Veterans and Rememberance Day

Layouts by gonewiththewind

In 1918, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in the eleventh month, the world rejoiced and celebrated. After four years of bitter war, an armistice was signed. The "war to end all wars" was over.

In 1921, an unknown World War I American soldier was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Similar ceremonies occurred earlier in England and France, where an unknown soldier was buried in each nation's highest place of honor (in England, Westminster Abbey; in France, the Arc de Triomphe).

These memorial gestures all took place on November 11, giving universal recognition to the celebrated ending of World War I fighting at 11 a.m..

Armistice Day officially received its name in America in 1926 through a Congressional resolution. It became a national holiday 12 years later by similar Congressional action. If the idealistic hope had been realized that World War I was "the War to end all Wars," November 11 might still be called Armistice Day. But only a few years after the holiday was proclaimed, war broke out in Europe.

Realizing that peace was equally preserved by veterans of WW II and Korea, Congress was requested to make this day an occasion to honor those who have served America in all wars. In 1954 President Eisenhower signed a bill proclaiming November 11 as Veterans Day.

A law passed in 1968 changed the national commemoration of Veterans Day to the fourth Monday in October. It soon became apparent, however, that November 11 was a date of historic significance to many Americans. Therefore, in 1978 Congress returned the observance to its traditional date.

Every year on November 11, Canadians pause in a silent moment of remembrance for the men and women who have served, and continue to serve our country during times of war, conflict and peace.

We honour those who fought for Canada in the First World War (1914-1918), the Second World War (1939-1945), and the Korean War (1950-1953), as well as those who have served since then. More than 1,500,000 Canadians have served our country in this way, and more than 100,000 have died. They gave their lives and their futures so that we may live in peace.




In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

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Layouts by JackieAnn

God's Fingerprints

We are watching the Inspiration Gallery for layouts that have recorded God's Fingerprints in your life. With the new Faith Discovery Challenge, I think we are going to start seeing more and more of His Fingerprints being journaled!

This week the God's Fingerprints Spotlight is shining on JackieAnn. What an inspiring story! Thank you JackieAnn for sharing God's Fingerprints in your life. Your story is sure to touch the lives of many. Please leave some love for JackieAnn in the comments!






JOURNALING:
Growing up in southern California, I spent a LOT of time out in the sun. Sunscreen was not even around…it was more suntan oil. Our family spent every summer at the beach house and some time every winter in Palm Springs. Because of my fair skin I would always go thru the routine of burn…blister…peel. So I ended up with a lot of freckles and moles. My mum always called them angel kisses. She told me that all the little spots on my skin were where the angels had decided to kiss me whenever they wanted me to know that they were watching over me.

When I was 30, one of those angel kisses started growing and changing. A biopsy showed that it was malignant melanoma and I had to have surgery. I was totally thrown for a loop! My grandfather had died of this same thing 10 years prior and I was scared that this was my fate as well. In addition, I had gone back to work full time a few months before, even tho Meg was 3 and Jim was only 18 months old. I was moving up the management ladder at my work. I was totally focused on what the next upward step might be… supervisor… manager? So when I got this news all I could think of was not only would I die and my children never really know me but also how could work survive without me? Wasn’t ~I~ the vital wheel that kept everything moving? How could God do this to me and ruin MY perfect life, MY perfect plan?

Because this angel kiss was located on my leg, I was forced to be bedridden for over 3 months. Meg and Jim went to the baby sitters house during the day when Michael was at work because there was no way for me to get up and take care of them. Family and friends helped, but when we were home alone, the whole burden of cooking, caring for the kids, keeping the house in order was left to Michael. All I could do was lie in bed and watch as the world continued to move around me. And slowly, my focus started to shift. As I lay in bed reading, working on a craft project, calling friends who I had lost touch with, I thought about all that I had been missing while I was so totally focused on work. I started keeping a prayer journal I wrote down all my hopes and prayers for Meg & Jim so they would have a written, tangible record of just how much I loved and cherished them in case all this took a bad turn. I so looked forward to when everyone was home. The kids would crawl into bed me with me and I would tell them stories or we would read books. We would dress up Barbie and play with dinosaurs. We would laugh and sing ~Monkeys jumping on the bed~ and they would fall off in giggles. Precious glimpses of all that I had been missing.

