Welcoming new seasons in life - Ruth L. Snyder

Do you welcome new seasons in your life? Personally I struggle with change. I prefer what I know, and what I feel comfortable with, as opposed to being stretched. However, I have discovered that I grow more in seasons of change. Probably because I am forced to rely totally on God.

I am currently in a season of change. One I would not have chosen. However, I'm learning to focus on what I do have control over and choosing to be thankful.

I can choose my attitude. 

Charles Swindoll puts it this way:

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company..I a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

I can choose to build into other people's lives

No matter what my struggles are, I have discovered there are always others who are struggling or hurting more than I am. 

• I can listen. 
• I can pray. 
• I can hug. 
• I can share my struggles, and how God helped me.
• I can share Scriptures that I find helpful. 
• I can share my testimony. 

One Friday my boys asked to go to garage sales. I noticed three lawnmowers at one place, but didn't think I needed one. That evening I tried to mow our lawn, but found out the lawnmower I had wouldn't work. A couple other people tried too...nothing. I thought of the garage sale lawnmowers, but knew I wouldn't be able to get back to the place we had been until late afternoon on Saturday. "Lord, keep a lawnmower there for me." 
Throughout the next day when I was tempted to fret, I stopped and prayed. When I returned to the garage sale, there was one mower left. I approached the older gentleman and told him I wanted to buy the mower. He shook his head. "I don't understand it. You saw I had three mowers for sale. This is the best one. And nobody bought it."
I smiled. "God saved it for me."
"You know I wouldn't even be selling this mower, except someone thought they were doing me a favour and they bought me a new mower. I can't sell the one they bought for me, even though this one is better. It's my favourite mower."
I almost felt sorry for him! 
"Would you like me to show you how to start it?"
I nodded. He demonstrated how to put on the choke. He pulled once and the mower roared to life.
"Would you like me to help you load it?"
"Yes, please."
I came home feeling like God had blessed me with a "Cadillac" lawn mower. I paid about a third of what I would have paid for a new one, and it has worked well all summer for me.

I can choose to take good care of myself

Since February I have been working on changing some of my unhealthy habits. I tend to eat when I'm anxious ... or stressed ... or nervous ... or ... you get the picture. I also find exercising regularly difficult. In February I read information from Fitera and decided to work on healthy eating habits and exercise. I also happened to be exchanging coaching with a fellow student from the Beautiful You Coaching Academy. She helped me set goals and pick strategies and cheered me on as I made changes. It was hard, especially when I didn't see any changes in the numbers on the scale. She helped me focus on consistency and the fact that I was feeling stronger and more energetic. God reminded me that my body is His temple, and I can glorify him just as much by exercising as I can by reading my Bible. Fitera provides an exercise routine where 1 minute of a weight bearing exercise is followed by 1 minute of cardio-based exercise. You have an option of doing 15, 22, or 30 minutes of exercise, and can start with your fitness level and work up from there. Fitera suggests you do their exercise program 3 days a week and then walk the other 3-4 days. I found my walks beside Jessie Lake inspiring and enjoyable. (The pictures on this blog post were all taken during my walks.) Over the weeks, the pounds started to slip away until I had lost 30 pounds. Now I am working on maintaining the habits.

I can choose to learn new things

Before this season of change started, I signed up for the life coaching course through Beautiful You Coaching Academy. They offer a four-month course, with reading materials, homework questions (answers were shared on the closed Facebook Group), bi-weekly calls, and the opportunity to practice skills by having a coaching partner. God's timing was perfect (as usual). The course, which started in February, gave me something positive to focus on, and I learned that I not only enjoy coaching, but I am also good at it (according to my clients). Now that the course is finished, I'm working on becoming certified with Beautiful You.

Just before I finished the coaching course, I also took on the challenge of working with a business coach from Market Like a Nerd. This has been a huge stretch for me, but I'm looking forward to reaping the results of having an online business.

I can choose to be thankful!

This has been one of the hardest years of my life, but I'm so thankful!

• I have a wonderful support team
• God has provided for all my needs
• I'm enjoying friends, both "old" and "new"
• God has drawn me closer to himself

Are you in a new season? What lessons have you been learning? 

