Dear Mom,
Thank you for giving me life. Thank you for being an involved parent. Thank you for loving me with all your heart. Thank for you taking me to church when I was
young and sending me to a Catholic school.
Thank you for loving my children and being an involved grandparent. Thank you for always traveling to the
grandkids’ games to see them play their sports and watch their school
events. Thank you for sending them
letters in the mail when we lived far apart.
God created us, knows us and loves
us. He has a plan for us and guides us
with love and grace. It is a privilege
to live this life, to come to know Christ and to have the opportunity to serve
Him. I would not be who I am today
without Him. I would not survive the
death of Carter without Him. By
accepting Christ and asking Him to teach me His ways, I am able to find peace in
a very hard world. I am able to find joy
and give praise for His blessings every day through the pain. God is faithful.
We are all here to become more
Christ-like. Difficult circumstances
like trials, suffering, pain, illness, create a change in us --- compassion,
patience, faithfulness, etc. You know
what it is like to suffer daily with a chronic illness. My own personal trials and suffering has
developed patience and faithfulness. It
is awareness for me that my concerns here and now matter so little compared to
my eternal life to come. This has
changed the way I live, and as our family focuses on our life for Christ, we
long to be in our eternal Home and live forever with Him. This allows us to know and feel joy in the
midst of sorrow, pain and worry. I pray
that you can feel the same through your suffering. This change allows us to live with a grateful
heart – to give thanks in all circumstances.
To praise God in all circumstances that God fulfills His promises, He is
faithful, His grace is sufficient and our eternal life is assured. We are thankful for you!
I always knew there was a God. I did not grow and long to know Him until I
thought about what I wanted for my own children. At the age of 27, I started reading the Bible
and developed a relationship with a living,
loving God. Since then, we incorporate
Jesus into our daily life and thoughts.
We speak His name from the time we get up in the morning until we go to
bed at night. We have a son and brother
to Bradley that lives with Jesus, and we all look forward to the day when we
are together again. We live a life of
prayer to the One who gave His life for us. Heaven is real! The joys of heaven will more than compensate
for the difficulties of earth. We pray
for you every day and give praise for the time that we are able to spend with
you.
“For his Spirit joins with our
spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.
And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of
God’s glory. But if we are to share his
glory, we must also share his suffering.
Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal
to us later.” Romans 8:16-18
I love you,
Nicole
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------Click on the link below to listen to "Overflow" by Chris Tomlin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEST3lChIv4
Carter making Grandma Deb her walking stick - September, 2010
