Bits and Pieces

I've shared 3 of the important lessons I learned on my weekend Walk to Emmaus experience.  Prejudice, priorities, God's nudges.  There are more little bits, little take aways that I want to keep with me so I need to write them down in order to remind myself from time to time.

- Make sure others know that you love them.  Taking the time to share how I feel, small gestures to demonstrate my affection are some majorly important ways to keep relationships strong.

- I got back in touch with my emotional side.  I realized a while ago that I was missing something.  It used to be that I would tear up over the smallest things.  Somewhere along the way, I got too busy and too stressed to be all mushy gushy.  Over the course of those 3 days, as I unlocked my heart, I found the well of tears that, for me, express sadness, joy, hope, fear, and those feelings that can't be described by words.

- Serving others is an amazing expression of love.  Allowing others to serve me is a way of allowing someone to love me.  I serve others out of love and should be willing to accept the love of others in that same way.

- I wrote a post after being moved by my pastor's sermon on Ohana- intentional family.  My weekend really reinforced how important it is to have that intentional family (blood related or not).  The days following my experienced continue to reinforce what I've known for a while- the people God puts in my path are blessings.

- I wish I would have journaled.  I wish I would have taken time each night to reflect on the events of the day behind me.  There are things that are already very fuzzy.  I'm blogging or otherwise journaling the big lessons but I want to hold on to the details as much as I can.

- I am eager for others to experience God in the way that I did this past weekend.  Everyone's experience is unique but I think the foundation is the same for most- -God's love is unconditional and never-ending.  We might have all experienced it in different ways or maybe some won't be able to realize that until later, but it's the main universal message.

- There are things that happened in my experience that I can't share on my blog.  There are things that I experienced that will always be personal and private for me.  And there are parts that I will be called to share in the future.

If there is anything I've written about or shared in this week or anything you know of me or that I've shared before that has you asking questions about my faith, about God, about Jesus, about being a follower of Christ, I sincerely invite you to contact me.  I'm going to keep blogging about my faith in my posts as I have in the past.  My faith is the foundation of my life so it is part of everything I do and it will continue to be part of my blogging.  I have no intention of using my blog as a conversion tool, I won't be preaching "at" you but will continue to share lessons in faith with you.  Just know that my proverbial door is always open.