A Soft Gentle Voice

Crowdsourcing> What would you say to your 13 year old self (especially if you were 13 years old in our current culture) regarding finding and being a true friend? I would appreciate your input!

Three years ago today, tears streamed down my cheeks and yellow ribbons strung on trees welcomed us...home. I walked forward, one small step at a time, and came home to be with my family after high-risk open heart surgery. We wrapped our arms around each other and tasted the goodness of the Lord and clung to His promises. My broken heart had failed me, my steps had faltered, my beating heart was stopped and pieced together to beat longer, louder. One step away from death. ... But, my God is always faithful, His grace is overflowing, His love is never ending, His mercy endures forever, His promises will never fail. He is near to the broken-hearted. Praise His name. See more

When I sit at the potter’s wheel, when I hold a lump of clay in my hands, I recognize that I have more in common with the lump of clay being transformed into something beautiful than with the potter holding the spinning clay with tender care and a gentle strength in his hands. I have had a taste of what it is to be a potter. As my friends gathered in the little pottery workshop we recognized, with gratitude, that we are the clay that is sovereignly held in the hands of the Po...tter. There can only be one potter at the wheel. {http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca///in-potters-hand.html}

When I sit at the potters wheel, when I hold a lump of clay in my hands, I recognize that I have more in common with the lump of clay being transformed into something beautiful than with the potter holding the spinning clay with tender care and a gentle strength in his hands. I have had a taste of what it is to be a potter. As my friends gathered in the little pottery workshop we recognized, with gratitude, that we are the clay that is sovereignly held in the hands of the Po...tter. There can only be one potter at the wheel. {http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca///in-potters-hand.html}

Thirty-eight years ago the doctors found a sarcoma right beside my heart. Three years ago doctors rebuilt my heart, but they didnt think I would wake up that night after the surgery. For three years now my heart ticks loud like a clock in my chest. I can hear it keep time with a steady beat as if to remind me every moment of the day. Before God had created the world, He knew my every heartbeat. He knows my days. By grace, He has brought me back to Himself and with His steadf...ast love will lead me all the days of my life. http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//dont-forget-things-yo

It is after the storm passes. When the howling wind that pierced the heart hushes. The surging waves that smashed life to bits become still. And you realize you made it; you lived through it all. You survived. You are still standing. That is when it hit me. Before the wild storm I thought I had living figured out--until life was almost snuffed out. I fought and thrashed and floundered. Fought to live for my husband. Fought to live for my children. But when I had fought long ...and hard enough to keep on living, the frailty of life was too real and I became lost. Lost in the land of the living. (For the rest: http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca/20//held-in-storm.html)

Our children, especially today, need a nourishing feast set before them. The distractions are crushing, the amount of processed information is devastating, and all the while attentions spans are dwindling, and real learning is declining. It is up to us to present a feast, but it is the work of the child to deal with the idea . . . Real learning in life comes from relationship; build up these relationships. Invest in the atmosphere in which your children live and learn, lay down the discipline of life-giving habits, and nourish your childs mind with rich ideas. https://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//cultivating-life-lon

The discipline of habits is vital in the education of a child. Like a three-legged stool, the formation of habits nurtures the child toward growth along with atmosphere and feeding the mind with living ideas. How do we lay down these rails on which the child can live out his or her life? How do the parent and teacher use the discipline of habits to encourage growth and development of the body, mind, and soul? We start small and we build up . . . ... https://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//cultivating-life-lon

We, as parents, teachers, home educators, grand parents, have the power to help our children by investing in an environment that fosters questions, cultivates wonder, exercises the mind and nurtures the heart. If we have the power to help, we also have the power to hinder with an environment that stifles questions, chokes wonder, starves the mind, and damages the heart. What is the atmosphere in your home? What rules your life? For what are you reaching? Children need to lea...rn respect, responsibility, and resourcefulness more than they need standardized testing. Children need to learn attentiveness, obedience, and truthfulness. Children need to become critical and creative thinkers. {For more on 'Education is an Atmosphere', you are welcome to join me here as we continue to work it out in our home: https://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//cultivating-life-lon}

