Even in times of sorrow can come happiness and good things. Love the song by Laura Story, called ‘Blessings’…..
”what if these blessings come through raindrops what if your healing comes through tears what if a thousand sleepless nights are enough to know you’re near….”
Wow…September isn’t even over yet and it’s already been an eventful one. Full of ups and downs. September marks the beginning of Autumn, the start of new school years and a month of remembrance for the past decade. Many beginnings and endings to the many chapters of our lives. Though the end of every chapter brings a new beginning to another chapter and a new beginning brings new experiences and many many new adventures!
The beginning of September brought a great Labor Day with many family and friends. My cousin had been down for the past couple of months and we had several friends over for dinner. It was so wonderful to be able to spend time with family that I never get to see or don’t get to see that often. That Monday brought many smiles. My cousin had fixed my guitar in the past month so I could start practicing on it more and he was willing to help me learn some more about the guitar to become better at it. I was so excited to be able to learn more.
Well, as September pressed on and 9/11 was approaching and this being the 10 year anniversary of that unforgettable tragedy that struck NYC and the east coast. I will never forget that day! I still remember waking up to the news that morning (before 6am west coast time) and watching the two planes hit the twin towers and seeing them collapse. I remember crying my eyes out that whole day. Even watching the news in my Geography class (so grateful for only one class that day), in the whole room there wasn’t a dry eye in the place. We will remember! It’s amazing the things that we will never forget!
Well, remembering that morning as well, this year is when we discovered that my cousin, had recently passed away early that morning. A day where it was a great comfort to have most of the family get in their cars and make the trip to be with each other that day and comfort one another. While many other family members were making plane reservations that day to fly in just to be around family, even the ones that couldn’t make the trip were all with us all in spirit and prayers. It’s so great to feel blessed to have a great family that God has provided!
It was so great to be able to have my cousin around for these past few months and being able to talk to him, more than we have before. We will all miss him so much and have treasured the time that we had with him this summer!
But, even though we have times of tears and sorrow, there is a greater joy that comes from MY Heavenly Father. Being able to be apart of a new church plant…is simply amazing! I am so blessed to be apart of an amazing Family of God! Granted it’s not the easiest road to take and the path seems rough at times and we feel we just can’t take it anymore. But, when we can reach those people who have been turned off church or other religious paraphernalia, it’s totally worth it to be able to show them the true and everlasting LOVE of Christ! If we can show the kindness and love of that Christ has to offer in our smiles and in our actions and in OUR FAITH…we can give a whole new meaning to the name “Christian.” We can show people what it really means to be a Christian and me totally and completely in love with Christ…with “no strings attached.” He can lift our burdens and be with us during our pain and wipe away our tears, when we go through a life-changing time in our lives. God is with us! Just ask….it’s LIFE-CHANGING! 
Our church has recently relocated into a commercial building in North Modesto. We’ve been working to fix up and prepare the building for our services to be held. We will soon be able to be a “mobile church” being able to have our worship services anywhere we feel led to worship and share this amazing love inside of us to those who haven’t heard! This new adventure is exciting to see what God has in store for us here with The Beacon.
I’ve been totally blessed this past month to be able to call on the friends that God has provided me as well here. Being able to call friends up and go to a random movie in the middle of the week, just because I need to be with friends, makes me incredibly grateful for the people that God has provided to comfort me. Whether it’s going to a movie or circling Modesto for a place open after 10pm and ending up at Denny’s. To be able to hang out and just talk is something that is so wonderful to be able to have friends that share similar interest with each other!
Grace and Peace to YOU and Blessings!!!!