Tag: faith

There is a Season for Everything

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:7

It has been not the best of years so far for our family. We said goodbye to my mother-in-law in April after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. When we found out October 2024 that my mother-in-law had pancreatic cancer and her time was limited, we were devastated. She was a rock to our family. She was always there for us, especially when we started our own family. I couldn’t have gotten through much of it without her love and support. There is definitely a hole in our family that will never be completely filled.

The month of August wasn’t much better. My mother was hospitalized for dehydration and low potassium, among other things. She’s been home and has made a miraculous turnaround, thank the Lord. That same weekend my mom went to the hospital, my husband’s good friend was in a freak accident. The whole thing could have gone very badly. Thankfully, he has been recovering and healing well. Despite that, the incident was extremely stressful for my husband.

Just the other day, my father was hospitalized for a head injury after a fall. He seems ok, though he did sustain a concussion and needs to rest and recover. And if all this bad news isn’t enough, our cat has gone missing and most likely is gone for good.

How much emotional stress can a person handle? It seems I’ve been on a perpetual road race with no pit stops. We didn’t take a vacation this year. In fact it’s been 3 years since our last week-long vacation. It’s just been go, go, go. Even Lightning McQueen learned that it was ok to refuel. (I hope you all can remember the famous racing car from Disney/Pixar’s Cars movie.)

I am reminded this is a perfect time to lean into my faith and God more than ever. We are not capable of handling all this stress alone. Just as Lightning McQueen had his pit crew to help him, I have my own pit crew with God. With prayer, I can ask for what I need. I can listen to what I need to hear. But how do I start?

I need to go back to basics: Breathe. Meditate. Be. That sounds nice, doesn’t it? To purposely take slow and deep breaths. To sit in silence and just be. With summer coming to an end, it seems to be the perfect time to embrace a slower, quieter time. It is during those quiet moments that God is present. We are more apt to hear His whispers. We can feel His comfort and trust in Him. It is during this quiet time, the healing can begin.

Solar-Powered Spirit: The Connection Between the Sun and My Faith

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.” –Psalm 84:11

For thousands of years, many cultures have seen the sun as a god or a higher power. It’s not surprising because the sun was mysterious. It would appear and reappear each day, providing light and warmth. Across the world, people honored and worshipped the sun because it represented life and power. Some would even go so far as to make sacrifices to ensure the sun would rise each day.

Sounds a little out there, doesn’t it? Imagine living without the sun, where the days are consistently dark and cold. Picture when the ancients experienced a solar eclipse for the first time. They probably were frightened. Their sole source of energy and life just disappeared. It only makes sense how cultures defined their beliefs in the sun and its power.

Time to Observe

Back in the Covid days, I tapped into my artistic side and started drawing, painting and even dabbled in some photography. For some reason, I would wake up super early each day before the sun rose. I’m not quite sure how I came to the decision to start watching sunrises, but that’s what I did, almost every day. At first I drove to a neighborhood where I thought would be the best view to take pictures of the sunrise. Later, I decided to drive to the beach. I would take walks on the boardwalk and watch as the sun peeked above the horizon. I was so taken by the beauty of the sun rising in the early morning hours. It became a standard routine to wake up early, grab my camera and then drive the 25 minutes to the beach for my sunrise walk.

I loved watching and listening to the birds sing. I observed how the water moved along the shore. I appreciated all the little things that most of us probably overlooked on a regular basis. It was a time for me to admire, reflect and be present.

taken May 2021, Milford CT

S.A.D

I was talking to friends at church about how I believe I have S.A.D., otherwise known as Seasonal Affective Disorder. In a somewhat jest full way, one of my friends pointed out that we are solar-powered. I never realized how much the sun affected me. It’s not just the fact that it makes the day bright and warm, but it energizes me like nothing else. My mood changes immediately when the sun comes out and shows its happy face. On the other hand, if it’s hidden, and clouds are taking over, I am grumpy and irritable. The other day, it was a really cold, windy, and rainy day…not to mention it was Monday. When I arrived at work to start my day, I found that my mood was pretty lousy and it only got worse as the day progressed. I couldn’t shake it. At the end of the day, I went home and put on my pjs and crashed on my bed. I wanted the day to be over! Funny thing is that the following day, the sun was out in its glory, and so was my happy-go-lucky self!

