It's pretty simple as the most important part of my day is spending it with God.
In conversation and prayer God sets the day for me.
I may have plans in my own mind but ultimately God decides. In every blessing and every trial, I am thankful for each lesson on life.
The greatest gift God has given each of us is his life blood and in doing so we are blessed with seeing the beauty of life. It isn't all wine and roses or in my case champagne, but it is the beauty of life.
Many tears have been shed in my lifestyle but many more smiles in abundance are ever present. I catch myself smiling and ask myself why and soon realize the why is because of life before me. It is magical as we never know from one minute to the next what surprises lie ahead of us.
I just know God wants me to live a life of love and gratefulness.
I was born and raised in a beautiful little village; the type you would see artist Norman Rockwell characters live their life.
We spent Sunday's worshipping in a royal palace of Gods. Our church was beyond beautiful and beyond magical, it was perfect, and all the village people gathered in prayer on Sundays. The brick exterior kept us cool in the summer and warm in the winter. The abundance of stained-glass windows radiated dancing colors on each worshipper. The colored rays varied magically according to the sun as it moved slowly each day across our perfect blue sky.
Our church was the center of our lives. The pure white trim on the exterior was like handmade lace, so intricate and created with love. To a child it appeared much as frosting on a gingerbread house. The priests lived adjacent to the church in their commanding rectory with a view of the peaceful Saint John River flowing along the back yard of the church.
The Sanit John River forked with the Fish River with such grace as they merged and continued their flow south. From the river's edge you could see the smooth stones worn down over the years as the river continued its flow. As the river curved going south it was truly a vision to hold with the pristine water running along the green field adjacent to the church yard. The majestic evergreens lining the river seemed to dance along both in a summer breeze or in a spring wind.
Then there was the village surrounding the church.
It was all so idyllic with small shops, and each owned by a relative or certainly someone you knew as we knew everyone.
The beauty of the seasons was beyond imagination.
The fall was as if you lived in a painted landscape by an artist who knew how to capture every shade of orange, yellow and red. In the fall the rolling hills became one mass of color with no definition of space between trees or hills. It was no less than magical.
Upon the days in which the leaves began to fall a magnitude of barren trees became a forest in which there was no longer playing hide n' seek as there was no place to hide. As we waited for our first snowfall, we anticipated Christmas and began the wearing of heavy mittens and scarves made by mothers, and grandmothers. Our favorite were the stocking caps as we felt like elves.
Then the morning came and overnight our village had become one of glistening pure white snow. The magical season of winter was upon us. Once it arrived it wouldn't stop until spring. One day you just saw the snow start to disappear and we knew the rushing waters of the St. John and Fish Rivers would be heading our way. Our love for our village always became concerning as we were flooded just about every spring.
We prayed that the muddy gray waters merging at the St. John and Fish rivers would not flood our beloved church. The main street inevitably flooded and although the waters reached the perimeter of the church our church was never harmed. The water truly created a mess and although there was much damage to many buildings, we stayed positive. We stayed positive in our faith that God would always see us through to normalcy once the waters receded and everything was clean once again.
Making the best of things we turned the flooded streets into our own personal mini rivers and set about releasing the canoes. As children we thought the flooding was there for our enjoyment. Our parents, uncles and aunts were there to guide the canoes as we all waved at school mates passing by in their own canoes. We were one large family no matter the circumstance as our God centered lives were blessings.
There were many trials in life in the village but the blessings from God were abundant and life was good. With God as our center, we filled the pews on Sundays giving thanks for everything in our lives and each blessing.
It's no wonder that our county of Aroostook was called "Gods County.'"
I hope you have enjoyed this first part of my testimony.
* If you enjoyed this small portion of my testimony in life and would like to read more, please go to my Testimony page.
Be sure to refer back weekly for the continuation.