Grieving

What to do When Your Child is Grieving…

| anitalucascmc

Maybe it has been going through the holidays with someone missing.  Maybe it is the let down after all the hype and busy time around Christmas.  Maybe it is the cold and dark days of winter.  Whatever is making the sting of missing a loved one stronger it is tough especially when it is children feeling the loss.  Today each of my girls came to me in sobs crying “I miss Papa”.

I wish I had some amazing words of wisdom how to miraculously make the pain of the loss of a loved one go away, especially for children.  There were no magic words when my best friend lost her husband and the father of her two young children.  There have been no special words for the countless friends who have lost family or even their own children.

With my girls all I could do is hug them tight and acknowledge their feelings of loss and pain.  My own mother lost her mother as a child just before turning twelve years old and she still feels that loss.  There have been times I have witnessed the grief she feels over having lost her mother.  This loss was over fifty years ago and it remains very real.  So when comforting my children I couldn’t bring myself to say “It will get better”.  To me this is not true and the loss will always be there until we go to heaven.  The sneaky pain will creep up when looking at pictures or as a special memory sends an overwhelming since of loss.

What I could encourage them to do is to carry on and focus on others.  Find what they can truly be passionate about.  To work hard doing what will please God and help others.  To be thankful to God for having known Papa.  By doing this they will make their Papa proud as well.

Our greatest passion in life can come from our deepest pains of life.  God provides the greatest healing, comfort, and purpose by turning our focus to others.

1 Peter 4:10 “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”

Of course I then reminded them that because of Jesus we will see Papa again.  Our grief is actually only for a little while until we meet again in heaven.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.”

A way to Remember Papa on Christmas

| anitalucascmc

 

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

In the Grief Through the Holiday blog I mentioned how my father loved Christmas and that he would make up fun clues for a scavenger hunt for a special gift each year.  Dad liked to spread out the gift giving time as long as he could.  My grandparents lived too far away for us to see everyone all in one day so it was always just the four of us on Christmas.  This is not a tradition I have taken on for my girls as we cram three Christmas’ into one day so time has always been a factor.  This year my youngest asked that I do clues for a gift like Papa.  With this being our first Christmas without our beloved Papa I decided to grant her wish and to make the clues a walk down memory lane as a tribute for Papa!  I thought I would share on the blog for anyone who knew and loved my dad.  It has been helpful in our grief to include his memory and what he stood for on this special day as well.

1. As requested, this is the very beginning of your Christmas mission.  A path that will  involve Papa’s memory to vision.  As you search remember the hunt itself was inspired by this man.  A man who loved Jesus, his family, people, Christmas, and he taught about God’s plan.  The first stop will be something that represents his roots and how he got the “Clark” label.  This stop will become very apparent find it if your able.  The next clue can be found underneath a table.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

These tables were my father’s parents.  He was going to take the wood from these and make gifts in his wood shop from them.  I am getting ready to paint them and give them new life in their original state as tables.

2. Wow you two are pretty swift.  Your next clue can be found with Mom’s last Papa gift.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Just a couple weeks before he passed dad gave my sister and I each a set of these for our birthdays.  He had made the handles from wood from another table of Grandma and Grandpa Clark’s.

3.  This clue my dears was Papa’s guide through his life’s journey as he trod.   I pray that for your lives you also will fully rely on the Word of God.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

This was one of many of my father’s Bibles.

4. Papa was quite the story teller and craftsman that is no fable.  This clue can be found with this forty year old Clark built cradle.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

My father built this cradle for my 2nd Christmas.  He made things to last that is for sure!!

5. This game is serious there is no time for tomfoolery.  Find your next hint with mom’s junk jewelry.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

My jewelry and music box he built when I was a kid.

6. Not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.  Ah but there use to be a lot of noise coming from this little house.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I mentioned the playhouse in the Grief Through the Holiday blog as well.  Built and rehabbed twice by Papa.  Now in the state of needing work again.  About 8 years ago he said this was the last time he was going to fix it up…

7. Thankfully this mission has no threat of danger.   Under a shelter built by Papa you will find the Greatest Gift and True Reason laying in a manger.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Their gifts were found under the stable behind Jesus.  The stable was built by Papa for our outdoor Nativity set.  Gifts are fun, but fleeting.  There is only one gift that lasts for eternity and that is God’s gift of His Son.