When times are turbulent and trials rise up, look to God and His attributes. Three years ago, as I laid myself down on the operating table the cords of death confronted me. As I woke up from open-heart surgery, torrents of distress assaulted me. My heart had been broken. But, God was near. Three years ago, I walked through the valley and narrowly escaped death. I walked through upheaval and God set it right. I walked in weakness and God gave strength. I walked through confus...ion and God brought comfort. I walked through loneliness and God was near. I walked through depression and God heard my cry. I walked through fear and God was with me. https://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//when-knife-of-heaven

We watched a cicada crawl across the grass after it burst out of its old shell last week. Sadness hung in the air as we witnessed the struggle it endured to unfurl its wings and when the wings failed to stretch open we knew there was no way it could live without those wings taking flight. Mom?, my girl queried, can I take this old skin and put it on the nature table? And she ran in and cupped it like it was costly treasure, with great care, she set it with other little m...arvels we have found in this great world God has made: shells, fossils, bark, big-leaf maple leaves and fungi, nests, and feathers. As children, the world is full of wonder to be discovered. When the time and opportunity is given, children will explore the wonders all around them. They will grow in knowledge and in appreciation of the living things that are in their own backyard. Children have a natural curiosity about their world. They want to dig, search, discover, climb, reach for the next level, and soar. Children want to grow and learn. {For more click here: http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//the-tragedy-when-chil}

But, do we get so carried away with our cravings for new beginnings, we neglect to stay steadfast in the middle of the story? Cant you see it spread all over our lives? In our diets, our health kicks, our new years resolutions, our churches, our relationships, our politics, our social media. We are stuffing ourselves on beginnings and failing to thrive to the end. How many things have we begun that now hang limp or are tucked away or have been destroyed by the lust of a new... beginning? Remaining faithful lacks the flare that a beginning delivers, but it is the soil where roots grow deep, grace is poured out, faith is strengthened, and where love will flourish. https://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//resist-beginnings-st

I look upon these ancient words day after day. There is much to take our eyes away from the beauty of the Lord. My heart needs to heed this message that is as true today as the day David sang it. There are fears, evil, injustice, and wickedness. But, the Psalmist presses in to deal with all those fears because He knows nothing can frustrate Gods plan. God doesnt change. His truth does not change. It is the soul that delights in God that is fully satisfied. It is the heart that delights in God that finds true happiness. http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//the-one-way-to-get-wh

Maybe this weekend you need to read this. Cause maybe you are standing at the brink of rushing waters with a longing to get to the other side, but with absolutely no sensible way to cross? Its easier to turn around and give up, give in to the cowardice that creeps in the corners of every heart.... But, there is hope. There is a way to pass through the impassible. And it leads to rest. https://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//when-you-pass-throug

Hannah knows the goodness of God in her life and understood that there is no one like our God who will graciously give us all things. Hannahs heart erupts in praise to the Lord. She takes what has happened in her life and she breaks forth in magnificent descriptions of the character and goodness of God. Her joy is in the Giver, not the gift.... https://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//learning-from-life-o

Hannah doesnt hold too tightly to what the Lord gives her. She enjoys the Provider more than the provision. In the joy of the Lord, Hannah finds strength to move forward in what God had purposed for her: to give her son back to God. Taking her focus off her problems and fixing her gaze on the Lord, Hannah trusts in the God who pours out His grace.... http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//learning-from-life-of

Dont think for a moment that God is blind to your problems. Dont believe that He is not present in your suffering. The LORD of hosts is with us. Whatever problems or suffering God brings into your life, you can be confident that he has a purpose for it. Our suffering is hard to bear, but God will use it to bring us to Him to find the solution that He had in mind. http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//learning-from-life-of

In today's Globe and Mail. Our hearts are filled with gratitude for Dr David and his dedicated and highly skilled team, the incredible and compassionate medical staff, the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, the many generous donors, and our family and friends that have given in so many ways to make this heart story a success. We give our thanks to God, the healer of hearts, for His faithfulness and providential hand in our lives.

