Gateways to Joy

"W hen you're in a middle of a struggle . . . that's not who you are," says Holley Gerth . A friend of mine use to say to me often, "Your circumstances don't define who you are.  A lot of people find themselves in bad situations and they let that situation define them." I get it now. Girls our struggles are not our identity, it is merely our location at the moment .  And that goes for anything good or bad. "Where we are in life changes.  Who we are stays the same wherever we go."   Personally I was so glad to read Holley's words .  I know sometimes we can find ourselves in situations that seem to have a stronghold on us— in spite of this we must press on as best we can.  Even if we have to fall to our knees, lift our hands and say, "Help me Father."  Seasons do change. Today we are here.  Tomorrow or the next day . . . only God knows. Ladies, we don't have to be perfect, yet we are perfectly loved. xo, Ange...

I'm looking for a new way to walk this year friends. Guess what though?  Letting go of old behavior is hard to do—sometimes.  The reason being is that some of my old ways of my walking I liked. They felt good. Those ways had become familiar friends and were comfortable. They were what I knew.  They were my normal. Every time I think about changing my stride I feel a foe surfacing: fear. Anguish too.  Even their cousin anxiety finds a spot to grab hold of me.  And my head whirls with thoughts of last year, and the years before that, "You change? Never. It's too hard and you never do it for long so why begin?" So I ask my Father with lamenting heart, "How?  How do I do it?  How do I become your woman, the woman you can be 'oh so proud of?'  How do I start and not stop?  How do I find a new way of walking this year Father? Please help this feeble child of yours,"I softly whisper. While washing dishes by candle light she com...

M y heart is sadden as I tap out this post .  This morning about 11:00 AM, my mother called my husband's phone upset.  He gave me the phone and she began—hysterically telling me that something was wrong with my father. "Did you call 911?"   I asked. "I tried, but my phone isn't getting through." "Okay, stay on this phone while I call from my phone."   I told her So I called 911.  When I got the operator on the phone I realized that I am in a different county, so I had to be transferred at least three times. While explaining to the 911 operator what was going on, my mother was giving me the status of what was going on with my father.  "His breathing is slowing down."   "His eyes are rolling in the back of his head."  "He's not breathing." "Why me Lord" I ask?  These are details that I don't care to know or remember.  But this is the place where you have me at this moment.  "Stay ...