Find out more about Ruth, her writing, and her coaching, at ruthlsnyder.com.

Did I Forget to Remember? - Linda Aleta Tame

"If you have to do it anyway, you might as well enjoy it." My mom is 93 now, and is still practicing her practical proverb. Launching from that springboard, I learned to love winter. I live in central Canada where the winters can be extremely cold, with icy streets and huge snow drifts. People here usually love to hate winter, and I was one of them until I remembered Mom's advice. I started to list the things I appreciated about winter: Christmas, the cozy warmth that hugs me when I come in from the cold, no mosquitoes, being snowed in with my reading and writing, and so on. I determined to love winter, and now I do!

I used the same technique with waiting.  Waiting is something I'll always have to do, so I might as well enjoy it.  I now love waiting.  It's the only time I get to do nothing without answering to anyone for it.

Since it's November again, I had to face the dread of it.  It's gray, windy and cold, and here on the prairies, the trees have turned into brown sticks.  I've learned to love all the other months, even January, which is now my hibernation month, but November?  What's to love about it?

This year, I've learned to love it.  My best friend's birthday is this month, and I love her to pieces.  But, November is important for something even greater than that, and how could I have forgotten to remember.  No, I really didn't forget to remember, but I did forget that loving November means loving people for the sacrifices they've made and continue to make on my behalf.  I am so grateful for the freedoms I enjoy that came at the expense of our soldiers and their families.  November comes every year anyway, I might as well enjoy it.  Thankfully, I am free, protected and alive so, now and forever, I will love November.

Motorcycle Mama by Lynda Schultz

In my book of remembrances the exploits of Leola shine through. She's gone now, safe in the embrace of the Heavenly Father she loved and served so well.

Leola lived with her husband, two children, and elderly mother-in-law on a small vegetable farm about 60 km outside of Timmins, Ontario. They faithfully came into church every Sunday and after Leola's husband died, she took her life into her hands and learned to drive their old car herself. She worked in our Sunday School until she could work no more. When the car finally gave up the ghost, Leola bought herself a set of leathers and persuaded her son to come out to the farm on his motorcycle and pick her up for Sunday services. By this time she was well past retirement age. Always prim and proper, she'd change from her leathers into a dress and hat when she got to church.

Leola kept working the farm for as long as she could, even after the cancer diagnosis. But she quietly went about other business as well. She prayed through the church directory every day. She wrote regularly and faithfully to every missionary the church supported. During my years overseas it was no surprise to receive care packages from Leola–she was known among the MKs (missionary kids) as the "Kool-Aid" lady. Considering that her resources were very limited, those care packages, and the postage it cost to mail them all over the world, represented a sacrifice.

This amazing little lady also successfully completed a number of correspondence courses by mail from a seminary in Toronto, including several years worth of New Testament Greek. God had blessed her with a first-class mind.

Cancer became her shadow but she never allowed it to rule her life. In the letters I received from her she often joked about the various stages of the disease and how they, or their treatment, was affecting her. She would come into town for doctor's appointments, stop off at the church to rest between sessions or to practice Tai Chi in one of the rooms. We'd sometime catch her napping.

My last remembrance of Leola was the corn roast she hosted for the church family at her farm. I was home on Home Assignment that year. Her frailty was obvious, but she continued with her positive spirit though now it was tempered with that faraway longing for "home" in her eyes.

A friend recently told me that Leola, knowing that Lil loved teacups, had given her a beautiful pair edged in gold that she had received as a wedding gift fifty years earlier. Lil visited Leola in the hospital just before she died. Leola was unable to speak by that time. Lil worried about those teacups and wondered if perhaps Leola might have wanted to pass them on to her daughter. When she asked Leola about it, this plucky little woman gave Lil a huge smile and bravely nodded her head. "No" she indicated.

When I think of Leola I think of the widow that Jesus used as an example of faith and generosity in Luke 21. This dear woman gave everything she could to the Lord and he commended her for it. Just as she is remembered for her quiet walk of faith, so some of us remember Leola and endeavor to walk in her footsteps. And for such a little lady she left us big shoes to fill.