Share HIS Story is giving away a My Faith Journey Bracelet at Recognize & Remember Blog, www.sandrajo.wordpress.com.  Here are the details…

A dear friend recently asked me about the inspiration for the design and creation of the Serenity Prayer bracelet.  After thinking about her question, I realized that the first step was the prayer itself - it gripped my heart.  The prayer represents to me, in simple and few words, what God wants me to do.  For me, having serenity means realizing that God is at my side every day and I can be at peace with things that are out of my direct control ….. and, I can put the worry aside;  having courage means to trust God to help me to step out of my comfort zone to deal with hard issues, which I often prefer to run from;  and having wisdom means to recognize that God is in control, not me.  He has the plan for my life, and I need to be aware of what He is calling me to do (and not do!) 

Once the thought was planted to design a bracelet to reflect the 3 major prayer points, I  visited with Tandy, a friend and owner of a local bead store, and asked her what colors represented Serenity, Courage, and Wisdom to her.  She told me:  Serenity is pacific blue;  courage is purple, and wisdom is gold.  I purchased the 3 Swarovski crystals in 2 sizes, and was off and running with our prototype designs. 

That’s it — in retrospect, I think that often God nudges me in bracelet design based upon where my life is at…. when I look back at our bracelet series, I can see that process (our He So Loved the World bracelet, John 3:16 bracelet was designed shortly after my first year of bible study, and our Fruit of the Spirit bracelet was designed when I began to understand how our behavior is modified when the Holy Spirit works through us.)   

Other times, I receive input from customers and do my best to respond to that input.  So….. please keep the ideas coming.

What does the Serenity Prayer mean to you?  Please let us know!

Friends of Share HIS Story read our inspiring Mother’s Day Contest Stories and chose April’s story about her Mom as the winner.  When I was able to give the good news to April, she shared that she might give her Mother the gift since the story was about her. 

April is a mother to 2 little girls (ages 2 and 6 months), a wife to a College Ministry/Outdoors Adventure Man and has her own blog at  The View from 5′5″ which can be found here  http://emerya.blogspot.com/.

Thank you to all who entered stories about your Mom - Jan and I were so excited each and every time a story was submitted. 

Be sure to watch for more stories about how you can Share God’s Story by Sharing Your Stories. 

My mom is this magnificent woman, who does everything in her power to help other people that are in need, while at times she has deprived herself of her own personal needs. She has helped many families from her home country, Guatemala, and taken economic responsibility over a small boy suffering from leukemia and a woman who suffered from skin disease.

I love my mom for who she is and for the good things that she does, to try to ease the economic hardships that other families cannot handle. She is just like an angel from God to other families. She works every day as a house cleaner, to support my sister and I, and never ceases to give us a good, safe home. I know how hard she has worked, the frustrations and struggles she has faced. But she is a woman with her heart firmly set in her Lord and Savior whom is on her side, and has never given up on a situation, no matter how difficult. She is truly an inspirational little woman.

Sincerely, her loving daughter

Linda

My mom wasn’t like most moms. She had me when she was 21 and, because of divorce, ended up raising me and my brother on her own. She worked hard to support the three of us, something I never really comprehended or appreciated while living at home.

My mom wasn’t afraid to “get down on our level” and play with us. Sometimes my mom would chase me and my brother (even when we were teenagers) into her room and we would have pillow fights (sometimes tickle fights) on her bed. Once we were exhausted we would hang out in her room and talk. We talked about silly stuff, serious stuff, anything really. My brother and I always treasured those kinds of time with mom. She never seemed shocked or offended by anything we had to say. She just listened and offered wisdom when it was necessary.

My brother and I seemed to have been a constant source of entertainment for her, which was great because there wasn’t a lot of money to spend on movies or going out to eat. My brother & I loved to hide around our house and jump out and scare my mom. The all-time greatest scare was when I crawled up behind her pillows on her bed one night and, when she got into bed to go to sleep, I jumped out from behind the pillows. She hasn’t ever forgotten that one.

I recall having a chocolate pudding fight in the kitchen one night after dinner. The pudding was supposed to be desert, but somehow it ended up on all 3 of us instead.

Like most children, I didn’t really appreciate my mom the way I should have while I was growing up. Now, being a mother myself, I look back in awe at how incredibly involved my mother was in my life and my brother’s life. I value the time she played with us and I hope that my husband & I can enjoy our kids the ways that she enjoyed my brother & me.

April

Blog: http://emerya.blogspot.com

 Heart of the Matter Online is hosting a Mother’s Day Giveaway and Share HIS Story is pleased to be giving away a Family Story Bracelet. The purpose of The Heart of the Matter is to provide a place for homeschooling parents and teachers to find all of the resources they desire in one convenient location. The prize package is over $600 in home educating products for one deserving mom. Please hop on over for the guidelines and prize list.

