Turning Grief into Gratitude

As the holidays have crept up on us this year, I have been feeling a sense of loneliness and emptiness after losing some significant women in my life over the past few years, one of them being my mother. It's hard not to think of her and the way she decorated the house and how excited she would be to buy us presents, but rather than dwell on the past, I get to remember and honor her and appreciate the present. That is what she would have wanted me to do. I get to see how all of her hard work and efforts helped me to arrive at where I am today, which I am thoroughly thankful for. In those moments when my heart hurts, I get to remember all of the blessings in my life and write down a gratitude list or to share them with others. Even on a good day, it helps to share that for which we are grateful. In this way, we honor God and all that He has done for us.

I look at my life 10 or 15 years ago and realize that my life today is more spectacular and amazing than any sort of life I could imagined at that time. Many of my dreams have come true, just by having faith and trusting in God's plan for my life: by letting go and letting God.

It's not always easy to put our trust and faith in something greater than ourselves, without having any indicator of what the future will bring, but it's how we surrender. It's how we surrender our will and our life to God. God's plan is always better than my plan for my life. For instance: in 2015, I got a cat, she has the same birthday as my mother and looks like my mother with bright blue eyes and white hair, after my mom passed, she was like an angel to me, and still is. The Mother's Day after my mom passed, I was swimming in the ocean and it turned out that I was swimming with three orcas. The full Cold Moon this year was on a significant day and this was the time that Mars was very close to the moon, I thought that was special. There are many miracles and blessings in my life today as a result of trusting God...oh, and last but not least, in 2018 I was seeing an Acupucturist in LA who kept on saying that I was going to have a baby. I was surprised and wasn't planning on it at the time or didn't think it was possible, but kept an open mind. A little over a year later, I had two sons of my own. So thankful. Greatest blessings along with my husband. Thank you, GOD.

I love the saying: "Remember when you prayed for the things you have now." So encouraging.

Next time you are feeling sad, downcast or hopeless, remember what you are thankful for (even starting with something like your shoes, your hearing, a new friend, etc.) and I bet that things will quickly shift for you.