The sun has the ability to bring out the best in me. I smile more and I feel lighter in my spirit. It has occurred to me there is a correlation to the sun and God. When He isn’t present, our days are dreary and our moods are gloomy. But when He is front and center, we feel lifted and energized. We know we can accomplish anything because He is by our side. Like the sun gives us warmth and nurturing, God provides us with the truth of His word to get us through the day.

Nature’s Alarm Clock

On my many walks on the beach, I noticed how nature would stir and wake up as the sun would rise. From the gentle songs the birds sing, to the rolling waves of water kissing the sand on the shore, the sun is nature’s alarm clock to say it’s time to start the new day! Life cannot exist without the sun. And so it is with God. He is our life force…our alarm clock. He reminds us each day, if we pay attention, we are loved. He helps us by providing comfort and stability. And just as the sun provides light to our world, so does God, who gives us light and steers us away from darkness.

Yes. I am solar-powered, but by the son, the father and the holy spirit. My positive energy comes from my faith and love of nature, the precious gifts that God has provided me.

These are just a few pictures I took during my time watching sunrises during the Covid pandemic. Each time I visited, I found something new to appreciate.

Tell me in the comments how the sun energizes you and how your faith plays a role in your day.

Fishes, Loaves and Pierogi

Food brings people together on many different levels. It’s nourishment of the soul and body; it’s truly love.

Giada De Laurentiis

When I was approached by my friend at church about wanting to make pierogi, I was totally on board. Food? Check. Getting together with friends? Double check. My creative brain started thinking of how we can get others involved at our church, too. We originally thought let’s open this to the congregation and whoever is interested will come. Remember the movie with Kevin Costner, Field of Dreams? Build it and they will come. Well, that was our thought as well. We will open the opportunity to get together after church services and make something with our own hands. We can turn it into a prayerful fellowship! Or perhaps we can serve them during our Palm Sunday celebration to everyone! The ideas just kept flowing. The question was, can a handful of willing people make this a success?

The answer is, of course we can! In fact, the ironic part of this whole endeavor is that none of us are of Polish descent, where pierogi are a staple food. In fact, some of us are German, Italian, Swedish and Colombian. What do you end up with all those backgrounds coming together to make a dish most of us have enjoyed in one way or another? The results are quite amazing, frankly. We all brought our talents and gifts together and made some fantastic little pockets of yumminess! We worked as a team. We laughed and joked around. We experimented with different methods that worked for us and we really had a wonderful time in the process.

Food. Fellowship. Faith. We started out with the the focus to make a bunch of pierogi and share them, but our end results are so much more than a delicious little treat. We continue to build our personal bonds with one another and we learned some new skills along the way. The biggest reward is knowing that God has played an important part in orchestrating our fellowship.

During one of the church services this month, one of our lay leaders spoke about the Fishes and Loaves and shared an interesting take on how artists have depicted this most popular story and sign of Jesus during his ministry. As I was listening to him speak, it occurred to me that our little pierogi venture started out small, just like the five loaves and fishes, and blossomed into so much more. We kept setting goals, changing our direction and determining what we could do with our new found gift of pierogi making.

We decided not only to sell them to the congregation, but to utilize the money we made to purchase something for our bell choir. This small idea from a friend who said, “Elisa, do you want to get together and make pierogi?” grew into an actual fundraiser! Who would have thought a simple idea could become a tremendous blessing!

By the way, that lay leader I mentioned really is the pivotal force behind this whole thing, whether he realizes it or not. He had shared a picture of a dish of pierogi when he was traveling to Poland earlier in the year to my friend and that’s when she decided she wanted to try making them.

We are still in the midst of making and selling, so I can’t share what our final outcome has been just yet. But, if I may speculate, I have a good feeling that we will reach our goal and be able to purchase what we need in order to make our bell choir space even better. And not only that, our little pierogi making crew has also grown together even more and we have all come out of this with happier hearts as a result.

After being part of this experience, I can see why food can be the one thing that brings many together, but it is our willingness to open our hearts and minds to receive a greater gift…love, fellowship and faith. And maybe add some pierogi, too. 😉

Do you have a story to share how food and fellowship brings you closer to your faith and family? Please leave a comment below. I would love to hear from you!