My sister had also done a hunt for her children and our youngest made a special clue hunting game for my gift as well.  The gift from my children and husband will be another blog!   Here is a picture of our daughter’s clues!   What a fun way we will remember our beloved Papa on Christmas!  His favorite time of the year!!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Grief and the Holidays

| anitalucascmc

011

For the first time in my life I have been dreading Christmas to a certain extent.  It will be the first Christmas without my father.  My father was Mr. Merry Christmas.  He absolutely loved everything about Christmas and it was the time of year the child in him shone the brightest.  It was very important to him to make sure his wife and daughters had a special Christmas every year even when the budget was very slim.  He always had a mystery gift that he wrote silly rhyming clues for us to follow in our search for this mysterious prize.  He spent hours making gifts in his wood shop and writing his clever clues through the years.

It was extremely important to him for the true reason for the celebration of Christmas to be remembered.  He wore and gave away buttons that said “Keep Christ in Christmas” and “Merry Christmas” on them.  In fact we had instructions to have “Keep Christ in Christmas” carved into his tombstone.  The fact that God so humbly came to this earth as a baby to ultimately die for us to save us from our sins was overwhelmingly awesome to my father.  He would be so giddy, joyful, and generous because of truth in the reason for celebrating Christmas.  It is Jesus’ birthday!!

We are starting some new traditions this year with helping mom carry on dad’s Christmas legacy.  I must admit yesterday when decorating in my own home I felt grumbly and grouchy doing so.  One ornament at a time my youngest daughter and I got it done.  With each ornament there was greater ease in hanging the next.  With grief sometimes it is one breath at a time and in this case it was one ornament at a time.  Today my sister and her family and my family all joined forces to help mom get dad’s outside decorations up and to decorate the inside Christmas tree.  A display for the neighborhood to remember that it is Jesus we celebrate and why.

I sat down to help get ornaments out of boxes for the kids to hang and opened the ornament pictured above.  Inside the box remained the gift tag.  “To: Dad, From:Anita”  The year of the ornament was 1998.  This was the year before Mike and I were married.  Before I even knew I would have two daughters.  I had forgotten all about that ornament and the fact that it was perfect for my dad.  My father had built a little playhouse for my sister and I when we were little girls.  It was made mostly from scrap wood and had gingerbread style décor much like this ornament.  At that time I wouldn’t have known that my father would rehab this little playhouse two more times for my own children.  In the year of 2014 this ornament has even deeper significance.

For families who are grieving it is impossible to fill the missing space that is there.  Lives that make such an impact on their families and circle of influence are never really gone.   Hold your families close and make wonderful memories.  Love and be generous to all people.  Most of all remember that God loved us so much to send His One and Only Son and that is why we celebrate!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”  John 3:16

This everlasting life that God gives is the reason to celebrate Jesus.  Because of Jesus I will get to see my father again!

012

Thankfulness is Protection

| anitalucascmc

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

When we have the spirit of thankfulness we are actually utilizing one of God’s greatest sources of protection from our very own selves.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Be joyful ALWAYS. Pray CONTINUOUSLY; give thanks in ALL circumstances, for this is God’s WILL for you in Christ Jesus.

Have you ever wondered why God wants our thanks?  Does He need it? The one thing I have definitely learned through my walk with Jesus and in studying the bible is that everything He tells us in the word is for our benefit and not His.

When we are truly thankful God protects us from anger and bitterness forming in our souls.

When we are truly thankful we are content.  When we are content in relying on God to provide our needs we are not tempted to covet and to steal.

When we are truly thankful in who God created us to be our self-esteem is reliant on God. When our self-esteem is secured by God then we are not tempted toward all the different sexual sins and lusts to feel desired.  We know that it is God that fulfills us.

When we are truly thankful even in the tough times God protects us from turning to drugs and alcohol to numb the pain.  He provides peace and an elated joy even in our darkest times.  His high is greater than any chemical high and is the only “trip” that can truly satisfy.

There is no deeper sorrow I can imagine than losing a child.  Years ago when I worked at Children’s Hospital there was a young family that had touched my heart.  There were many families that I felt a closeness to.  It was quite easy to find myself growing very attached to the patients and parents in my care.  The young patient was the same age as my oldest and only child at that time. The child often reminded me of my own daughter.  Her little heart was extremely weak and growing weaker.  After many weeks there in the intensive care unit her little heart decided it was time to beat its last.  She was not in my care that day, but when the opportune time came I made my way over to her room to express to the parents how very sorry I was for their great loss.  As I entered the room there sat the mother in the rocking chair holding her precious now lifeless child.  As tears streamed down her face she was praising God.  She exclaimed that she was so blessed to have had this child in her life for the time that she did.  She was so thankful to have gotten to be her mother.  She was so thankful for the care they had received.  As this young mother poured out her praise to God I could feel the presence of God pouring in.  As she poured out thanksgiving He was pouring His love, peace, and joy into her.  God was protecting her heart from anger and bitterness.

