... Birthday Celebration.....

..so different than my last visit here... such a blessing, something I would have taken for granted up until then, my mother sitting on the couch with me in Celerina... staying at our family’s place during my last visit was weird... because it was really only a place for us to sleep and change clothes... I think we had one ”real deal meal” there the whole 2 1/2 weeks I spent there.... no hanging around talking for hours like my mother loves to do... well, this time... all 3 of them standing there at the Celerina Bahnhof... picking me up... I had been wondering if my mother would come to pick me up or if it would be too much for her... but there they were... all three of them..... so very happy to see especially her, looking as well as on the pictures from Mother’s Day.....
“lounging around” on the couches for hours talking, my mother, my daughter and I... a gift from God....


today, my mother’s 71st Birthday.... born in 1940 during the war... her first 5 years, with a father absent because of war, a mother trying to bring up her baby with limited resources, my mother remembers distinctly having to go to the bomb shelter in the middle of the night... leaving her with a deep seated fear that manifested itself when she was expecting her 3rd child... she only had 2 hands... what if she had to flee somewhere, she could only hold on to two children at once... thanks be to God she never had to run from anything when we were little...


waiting to start the birthday celebrations with a beautiful breakfast and  the opening of gifts I am marveling at God’s plan for our lives... the fact that every little detail is His, from Him, that nothing escapes the sovereignty of our Father in heaven... from the day we are born into this world until we pass on to be either with Him or apart from Him for eternity He is intricately involved in our details.... allowing our choices bad or good only to lovingly teach us and refine us... never because He doesn’t care but because He cares.. changing us gently... the goal always to make us more like Him..


I do love the English language.. one of the reasons is this saying... when difficult things happen they can either make us bitter or better...He always has the better in mind... but we have the choice... we can become bitter and full of resentment and hatred, choosing not to forgive... or we become better, more like Him, learning to forgive quicker, trusting Him more and becoming more patient and peaceful... more like Him...


as Christians we can be sure that around the next corner the next challenge is awaiting us... it is our choice... will we willingly walk with our Saviour and be transformed into His likeness more and more or will we resist and fight against it.. to the detriment of those around us and our own... because... let’s be clear about this.. He will bring about the changes in us, it just depends how much pressure it will take... how many heartaches and conflicts.. in my mind it is a no brainer.... being obedient is the better choice.....