There are so many things I could write about my wonderful Mother; but one fond memory I have is of the time and effort she spent sewing me beautiful clothing as I was growing up.  Believe it or not, in the late 1960’s and 1970’s it was actually less expensive to sew clothes than to purchase them.  This was in the days before there were big box stores full of manufactured clothes.  Although, my mother did not make all of my clothes, she would typically make me something special for each season.  I have very pleasant memories of going to the fabric store and pouring over pattern designs, choosing the right pattern out of the big filing cabinet and then the fun part of picking the fabric.  The possibilities were endless - and yet my mother would patiently allow me to look at each and every bolt of fabric, gently lead me from the wrong fabric and then allow me to pick the fun details like buttons and trims.  Once the purchase was complete, then the work began for my Mom.  I can see her hunched over our table cutting out the pattern, measuring and re-measuring, and then sewing the bits and pieces of material, bringing it all together to create the most stylish, stunning clothes - clothes that my friend’s often wanted!! 

Because the Lord has gifted me with “Big Picture Vision”, I have a hard time with the details.  As my Mom and I would pick out patterns and fabric - I could envision the finished piece, but I could not comprehend why she had cut out so many odd pieces of fabric and how all of those pieces could come together to create what I envisioned.  Yet, as my Mom sewed each piece into something special for me to wear - she was managing each little piece of fabric and thread.  She never left out a pattern piece and she never gave up - I saw her tear out tiny seams to make it all fit together properly and I also saw her finish each project to the end - giving me something gorgeous to wear and feel pretty in.

As I have been thinking about my Mom sewing for me, I realized that this is something my daughters have never known.  I have no idea how to even thread a machine or how all the pieces come together. But I had the privilege to trust that my Mom knew how take each piece and make it into my outfit.  I had faith in her each time we bought material ~ I just knew that soon I would be wearing something created just for me!   This just what God asks of me now, to trust Him to take all the little pieces of my life and to create something beautiful to bring Himself glory.  He allows me to be involved in the process, but it is always with His oversight of making sure that all the pieces fit together and to bring beauty out of all the threads and material fragments.  Often, I have to wait for the finished process, but it will be created just with me in mind and will fit me perfectly - because My Heavenly Father knows me even better than my earthly Mother.

I am thankful for a Mom who took time to sew for me and I am thankful for her example to me of how God brings all the pieces together to create something good & lovely for me.

Sandy

This beautiful sterling silver cross measures 1 1/2  inch tall (including bale) and 3/4 inches wide. It is a feminine, delicate cross yet has some visual substance.  1/4″ deep.  It is smooth and the fine workmanship is evident.  It comes with an 18 inch box sterling silver chain.    It is packaged in an anti tarnish bag, and an organza gift bag, ready for gift giving! 

Retail value:  $28.50

As you can tell, we love stories at Share HIS Story.  Our company is based on Sharing God Stories by Sharing Our Stories.  As Mother Day’s approaches we want to hear the stories of Mothers and how God has used them in our life.  To encourage you to share your inspirational stories and lessons from our moms – we are offering  a beautiful cross (shown above) on a sterling chain as a ‘thank you’ for the most inspirational story.  Stories must be submitted by either replying to this posting or by sending them to sandy@sharehisstory.com.  We look forward to receiving your inspirational stories and will pick the winner on May 15th.  Be sure to leave your email address so we can contact you if you win.  All appropriate stories will be posted on this site, the Share His Story blog  . Stories will be read by a a friend who will select the most inspirational story posted.  We will send the author of the story selected the beautiful sterling cross shown above.

To help you get started, Jan shares this endearing story of her Mother….

Moms can be so inspirational, even when they’re not trying…. Isn’t that true?  Here’s a story I reflect on, as I think about what I can teach my daughters just through my daily actions.  I grew up an Air Force kid, moving around the globe every 2 or 3 years.  But we were fortunate to live in beautiful upstate New York for seven years.  Base housing was small and simple, but my mom made the most out of each home we lived in…. including using the snow banks in our backyard, during the winter, as her freezer whenever needed.  I’ll never forget that Christmas Eve night, when she had placed her homemade pumpkin pie on the snow bank in back yard to cool.  Calling to my brother to bring the pie in, he rushes into the kitchen, announcing ‘Linus grabbed it!’  The neighborhood dog (no leash laws in the 60’s!) had grabbed our long-anticipated pie and had run off with it, leaving only the tin behind.  The 3 of us children stared at her in horror, wondering how she would react and how our Christmas Eve would be impacted. 

Mom simply picked up the phone, gently talked to the other Mom who owned Linus, and within minutes, we had a frozen cake on our table, compliments of our neighbors.  She made light of the entire situation, claiming that even Linus needed a homemade treat one in awhile, and we could take joy in the frozen cake, now couldn’t we?  And enjoy it we did, as we giggled and laughed about the hungry dog.

Perhaps this is a simple story to most readers, but to a young 10 year old girl, it had a profound impact on me.  I didn’t know the words for what God was showing me at that time, but now I recognize it as forgiveness and grace, extended to our neighbor, and our neighbor’s desire to ‘make right’ what had happened.  What a strong message and lesson to children. 

I challenge myself every day, asking myself if God’s grace and forgiveness shows up through me.  Sometimes it does, and honestly, sometimes it doesn’t.  I continually ask Him for behaviors to shine through to my girls, through me, that demonstrate the grace that God extends freely to us.  Thank you, Mom, for that powerful lesson!

 We look forward to receiving your inspirational stories and will pick the winner on May 15th.  Be sure to leave your email address so we can contact you if you win.

 ”May your father and mother be glad; may she who gave you birth rejoice!” Proverbs 23:25

Happy Mother’s Day

Sandra