It’s My 10 Years Anniversary

If you’re on Facebook or if, over the last few weeks, you watched the news about its co-founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, you'll be amused that my “word of the day” is “Facebook” (FB). FB is a popular free social networking website that allows registered users to create profiles, upload photos and video, send messages and keep in touch with friends and family.

These little photos popped up yesterday because 10 years ago on April 16th, 2008, I became a Facebook user. It was the newest and best tool to connect with friends and family that I hadn’t seen or heard from in years. Then I found it to be painfully ridiculous as I would read posts where people were complaining about their deadbeat husbands or their high energy children or their dog who had left their home in a shambles or were singing that “Somebody Done Me Wrong” song. I didn’t even want to check my page, so I went AWOL with FB.

Then fast forward two years, 2010, when we received my husband’s medical diagnosis of Stage 4 Kidney Cancer. We had been the ones who encouraged and prayed with many people who had serious illnesses. Now, we had to practice what we had preached “Trust God. Live with expectancy of something good getting ready to happen. Throw your hands up in the air and enjoy the ride.” This is when FB became a platform for me to share our faith journey, and in doing so, made sure we were living out what we believed in our hearts...."Nothing is impossible with God" so we expressed optimism, hope, and faith, even though it was the toughest battle we had ever faced in our lives.

Living life out loud on Facebook became a gift to me. I found sweet peace in writing. FB became a place of solace because it connected me to thousands of friends and family members. I needed that connection. I wrote about our faith journey -- conquering and winning through it all -- even his graduation to heaven and to my new world as a widow became a win.

Here's what I know for sure. All those things that seemed so important before, soon became so trivial. My priorities shifted to making moments count more than ever before. Now I know the stuff of life are those everyday precious moments that matter most. Now when I hear people complain about FB and other social media posts being the outlet for people to get depressed, I think “compared to what?” I loved the post of a friend who feels like I do about social media. Here are words she posted a few weeks ago:

“Before social media -- it was the radio and television that made people aware of war, communist threats, potential nuclear meltdown, race wars, starvation, political unrest and maybe one little feel good human interest story on the side. Pretty easy to feel good about yourself when the world is going to hell in a hand basket, right?! Enter the social media age. It is a constant presence in the lives of billions of people across the globe. Facebook alone boasts of nearly 1.8 billion users. A vast majority of people post the “highlight reel” of their lives. They post their cute dogs, their adorable babies, their sexy spouses, sunny vacations and wonderfully decorated living spaces. And it depresses some people? Really? 🛑Not me. I gravitate towards time on social media because I love to see the “happy” in people’s lives. I love their cute babies and dogs, their amazing spouses and homes, and especially those vacations. In fact, if you are a Debbie Downer or a continual Negative Nancy, you will find I have quietly unfriended, unfollowed or hidden your posts. 🙀 I choose to spend my time engaging with positive, uplifting, encouraging post-ers and I look forward to my nightly social media time to check in on the “wonderful” of people’s lives. (No, I don’t watch the news.) For me, posting a selfie that I feel good about is my way of staying positive about my self-image and saying “I think I like myself today.” Can we all please do a little more of that?! " 😘

So, happy 10 year FB anniversary to me. I daily give God thanks for the privilege of having friends like YOU who indulge me as I proclaim God’s good news in my FB posts. I sincerely believe God has me on assignment each day for these 6:00 am posts. Maybe FB annoys you when you see some of the shenanigans of people and some of the outrageous things they say. On the other hand, like me, maybe God is calling you to be a good news "bearer" that sees FB as a mission field where you can share God's love to a world that needs it so much. Maybe it's your light that will turn off the darkness in their world. So shine, Baby, shine!

"Then He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." (Mark 16:15) Thanks, FB, for helping to facilitate 10 years of spreading that "good news". I love living in this glass home where others can see my heart for God and His love for all of my FB friends and family AND me!

Our WORDS Matter

If you follow my blog or my Facebook posts you know that I’ve determined to have a “word of the day” every day this year. Having that focus has sure helped me with my subject matter. God highlights a word to me and then I run with it. My WORD today is WORD: a single, distinct, element of speech or writing, used with others (or sometimes alone) to form a sentence. That sounds innocent enough. Right? Oh, but our WORDS matter!

Our WORDS convey who we are and what’s in our hearts. “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” (Luke 6:45) I watched Billy Graham's funeral service online yesterday. Whenever I’ve heard his name mentioned, since his passing and before, he was the good man that this scripture described.
Like Billy Graham, may our hearts be filled with good things and when we speak…..people listen to those words and are refreshed and encouraged because of them. May we be God's instruments of peace and love when we speak not hate.

God, Himself, proved that WORDS matter. He started out this massive universe with creative WORDS “Let there be light, and there was light”. (Genesis 1:3). It’s been a great learning experience to look up word definitions, but to also take those WORDS to heart to help make me that good woman who brings good things out of her heart. Our WORDS matter.

