Farewells can be easy? Say What!?

Sometimes I procrastinate the inevitable...
Like the fact that Google Reader is about to say farewell and I will be out of a lovely e-reader for all of the blogs I subscribe to.
As of July 1st, it's gone for good friends. Have you switched to a new reader yet? I highly suggest doing so right now. If you are anything like me, you may find your self waking up on Monday morning thinking, 
"Oh crud, I was supposed to do this 2 days ago!"

So I am taking a moment right now, as I write this, to switch e-readers and I wanted to help you out as well. 

Why?

1) I value your readership here at Awakened and would love for our bloggie friendship to continue.

2) If any of you are like me, enjoying the summer of freeeeedom...You might have missed this update or may forget its almost here! (Ack!)

Here is a very quick and easy to understand post about the different alternative Readers available for you to switch to before 
July 1st. 

Read this one while I go attempt a switch myself and then I will let you know how it went...

Farewell Google Reader pt 1

More options are explained here...

Farewell Google Reader pt 2


Again the easiest way to keep in touch with your favorite bloggers is to subscribe by email.  Then they continue to arrive in your inbox without any issues. ;) 

If you haven't subscribed to Awakened yet, it's right up there to the right. Make sure you click the "confirm subscription" in your email otherwise it will not go through. 

Okay, that was easy and an utter non-event. just the way I like any technical situation on the computer to be! 

I chose to switch to Feedly because it advertised that you could switch your Google reader account seamlessly without having to manually add in all of your blogs again. (Plus, I am sometimes a creature of habit and it has a function that displays my feed just like my Google Reader did. "Le Sigh" 

Guess what?!?!

They weren't kidding around. I am happy to say it took all of 2-3 clicks and within a minute everything was switched over. 

Now it's your turn friends. Please, check out the links that explain it all in a simple and easy fashion. Then choose which alternative to Google Reader you want to switch to and get to it.

Just remember you need to do it now before July 1st, because after that you will have to manually re-subscribe to each of the blogs that you follow.

Also if you missed it, I was sharing over at Bibledude.net again. I love this amazing crew of writers who are in love with Jesus. Here is a link to my article. 

I am grateful especially for the comments. These people are sharing some fantastic insights! I hope you will share yours as well.

Reflections on Bird feeders and the Church

God Bless you and yours this week!

-Heather

P.S. Don't forget to either subscribe by email to your favorite blogs or switch to a new e-reader before JULY 1ST! ;)

99 Balloons and Unfinished Stories...

If you watch the video, I kid you not tears will fall, and yet it's beautiful. The love that is displayed here is amazing in it's depth and purity. Oh that all the sweet children could know this love. Could experience it's sweetness and acceptance. 



When Dan King of Bibledude.net showed it to us and asked if some of us would be willing to write an, "Unfinished Story" to help support these beautiful parents and their ministry I remember thinking, "Of course!" (And then I ran to get a tissue for my tears.)

And yet, when I sat down to write one of our unfinished stories not one of them seemed quite right. I thought I would share about our different miscarriages, or the times I was in the hospital and doctors offices while they tried to figure out what in the world was wrong with me now. Maybe even about when my  energetic and spunky daughter suddenly developed a debilitating auto-immune illness for 8 months...

Again not one of them seemed quite right.

Then one night sitting in one of our teen girl's small groups, God brought this one back to mind. 

In the Searching I Discover I am Found. 

It's short and to the point. Some of you may not understand it and that is okay my friends, but I have quite a few friends who have experienced this in some degree or another. Some of you reading this may know it all to well. My heart goes out to each and every one of you.

I am grateful, so very grateful that God loves us so intently and deeply that we can be called His son's and daughters.

I pray today you know this my friends, 

1 John 3:1

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"

Romans 8:38-39

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

For more information on their story and ministry visit, 
The atypical life blog.



Sharing this week with, Inspire Me Mondays!

When you have to let go... and "Let grace take hold."

"In every situation God is doing a thousand things that we cannot see and do not know."

-John Piper

Lately life’s blows have left me speechless.

If you know me then this is a feat in and of itself.

At times it's been over-whelming and yet we have been quietly trudging forward. The verse that says,

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

 has never been more poignant. (Matthew 6:34)

And while I could go on and on about our own families “stresses” my heart is more heavy laden for those dear hearts of my friends and family around me.

One who found her daughter has wandered into the dark and dangerous territory of a cult.

A mother who is grieving the gut-wrenching loss of her baby.

A brave heart who is fighting the attacks of the enemy as she heals from the damage left by childhood abuse.

Another that is planning her sweet Daddy's funeral after he was taken too soon.

A friend who was told his place of work would be closing at the end of the month when he has 4 little mouths to feed.

One who is about to undergo another barrage of medical tests as the Doctors search for a diagnosis yet again.

Another in debilitating pain, still trying to work and support the family.

And more than one of my friends are dealing with the pain of affairs and divorce.

Yet still, there’s more my friends, so much more.

I am sure you have been there because life is not always rosy, and every rose has its thorns as well.

As we sit here with a silly flooded basement and a hubby who has been ill, sick kids and some of our own life’s plans thrown up in the air, it really all seems minor in perspective.

 I am reminded of something the Lord revealed to me on a cloudy, rainy day as I sat in the airplane awaiting the take-off. The rain dripped down the windows of the plane and carried the heavy cares of the day downward to the ground.

The heavy clouds hung low, dark and gloomy, but as the plane made its decisive turn  on the runway and began its ascent. As it continually pointed its nose upward towards the heavens something amazing happened.

Onward and upward we plunged into the dark clouds. They grew so thick around the plane that I found myself unable to see through the masses of gray apparitions. 

Suddenly a flash of blinding light broke forth searing my eyes. I blinked several times and had to look away, but yet there it was…The blue sky, the sun, they were still there even during the storm.

The deep azure expanse of bright glowing sky was all the more alluring after the hopeless pallor of the storm clouds. The rain drops that were being pushed back across the window pane from the ascending winds, sparkled in the suns bright and blinding light. A light that caused the once gray clouds from below to almost glow, stretching into fluffy white rolling plains here above the storms.

And then I heard the Lord whisper to my heart,

 “You see my daughter? I am still shining even during the storms of life. I am still working good things for my children. I am always here.”

And so my friends, in our dark nights when our questions and "whys," pour out in a torrent into our tear stained pillows, this I cling to...

This I absolutely know.

Our God never grows tired or weary and He never ever stops working for our good.

Isaiah  40:28-31

Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.

Romans 8:28

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

So like a sweet friend encouraged us the other day, I will let “grace take hold” for I have nothing left to offer and in the end I know the result will be His masterful craftsmanship.  A life's work that will point gloriously to the Lord because it is showered in His beautiful finger prints.

Sharing with Inspire Me Mondays, Mercy Ink