During my recovery time in bed, I got a phone call one morning saying that we had won an all expense paid trip to Hawaii! Several months back I had jokingly filled out a contest form in our supermarket and out of 10,000 entries they picked mine! The trip scheduled to be taken in 4 months time. If all went well, according to the doctor, my stitches would be out, the graft would be healed; I would be off crutches and finally back to walking, and could possibly even go swimming. God’s amazing timing and God’s amazing healing. Off we went to Hawaii to spend an all expense paid week at the Turtle Bay Hilton on Oahu. We swam, snorkeled, rode horses, walked along the shore, hunted for sea shells and spent precious time together as a family. It was just what we all needed to make us whole, physically and spiritually.

When we came back, I put in my notice, switched departments and started working part time. Since then I have turned down many opportunities for advancement in my job. I have absolutely no regrets, I was taught a lesson and I listened and learned most heartily. God literally knocked me flat on my back, so I would have the time and the open heart to stop….focus and regroup on just what my priorities my life are. And I learned, that being the best supervisor at my job, was not the legacy that I wanted my children to remember me for. I wanted them to remember me for being a child of God who listened, followed and was the best wife and mother they would ever know.
Since that first operation, there have been some minor setbacks with my melanoma, but all along I knew that God and his angels were watching over me. After all, it was one of their kisses that brought me back to Him.

Behold, I send an angel before you, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place which I have prepared.
Exodus 23:20

God's Fingerprints

There are Fingerprints from God in your life everyday all day, simply because He loves us. If we’re not actively looking for his fingerprints, we may not recognize them, but some are so big that it would be impossible for them to go unnoticed. These are the moments that you want to harness because they offer life-changing, faith-growing power! To me this is what Faithbooking is all about! As we remember these times and recognize God’s fingerprints in all of our experiences, our faith grows and our confidence about the future grows.

We are watching the Inspiration Gallery for layouts that have recorded God's Fingerprints in your life. Occasionally, we will spotlight God's Fingerprints here on the Faith Sisters Blog!

Our first Spotlight goes to Becky for her Jeremiah 29:11 layout. What an inspiring story! Thank you Becky for sharing God's Fingerprints in your life. Please leave some love for Becky in the comments!

The journaling reads:
"This weekend, I was given the privilege of attending the Calvary Chapel Ontario Women's Retreat. I told my friends Nicki & Dana that I just felt like I needed a spiritual recharge. I had hoped that this weekend would give me the little boost I needed to press on.

The Lord is so amazing.

Not only did He give me a "little boost"....He gave me that and more. I really and truly came away with a heart overflowing with a knowledge that the Lord loves me, individually and distinctly. That He truly hears and speaks to me - and that He desires to have an even more intimate relationship with me than I can even fathom.

The reason for the title? Because although the theme of this retreat was "Beloved of God", the theme for me ended up being Jeremiah 29:11.

A friend of mine awhile ago sent me a beautiful keepsake with Jeremiah 29:11 on it. The verse just spoke to my heart....at the time things were feeling very bleak, and I was at that point where I was wondering if God had forgotten all about me. It's given me comfort every time I read it....and this weekend, I guess the Lord just needed to remind me again that He truly doesn't want to harm me...that his plans are to give me hope and a future.

From the start of this weekend to the very end, the Lord just kept sending this verse to me over and over. I have to write it out because it just amazed me how He kept speaking it over and over to me....if it hadn't happened, I wouldn't have believed it myself.

Here's how it happened:
On my way home from work Friday, I had to stop by the local Christian bookstore to pick up a coffee mug for the mug exchange we were having at the retreat. As I was looking around at the mugs, I happened to glance down at the checkbook covers. The cover on the top of the pile had Jeremiah 29:11 printed on it. I read the verse, smiled, picked up the cover, and purchased it. It felt like such a great reminder as I was headed to pick up my friend Nicki, who was waiting for me at my home to travel up with me, that the Lord had something wonderful in mind for this weekend. Little did I know that things were just beginning.

