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We are blessed when we have people in our lives who teach us lessons which impact our lives. We are beyond blessed when the person teaching us those life impacting lessons also happens to be your mom.

I am one of those persons who is beyond blessed.

Truly.

I always knew as a kid she was special as my friends always loved her. And this is saying something, as she also worked in my school! Now as an adult, I am coming to appreciate the depth of her character in leaps and bounds.

Mom possesses this amazing ability to look beyond circumstances to the good. It is not the same as positive thinking. Mom always frames it within the context of God’s goodness and His ability to get us through all things.

Over the years as difficulties hit, I have heard her say {countless times}, “This time tomorrow {{or next week or next month}} it will all be over (or finished or accomplished}.” She always helped us to see that in God’s time, He would get us through the situation and it would become a part of our past. She made us realize there is no situation which God cannot change – in His time, in His way. Our part was to hold on.

It was a perspective which looked beyond – beyond what was occurring, beyond the pain, beyond the difficulty to the possibility of what lay waiting for us.

Beyond, as defined by dictionary.com >> “on, at, or to the farther side of; farther on than; more distant than.” But I stopped in my tracks as I read this one >> “outside the understanding, limits, or reach of, past.”

In the middle of those definitions, I found the truth mom already knew –

When life is beyond our comprehension, beyond our endurance, beyond anyone’s ability to help – we look beyond to Him.

These last few months, mom and I have shared some life experiences which we never would have, or could have, anticipated. Each time we leave the house, one of us says to the other, “We’re going on our adventure for the day.” {{smile and laughter follows}} And it truly has been an adventure to which our God has been more than faithful to us.

You may be wondering why I am sharing so much about my mom. To answer that, I must tell you she is the most incredible woman and today is her birthday.

Her 80th to be exact!!!

God has not only blessed her with long life but with a sharp mind which is still intact, a love for my dad and our family which is fierce, a sense of humor which keeps us all laughing till our eyes squirt and our sides hurt. She has more wisdom and understanding in her small five foot frame than a room full of people put together.

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Happy Birthday, Mom! There will never be words to express the depth of my love for you. You truly are the greatest influence in my life as you have always pointed me to Jesus. You never gave me permission to give up or lose hope. Your faith and trust in God has been contagious for which I will forever be grateful. Thank you for continually being a living example of looking beyond!

“I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
(Psalm 121:1-2, NIV)

 

Today I am joining … Tell His Story and Three Word Wednesday and Wedded Wednesday and Works for Me and Coffee & Conversation and Women With Intention .