Gratitude and Sadness

Good day, friends! This is the ordinary woman and today I have to talk about gratitude and sadness.

My book, “Benedictions Given to an Ordinary Woman,” has received 2 awards! The first is the Christlit Award, which is a Christian Organization that promotes and highlights Christian literature. The second award is from the International Christian Book Award, which identifies and features Christian Literature and the authors. The two awards are somewhat similar, though 2 different organizations, but the second hosts a Gala, Presentation of Awards, and a dinner in Fort Wayne, Indiana, later this fall. Both awards come with a seal to acknowledge the book as a highlight in Christian Literature. I am stunned, happy, and humbled. Of course, if I decide to attend the Gala, the ‘ordinary woman’ will have to shop for a stunning dress!  …wouldn’t that be a drag!

So, in the midst of happiness comes that sorrow that is also present in our lives. A friend from high school, whom I reconnected with through my book, recently lost her husband suddenly. It is a shock to all her family and friends; it is a grief beyond my knowledge, for I have never experienced the loss of a great love that she has had the privilege of knowing. Ahh, but with a great love also comes a great loss, beyond what words can convey. 

I believe the Book of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 sums this up in the most elegant of ways. 

“A Time for Everything,”
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. 

I don’t think there’s anything else that needs to be said.         

And remember, in His hands we live, shalom—shalom.