Tag: travel

Favorite Sundays

On By mygodroomIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Yesterday was my favorite Sunday in many, many Sundays. So many new ideas and energetic ideas all coming to life on June 1!   Happy Shavuot, indeed!   I will drop this here as a reminder to come back to the topic.  God’s timing is always superior to ours and it’s no mistake so many things bubbled together on the first day of June.

Beginning our day, I did not have to ask for Mark to play a sermon.  We heard an amazing sermon from Waters Church which basically echoed much of what we have been discussing regarding health.  It was such a good sermon; we were both inspired to go for a long walk with our stomachs empty.   Ever since the blood pressure issues two months ago, I have not gone on long walks by myself.  It was such a lovely walk and great conversation, too.

When we arrived home from our walk, I prepared a tasty breakfast/brunch. Pimento cheese on an everything bagel is delicious! Using up that last baked potato as breakfast potatoes to balance out the eggs and sausage was ideal.   Looking at the cranberry-grape and orange juice amounts in the fridge, I decided blending them with some lime juice would work great to “hide” the liquid minerals we add.     We had chatted during our walk about the crafted juices we enjoyed in Assisi, so it was a natural choice.  The blend was delicious, and we are excited to create new flavors each week.

We also decided on our walk that I would be prepping nutritious options for us to take to our shops with us.  This week, I boiled (and peeled) two dozen eggs, prepared chicken salad, cowboy caviar and “Nonna Salad”.  It felt really good to be productive with my husband and be in the spirit of excitement with him.

We met Jonathan and Morgan for dinner at BJ’s Brewhouse and the young man treated us all to dinner! After dinner, they gave us each a CD and we shopped at the new Trader Joe’s in Murfreesboro.   It was cool how they explained their love for physical media translated to buying each of us a CD.  We found some amazing products and acquired the carrot and pineapple juices which will serve as the base for our next “Juice of the Week”.

As I prepare to close our shop in Smyrna in the next hour, I am smiling.  Mark just called and he was walking in the parking lot at our other store.  He shared how wonderful he has felt all day long and how he wants to really focus on intermittent fasting.  Since we did not wake up early enough for a walk today, we are planning on one when he gets home at 8:30.  I think the last time we walked at night, after closing both shops, would have been seven years ago, as we prepared to go to Disney.  What we are preparing for NOW is so much better than Disney. 

THANK YOU, LORD.

Miss Elizabeth

On By mygodroomIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Realization. We all pronounce words slightly differently. Over the weekend, a beautiful “stranger angel” visited the shop. She spoke with the same energy, enunciation and enthusiasm as Miss Elizabeth. While I recognized the pattern quickly, I was praying silently in my head as she spoke. I was finally compelled to ask her when she said, “re-all-I-zay-shun”, if she happened to be from Trinidad. My husband was sitting on the couch and did not appear surprised when she confirmed she was native to Trinidad. It was a beautiful Godversation.

In part, we talked about when she lost her sister a few years ago. She shared how people always tell those with cancer to fight and hold on. She went on to share her view that it is selfish at the core, when we are holding folks up from meeting Jesus. I agreed, emphatically. It was truly a shift in my heart when she talked about it. I shared a pinch about how I knew she was from Trinidad and that perhaps God was using her to remind me about Elizabeth for some reason. In truth, I thought perhaps Elizabeth had passed and that was why comfort was walking in the shop that particular day.

When she left, I messaged my friend in Florida. To my surprise, Elizabeth was quickly defensive about me meeting another woman from Trinidad. Her response was telling me she is a very private person and to never share her details of any kind with people from Trinidad. While I didn’t share her full details, I felt small receiving that message.

Now that it has been a few days of prayer and study since meeting her, I understand Elizabeth’s response a bit better. There are only 1.5 million people in Trinidad. The number of women over 50 is around six percent of that number. Their oldest daughters are in the same demographic, as well. It makes sense that ANY identifying comments could potentially reveal her personal health information.

Lord, thank you for showing me and humbling me. Thank you for all you teach me so patiently and intently. I love you. Please give peace and comfort to my Trinidad “Sisters”. In Jesus Name, Amen.