To be peaceful is to be free from expectations and to want nothing from anyone. Take the initiative and be generous. Lead the way and do something. This is the secret to being content in all circumstances. – unknown
I am walking through a difficult part of the path right now, and yet it is a really peaceful time as well. The past 22 years have brought me to this moment, and all is well with my soul. 
My faith has been tested in the fire and is not a theory! It is real, intimate, living, breathing life in me. The shadow of Jesus, who for so long I could not identify with, has become the true lover of my soul, my best friend, my peace, my joy, my everything. No one can take away what I have experienced in these years, it has been an incredible revelation of God.
I feel I am, once again, at a beginning. It is exciting. It is overwhelming. As I keep letting go, this wave of love is washing over me, and it is truly pure joy. I am overwhelmed with love.
I am on a walk of faith, like others before, and with me in this present moment. I do not see the path ahead as of yet, yet I have great peace because I know the way is there waiting for me as I walk forward into life, purpose, mission, music, community.
I wish I had more to bring, but all I can do is bring a love song which is my desire to obey, even when it’s hard, even when I don’t see the way, or completely understand the why. It really is just my reasonable service for all that God has done for me.
To God alone be the glory!
There are good days and bad days. We all have them. Why do some days flow better than others? We have our routines we follow most of the time, yet some days, things just don’t work. Some days are good hair days and some days we feel like we want to crawl out of our own skin.
It is our challenge to look for the good in our toughest moments. The days of car accidents, heels breaking, broken hearts or broken bodies. There is ALWAYS something good to find – IF we look for it. Our attitude is one of the few things in life we can control, it is the most important tool we have. When we decide we want a happy life – no matter what circumstance we find ourself in – we begin to make the choices that make that possible. A bad day, or moment, is not a bad life – do not let it derail you.
We are here for a limited time. What we do with that time matters. We have no guarantee of another day, or another moment. Ben Franklin said, ‘Do not waste time, for time is the stuff that life is made of.”
What if this moment is your last? How do you want to live it? Ok, do that! Still here? Yay!!! Take a deep breath, say a prayer of thanks and realize you are blessed to get the chance to do it again!
;
Holly Gerth was a guest writer for Ann Voskamp yesterday – http://www.aholyexperience.com/
We’re made of where we’ve been, of who we’ve loved.
I’m standing in an hourglass. We all are.
I grasp each grain of sand for a second, feel it between my toes, tuck some of it into my heart.
Then I let it go with a smile and sigh.
Because that’s what it takes to be ready for the next bit of joy.
Open hands.
Open eyes.
Open hearts.
We all watch the sunset.
————————————
Holley Gerth is the best-selling author of You’re Already Amazing. Check out www.holleygerth.com.

Thou shalt not worry, for worry is the most unproductive of all human activities.
Thou shalt not be fearful, for most of the things we fear never come to pass.
Thou shalt not cross bridges before you get to them, for no one yet has succeeded in accomplishing this.
Thou shalt face each problem as it comes. You can handle only one at a time anyway.
Thou shalt not take problems to bed with you, for they make poor bedfellow.
Thou shalt not borrow other people’s problems. They can take better care of them than you can.
Thou shalt not try to relive yesterday; for good or ill, it is gone. Concentrate on what is happening in your life today.
Thou shalt count thy blessings, never overlooking the small ones, for a lot of small blessings add up to a big one.
Thou shalt be a good listener, for only when you listen do you hear ideas different from your own.
Thou shalt not become bogged down by frustration, for 90 percent of it is rooted in self-pity and will only interfere with positive action.
BlueRose on Thoughts for the Day Blog
http://thoughtsaday.blogspot.com/
;
I believe God wants you to know…
…that nothing has to happen immediately, this minute,
or “right now.”
It’s okay to pause for just a moment. Just take a breath.
Then go quietly inside. Ask Life Itself to lead you to
your best outcome.
There’s nothing you have to do, really, except get out
of your own way.
… know what I mean?
Neale Donald Walsh
http://www.nealedonaldwalsch.com/index.php?p=Home
;
What really matters in life is not what we buy, but what we
build; not what we have, but what we share with the world; not our capability but our character; and not our success but our true significance. Live a life that makes you proud – one that matters and makes a difference. Live a life filled with passion and love.
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose
Read full post: 20 Bad Habits Holding Good People Back
http://www.marcandangel.com/
Finding a Box of Family Letters
by Dana Gioia
The dead say little in their letters
they haven’t said before.
We find no secrets, and yet
how different every sentence sounds
heard across the years.
My father breaks my heart
simply by being so young and handsome.
He’s half my age, with jet-black hair.
Look at him in his navy uniform
grinning beside his dive-bomber.
Come back, Dad! I want to shout.
He says he misses all of us
(though I haven’t yet been born).
He writes from places I never knew he saw,
and everyone he mentions now is dead.
There is a large, long photograph
curled like a diploma—a banquet sixty years ago.
My parents sit uncomfortably
among tables of dark-suited strangers.
The mildewed paper reeks of regret.
I wonder what song the band was playing,
just out of frame, as the photographer
arranged your smiles. A waltz? A foxtrot?
Get out there on the floor and dance!
You don’t have forever.
What does it cost to send a postcard
to the underworld? I’ll buy
a penny stamp from World War II
and mail it downtown at the old post office
just as the courthouse clock strikes twelve.
Surely the ghost of some postal worker
still makes his nightly rounds, his routine
too tedious for him to notice when it ended.
He works so slowly he moves back in time
carrying our dead letters to their lost addresses.
It’s silly to get sentimental.
The dead have moved on. So should we.
But isn’t it equally simpleminded to miss
the special expertise of the departed
in clarifying our long-term plans?
They never let us forget that the line
between them and us is only temporary.
Get out there and dance! the letters shout
adding, Love always. Can’t wait to get home!
And soon we will be. See you there.
from Pity the Beautiful. © Graywolf Press, 2012.
http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/