Category: Personal Testimonies

Those of you reading this have made it to 2021, surviving a pandemic and alive to tell the story! Happy New Year and praise God we are here! TREES OF HOPE 2021! Last year I wrote a blog entitled Your Unwritten Goals preceding the 2020 pandemic. I had no idea what we would face, but I urged us to be open and flexible to what unexpected goals we would encounter; I guess it was somewhat prophetic! Who expected the entire country or world for that matter, to begin some form of homeschooling?! I think most parents didn’t have that on their agendas, nor did we realize how much our daily routines and livelihoods would transform. Some people and businesses may have accomplished more than they dreamed while others have lost…

The holidays are upon us! Christmas and ringing in the new year with family and friends is a magical season. Make no mistake, this year is starkly different. The traditional gatherings have been almost non-existent between family and friends due to this Covid Christmas. Our house, which is usually a revolving door of Christmas visitors, has been shut tightly for now. Even so, I find myself once again desperate for more PEACE and JOY. How can this be, even in the midst of Covid simplicity? Nevertheless, internal panic erupts while I simultaneously try to press on in my own strength. Every day: STOP (what you are doing). SEE (His creation). BE (still): STOP. SEE. BE. "How can I be such a failure?" runs through my mind. "I should have had…

Yesterday was another birthday for me! I got up early and went on a jog. I felt my body responding, finally, after nine months of not being able to run. The thought came into my mind: I'm feeling more like "myself." Just as quickly as that thought entered, I realized being a runner was part of how I defined ME and my identity. Me at 38! I then began to reflect on the local woman in Buffalo who was struck at full speed by a police SUV months ago, and is currently a quadriplegic. I pondered the person she was and contemplated the contrast with the circumstances and physical limitations she is now enduring. In extreme cases, such as hers, when your "identity" seems to be stripped away, what is…

My heart is now broken. Why did it take so long for me to GRIEVE for humanity? I was numb when the coronavirus spread through China, intrigued and concerned when it made its way here, and now that the death toll will be “good” if it hits 100,000-200,000 cases in our country: devastated and emotionally overwhelmed. It finally HIT HOME in more ways than one. The numbers are daunting and chilling. The president of the United States reported that we will be saving at least a million lives potentially if we continue the measures in place. There is no doubt that COVID-19 is a pandemic of epic proportions. Paradise Park in Cuenca, Ecuador Though the coronavirus was on the news, it had not yet made its way around the world.…

The day of the accident she came. Out of nowhere her arms enveloped my weak and broken body when I couldn’t move. Reassurance had arrived, love from God above. The kids were okay, I couldn’t believe it, but there I was lying in the street. I cried out, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, help me!” She echoed every one of my pleas with her own calming voice. The noise of the ambulance, the crowd, the stares, nothing mattered in the next few moments apart from her embrace: her face behind me, her arms around me. My sweat was no deterrent to the many motherly kisses she planted on my head. “I have to go now,” she said, “I am picking someone up. He is with you.” I had to get a glimpse…

a few days before surgery with my dear husband The day of my ankle surgery last month my husband and I got there before 6 a.m., early as recommended. We checked in and took our seats in a waiting room full of people. I was in a wheelchair and across the way an older woman, let's call her "Elaine," was using a walker. We exchanged a few words with her and then, very promptly, a door opened at the far corner of the room; my name was called along with hers. Two hospital personnel accompanied us, initially focusing on holding the door for me because of my condition with two ankle injuries in a wheelchair. However, the attention quickly shifted to Elaine who had arrived alone. "Is anyone here to…