First Winter Chill Horse Painting by Texas Artist Laurie Pace and a blog Discussion of Appreciation of Feelings good and bad.
©Laurie Pace Graphics One Design 2022
First Winter Chill
12 x 12 Mixed Media on Panel
“If we never experience the chill of a dark winter, it is very unlikely that we will ever cherish the warmth of a bright summer’s day. Nothing stimulates our appetite for the simple joys of life more than the starvation caused by sadness or desperation. In order to complete our amazing life journey successfully, it is vital that we turn each and every dark tear into a pearl of wisdom, and find the blessing in every curse.”
― Anthon St. Maarten, Divine Living: The Essential Guide To Your True Destiny
The Truth of Experience
It was about 20 plus years ago that I came to the realization that you cannot appreciate love if you do not experience hate. You cannot appreciate joy unless you know sadness. Coming across the quote above, felt a dimension even deeper. Taking the pain, the fear, the desperation and finding the love, or wisdom or beauty in it is important.
Our first grandson was a wee one when things began to happen. The joy of this new baby love was truly deep and he was a gift and joy for all of us. Sadly his mother had left the marriage, but he was being raised by a great loving Dad and us filling in when we could. That grandson is now 25 years old. The years that followed were not always easy for us or for his Dad because when he was six years old, she decided it was time to be a mother and she uprooted him from our home where we had settled together as a double family with our grandson and his dad, and Terry and me in a large five bedroom home on acreage. After she took him, we were not allowed to see our grandson unless it he was with his father.
Seven years later she died from an illness she had been fighting. We loved her despite what had happened and we loved our grandson. We loved that we could see him again and get to know who he was grown.
Over those seven years, Terry and I became foster parents and passed every course and test in the Dallas Foster Care System. We truly loved taking care of foster children and it widened our eyes to the world beyond our home that was filled with pain and sadness and abuse for most of those children. Our home and our love were security for them. God filled our lives with other children. He is amazing! We wanted to give them joy and love while they were with us.
Today, Life has come full circle. Our adult grandson, now age 25, is a true joy to us and we love that he calls and does things with us. We had no choice in this experience, it happened and it hurt, but God restored him to us, and our love has deepened as we came full circle from 19 years ago.
Whatever is in your life that is a struggle...find the joy in it, it is there. With stand the struggle and focus with faith on the promise to come.
Laurie
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—" Ephesians 2:8
“So may all your enemies perish, LORD! But may all who love you be like the sun when it rises in its strength.” Then the land had peace forty years." Judges 5:31
Laurie Pace - A Texas Artist
Laurie is an international artist, her paintings are collected in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Germany, DuBai, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, St Thomas, Romania, Greece, Croatia, and Ecuador.
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© Graphics One Design 2021
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