{"id":1153,"date":"2019-10-20T04:00:14","date_gmt":"2019-10-20T09:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=1153"},"modified":"2019-10-07T13:43:07","modified_gmt":"2019-10-07T18:43:07","slug":"1153","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2019\/10\/20\/1153\/","title":{"rendered":"A SPECIAL LADY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMy help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.\u201d\u00a0 Psalm 121:2 CSB<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This entire Psalm was my Mom\u2019s and my Aunt Margie\u2019s favorite Psalm, at least that\u2019s what they told me.\u00a0 My Aunt Margie was my favorite aunt. I loved her more than my Mom at times.  When I was a teenager and Mom wouldn\u2019t let me do what I wanted to do, I told her I hated her.\u00a0 I was that much of a brat.  But Aunt Margie loved me, even when I was being a brat (and so did my Mom).  Today is her birthday in heaven, tomorrow is the anniversary of when I met my husband.  I always think, \u201cHe\u2019s Aunt Margie\u2019s gift to me from heaven.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m dedicating today\u2019s devotional to her.  The impact she had on my life is too great to not share her with you.  Each year as I get older, things she told me that didn\u2019t make sense then are now beginning to make sense.  I\u2019m beginning to understand what she was trying to tell me.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I understand some of the deep pain my Aunt Margie endured during her lifetime. Before I was even born, her father died unexpectedly, she lost a child, and 2 of her siblings had died. I was barely four years old when she lost another brother to cancer.&nbsp; I\u2019m beginning to understand the deep faith that she had.  A faith she lived more than she preached.  My Aunt Margie loved like Jesus.  She always had a warm hug to greet you.  The first thing she would start doing is whipping up something good to eat, it typically included lots of butter and pepper.&nbsp; Then we would sit at her table and talk.  I would unload whatever the major problem was in my life and she would coach me through it.  Aunt Margie didn\u2019t hold punches, she told you like it was.  If you went to her for advice, you got advice.  What she had to say might not be what you want to hear, but it was always good.&nbsp; She was also  good at just listening if that was all you needed.  I don\u2019t ever remember Aunt Margie preaching to me or trying to tell me what to do.  I just remember her loving me to the best of her ability.  She was an amazing woman, who lived an incredible life filled with a faith that is rare.  Her strength in the face of adversity is undescribable. She wasn\u2019t perfect, no one is, but she was perfect to me.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I now think I know why Psalm 121 was read at both my Mom and Aunt Margie\u2019s funerals.&nbsp; They both truly did get their strength from the Lord.  He was their help in time of need, He was their hope in time of mourning, He was their guiding light in the darkness of life.&nbsp; Read the words yourself, see if they don\u2019t give you strength:<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I lift up my eyes to the mountains\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;where does my help come from?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My help comes from the Lord,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;the Maker of heaven and earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He will not let your foot slip\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;he who watches over you will not slumber;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">indeed, he who watches over Israel<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;will neither slumber nor sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Lord watches over you\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;the Lord is your shade at your right hand;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">the sun will not harm you by day,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;nor the moon by night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Lord will keep you from all harm\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;he will watch over your life;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">the Lord will watch over your coming and going<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">both now and forevermore<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cMy help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.\u201d\u00a0 Psalm 121:2 CSB This entire Psalm was my Mom\u2019s and my Aunt Margie\u2019s favorite Psalm, at least that\u2019s what they told me.\u00a0 My Aunt Margie was my favorite aunt. I loved her more than my Mom at times. When I was a teenager&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2019\/10\/20\/1153\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">A SPECIAL LADY<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1153"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1162,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153\/revisions\/1162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}