Strength

What’s Important this Christmas?

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What’s Important? Knowing Jesus. You might be rolling your eyes at this point, I get that. You might want to click escape and erase these sentences from your mind. But they will stick, because Jesus gently calls, consistently calls and guides us whether we like it, want it or think we need it 🙂 He is LOVE, love calls to the dark parts, the holes deep within that we try to fill with so many other things.

What’s important? Who’s important this Christmas? Might be a better question.

I’ve been in survival mode for awhile now, healing really, becoming, reclaiming what I thought was lost and realizing it wasn’t really lost at all. I was in a ‘pause’ mode for a year. A year of solitude and literal silence.

A year ago, last Christmas I was in the grips of a deep, survival struggle. 

I began this 50newbeginnings site in December 2013. Ten years to date, writing each year, adding pages and stories, chapter books in edit form, sharing my life with a world I did not know and may never know. You might be reading this thinking – where is she going with this post? Hang in there with me!

December 2013 I held my breath and began this website journey with a Christmas snap shot of my family’s traditions and moments of sacred community. Last year, the ninth year, I was silent, I was silent for more months than I would like to admit. Not only in writing but also in communicating, strengths and freedoms had become difficult and physically painful. My life stripped down to the daily check off list so I would and could remember what I had accomplished. Hours segmented and ordered with repetition to rebuild the synapses connecting thoughts and motions in my brain that had been changed. I was rebuilding, or maybe just building.

This Christmas 2023 I begin again the journey of sharing and being known through words and thoughts.

Today I choose to share a message of HOPE for all of you reading this today – what ever day it is.
The bottom line?
Don’t give up!

Healing comes in surprise packages and sometimes in ways we do not see nor do we recognize. I’m learning another name for healing is growth. Like a plant when it is pruned and shaped by a Master Gardner, so I too, am shaped each day by my Maker, the God and only creator of the Universe, his son Jesus, guides my path – through the thick and thin of life – through times of change and drastic ‘make-overs’ not unlike the type accomplished at a SPA 🙂 and similar in purpose. A pause, a buffing, moisturizing applied to dry spots, steaming out the impurities of the flesh and renewing with moments of rest whether by message, quiet meditation or listening to music. My soul needed a re-set just as the break provided at said SPA experiences. 

I’m not the person I was a year ago, or even yesterday, that is healthy!

It is as it is supposed to be, growing, and expanding, learning from mistakes. Each day becomes a battle for me even yet, life is not easy, nor should it be. Struggles build us, mold us, teach us what we need to know.

Who we need to know.

Why we need to know.

Jesus is the way the truth and the life, waiting for you, calling you to come. 

Hear His voice calling you to come, receive His love purchased by dying on a cross to take all the guilt and sin in your life upon Himself, to make the way clear to Himself. No barriers, no need to do a better job, no need to try to be perfect in your own strength but become excellent receivers of HIS strength, HIS power, HIS joy – receiving and giving hope in the deepest, darkest pit of separation from the Living God, the one who created you, the one who calls you with the HOPE of eternal life of peace, no suffering, no more crying no more pain. In this world we will have all of those things, but Jesus showed us the way. God becoming human, knowing and experiencing life outside of heaven. Jesus stands in heaven now, beside the Father God, reminding God the Father of the price HE paid, to cover and cleanse our souls so we could

Know WHO is important this Christmas. Jesus.

He came to His own people and His own people rejected Him, but to anyone – anyone – who believes in His name, that He is the Son of the Living God, to this person He will give eternal life.

don’t miss the WHY of Christmas -learning of the one who loves you

don’t miss the WHAT of Christmas-the fact that Jesus is your ticket to eternal living life abundantly

don’t miss the WHO of Christmas – Jesus

In the Bible, different versions use language that describes and tells the story – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, found in the middle of the collection of stories are a great place to start, they told His story – THE Story of Jesus, come to earth for YOU and ME.  The other books point to Jesus’ coming and how God tried for so many centuries to love a people that did not understand Him, Jesus came so we could SEE the Father God’s love for us. 

