A Hot Cup on a Chilly Day

For the first time in a long time this year, my hands felt like icicles as I buckled the Twins in the van this morning. With the wind whipping through my hair and my eyes watering from wind tears, I could barely move my hands when I got in to drive off. How I longed to wrap my fingers around a hot cup of something!!! Coffee, Tea or Hot Chocolate, I didn't care. Just something HOT! I made a note to self....wear gloves from now on!! Winter is just around the corner and already the ever changing leaves are are being ripped from their branches from the fierce October winds we've been having lately. We hunkered down for Hurricane Kyle but the tree's barely moved. The winds that we've had these past couple of weeks have been worse than the day the weather channel warned the Maritimes of the Hurricane!

One of my favorite pastimes is sipping a hot drink and sinking back into the couch as I read a great book (which usually is the greatest book of all...the Bible). Recently, I discovered an exquisite tea called "Chocolatey Chai Herbal Tea"....oh, what a TEA!! Not only does it tantalize your sense of taste but your sense of smell as well. Just smelling it as it steeps causes tension to leave your body. I am still a avid coffee drinker but this tea is starting to take the place of those evening coffee breaks I used to share with my wonderful sister, Michelle. Every time I make a cup and Alex is near, he'll exclaim "Mommy, you smell so good...It smells good in here. MMMmmmmm can I have some?" LOL He is right it does smell GOOD! It's like a warm hug on a cold day ;-)

Lately, I've been finding it very difficult to recharge my batteries. Maybe the charger is in need of repair or maybe I am plugging into the wrong things to recharge them. There's been a few times I've went to bed wishing I spent more time on my devotions and plugged into the One who can super charge my batteries. It's in those moments that I feel so thinly spread I may snap that I have to remind myself, it's OK to say no once in a while and God is patiently waiting for me to destress in his arms. That's even better than a warm hug. To know that we have a loving God that is just waiting to calm the storm or to calm us as we face the storm. I heard a pastor the other day say..."We are either entering, in the middle or coming out of a storm." With that knowledge we can be better prepared and thankful that storms never last long. There are brighter days just around the next bend. I am reminded of a song I heard a lot as a child:

"Storms never last do they Saviour

Bad time will pass with the wind

Your hand in mine stills the thunder all the time

And your love makes the sun shine again."

I don't know where I would be without God. He has kept me through some of the hardest storms of my life where even my faith in Him took a beating and I wondered "God do you even care?" I was shaken to the core but yet I trusted him that he was there somewhere and he would help me at just the right moment. Many times he has placed people in my path to encourage me or inspire me to keep holding on. Over the years, one thing I've learned about God is that he is REAL and He is ALWAYS ON TIME. He loves us with an everlasting love!

Psalm 63:7 ~Because thou (GOD) hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.