Friday Encouragement!

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

2He makes me lie down in green pastures,

he leads me beside quiet waters,

3he refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths

for his name’s sake.

4Even though I walk

through the darkest valley,^a

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

5You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

6Surely your goodness and love will follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

This Psalms has been a favorite of mine for years and years. It is my "worry stopper". When I lay in bed at night and all the worrisome things in my life beg to be mulled over, I stop them with this Psalms. I have been known to repeat it over and over and over before falling asleep. 
Worry has never solved any problems, but God can. He is able to move our mountains and He walks with us through the valleys when He doesn't move our mountains. 

This is my favorite song of the week! 

TBT April 2007

Read Part 1 to see where this story starts!

Young and newly married. We were supposed to be planning for a bright and cheerful future.

Reality is often not what we dream of.

We spend over 60 nights in the hospital in our first year of marriage. We enjoyed life and each other, in the midst of the chemo, nausea, fears of the future and hospital stays.

Then that hot July day... we had a Dr appointment, things were bad. We had already planned to go the alternative route because  we assumed traditional medicine had nothing more to offer us. The Dr, a specialist at the University of Penn, looked me in the eye and said "If you take your husband for alternative care, you will kill him. Once you realize what you are planning to do, doesn't work come back to me." I cried. In the Dr's office. Because he couldn't do more then offer chemo for the rest of a very short life. I couldn't accept that.

Then we joined the "in laws" at a ball game. I wanted to puke. I wanted to scream. I wanted to do anything but sit in that HOT ball field watching a stupid Phillies game. It is a moment forever frozen in my mind.

We ended up in Mexico for alternative treatment. Something we never regretted. God knew I needed that place. We had 9 more beautiful months together. There was horror and pain unlike anything one can imagine. There was peace that when fought for, filled us daily. The reality of God's sovereignty.


April 2007, I said Good Bye. 2 years and ten days after our wedding day,  my nightmare was now my reality. My very worst fears now my life. God is good. He gives and He takes away. Life isn't fair. The journey is hard. The journey is painful. But God's peace and grace ever so sweet. The tears were rivers of  pain and then healing rain...A broken heart healed into a beautiful masterpiece done by the Artist, who died for me.

check back next Thursday for the redemption part of this story, the beauty from the ashes...

Parenting Books...

I love reading parenting books. I know. That makes me weird. But I do... I also believe that you can never have to many tools in your parenting toolbox.

Right now I am reading a lot of books on preteen and adolescent boys. Do you know how challenging it is to be a single mom to a boy?! I love my boys dearly and I want to understand what makes them tick and I want to be equipped to parent them so they can grow up to Godly, responsible adults!

My boys are pretty easy for the most part.But I want to understand them, to "get it", to build them up instead of tearing them down.

So the other day I was killing time by shopping at Ollies. I love to look through their book selections. I stumbled on this book! Raise Him Up: A Single Mother's Guide to Raising a Successful Black Man


 I love Stephanie and Derek Moore. My kids love the Alec London Series) and the (Morgan Love Series) by Stephanie and Derek Moore. This is the only christian, African American preteen book series I have ever found! The kids devoured these books!

So I hoped the "Raise Him Up" book would be good too! I am only half way through and am already loving it. It is so encouraging. I am learning a lot and it is motivating me to continue to push my boys, to be strong and firm to help them become the strong black men!




*this is not a paid review, however these are affiliate links. Read my affiliates and reviews disclosure for  more info.