For God so loved the world that he gave is only son, Jesus, that whoever believes in Him will not die to an eternal place of separation from God, but that they would have eternal life WITH God – beginning NOW with the step of belief.  (John 3:16 in The Bible)

What’s Important THIS Christmas? Knowing that Jesus is waiting just for you, completely seeing and hearing your cries for something more in this life here on earth and offering so much more beyond what we see and hear. Believe. Receive His love. Read His story in the Bible.

The Best Thing

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November 3, 2022 – Positive Thots =

I Just Don’t Remember quite right…

This is a good thing and a bad thing.

There are things that happen, or things that are said that it is a wonderful new skill to actually not remember!!!

Not be responsible to be the ‘brain of the household’ knowing where all items are located at all times, for all purposes.

Not the ‘housewife’ just a wife that lives in a house. – there IS a difference folks!

Not to be the encyclopedia of answers or know all the conversations that happen within the space of an evening – IF the TV is running non-stop in the background.

AND

Not being able to cook, carry on two conversations, make sure the cat is fed and has water, while the TV is playing my favorite movie – well folks my brain has a dickens of a time switching from one thing to another quickly, well actually switching at all from one thing to another – no go friend :(. So…no go on doing more than one thing at a time! Multi-tasking? Huh? Nope? Ain’t happening! 🙂

Then… that still, tiny, worry voice crops up from the bottom of my heart and says, “Stacey, will you ever be able to be ‘you’ again?” Answer: NO

TRUTH: No one person is the same from day to day.

I have just gone from my zany self to a very simple, one track minded person, and even then the one track gets easily de-railed. “Choo Choo, I think I can” story = comes to mind and off I go on another train of mind – literally (good grief:).

I smile at myself. And giggle. Then silence, my mind goes blank and nothing brings back what was supposed to come next – even if I rest – it is just gone, lost, and now I think that is probably a good thing?

In all this… I find the grace that is needed, from the source that is perfect and full of everything I need. The source of all things, the creator, the redeemer and my friend = Jesus. (Bible)

It’s a good place to be right now… Healing from a head trauma 🙂
Stacey

Past the Place of Struggle

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By Stacey Britton | April 12, 2019 | Journal Entry

I literally have no words

for the struggles that I’m walking through right now.

That is probably why I haven’t written in a while.

I’m here.

In the midst of the dark night of the soul.

It is silent, I am silent.

I’m waiting for the dawn of understanding and a ray of morning hope.

I am waiting for words.

***

Keeping traveling friend, you are not alone.

-Stacey

Perspective

January 1, 2016 Perspective


Christmas Eve was rather unusual in our home this year. It was rather uncomfortable for me, but necessary conversations and needed words were exchanged in emotionally packed ways. As I said – necessary and healing.

I like ritual, mine of course, and ritual went out the window that evening, so as I said it was rather uncomfortable for me – I wasn’t in charge I’ll admit it, I’m a little bit of a control freak.

I saw them parade across my screen, the beautiful happy faces, perfect trees and lovely set tables. My holiday expectations. Perspective and expectations tend to go hand in hand. Therefore I was discouraged, I was focusing on the wrong things. I didn’t focus on the strength of character it took to confront and bring front and center those things that everyone knew about.

The elephant in the room was exposed, it only took about 15 minutes but it rattled me, we didn’t do my precious rituals, in exchange we showed our love towards each other through honesty – male version (I’m the only female besides the dog and she wasn’t saying much) I’ve lived around guys most of my life, brutal honesty, yup that is what it was. They ended the conversation, cool with it all, we passed around the packages and not much more was said because of my husbands expert handling a mess turned into a blessed lesson. Peace reigned victorious.

