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Trish Southard

Trish Southard

Category Archives: Words That Heal

Healing – Part 4

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Posted by trishsouthard in Healing, Places With God, Restful Homes for Our Families, Uncategorized, Words That Heal

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A Quiet Place With God, Bible, Christianity, Faith, family, God, Grief, Home, Jesus, Jewish, Lord, More time with Jesus, Religion and Spirituality, Restful enviroments, Shiva, Sorrow

Yesterday I fell off my bike carrying too much on the way home from our mailbox. It was a pretty hard fall, contents of my basket flying everywhere, and blood dripping from scrapes on my wrist and leg as I rode home.

Photo by Trish Southard

Photo by Trish Southard

Share your load with others.

Todd would have been glad to swing by our box and pick up some of the bigger items on his way home from work.

Our family lost three loved ones in four years.

Multiple loved ones passing away or one is too much of a burden for anyone to bear alone.

Grief Group helped me lift my heavy heart.

Surrounded by people who have suffered the loss of a loved one, and a leader, the group gently persuades you to share your imperfect memories, portraits,  all while putting you at ease.

Our leader had us write letters to our loved ones sharing that we wished they would have remained alive longer, our anger that they missed an important event, regrets, anger and how lonely we feel without them. We then read those letters at the cemetery or somewhere significant to the two of us. We then burned or buried the letters.

Somehow I felt lighter and more at ease with each letter.

In the Jewish faith when a loved one dies, they sit Shiva for seven days.

They stay home and allow others to listen to them, care for them, and bring them food.

When others are in pain, you will find yourself more compassionate and confident to walk through it with them.

Sit beside them quietly.

No advice needed.

When others are happy, be happy with them.

If they are sad, share their sorrow.

Romans 12:15 TLB

Healing – Part 2

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Posted by trishsouthard in Healing, Places With God, Restful Homes for Our Families, Uncategorized, Words That Heal

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A Quiet Place With God, Bible, Change, Christianity, Faith, family, Healing, Healing Words, Jesus, Lord, More time with Jesus, Religion and Spirituality, Restful enviroments, Running, simplify, Sorrow, Words That Heal

Doing the uncomfortable continually all day.

Remove sorrow from your heart, and put away pain from your flesh, because youth and the prime of life are fleeting.  Ecclesiastes 11:10 HCSB

Pain away from your flesh.

It hurts my fingers when I pull a burr from Daisy’s paw.

It hurts horribly when I pull jumping cholla off our daughter’s leg.

Remove or change to unburden your sorrow.

Teddy Bear Cholla

Teddy Bear Cholla

Change who you are, what you do and where you go.

One practical takeaway from grief group was to add a hobby or something we enjoy into our lives.

Running 3-4 times a week  began in November 2013.

I set my clothes out the night before and the decision is already made. Running has been an effective method to jump-start my morning and waken my mind to prayer and the study of God’s Word.

An almost new habit for me after a 25 year break from running.

I’ve stayed physically active biking, hiking, an occasional canoe trip on the river, and I really enjoy the stair climber at the gym.

Running forced me outside into the sunrise, singing birds and it was very uncomfortable.

The doing of the continually uncomfortable was the key to my healing.

 

Healing – Part 1

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Posted by trishsouthard in Places With God, Restful Homes for Our Families, Uncategorized, Words That Heal

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Beautiful Women, Bible, Birthdays, Blessing others, Bringing in Finn, Christianity, Faith, family, Flowers, Girlfriends, God, Healing, Jesus, Lord, Minnie Driver, Restful enviroments, Return to Zero, Sara Connell, Southern Hospitality, Today Show

Healing is like a flower blossom each petal needs to open in its own time.”

Anonymous

My healing came through blessing others.

How could I change and be a little miracle to others, like Peg did all the time.

Peg knew everyone’s birthday.

She probably knew her mail lady’s birthday.

A simple step, but it would mean writing down birthdays.

For me,  that often means a visit to my favorite florist, Lisa.

I love to hear her say, “So who is it for today!”

She listens and creates a visible expression of the friend I’m celebrating.

A single rose or wildflowers with a ribbon when someone doesn’t expect it.    IMG_5228 Showing the grandeur of God’s beauty and His expansive love through flowers.

Healing happens very slowly as the petals unfold.

I lift you into the prayer below.

Jesus loves you so much.