God is God. All things are under His rule and control. He has the right to do all things according to His own good pleasure. That is essentially what sovereign means. Charles Spurgeon said: There is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of God's sovereignty.... http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//learning-from-life-of

Are you a woman with a problem? Perhaps a serious, heart-wrenching problem that fills your life with grief. You know what it is like to drag yourself out of bed, go through the motions of the daily mundane, push food around on your plate, toss and turn in the night and feed on your tears when sleep wont come? You know how it feels when it hurts to breath and your heart races and flutters when you just cant reach out and touch that which is your hearts greatest longing. Per...haps you are walking along side a friend who has a serious problem and you wonder how you can keep on encouraging her. Over the coming weeks, we are going to become a little more acquainted with a woman with a serious problem and how her heart leapt for joy in the Sovereign Lord . . . {http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//learning-from-life-of}

As the sun warmed up the crisp morning, there were false starts and strong finishes. Weary bodies rose up and soared to the end. Nervous energy and tears of exhaustion were exchanged for courageous endurance and cries of victory . . . Let us run onward with perseverance. Let us endure like the witnesses who have gone before us full of faith, and with fierce determination, but driven forward because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts. We have a race to run. Let... us cross the finish line strong with our eyes fixed on Jesus and our hearts full of adoration for Him. {For the rest of the story: http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//run-well-while-world-}

Life takes on a whole new sharpness when any day could be your last. You savour the sweet pleasures and the bitter sorrows of life when your days may be short. You stay attentive to living, keenly aware that life is a mere puff of air. You lean into life, pressing in to squeeze every drop of meaning out if it. Suddenly you cannot get enough and you are stuffed to the brim all at the same time. All week the clouds have poured down rain on the fading flowers. Tulips have droppe...d their petals and the cherry blossoms have blown away. As quickly as the thunder rolled in, the sun chased the clouds away and we ran to scan the heavens for rainbows. We saw promises hung in bows across the sky and new life forming in the all small green cherries that have burst forth on the tree in the backyard. How does one take hold of each day that is strung together to span a lifetime that fades like a passing shadow? Here today, gone tomorrow. How does one measure ones life? {Continued here: http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//living-with-purpose-i}

You may call it crazy. I prefer to call it curious. While anticipating the birth of my firstborn I was eager to fully know what it would be like to deliver the baby who had been formed in my womb. I was determined I would not dull the pain with medication during the blessed, rip-roaring event. I wanted a natural childbirth as far as I was able. I knew it wouldnt last forever. And, besides, I have a strong aversion to needles. Ill take a bit of pain over a poke. But, here's ...the curious thing: I wanted to feel the pain of childbirth. I preferred to go through the whole labour and deliver and experience the excruciating pain and the exhilarating joy. So, yeah, I guess you could say crazy. {http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//what-motherhood-has-t}

Last week, another warm day in May, three years since my life was turned upside down, I had another echocardiogram to examine how my heart is holding up from the surgery. After I cleaned up all the cold goop used in the ultrasound I sat waiting in another exam room in the cardiac clinic. The resident doctor walked in with my medical file in the crook of her arm, a Starbucks Venti in her hand and bloodshot eyes. She worked in the cardiac clinic after a 26-hour shift because my cardiologist, she said, is a fabulous teacher. She scrolled over the latest results with me, and we compared them with the last few tests before the teacher-doctor joined us. {http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//even-when-healing-tak}

Its those voices that haunt us as mothers. The voices that hurl all your faults in your face, so that your heart heaves and howls over all your fears and failures; these voices can make you bleed thin. The tormenting voices that stir up emotions in the stillness of the night lash out at you.... The hostile voices that disturb the peace in the hidden places of the heart unsettle you. The deceitful voices that speak lies in the dark valleys of every life mess with you. The cruel voices that scream with comparison that you will never ever measure up can shred you up to smithereens. Honestly, how do any of us get any sleep the way the voices shriek in our secret chambers? How do we still these menacing voices as mothers? Maybe if we see that the seasons in motherhood are made up of so much more than countless diapers and cautious young drivers and curious minds earning degrees. {For more: http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//what-motherhood-has-t}

Rebekah Hughes has some thoughts to share on When Life Hurts on her program Take Heart today https://hopestreamradio.com/program/take-heart/

They say we have never been more connected as a society and at the same time we have never been so lonely. Loneliness has become an epidemic problem . . . . . . Weve made it more about width than depth when it comes to our social circle. We discard relationships as easily as clicking unfriend . . . . . . But, even in your loneliness, dont be deceived into believing that you are alone. ... {To read: http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//when-life-hurts-lonel or listen: https://hopestreamradio.com/track/hard-pressed-living-dying/}

