{"id":1835,"date":"2014-12-12T14:42:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-12T20:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/good-tidings-of-comfort-and-joy-2\/"},"modified":"2019-02-18T10:01:59","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:01:59","slug":"good-tidings-of-comfort-and-joy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=1835","title":{"rendered":"Good Tidings of Comfort and Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Four years ago, I came home to Tulsa after spending a beautiful Thanksgiving week in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico with my son and his family after a whirlwind previous couple of weeks of decisions to be made, funeral preparations, and all the “to do’s” after my Honey graduated to heaven. <\/p>\n

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Cabo was just what I needed \u2013 to get away \u2013 find that place of consolation, peace and serenity. Everything about the previous few weeks \u2013 in fact, the last eight months seemed quite surreal. But, I had walked through the valley of the shadow of death, and, because of this profound place of peace, I literally feared no evil. God was there to comfort me \u2013 that was His promise in Psalm 23 \u2013 He had kept His promise. I was comforted.<\/p>\n

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My eyes welled up in tears as I walked from my plane down the concourse and approached the waiting area, as this was the first time that I arrived back in Tulsa, with my Honey not waiting for me.  BUT, what to my wandering and teary eyes would appear\u2026. but my two, then, \u201cTulsa\u201d grandkids, running to me with open arms and screaming, \u201cNana, Nana! We made you cards and presents!”  Oh, sweet distraction from my previous thoughts! Getting into the car, they excitedly displayed their \u201cWelcome Home\u201d handmade cards and ice cream stick creations \u2013 one to hold my pens and pencils, and the other, a drink coaster and ice cream stick crosses. They were little chatter boxes all the way home.  Oh, how my Heavenly Father gave me exactly what I needed, once again \u2013 \u201cgood tidings of comfort and joy\u201d that comes from a loving Father in the form of the purity of two little children who love me so much.<\/p>\n

Of course, when I arrived back at home — I had waves of emotions — when I saw his pictures, his clothes, the fingerprints of his life all over our home.  I missed him beyond words, but I was never overcome with even a moment of grief (definition: deep mental anguish, as that arising from bereavement) or sorrow (definition — mental suffering or pain caused by injury, loss, or despair). Both of those words talk about “mental” suffering. I refused to go there. No, I was not in denial. I was in that “secret place\u201d of the Most High \u2013 abiding under the shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91:1). I had a choice \u2013 to be in sorrow and grief \u2013 or to celebrate each day that God would give me.  I chose to open the windows wide \u2013 to listen to joyful Christmas music \u2013 to shine the Christmas lights brightly — to laugh with my grandchildren while making Christmas cookies — to call a friend and encourage them \u2013- to raise my voice in song, especially singing, \u201cGod is so good\u201d. I will finish strong! I will be a conqueror!<\/p>\n

I purpose to live out my faith with joy instead of sorrow, dancing instead of mourning, wearing a garment of praise instead of a spirit of heaviness. Yes, at this beautiful time of the year\u2026we can all sing the words \u201cGod Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, let NOTHING you dismay, remember Christ, our Savior, was born on Christmas Day, Oh tidings of comfort and joy!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four years ago, I came home to Tulsa after spending a beautiful Thanksgiving week in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico with my son and his family after a whirlwind previous couple of weeks of decisions to be made, funeral preparations, and all the “to do’s” after my Honey graduated to heaven. Cabo was just what I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8578,11008,4275,11009,11010,120,10717,1702],"class_list":["post-1835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-tbt","tag-cabo-san-lucas","tag-god-rest-ye-merry-gentlemen","tag-good-tidings-of-comfort-and-joy","tag-mental-suffering","tag-psalm-911","tag-to-dos","tag-welcome-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1835"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3109,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1835\/revisions\/3109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}