My Top 5 Blog Posts in 2013

Well, well, well... another year has come to a close. In reflection and celebration, I am listing my top 5 Blog Posts that had the most views for 2013 that I actually wrote in 2013. All of them revolve around the health crisis event we experienced with my father-in-law essentially being in the ICU for four months. May they provide hope for the readers. Click on the titles of the post to read them.

 #5 Post: For Days We Feel Like Crying

May the words of this post encourage someone else so that they know that they are not alone. There are days when we all feel like crying.

Sometimes in this past year when I have felt like crying; I have wondered if it is left-over sadness that didn't have time to come out as tears when the crisis actually happened.

#4 Post: A Taste of Normal in a Sea of Unknowns

If your life has ever been turned upside down, perhaps you will enjoy this post as I explore how nice it felt one day in the ICU to see a bit of old normal in the topsy-turvy world of medical unknowns.

Learning to take the moment of peace when it is offered is a gift.

#3 Post: Stories of Faith from the ICU

In September of 2012, my father-in-law had a tumor removed from his brain stem that began a four-month journey in three different hospitals and one rehab unit.

That time marked our family. We learned deep lessons of submissions, prayer, neediness, and comfort.

This post is the index page for a series of posts that I wrote about the stories of faith that we learned during the season of my father-in-law being in the ICU.

My hope is to share the comfort that God gave us during a difficult time in an effort to encourage others for the trials that their weary hearts may be going through just as it says in II Corinthians 1:4, "so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."

There is comfort. There is hope. At times, there is even laughter. Every story is different. The endings are not all the same, yet there is hope for every weary heart. Sometimes it's just a matter of finding it or believing it or both. 

#2 Post: Remembering the Right Things

After the crisis of my father-in-law being in the hospital for four months, he finally went to his own house. We began to experience some relief as he continued to improve. But it was a struggle to keep remembering how God had helped us in every moment.

Instead I was struggling with only remembering the hard stuff. I think some of that is normal to process the difficulties of an event after the fact especially because in the moment of crisis one is caught up with responding to the needs at hand but our souls need time to process the gravity of a situation. 

In this post, I spend time recounting a few of the memorable times of when people showed up and touched our hearts. Ultimately, that was God being kind even in the midst of sorrow and suffering

#1 Post: How looking outside my kitchen window taught me something about faith

Simple observations of the tree outside of my kitchen window taught me a lesson of faith. I shared it here. Not only was this my most viewed post that I wrote last year, it also had the most comments. That hasn't always been the case. I spent more time on this post than most. The response encourages me to spending more time writing and crafting each post. May your faith continue to grow in 2014. 

 

 Honorable mention:19 reasons I love my husband

I have added a bonus mention because my top-viewed post of all time was written in 2012 on our 19th anniversary. Honorable mention may be misleading since it has 10 times the views of my number one post of 2013. Hope you enjoy it. 

Happy New Year!

 

How looking outside my kitchen window taught me something about faith

A few weeks ago just outside my kitchen window, the bright pink blossoms of the Japanese Magnolias sang the song of eternal hope, swaying to the rhythm that soon all will be beautiful, and glorious -- just like them. I  welcomed the song because grayness was settling ever deeper into my soul after a long journey of unique circumstances. Each time I looked outside the window, I delighted in the cheerful blooms and my heart became lighter.

This lasted only a few days.

A late spring frost descended. At first, the flowers survived. But after a second frost and more cold days, the beautiful pink blossoms died an early death. They sang their song of hope for less than a week.

Drab, dreary brown, crumpled blossoms took their place. This was much worse than the winter gray that had stared at me for months. The crumpled brown mocked my hope in the glorious, eternal spring song that the pink had just begun to sing.

The new view depressed me.

Just as the pink declared hope; the crumpled brown yelled, "Don't get your hopes up.You'll never find a new normal. It will never get better." 

Pink tree blossoms of hope crashed down into a flurry of crumpled brown before I could even write a blog post about it! 

Then, I looked at the tree with dead flowers. It looked bleak but the truth is that I knew that the tree wasn't dead.

The buds were turning into green leaves. Only the over-the-top flowers were dead. The tree itself was alive. I can't always judge the real work that is happening by only observing the outside of the tree.

A lesson of faith was just outside my kitchen window. I need to walk by faith, not by sight. Though it looks dead because of the dead flowers, the tree itself is still alive.


After a little time, green began to grow -- the steady green of late spring. It is not as glorious as unique, pink blossoms but certainly way better than crumpled brown.

Now when I look outside my kitchen window I see mostly green even though the crumpled brown is still there.  With the eyes of faith, I'm learning to trust that there is life even when I can't see it.

 Deep, true growth is hard to see. That is why I must walk by faith, not by sight.Walk steadily in the days of green while I continue to trust that in due time, the pink will come again with its glorious song of hope..

"We live by faith, not by sight." II Corinthians 5:7

Linking with Jen & Emily.