God is always at work, it’s a fact. And I know that Jason and I are always so encouraged to hear how God is moving in other’s lives, and so glad that our church, Harvest Bible Chapel will often will take the time to have people share their stories in front of our church. At the end of November Jason and I had the opportunity to get in front and share our story. That was an emotional and a pretty big deal for us, but we felt compelled to tell of God’s faithfulness even through Ava’s death, and on the whole I think it went well. We both broke down towards the end both times (we shared in both services) but it was joy to be able to say that we could still praise God for his faithfulness even through our story didn’t have a happy ending. When it goes online I will definitely share the link of the video.
Now today I going to share another link, one to a brand new Harvest Newsletter done through our church.
I’m a little biased towards this newsletter because I had the opportunity to submit an article for it. I’m writing a 3 part series on our Ava story and the first one is called “Peace Amid Turmoil” It was a huge honour to be able to contribute, not to mention it was my first time working with a editor. That was an experience that I first found a little tough (someone is actually critiquing my writing!!!!) but in the end I end up finding it very insightful and helpful.
Here’s the link! God at Work Magazine
In other news, I wish I could say that writing the article has been the reason I haven’t been blogging, but the truth is, well the truth is I just haven’t blogged, shame on me! But I can fill in some blanks to say that we had a great Christmas. Here’s a pic that I may have taken in the New Year right before we took down the tree…
Our family really loves Christmas and its great to have a break from school and we enjoyed all our time spent with family and friends over the holidays. We always make lots of great memories and this year we may have started a few new traditions. The first was that we went and got our Christmas tree on Ava’s birthday which made the day special for the kids. And then about a week later we made a trip to Toronto – just to revisit some of the places that hold the most memories of Ava for us. We went and saw the staff who were so good to us at the Ronald MacDonald house, and saw many of our beloved nurses at SickKids. It’s kinda funny because I know my kids would move back into the Ronald MacDonald House in a heart-beat and I think that is a huge testament to the great job they are doing there. I would love us to make a special visit to Toronto every December to be reminded of Ava and also to remember how good God was to us during that time.
And now it’s January and we keep moving ahead. Lots of things are happening and we keep praising God for the fact that He is always at work and will always be faithful.
Amen!
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23
