Rose Alane

There are many seasons in life.       A time for mourning and tears.      A time for joy and laughter.      A time for peace.      A time for chaos and order.      A time for death ... and life.       A time for .... so many seasons.  There is ALWAYS time for PRAISE.  No matter what season we are in, God is still the same. He never changes, even when our season is changing all around us.  Life hands us good and bad things. Sometimes it's hard and full of challenges. Even then it's time for praise.  Sometimes life is going smoothly and things seem to fall into place. It's easy to praise Him during those times, although we forget to remember to do it in the easier seasons. It's usually during those times that we need to remember to praise Him for the goodness of who he is and what he has done in our lives.  The seasons of hardship, chaos and grief it's much harder t...

During this Christmas season some of the words that commonly come to mind are … hope, peace and joy. Why do we think of those words when there seems to be stress and busyness connected to this time of the year? Could it be that this is what we long to experience in the midst of all that the world demands of us? In the biblical story of the wisemen that traveled to see Jesus soon after his birth it says that the wisemen felt joy when they saw the star where Jesus was. (Matthew 2:9-10) Where did the joy come from? It came from being in the presence of Jesus.  Here’s the deal… the wisemen had to travel hundreds of miles to get to Jesus. They determined to follow the star that God had shown them because they knew that in the end they would see the King, the Messiah. They wanted to see Jesus!  How do we experience the hope, joy and peace that we long for during this Christmas season? Or any other season for that matter?  We make the choice to pursue it.  We look for it....

Keep Trusting. It’s my word for 2023. Why in the world would I need to learn more about trust? Truth is that we all need to learn more about trusting the Lord in this life. But what does this look like? Honestly, I’m still not completely sure what this looks like in real life. I’m still learning so much about trusting Him. I like to go on a walk at a local park. I don’t always pay attention to the details as I’m walking through the park. This day was a unique one. It was my sabbath and I was being intentional with spending time with God. I longed to hear his voice and to see what he wanted to show me. The Lord started speaking so clearly to me…  As we go through life, we make choices on a regular basis.  Choosing to wake up and get out of bed.  Choosing to take a shower or not.  We decide what to have for breakfast. Spending time with God is a choice too. Our days are full on constant decisions or choices.  Every choice we make affects the next one.  We of...

How do we grow spiritual roots that are strong enough so that we can stand when the troubles of life hit us and want to knock us down?    The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man  who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has  no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution  comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.  Matthew 13:20-21   God says that we will face trouble in this life. It’s not the same for everyone. I’ve experienced enough trouble in my life to satisfy me for a lifetime. Life is hard. For some it’s harder than others.    In 2004 when my family and I were in a head-on collision while going 65mph my life changed forever. My husband died next to me which means that I instantly became a single mom to three small children. Life got full of trouble in a split second. I had no warning. I was blindsided by tragedy and tra...

Emotions.  Feelings. There are so many of them. Happy. Sad. Excited. Depressed. Scared. Anxious. Sorrow. Joy. The list goes on and on. Sometimes we feel more than one at a time and it's hard to sort through them.  We need to allow ourselves to feel our emotions. Going numb or silent is not the answer.  We cannot selectively numb emotions, when we numb the painful emotions,  we also numb the positive ones. – Brene Brown We tend to jump into being busy or simply choose to shut down our feelings because it’s too painful. Quite frankly, who wants to feel pain when we can avoid it? But is it really gone when we don’t feel it? It’s still there. Pushing it down doesn’t make it go away. Numbing our sadness, depression, grief, and anger may make us “feel better” but reality is that we are also numbing the gratitude and happiness that we could be feeling. Avoiding the pain also means that we avoid the joy that can come with facing it head-on.  God created feelings.  ...

Life can go in so many different directions. It can be in a good direction or a bad direction. It’s up to us to decide where it goes.     The choices we make matter. I have seen this over and over in my life.    Even as children, choices matter. When I was in school I could choose to do well in a subject or not. If I chose to do my homework well then I would get a better grade. If I chose to study for a test then I had a better chance at passing. Paying attention in class is a choice.    I will say that as children, many choices are made for us. Those aren’t always good. Sometimes adults make poor choices, intentional and unintentional, that affect our young lives. The reality of this is painful. As adults we need to learn to make healthy choices for the sake of those around us.    So many decisions that I have made in my life have affected who I am today. So many. I can look back on my life and pinpoint choices that changed the trajectory of my l...

One of my favorite places I've ever been to is The Algonquin Provincial Park in Canada. Each time I've been there it's been a time of my soul being refreshed and deep connection with God.    So many times when I tell someone how much I love being in the Algonquin, I get looks of "Really?!" "Are you crazy?" "How could anyone possibly enjoy that?" It is seriously one of my favorite places but also one of the hardest places to be.  Some things that I learned while in the wilderness … Hearing the voice of God in the wilderness is powerful.   One one trip I had a conversation with Him about the weather while I was spending time with him at the first campsite. His response to me asking for good weather was, “I will give you what you  need ”. This concerned me a little but didn’t scare me. In the end, He really did give us exactly what we needed… at the right time and the right place. It was amazing to watch Him move through his creation.  God’s creat...

Springtime. It’s refreshing rain. It’s more sunshine. It’s newness of life. It’s green and colorful.   The previous season, winter, is one of dormancy. All the trees and plants are resting in a sense. The leaves are gone. The colors are gone. Humans tend to stay inside or as we like to say, hibernate, more in the cold season.    Spring is a time of restoration. Trees, plants and grass are coming back to life. There is new growth all around us. Even humans seem to come back to life. It’s encouraging to see life being restored everywhere we look in this season.    Restoration means to bring something back to its former position or condition.    God is the One who breathes life into plants, relationships, health and lives.  In the bible, He talks about this quite a bit. He promises that he is the One who restores.    Jehovah El Ashiyb - the Lord my Restorer   A few scriptures:  Psalm 23:3  He  restoreth  my sou...