Tag: Ann Voskamp

Weekend Wisdom

Weekend Wisdom: Profanity

Michele Kearns

This is a very interesting definition of profanity. May we not treat anything with profanity this holiday season.

Treating as meaningless that which is freighted with meaning. Treating as common that which is hallowed. Regarding as a mere triviality what is really a divine design. Profanity is failure to see the inner mystery.

Elisabeth Elliot – as quoted in The Greatest Gift, Unwrapping The Full Love Story of Christmas by Ann Voskamp – December 8th devotion.

Bio: Michele Kearns is the founder and HUG© (Hope Unites Globally) Award-Winner of JoyReturns. She shares her widowhood adventures hoping to inspire widows to move through grief and rebuild their lives. A graduate of Kent State University with a Bachelor’s degree in communications, she’s currently using those skills as a virtual logistics contact center representative for a Fortune 100 company. She’s also managed call center teams, co-facilitated a grief support group, and helped small businesses with various writing assignments. Michele is a bookworm, and a lover of history, music, chocolate, red roses, and golden retrievers. She is also the amateur photographer behind the blog OgleOhio.com.

Weekend Wisdom

What I am Thankful for In 2020

Michele Kearns

This morning I decided instead of Weekend Wisdom I needed to write a partial list of what I am grateful for this year and share it with you because…..

Yes, there is always something to be thankful for even in the most dire times.

My partial list,

  • Discovering a way to afford Nexxus Shampoo (best at helping the my very dry brittle hair)
  • Fudge covered Oreos. (already was in love with the white chocolate fudge ones)
  • Our election and the appeals processing working the way the founding fathers intended
  • The Bible, The Declaration of Independence, and The Constitution
  • The word Stand.
  • The END of the laziness in my personal life
  • Finding a way to deal with handling 2 chats at the same time.
  • My new dishwasher (courtesy of stimulus check)
  • Labor Day storm sewer back up
  • The men who cleaned out my basement after storm sewer back up
  • Getting together with Joe’s family for a birthday party
  • My Scottish ancestors
  • Sharing gyros and baklava from a local restaurant with family
  • FREEDOM
  • 2020

That is just a small list of persons, places, events or things I am grateful for so far this year. Yes, 2020 is on the list. Why? Simply because we do not know what 2021 holds in store for us. So be thankful for and appreciate this year.

Advent starts tomorrow and I decided once again to use Ann Voskamp’s The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas as my devotional. I did not regularly use anything last year and I don’t remember the year before because I work in retail. So it’s been a year or two since I used this book. Maybe something new will jump out at me. I doubt it. The book is so marked up form the years I did use it but there is always hope.

Have a joy-filled weekend!

Bio: Michele Kearns is the founder and HUG© (Hope Unites Globally) Award-Winner of JoyReturns. She shares her widowhood adventures hoping to inspire widows to move through grief and rebuild their lives. A graduate of Kent State University with a Bachelor’s degree in communications, she’s currently using those skills as a virtual logistics contact center representative for a Fortune 100 company. She’s also managed call center teams, co-facilitated a grief support group, and helped small businesses with various writing assignments. Michele is a bookworm, and a lover of history, music, chocolate, red roses, and golden retrievers. She is also the amateur photographer behind the blog OgleOhio.com.

Books

Living With My One Broken Heart

Michele Kearns

In the new devotional book The Way of Abundance, a 60-Day Journey into a Deeply Meaningful Life,  Ann Voskamp asks at the end of the Day 4 Devotion,

  • How are you living with your one broken heart?
  • How is God asking you to step toward an abundant healing?

These are the first questions, I’ve been able to answer. The other 3 days left me sitting at my computer in a stupor saying “Duh! I don’t know.”

My One Broken Heart

How am I living with my one broken heart?

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A heart that’s been broken more times than I can count in the last decade. First with Joe’s passing, then a year later being laid off due to a departmental reorganization, and then years of struggle rebuilding my career. So the answer to “how am I living wth my one broken heart? is:

  very messily

Life has been messy for the past few years. It’s what happens when every year is worse than the last one and you do not know what to do to improve your life. Fortunately, I have a job but as much as I love it, there are bills that can not be paid. Changes are coming soon which hopefully will mean a brighter future.

Abundant Healing

How is God asking me to step toward an abundant healing? The answer to that question is simple, painful and frustrating –

He is asking me to put my trust and hope Him.

Trust and hope are the two things that have slowly disintegrated in my life the last 4 or 5 years (I’ve lost track).

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It is hard to trust and have hope in God when everybody else’s life is flourishing and yours is heading down the crapper, no matter how hard I pray,  how long I pray, or the wording of my prayers. But I am called to put my trust and hope (confidence in a future event) in God even if he changes my residence to the city’s sewers.

More Questions

So those are my answers to Ann’s questions. I will be blogging about questions to other devotions as well.

 

What are your answers to these two questions?

 

(Disclaimer: I am on Ann Voskamp’s book launch team and received a copy of some devotions for review.)

 

 

red-rose_signatureBio: Michele Kearns is the founder and HUG© (Hope Unites Globally) Award-Winner of JoyReturns. She shares her widowhood adventures hoping to encourage widows to move through grief and rebuild their lives. A graduate of Kent State University with a Bachelor’s degree in communications, she’s used those skills while managing call center teams, facilitating a grief support group and helping small businesses with various writing and administrative assignments. Michele is a bookworm, lover of chocolate, red roses and golden retrievers and is an amateur photographer.