . . . coming to the conclusion that he would never see his father again.  Joseph settled that truth within himself and went on to accomplish what God willed for His life.

God works it out, brings it all together for our good and allows us to share with others, so that they can be inspired and see the hand of the Lord at work ... willing and able to do above all more than we can possible ever dream.

Today, Brenda Warner is a New York Times best-selling author, mother of seven children, a registered nurse and she's married to NFL player, Kurt Warner.

But Brenda didn't always have it so good.

Her Women of Faith profile page reads, "She entered into a personal relationship with God at the age of 12 and was serving her country as a U.S. Marine at age 18.
She was married with two children when she became the victim of infidelity and divorce by the age of 24.  She found herself living in a Section 8 apartment on food stamps as a single mom trying to balance nursing school and the challenges of a special needs child by age 25.
She lost her parents in a natural disaster by the age of 28, and learned the blessings and pressures of fame and fortune being married to a NFL Superstar by the age of 30.
Brenda and Kurt along with their seven children live in Arizona."

Priceless.

"God through the Holy Spirit interceding within us, using everyday circumstances to touch the whole world with His saints." ~ Oswald Chambers

It is my sincere hope that you are being touched by God through the writing of this blog, no matter what shore you reside on beloved one.


xo, Angela

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This post is linked to the following:
Raising Homemakers, Women Living Well, A Holy Experience, Time Warp Wives