Part of my "job" at the retreat was to help Nicki with the bookstore that she was operating at the retreat. As we were unpacking and setting things up, I started to open the box of coffee mugs she brought up for sale. Looking down, I saw a mug I had seen a few weeks ago when we visited our home church...a pretty aqua colored mug with Jeremiah 29:11 printed on the outside. I quickly set the mug aside and purchased it.

Saturday morning, as Nicki and I left to go down from our cabin to the bookstore, her husband Gary texted her the verse of the day....and she just smiled and held the phone over to me.

The verse was Jeremiah 29:11.
I couldn't believe it.

We had several sessions of wonderful teaching from the Word while we were there this weekend. In the first two sessions, Jeremiah 29:11 was mentioned again at each one. At this point, I started to really see that the Lord really was reminding me of something He had spoken to me through my friend awhile ago when she sent me that gift. I started really thinking about the words of the verse in a way I hadn't before.

After the Saturday morning session, we were given the opportunity to spend an hour and a half in private study and prayer time with the Lord. Our pastor's wife gave us a little pre-printed study guide....and as I worked through it, I saw that same theme running through that I'd seen all weekend long. I loved that quiet time with the Lord...and when I finished the study, I just started reading randomly in my Bible. I found myself drawn yet again to Jeremiah...but this time, instead of stopping at the end of verse 11, I continued on. What I saw there in the next two verses continued to drive home what the Lord had been trying to tell me:

"Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
Jer. 29:12-13

Wow. Not only was He telling me over and over again that His plans for me were to give me hope and a future....but that once I realized that and stopped wandering around in my own devices and my own self-pity and sadness, that I would call upon Him. That I would pray to Him.....and that in turn, He would hear me. Not only would He hear me, He would listen to me. That was so powerful to me. I thought about my kids....and how sometimes I will hear them...and how that is so different from listening to them. Here was God, telling me that He would listen to me. All I needed to do was know what His plan was for me, and then call up on Him...and come to Him.

And then there was verse 13. Yes, I would seek Him...but I wouldn't find Him unless I sought with all my heart. Not just the part I wanted to use. Not just the parts I thought were "worthy" of Him. ALL my heart. And when I did....I'd find Him.

I sat there by the creek bank, and poured my heart out to my God as I came to that realization of what He had been trying to tell me all along. I thanked Him for showing me those things...for loving me even when I don't deserve it (which is all the time). When I looked down at my watch and realized it was time to move on to the day's other activities, I was sad. I didn't want to leave that precious time with Him.

Well, the weekend continued....and again and again, in each session, Jeremiah 29:11 was mentioned. This morning, in our last session, as I looked up at our pastor's wife as she was giving the message, she read the verse yet again. I was sitting next to Nicki, who witnessed all of this as well....and she just squeezed me and smiled. She knew. I knew.

As we got ready to break up for the day, our pastor's wife invited us to stand and share something that the Lord had done for us this weekend, or something that meant a great deal to us about the events. I wasn't sure I would be able to express what I wanted to say...but I knew I had to stand and give praise to my Lord, who continues to drive home messages to me over and over again...and to tell Him that I finally got the message He was trying to tell me in Jeremiah.

This evening as I got home and finally got around to checking my email, Nicki had sent me an email. It was Jeremiah 29:11 again.

Thank you Lord.
Thank You for driving home a point, even if I am sometimes so slow and stubborn in my own ways that You have to do it over and over again. Thank You for not giving up on me...and for giving me such an amazing weekend to grow closer to You.

I can't even begin to put into words all this weekend meant to me. I feel renewed. Recharged. Ready to support my sweetheart in this calling the Lord has placed on his heart for the ministry. Wherever it takes us.

Because I KNOW that the Lord has good plans for me.
Because He loves me."