As I left the room that day having planned to bring comfort for them I left comforted and thankful.

The spirit of thankfulness is God’s protection against the darkness of this world for us.  It is the greatest protection from temptation and falling victim to dark choices.

So much can be accomplished for the good through having a thankful heart.

So much devastation can happen when anger and bitterness is allowed to take over our choices.

 

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

| anitalucascmc

eve and papa

My mother caught this moment with her phone yesterday and it has stirred tremendous emotion within me from the moment I first laid eyes on the photo.

The man’s face in the photo is my father.  When he died in March the funeral director took a great photo my mom had of my father and she and had it made into a tapestry.  My mom has the tapestry placed on the back of her couch in the center of her home with dad’s face exposed very prominently. The photo of my father was a priceless photo that caught the true essence of the person he was on this earth.  It captures the Christ-like love and joy that poured from his eyes and his life.  It captures the expression he would have had if he were actually there holding his precious little grand daughter.

That day my sweet four year old niece was not feeling well.  My mom cared for her while my sister and brother-in-law were at work.  First they were at my sister’s home and decided to watch the video of pictures of my father from his funeral.  One of my mother’s greatest concerns has been that her grandkids have not had the opportunity to express their grief as his death was such a surprise.  At the time we were all focused on our own personal loss of him.  Grief is different for us all, but we all feel the loss no matter our age or the amount of years spent with the one we love.  Evelyn only had four short years and it is important to us all that she and all the grandkids get to know what an amazing Godly man their Papa was.  Shoot I had 41 years and I still feel like the time was cut way too short.  My mother had 44 1/2 years of marriage to him and longs to have had more time.

Mom and sweet Evelyn then went to my mother’s house for some lunch and to watch a movie.  Evelyn had spent a lot of time there with Papa watching movies and eating popcorn. It was after the movie my mom caught this moment.  She said Evelyn was hugging and had been actually rubbing her hand along my father’s face.  Torn, she decided to go ahead and take a picture of the moment.  The longing in Evelyn’s eyes is priceless.  It makes my heart hurt all over again for our loss.  This picture of Evelyn reflects what is happening with this little girl that is still inside of my 41 year old body.  There are days that I still want to hug my daddy’s face.  There are moments that I want his advice or to just take a long walk looking at God’s creation with him.  Evelyn’s expression doesn’t just capture the emotion of our family, but of all people hurting and missing a loved one.   No matter who we are there is still a sweet little 4 year old within us all that longs for that fatherly love.

Many of us may never get to know the love of a earthly father like I was so blessed with.  This is not a bragging statement, but an acknowledgment of the fact that having a loving father is truly a gift.  More and more are without father’s on this earth.  Ever wonder why the earth is growing more and more evil?  There is a tremendous shortage of loving daddies out there.

This picture brings out the emotion of gratitude within me as well as my grief.  Gratitude for an amazing father and for the time I did have with him on earth.  Also a deeper gratitude for what God did for us by sending Jesus to die on the cross so that we have the opportunity to no longer be separated from our loving Heavenly Father, God, by our sins.  You see no matter what we are dealt in this life, an absentee dad, an abusive dad, or a good dad we all actually have a loving Father.  God longs for our love and He is always waiting with open arms.  He gave us freewill because He wants us to long for Him as well.   To have a relationship means both parties desire to have that closeness and love.  God sent Jesus to bridge the gap that our sin causes so that we can curl up into the loving arms of our Heavenly Father, God.  It is moments of pain like missing my earthly father so much that I feel the presence of God so deeply.  He gives me eternal perspective and fills my heart with such joy, peace, love, and compassion for this world I live in.  All attributes that don’t flow from me they are only attributes that come from a perfect, Holy, almighty, all-powerful, creator, God.

I am also reminded that for the follower of Jesus death is not the end.  It is the beginning of true life.  I can say with BOLD confidence that I know for sure my father is in heaven.  I can say with BOLD confidence that I know I will one day be there too and see my dad again.  Oh how amazing that day will be to get to thank Jesus face to face for giving LIFE!!!!

Emotional Roller Coaster

| anitalucascmc

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

What a day it has been for emotions.  Last night as I went to bed I felt such a burden for all the victims of evil.  With all the beheadings and shootings it really seems like the respect of life itself across the entire world is quickly slipping away.

