Life changes on a dime.

Last Friday morning, a beautiful woman and friend had a stroke around 7:00 a.m. Her son found her later that afternoon and called 911. Her daughter was my childhood best friend. The plan for that day was to go to the movies together, a mother/daughter afternoon indulgence. Yet, two days later, that sweet family made the decision to take their mother off of life support, sending her to glory. She was an amazing woman who loved to laugh, spend time with her family and cherished her friends. She was beautiful and a huge role model for me. Life changes on a dime.

Yesterday, some girlfriends and I went to visit a mutual friend in the hospital. She has been battling for her life….heart surgery, a collapsed lung, staph infection, and a whole lot of pain. It truly has been one thing after another for my sister in Christ. I was pleased to see her looking better than a couple of days ago, sitting up and talking. We spent about thirty minutes with her and the conversation was rich and full of love for one another. We prayed together before we left and I felt like things were beginning to turn around for my friend. This morning at 6:17, I received a text from her husband asking for prayer. You see, she has bleeding on the brain which caused a seizure. My lovely friend is now on a ventilator. Life changes on a dime.

Our time here on earth is fleeting and our days are numbered. Life is precious. We should treat each and every day as a gift from our heavenly Father. Take time to tell those around you how much you love them. Notice the beauty God has placed in your life. Take time to listen to the people who you encounter every day. Each morning that we wake up with breath in our lungs is another opportunity to show generosity, kindness, love, forgiveness and grace. Don’t hold back: laugh, dance, give the benefit of the doubt, be slow to anger, get rid of grudges, forgive and give thanks! Embrace life with complete abandonment, filled with hope and faith! Because life changes on a dime. And because our Father in heaven is good. He is faithful. He is trustworthy. His ways are right. And He is love.

Be joyful!

So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures. James 1:16-18