Slice of Life

Many years ago I attended a funeral in our parish that was overflowing out onto the sidewalk. The late Father Groeschal gave the eulogy.

As I sat in the pew with my mom and children, tears streaming down, I heard the most difficult, and yet beautiful homily from Father Groeschal.

He spoke of families never being the same after the loss of a loved one. He himself had lost a loved one under tragic circumstances. 

He challenged us all to look at our own losses and the crosses we carried, and learn to embrace them. He said our crosses are just that - ours.

He asked, "If you look around at your community, country, and the world, and at all of the suffering,  whose cross would you pick up?"

This life is not easy. There is so much suffering. But oh, how blessed are those that continue to find and create joy in the face of unimaginable loss. You are the faces of God's grace and mercy for the rest of us to learn by.

~Karen~

FINDING AND CREATING JOY DESPITE UNIMAGINABLE LOSS

Mom and Advocate

Ronda-Lee Rathwell, shares her story of unimaginable loss. 

#1 A View From My Window

Interview #1 Recording:

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/4_GYnaNbNy-vEeTTY5GJvqQu8gDC--_qhpFHtvHlwpEuCRcAyOW1_PyuYr3W7Wwj.BZQxaT0TYbU-Im2j

Access Passcode: ZDJ7^cq$

Prayer and Savings Tip:

When we moved from the Washington Metropolitan Area to the Blue Ridge Mountains to practice voluntary simplicity, my husband took a sixty percent pay cut.   But city life was stressful and we longed for the peace and quiet of the countryside.  

Three years after our big leap of faith, we learned we were expecting Baby Number Three.  We were elated at the news but knew the reality of our limited income.  In order to save money on the delivery, we decided that we were going to hire a doula and have an unmedicated birth.   The hospital would have charged us thousands for anesthesia and the doula would just charge us only $800.  

But the reality was that we didn't even have the $ 800 we needed for the delivery.  We knew that God sent this baby to us so we needed to trust that Heaven would provide.  And so we prayed.

It was my most difficult pregnancy riddled with health issues I never experienced with my other two children.  There were nights I was in so much pain that I couldn't even sleep.  Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I decided to write a little journal about simple living.  Writing is such a cathartic experience for me as it helps make sense of everything that is going on inside my head.  Little did I know that this little journal would be the beginning of a book manuscript.

Two months before my due date, a friend read the journal and encouraged me to submit it to a publisher.  It helped her so much and she said that other families would benefit from reading the journal as well.  Long story short, the publisher paid me 5 cents per word for the manuscript and the grand total was (yup, you guessed it), an $800 check that would go straight to paying my doula!

There is a saying that "with every baby, comes a loaf of bread".  

And we just need to remember that before a need even arises, Heaven has already provided.  

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Savings Tip:

Everytime money comes through your hands, make a habit of putting away before spending any leftover.  Try putting:

5% towards tithing

5% towards savings

5% towards fun money

85% towards spending

Not only will you have savings to run to instead of a credit card, but you will also have fun money to spend without feeling guilty about it!

Happy Saving!!!

~ Abby ~

“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you; God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all."."

~ 1 John 1:5 ~