Aren't these some of those good words? “I love you, you’re important to me, thank you so much, how can I repay you, you look really nice today, I’m so sorry, I forgive you, I like your new hair style, great job, this place wouldn’t be the same without you, I’m so proud of you, you are irreplaceable, you brighten up the room when you come in.”

And then there are those words that produce just the opposite: “I hate you, you're stupid, I am such a LOSER!, you are hopeless, I wish you had never been born, I wish I were dead, you make me sick, I will never forgive you, I want a divorce, nobody cares about you, I’ll never speak to you again.”

“Words can bring death or life! Talk too much, and you will eat everything you say.” (Proverbs 18:21). We were made in God’s image. He created this world with His words. We, too, create with our words. We can usher in praise when the world seems to crumble around us. We can bring hope when everything seems hopeless. We can soothe a troubled heart, when someone is in despair. We can bring LIFE with our words.

In our lifetime, we could fill a library with the words we speak, and if we did, what would the titles of those books be? Our words have a powerful influence on others. God is looking for messengers of hope, faith and love and He wants our WORDS to be on target each day doing just that.

Proverbs 16:24 says "Pleasant words are honey from a honeycomb— sweet to the soul and healing for the body." Don't we want pleasant words to come from our hearts and mouths that reflect God’s character in our actions. Whether we are talking with a store cashier or interacting with those we do everyday life with, don't we want to work towards being men and women who display Godly character and who possess the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control to be evident through our words?

Whether our day goes smooth as glass or is rocky and bumpy, may God’s messages of truth have such an impact on us that our hearts and mouths produce "soft and sweet words.....so that if we have to eat them, we'll be eating yummy, delectable treats.

Happy NEW Year -- NEW is the Word of the Day

I was checking in with Headquarters (God – my CEO) on what my assignment for 2018 would be, and the message I received was "Word of the Day”. My blogging began in 2010 and it started with daily posts that spoke of the faithfulness of God during our roller coaster ride that sure had its ups and downs in it. That was the year my Sweetheart battled Stage 4 Kidney Cancer until he received his "eternal" ticket to ride to his finish line, and go to his home sweet home. In any case, it was the NEW beginning of my blogging and daily posting on Facebook.

The next year, 2011, I asked God for my NEW “widow’s” assignment, still desiring to serve God in the best way I knew how, and I received the words ‘’This is your mandate – every day provide a positive, uplifting and encouraging message the first thing in the morning so that others will have those thoughts to hold onto in their new day.” So, here I am, starting my ninth year of blogging, and I still love greeting each new day with words that have the potential of altering the course of someone’s otherwise negative start or finish to their day. Since the beginning, I’ve received all kinds of encouraging comments from my friends and family – you know who you are! God bless you for being my cheerleaders! From that time to this – I’ve purposed to post before 6 a.m. every morning – only adjusting if I’m in a location that doesn’t permit easy access to Wifi. A few years later, 2015 to be exact – my assignment was to find a photo inspiration for each day and to write my post based on that photo.

Now – with 2018 ahead of me, the message I received from Headquarters, is what I’ll be doing – seeking God for 365 words for 365 days of 2018. I’m making a conscious choice to focus on ONE word for each day – and I hope and pray the words God gives me are THE WORDS that will encourage you and give you added fuel for your daily faith journey. This year starts with the word, “NEW”.

There is just something about the start of a NEW year -- with a NEW journal or a NEW calendar. It's a clean slate. There’s something in us that naturally draws us toward fresh beginnings. 2017 was a doozey of a year for many its end brings the hope of a NEW start. I’m sure God engineered us for do-overs – fresh starts. Why would I start this year with NEW? Because even God seems to think new starts are pretty sweet. Here are some of God's "NEW" words from His WORD (the Bible), to help us enter into 2018 with a NEW beginning.

~~~ GOD MAKES US NEW: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a NEW creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become NEW." 2 Corinthians 5:17

~~~ GOD GIVES US NEW SONGS OF PRAISE. “He put a NEW song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God." Psalm 40:3

~~~ GOD MAKES NEW WAYS FOR US “I am doing a NEW thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43:19

~~~ GOD’S MERCIES ARE NEW EVERY MORNING. "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are NEW every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lamentations 3:22-23

We have a NEW year to be the best versions of ourselves that we can possibly be; NEW potential for achieving our goals; NEW clean slate to start fresh to show ourselves and others that we are a finisher – not a quitter; New will to overcome; NEW desires to trust God in the sun and in the rain; NEW goals to break OLD habits. It's time to begin again with NEW expectations of great NEW adventures and blessings up ahead. But most importantly to write some NEW stories that leave a NEW legacy for those who are following us -- a legacy of "I can" and "I will"!!

I’ve already started on my NEW chapter. At the end of 2018....I'll glance back at the victories won and the many, many NEW doors that opened up for me to great NEW opportunities! Today, I close the door to the past, open the door to the future, I take a deep breath, step on through and start a NEW chapter of my life. How about you?