BUT…
IN MY HEAD I was freaking out, “We didn’t do, We didn’t say, we didn’t read, we didn’t do it MY WAY.” I was shocked into silence, except the shouting in my head, “MY Christmas Eve is ruined and my nerves are shot.” I smiled on the outside because I truly knew we needed to have the conversation, it was the timing I didn’t agree with and because of that judgement I have struggled with that ‘reality’ until tonight.

Tonight, when my perspective CHANGED…
As part of my prayer time, oh yes I am SO holy – I need to pray more because I need to change more (smile). Please don’t judge me too harshly, I digress. This thought came to me, Stacey write down ten things that you invested into your children. I began to cry, it was so easy to write ten wonderful qualities that I see in my children, ones they have because of my influence on their life. The influence that was in my life because of what had been given to me. I still cried, tears, snot, blowing my nose – it wasn’t pretty, my judgement wasn’t pretty, my perspective focused on the wrong things.

A gentle, but very persistent impression that my perspective needed to change, that instead of looking at the things that I wanted changed or wished were different, I needed to open my eyes to the very precious gift, the most important gifts: honesty, trust, reconciliation, clarity true love in action – my children and husband knew how to fight, make up and hand out packages all in the space of 30 minutes flat – cool!

I have so much to be thankful for, I am so grateful that my view of a few minutes in time changed forever the perspective I have of who I am as a mother, who my children are and who my family has become as one team.

All the mess and the muck came Christmas Eve and delivered to us Peace on Earth Good Will Towards Men – literally.

(PS I am not suggesting that we should wait until Christmas Eve to ‘get things straight…’ and my husband and I are a team, his input into the boy’s lives has been monumental)

http://bit.ly/1YWevAE elephant pic site

End of Day

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This picture is displayed on my computer screen, each day I look at it but I don’t take time to contemplate why I chose the picture and what it means to me.

Today I stopped, looked at the wooden walkway over the water, the beauty of the sunset and towering mountains in the background and immediately thought, “Don’t walk off the end!” and “No, if I walk off the end Jesus will catch me or I’ll walk on water.”

In this context the picture means ‘trust’ and is a call to trust when logic would tell me I  cannot walk on water, nor will Jesus catch me. (Matt. 14:22-33) Therein lies faith and hope, faith that the Lord is true to His word and hope that what we cannot see is more real than what we perceive with our eyes. These are deep concepts from a simple glance and stare at a picture.

I don’t want to be assumptive of the Lord in the fact that I would walk on water, simply if the Lord asked me to come to him and I needed to walk on water to obey His command – then of course He would provide a way. In this trust, obedience, hope and faith mingle together, along with the relationship build on hearing and recognizing His voice. (John 10:25-30)

The life of faith is not easy, nor is it too difficult, God the master teacher knows exactly what we are able to accomplish with His help and strength. He is our creator, provider and the lifter of our heads. (Genesis 1:1; Psalm 34; Psalm 139) He is God, my lack of faith reveals my lack of trust in a perfect provider God. Even in the position of needing to trust- He meets us to help us when we call out to him (Psalm 18:6)  in humble recognition that we are not sufficient- but in Him we are completely sufficient when we ask and are willing to receive His help. (Romans 16:2)

I gaze into the picture and continue to contemplate: Is it only in the sunset of our days that we realize how intimately caring our God is towards us? How the sacrifice of the birth and the suffering of the cross are both redemptive acts for the hearts and souls of humankind? (John 3:16) That our God, the only God, is very much aware of our desperate need of Him. That it is that deep cries to deep (Psalm 42:7) when our soul is vexed within us and peace is not to be found, only do we locate complete peace when we find our home and being in a supreme God, the maker of the Universe? (Isaiah 26:3)

What do I see in the pictured wooden walkway, wooden end with a lake of water and with an end of day sunset? I see hope and beauty. I see faith, trust, obedience, submission and strength. Most of all I see a place of the redemptive work of God, a place and scene that seems at its finish but truly representing a beginning. A place to sit in peace, rest in His handiwork and know that I am fully loved because I am fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12-13)

-Stacey Britton
December 28, 2015 Journal Entry