When I woke this morning one of the first posts I saw as I checked into social media news was that a friend and her son had come upon a terrible car accident right after it happened and shared that they had stopped to help.  We went on to my daughters soccer game and after we arrived I checked my phone for messages.  The first thing I saw was that a friend I had graduated with from high school had died in a car accident.  It was the same accident that my friend and son had stopped at the scene to help.  For the sake of privacy for all friends involved I don’t want to share any more details other than my friend in the accident left behind very young children and a husband.  The soccer game became background noise as communication was made to connect families so that the husband could have some questions answered and some closure.

My nerves rattled we then sped home after the game to go to my mothers to join my sister and her family to celebrate my mom’s birthday.  Her first birthday without my dad here to celebrate with her.  We did a little work for her in the yard that included dismantling my dad’s garden.  We planted it for her this year, but she really didn’t have the time or need for it as that was always my dad’s thing.  So we said yet another goodbye so it seemed today.

One of my dearest life long friends attended her 10th annual Leukemia and Lymphoma walk as a survivor of Leukemia.  Usually we walk with her, but the schedule conflicts did not allow this year.  For my friend it was also the wedding anniversary she and her late husband shared.  Another classmate that we lost too soon he to the thief of cancer.

It was our oldest daughters first homecoming dance this evening and the emotions shifted upward to see our daughter and her friends becoming such wonderful and beautiful young ladies.  My mind kept going back to classmates of my own now gone with the shock of latest loss so new.

My heart felt heavy for some friends who lost their teenage daughter just last fall in a car accident and tonight would have been her senior year homecoming.

LIFE…every single event and emotion today was LIFE.  A life worth living.  A life worth preserving and respecting.  A life full of ups and downs.  A life full of sadness and joys. What so many in this world believe they have the right to steal from others. Spewing out the most lame excuses and rants as to why they are justified to take the life of another human being.

There are still people in this world who respect and cherish every life and every breath no matter how they believe or the color of their skin.  There are still people who FEEL and LOVE other human beings!!  All of us who love life need to come together and pray to God who gave us life for his healing and protection from evil.  God loves our lives so much to knit us in our mother’s womb and to plan our purpose.  God loves us so much to send His Son to die for us so that we may have eternal LIFE.  Eternity is nothing we can earn it is only by God’s grace, love and mercy.  Love LIFE!!!

Psalm 139: 13-16 “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. “

What is Behind the Sirens?

| anitalucascmc

How often do we ignore the sirens of first responder vehicles?   How often are we completely annoyed in having to pull off the road to let these vehicles pass?  How often do we think of the reason and the lives behind the sirens?   Some topics are more difficult to write about than others.  It is definitely a defense mechanism of my own to try to forget and ignore what might make me melt into a blubbering mess.  After all my children need a strong mother, my patients and coworkers need a happy hard worker, our church needs happy faces and strong singing voices leading worship and teaching, etc…  There often is very little time to grieve and be alone in one’s thoughts in such a fast paced world that never stops.

About a month ago as I was driving to my mother’s home I passed an ambulance with its sirens and lights blaring.  The significance was that it passed me on the same road and in the same section of the road that the ambulance that carried my father had passed me.  As I pulled over to the side of the road in the same spot I had on March 11th my heart jumped to my throat in the same way it had on that dreaded day.  On the day my father passed I happened to be on the phone with a life long friend who has had more than her fair share of life’s pain. She had returned my call after I left a voicemail asking her for prayer.   As the ambulance passed I remember crying out “That’s my dad in there!”

The day my dad went to heaven as the ambulance passed my vehicle the sirens signified a change in life for my family.  As a medical worker there has always been significance in the sirens to me, but it is always deeper when they represent change in one’s own life.  When a medical helicopter is coming or going from the hospital there is a family in pain, when an ambulance, police car, or a fire truck has sirens blaring there is a family in pain.

Why do I feel led to write this today?  I never really know why God puts certain topics and verses on my heart.  We live in a hurting world that seems to show less and less love and compassion.  Maybe it is a reminder for myself and anyone who reads to pray.  Pray when we see an emergency vehicle, pray for the first responders, pray for the families that evil is directly impacting across our world, pray for God’s peace, pray for God’s wisdom, and pray for a troubled world to seek Jesus.  The day my dad died it hurt for us here and changed our way of life especially my mother’s.  It was a day of victory as well.  You see because he knew Jesus as his Lord and Savior he is in heaven today.   I pray for our world to know that hope and to know the One that is truly the answer to every problem and trouble.  Jesus is the answer for the world.

