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Brenda Bradford Ottinger

Encouraging Women to Live Rooted in the Sacred

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The Stuff That Dreams are Made of…

 

Where is it written that life has to be perfect in order to be blessed?

Today I am feeling very grateful for my imperfect, blessed life.

Would I prefer that my husband wasn’t spending Monday through Friday in Connecticut?  Heck yeah.  I hate this back and forth thing.  We feel like human yo-yos.  It’s rough.  BUT,

I am blessed with a husband who loves me and accepts me for who I am.  A husband who loves our children and takes care of his family.  A husband who laughs with me.  Honestly, laughter is the drug that I couldn’t live without.

This isn’t perfect, but it’s surely blessed.

Would I prefer to not be living in Indiana again?  Umm, well, yeaaaah.  But, I have a beautiful, comfortable home.  One that we built and had the luxury of picking out every detail, inside and out.  A house that affords my children their own bedrooms (hotel living has a way of pointing out the blessing in this).  A home that has the scent of home cooked meals every day.  A home where boo-boos are kissed, games are played, and laughter is heard.

It’s in Indiana, but, it is indeed blessed.

Would I prefer to have all of my children here with me?  So much.  Only God knows why we were never given the privilege of meeting some of our little ones this side of glory, but what a blessing to know that we will meet them one day.  How does one live without the hope of eternal life?  It’s a blessing to be able to look forward to the future and know that there is more…

And, once upon a time…I did dream about being a mother.  I had big dreams.  I don’t always live up to my own expectations, but my children…they exceed my expectations.  Do I wish that they would get along better sometimes? Of course.  Do I wish that they would put on their listening ears more often?  Yep.  Life with kids is imperfect chaos, but, may I never forget how blessed I am to be called their mother.

The little, imperfect things that are whispering while the rest of life is shouting — that’s the stuff that dreams are made of.  flower

 

(Originally written November 2009)

 

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Many a time in life I’ve felt I was standing at Many a time in life I’ve felt I was standing at the edge of a sea, hemmed in by its boundary, unable to discern a path forward.
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You don’t walk alone, for His kindness and faithfulness walk with you through it all.
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About 5-6 years ago I started doing this thing tha About 5-6 years ago I started doing this thing that, at the time, didn’t feel like anything radical or life-changing.
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I simply started trying to stop eating around 7pm, and not start eating again until 11am.
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At the time, I’d never even heard the term “intermittent fasting;” I was just trying this new-to-me thing to help with weight management.
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Over time, I learned that what I was doing was called intermittent fasting, and that it has health benefits well beyond the weight management realm.
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I’m not gonna lie, back when I started, 7pm to 11am was hard! It took some time, and I didn’t always do it “perfectly.”
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As I sit here, now seven days into being sick, I s As I sit here, now seven days into being sick, I search for words of hope and inspiration to meet us here on this beautiful fresh ground called 2023.
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