You are His beautiful masterpiece created in the image of Almighty God.

Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think- according to the power that works in you- to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen

Ephesians 3:20,21

 

Anonymous Quote from a recent interview on the Today Show with Sara Connell author of “Bringing In Finn” and inspiration for the upcoming movie “Return to Zero” starring Minnie Driver

Sara Connell author of Bringing in Finn

A Quiet Place With God – Part 12

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Posted by trishsouthard in Places With God, Restful Homes for Our Families, Uncategorized, Words That Heal

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Brooms, Christianity, Christmas Cactus, Cobwebs, Forgiveness, Grace, Jesus, More time with Jesus, Mothers Day, Recipes of Hope, Religion and Spirituality, Restful enviroments, Spiders, Strength, Sweeping

Sweeping
All over the world  women will pick up brooms to sweep crumbs from the kitchen, the front porch, the dining room and our entry’s, even though its Mothers Day.

Starter from Aunt Grace  Columbia, SC  in 2012

Starter from Aunt Grace
Columbia, SC in 2012

Seconds ago I relocated a large spider hanging out below my Christmas Cactus with my broom.

We all sweep.

Sweeping is a quiet place for me.

I visit with God about the messes moving about in my head and He sweeps them out.

When we  confess a struggle we have and your friend or friends come along side you, lifting you to the Lord, God sweeps you clean with His grace, His forgiveness.

He fills you with His strength.

He removes the cobwebs and the spiders.

Words That Heal – Part 12

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Posted by trishsouthard in Places With God, Uncategorized, Words That Heal

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Birds, Cardinal, Cardinals, Comfort, Fine Art America - Kelly Bryant, fineartamerica.com/profiles/kelly-bryant.html, Girlfriends, Grief, Healing, Healing Words, Heaven, Hope, Instagram- KellyB333, Kelly Bryant Photographer, Living Waters, Peaceful, Sorrow, Soul, Tears, Transitions

“What was healing to hear when your sister passed?” a good friend asked me recently.  Her son had just died tragically, her soul laid bare.  She knew I had lost a sister to cancer two years ago, and she was searching for hope and comfort.

For me, my deep sorrow had transitioned more into wondering about her in heaven in a positive way, than in my earliest months in a sea of sorrow.  Tears no longer rush uncontrollably to the forefront and stream down my face at every thought.   Grief is a journey, a very slow process of healing where the white water rapids eventually yield over time to  less swift currents that carry us to more peaceful and living waters.  It would be the same for her, and in her own unique way.  Everyone goes through the journey.

Without words, I just held her close.

Peg, my sister,  loved birds of all kinds, and every time I see a cardinal sit and eat the corn at my squirrel feeder,  I think of her and its as if we laugh together.

Cardinal by Kelly Bryant

Cardinal by Kelly Bryant Photography

She was St. Francis to the birds and squirrels who came to her bird feeder each and every day.   When she passed, my friend Heather Reimann said it best,

” I see how upset you are, do you want to talk about it?”

Heather was and remains a faithful and healing presence in my life.

We drank fresh strawberry smoothies and swam.

Tears turned to laughter.

Thirteen words were healing to me.

 

 

 

Cardinal by Kelly Bryant      fineartamerica.com/profiles/kelly-bryant.html

 

 

 

A Quiet Place with God – Part 10

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Posted by trishsouthard in Places With God, Restful Homes for Our Families, Uncategorized, Words That Heal

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A Quiet Place With God, Beautiful Women, Bible, Christianity, Faith, family, God, God's path, Jesus, Listen to God's voice, Lord, More time with Jesus, Religion and Spirituality, Restful enviroments, Texas

IMG_5120

Later, He appeared to the Eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table. He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who saw Him after He had been resurrected. Mark 16: 14 HCSB

Rebuke.

While hiking I was struck by the tree on the left and how lush and green and full of life.

The tree on the right was dead.

We grow and flourish as we listen to Gods word and take action to change when He convicts us and rebukes us with His Word.

Listen and receive the rebuke.

Most of our family has given up coffee, but I still make it for one.

As the coffee drinker woke late to find no coffee, I simply said “Wake five minutes early and make it yourself.”

 

God immediately rebuked me quietly in my heart and I made the coffee and ran it to my beloved coffee drinker and handed a to go cup through the window.

