This is Us

     

Welcome to My Peace Zone

What a joy for me that you stopped by to check out my daily blogs!  By your visit, my heart’s desire is being fulfilled.  I never wanted anything to do with social media, but when my husband (my sweetheart), was diagnosed with Stage 4 Kidney Cancer, I had a choice.  To waller in self-pity and bring those friends and family who we had supported and encouraged in their times of challenge into that world or to put our faith where we had put our mouths for so many years.  

That latter option is what compelled me to blog and take readers along with us on our faith journey — a faith journey of daily expressing “Nothing is impossible with God” so we would be unlimited in our faith to trust implicitly in what God said.  My sweetheart fought the good fight of faith right through to his last day on this earth when I was able to be his mid-wife and helped him push through to his home sweet home in heaven. 

The peace of God that surpassed understanding enveloped us throughout his illness, his passing, and now, to this day when peace is my #1 priority.  Knowing and living in that peace is what I desire, not just for myself, but for all of my readers.  I want you to live in that peace zone, too.

After my husband’s graduation to heaven, I was no longer an occasional blogger.  I knew God wanted me to bring His light to the darkness on social media and I promised to blog 365 days a year with a 6 am post goal each and every day.  I am driven with a passion for this mission.  Not too many things take priority over my living in the peace zone, hearing God’s voice, watching for signs and promptings that give me the theme for each day’s blog.  I use real-life circumstances to give me the inspiration for a practical, relatable, and relevant message each day.  My passion is telling a lost and hurting world about the love and the mercy and the grace of Jesus. Seeing Jesus transform people’s lives. Making new friends who in turn become voices to a hurting world, who believe that by telling people about Jesus, we can see lives changed … one by one.

I pray you stick around and that you sense God being very real in the present of your life.  Feel free to contact me for prayer and encouragement.  My sweetheart received an early ticket to heaven.  His assignment was completed.  I know that I’m still here so my assignment is still ongoing until I’m taken up.  I love you so much, but so much greater is God’s everlasting, relentless love for you.  May you continually live in “the peace zone”.
Much love,
Donna

Our Story

This is Ron, my fit, strong, healthy, optimistic, husband, best friend and lover for over 44 years (not including the 5 years of being sweethearts since we were 12 and 13 years old). And the other one in the photo is me, Donna (aka Mom and Nana — to my son and wife, Ryan and Shawntel, and their four boys, Braden, Barrett, Brennan and Bryson; and my daughter and husband, Staci and Larry, and their two, Payton and Alexia).

We had been the carriers of good news to people who were going through many various life crises for years. My husband’s claim-to-fame words to them “Just get on the roller coaster, throw your hands up in the air, and enjoy the ride!” His underlying words were “Trust God in the journey because He will be with you, giving you peace in the storm and will carry you through all the way! Nothing is impossible with God, so let go and let him be the conductor of your ride!”

But, then in April 2010, the tables turned and we were the ones who had the greatest faith opportunity of our lives — one, we most certainly didn’t expect! The diagnosis Ron received was Stage 4 Renal Cell Carcinoma Cancer that had metastasized to his #T-11 vertebrae and the tumor was compressing and impinging his spinal cord. He had an emergency surgery to remove the tumor and a steel casing put in to support his spine. Our faith journey was off to a robust start that continued with its nail-biting ups and downs and twists and turns, but oh so great was God’s grace and mercy to us until his graduation to heaven in November.

Throughout our faith journey, we were steady in our implicit trust in God’s constant peace with us. That peace that passed our understanding is what carried us through and it is that same peace that has carried me throughout all the changes from being a devoted wife to now being a devoted-to-God, full-of-vitality, and relentless-in-faith widow. I will continue pursuing God with all my heart and finish my assignments well. I hope to be an example of a gal that has plenty of opportunities to waver but has chosen to live above the fray, above the mourning, and to take on living the abundant life that Christ gave us with relentless and audacious faith. In so doing, I commit to staying in the present to watch for and listen to God’s nudges and whispers to provide “My Peace Zone” readers daily comfort, motivation, and encouragement to run their races strong!