1 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

Don’t forget the Diet Coke

| anitalucascmc

tears
The way God stirs a person’s heart for a ministry and starts to lay the foundation for this work is utterly amazing. Some of the greatest ministries have come through hardship, pain, and loss. So many foundations are started from pain of the loss of a loved one. Awareness crusades against drunk driving and drugs. Many safety rules, regulations, and safer products have come from those who have lost someone tragically pushing to prevent others from sharing their same grief. It seems as though at this point in time God is leading me to minister to those who are grieving out of my very own grief. Loss of someone you love through death is not necessarily the only cause to grieve. A break in a relationship of any kind will stir grief. Many times there is grief for the loss of health long before a person takes their final breath. Teenage girls and boys go through the stages of grief especially with the first break ups as they start to date and experience young love. Any changes in life can bring about a certain level of grief as the old patterns and familiarity pass away. Grief knows no social, economic, cultural, religious, language, or ethnic barriers. The basic human needs and emotions are the same for all of us.

I was reminded today of the sting that grief brings shopping at the grocery store for a family get together. A bad habit, but my father loved to drink caffeine free Diet Coke. This was a habit I had harassed him to change for a long time. With family parties I still would make sure I bought his favorite soda to drink. At the store I walked past Coke products and the thought “Oh I need to get dad his caffeine free Diet Coke!” fleeted through my mind. As I walked up to the bottles of Coke products my heart sank as I realized that there was no need. Memories of him had been flooding my mind more today than usual. I had not consciously thought of the fact that it was four months ago today that he died, but apparently my subconscious was very aware.

The fact that we all experience grief reminds me that even people that are hard to love may be going through an incredible silent pain. The fact that we all grieve reminds me to have more patience and compassion. The fact that we all grieve reminds me to smile and encourage others more. There are no levels to the experience of loss and each person will experience it in their own way. It is not fair for us to ever think that someone else has a “piece of cake” life because none of us are immune to loss.
As I mentioned in the beginning that some of the greatest ministries of God’s love have come from loss. The greatest ministry being that of His own Son Jesus. Jesus came to this earth fully God and yet fully human. He lived a sinless life. He took the payment of all of our sins on the cross. He grieved in His walk on this earth, he demonstrated tremendous grief as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, and His greatest grief was at the point on the cross where all the sins of all of mankind were laid upon Him suffering complete separation from God the Father at this point in time. His pain and grief led to His resurrection three days later which leads to the most beautiful promise of love, hope, and redemption fathomable. God’s greatest gift is the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Oh yes we will suffer pain, loss, and grief, but for those who put their faith in Jesus there is indescribable beauty waiting on the other side!!!!!!
1Peter 3:18 “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit”

1John 3:5 “You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.”

John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,”

Isaiah 53:5 “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”

John 10:17-18 “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”

John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

Matthew 26-39 “And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.” And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”

Matthew 27:46 “About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).”

What Would Your Fifty to One Hundred Pictures Be?

| anitalucascmc

dad in mickey ears

When my father died this spring it was a completely unexpected death. One of the first things we needed to do when making arrangements for his funeral was to gather pictures. The funeral director we worked with has a picture video made up for the family of the deceased that plays during the visitation time of the funeral. He asked us to bring in 50 to 100 pictures with the maximum up to around 150. Immediately my mother, sister, and I started thinking of significant events and pictures that would most represent the life of my father. It was hard to narrow it down. His life illuminated joy in so many ways. Most funerals I have attended there are picture boards, albums, and/or a video to view to provide a small glimpse of the life we have gathered to mourn the loss of. The pictures often provide healing as they bring remembrance of the blessing this person’s life has been to us. Pictures allow the mourning to turn to celebration and reflection. Many times the pictures will bring a smile or laughter as the memories of the loved one come alive.

As I think of my father, other family members, friends, and church family who have gone on home to Jesus there are pictures that flash into my own memory. Not physical pictures, but the image of their smile, the sound of their laugh, the sound of their voice, significant acts of kindness given to a young girl, and kindnesses shared even into my adulthood. So many loving saints that have formed me into the person I am today.
The memories flooding my mind of loved ones who have passed have gotten me to thinking about these pictures. What pictures will I leave for my family? What joys and moments are significant enough to them to make up the picture board or video? What mental images will flood their minds when remembering my life?

Will the pictures of our lives be of joy, kindness, love, understanding, forgiveness, selflessness, faithfulness, peace, gentleness, self-control, and goodness? Or when others think of our life on earth will there be the remembrance of selfishness, hatred, bitterness, and anger? There are people who have gone on that the latter is what I remember of their life. To remember someone in this manner brings a tremendous feeling of sadness for a life wasted. Thankfully there are very few individuals that I have to remember this way.

Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

There is no better way for a life to be pictured than God’s way!! This is what I want my 50-100 pictures to represent. What are your 50-100 pictures?