Doctors dropped the dreaded C word on my parents ears the month I turned three. A diagnosis like that . . . well, its life changing. As a child I couldnt comprehend how vastly it had changed my life. Before I could grasp what living meant, I faced my death. But, I didnt really know it. I simply succumbed to the consequences of the ugly disease and then the horrific treatment and finally to the life-altering side effects. None of this was pretty. It mangled my body, my childhood, my adolescence, my family, my future. Nothing remained untouched. http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//hard-pressed-between-

There is something we all need more than the breath of life that fills our lungs. Even today, as war ravages nations and families, and bombs tear apart lands and lives, as some sit in comfortable safety and others flee from war-scarred countries, as disease disfigures and disables; there is a glorious message of hope, but it is not found in the absence of battles. It is not a popular message, it is not a political message, it is not a prosperity message, but it has the power... to change. http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//hope-rings-crystal-cl

"He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay." {Matthew 28:6}

I will not rush away from the cross of Jesus. Gods mercies never cease. I stand astonished at the steadfast love of God, mourning my Son, magnifying my Lord, and rejoicing in my Saviour. My Lord turns my mourning into joy. He cried out in victory: It is finished!

I became a mother on Good Friday. There are times when it looks like hope has been tucked away in a tomb only to rise again and bring forth joy and peace . . . A mothers heart knows hope.... A mothers heart can break over a thousand sorrows and by Gods steady stream of grace, pulse with joy and peace. http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//what-motherhood-has-t

This is what God requires of us: to walk humbly with God. Because, really? Could we walk with God without humility? Without going lower and seeing who we really are? Without seeing ourselves as nothing but dust and dirt raised to new life by the sheer astonishing grace of God? Walking in humility is not comfortable. In a world where everyone is clamouring to be seen, humility means stooping to go low.... Never has it been so easy to be seen or heard or give your opinion or fight for your perceived right or slam someone you dont like. {http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//what-motherhood-has-t}

"nothing in this world will ever satisfy" - says Rebekah Hughes in Pistachio Nuts and Manna. Take Heart today on https://hopestreamradio.com/program/take-heart/

Jon cracked pistachio nuts and sucked on sour keys while I begged for ice chips in that grim ICU room. With a tracheotomy stuck in my neck, I couldnt eat or drink and I was desperate for cool water on my tongue. I snuck sips of water, teased my thirst like a few cruel drops of rain in a long drought, held it greedily on my tongue and spewed it out before it slid down the wrong pipe. Drinking water had become dangerous. http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//pistachios-manna-and-

Todd Anderson, a master wordsmith, offered encouragement to this weak vessel, by proclaiming the power, beauty and hope of the gospel to me in poetic words. Weaving pieces of the journey I shared last week, with the glorious truth of the gospel, Todd, verse by verse, shifts our gaze to the sovereign Giver and Sustainer of life. http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//shall-we-close-up-gue

Jon told me the way Dr. David walked into the waiting room, with a heavy weight on his shoulders, and weariness etched on his face, made him think I had not survived the surgery. He had anticipated not being able to take in all the finer details so he hit record on his phone as my surgeon began to speak. Well, that was not good. It was worse than I expected. he stammered. And right there Jon thought I was gone. http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//even-when-way-is-impo

On days when grim problems spark fear, look first to the promises of God and your faith will be strengthened. When your faith is so stifled you think hope may be lost, look to the Lords great faithfulness. Seek the LORD and his strength, hope against hope, believing in God who is faithful. When you have come to the end of yourself, you will find rest in the sovereignty of God.... {http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//hope-echoes-in-hollow}

In a world that is satisfied by temporary pleasures, we need to look to Jesus who endured the cross for eternal joy. Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith, He is our life and the love of Christ controls us that we no longer live for [ourselves] but for him who for [our] sake died and was raised. Love begins with the love of God. Love is laying yourself down and taking up your cross. In a world crying for peace, we need perfect love. ... http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//the-question-we-are-a

Dr. David, my heart surgeon, had no idea how sick my heart was because even the scores of tests did not indicate how frail it was for it was all turned and twisted and on the wrong side. I didnt look like the typical heart patient and until the surgeon pried open the cage holding my broken heart no one knew that it was ready to quit beating at any moment. Until my heart was examined on the inside they couldnt fully explain my symptoms on the outside. Until he cut out the hard, he couldnt replace it with healthy. http://asoftgentlevoice.blogspot.ca//the-one-test-you-dont