My day had begun in the Word and contemplation just an hour before, but I had chosen a harsh response.

Conviction comes as we clear our minds and focus on the Word

The Lord will give us the self-control and  Holy Spirit to do His will and be His vessel.
IMG_5122

The rebuke put me back onto His path.

Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.” Proverbs 3:6

IMG_5125Then He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.”

Mark 16:15 HCSB

 

Words That Heal – Part 11

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Posted by trishsouthard in Places With God, Restful Homes for Our Families, teens, Uncategorized, Words That Heal

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Bible, Christianity, Emma Thompson, Faith, Faithful Presence, family, Freelance Writer NYC, God, Leah Rozen, Listen, Parenting Teens, Parenting Tips, Restful enviroments

During the teenage years, your presence is terribly important. It’s difficult for you to pass on wisdom in words. I think if you’re going to pass anything on, it’ll be by example, through your behavior- and not just one bit of behavior but consistent behavior over many years.

Emma Thompson

Everyone needs a safe place to share, someone who will hear them, someone who as my husband Todd says, is a faithful presence in their life.

Sharing their story.

Thinking out loud and dreaming.

Knowing you care and you are listening to them with all your attention and with all your heart.

IMG_1272

Some of the most healing words are the ones you speak quietly to Lord.

Pray for His wisdom in their life not yours.

The intelligent person restrains his words, and one who keeps a cool head is a man of understanding, but only a fool wants to show off his opinions.  Proverbs 18:2 HCSB

*More Magazine Interview with Emma Thompson by Leah Rozen, Freelance Writer from NYC,

December 2013/January 2014 page 118

* Artistic Cookies by Colleen Lienhard

A Christmas Devotion

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Posted by trishsouthard in Comedy, Healing, Places With God, Restful Homes for Our Families, Uncategorized, Words That Heal

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A Quiet Place With God, Bible, Christ, Christianity, Christmas, Christmas Devotions, Faith, family, God, Immanuel, Jesse Tree, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Lord, More time with Jesus, Parenting Tips, Recipes of Hope, Religion and Spirituality

My family was leaving a Chinese restaurant after lunch on Christmas Eve in 2006.  A little boy about 9 years old asked his Mom if he was Jewish?  She said “No!” and the boy shouted back “RATS!”
He then asked “What I am?”  Mom’s reply was too soft to hear.  It was a teachable moment as we backed our car out of the parking lot. I asked our daughter the same question — “Who are you?”
I knew even before she answered she would say “Child of God,” because over the years we have sought to share our Christian faith and heritage with her, so that she may know she is fearfully and wonderfully created by God.  The map to who we are, where we are and come from,  must be communicated to our children, our neighbors, and our coworkers, those in our spheres of relationships as well as others who are not.

The Christmas season the world offers is a Retail Christmas.  Though exchanging gifts brings great joy, without Christ at the center it will not lead us anywhere closer to the true essence of Christ and His message, but become a distraction at the very time of the year we set a day aside to celebrate Immanuel — God with us.  Bumbling along in a haphazard existence will give our children a life with no identity, no sense of who they are, and open them up to other’s values and beliefs, man’s way and not God’s way.  They will not have a map of life.

In Barbara Tompkins Mom’s Class last year we made Jesse Tree‘s ornaments.   Our family systematically read through the story of Christ and hung ornaments on a small pink feather tree as our Christmas decorations were all packed and ready for our move the Texas the next week.  It was a comical tree with a serious message in those Jesse Tree ornaments, the story of God found in the Bible, a message of

God’s love and provision of redemption found in Jesus Christ.   

We are all unpacked this Christmas, and instead of the pink feathered tree, we are back to our home-grown artificial tree as we again tell the story of who we are in Christ by telling the story of God and his redemptive plan of salvation.  Each ornament symbolizes an accompanying Bible story that, with the help of the book The Advent Jesse Tree, Devotions for Children and Adults Preparing for the Coming of Christ Child at Christmas (Nashville: Abington Press) directs us to a daily story from the Bible and provides songs of praise to sing as a family.

As Christmas arrives our anticipation is toward the greatest gift God has given the world — the birth of Jesus the Christ, God’s own Son, Immanuel — God with us.  The Scriptures read throughout the month show us The Way, providing a clear and concise map of who we are, the identity we have in our Lord Jesus, the hope of glory.

Resting in Him,

Trish

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