God has recently been telling me, “Give it away” and that is just what I am doing! I’ve invited some beautiful souls from my favorite Facebook community for women in the 50+ season of life, The Consilium: a Gathering of Wisdom and Grace. Enjoy the words from their hearts and, if you don’t mind, would you leave a comment to encourage them? Feel free to join us over at The Consilium – we would love to see you there!
I’d like for you to meet Martha Brady:
photo: Martha G. Brady
Today, I got a rude awakening. I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately. Internally, I’ve been complaining about my aches and pains. Finding the positive side of aging has been more and more difficult.
I was reading Kara Tippetts’ blog and as I listened to the video post on her page, I was pulled back into reality! Yes, I am fortunate. I am blessed to be living to be an old woman.
It isn’t always easy, particularly when I look in the mirror. But I have been very blessed indeed!
Kara, in all likelihood, will not live to see her children grow up. Cancer is rapidly ravening her body. It has not damaged her spirit and soul for sure. The process of its journey as well as her journey of faith has been written in her book as well as on her blog.
Today, she spoke specifically of her jealousy of older people! I don’t think of myself as someone to be envied, but of course I am.
I get to see the outcome of what I have done…for good or bad
I get to see some of the results of my child raising…the good, bad and ugly! I also get to the see the results of GOD’s grace and His intervention in the lives of my children to bring them people and experiences that I couldn’t.
I can never thank Martha, Terree, Consuelo and others who would take my girls out for fun activities during their teen years; who showed them that singleness isn’t something to be dreaded; that marriage to a Christian man is worth waiting for…if GOD’s plan for you is to marry.
I can never thank the wonderful Sunday School teachers and school teachers, who modeled Godly lives for them along the way. Not all did, but enough did that they discovered Christianity was real and genuine.
And the professors they had in college! They helped them see Christ as well in academia. I couldn’t do it in the ways they did. They built on what we were able to do at home.
And the godly friends they found along the way…as well as the ones who needed Jesus. Each one taught them something more about Jesus, what they were learning about their faith and themselves, and what they wanted their lives to look like in the end.
I have gotten to see each of these stages. I have been able to observe GOD working in each of my children. Raising children has been nothing like what I expected. In many ways, it has been much better.
Instead of deciding on the blueprint I had for each child and how she needed to turn out…as I thought it would be. It has turned into watching GOD work in each life as He sanctified them AND me. In the process of changing us, He is making them into women who are growing the Kingdom for His glory.
Kara won’t have the choice of growing old like I have.
It is a gift…a luxury.
Growing old is not without its pain and sadness. There is no question. But there is joy as well. None of us has control over how long we will live, how healthy we will be, how we will die. We only can deal with how we react to what GOD gives us today.
We get to rejoice as we watch GOD work. The journey our children take is not always straight and simple. Rarely is it. Whether it takes 20 years or 40 or longer than our lifetime, we can still hope in GOD to work in their lives and the generations after us.
We can love them unconditionally…whether thay go in the way we want or not, we can still love them.
We can rejoice that we have a gift as we age. It is called “today.”
We aren’t promised tomorrow.
What are you doing with the gift GOD has given you today?
Are you learning to give Him the regrets of the past to carry for you?
Are you asking Him and others to forgive your failings and sins against them, moving forward in faith that it is done?
Come to me,
all who labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you,
and learn from me,
for I am gentle and lowly in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy,
and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
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photo: Seth Schaeffer
I’m Martha Grimm Brady. I’m staring in the face of 70! Just a couple more years and I’ll be there.
I’ve been married 46 years to Ron, a retired pastor. We have raised 3 daughters, 2 of whom are in their 40’s! I can hardly believe it. We have 7 grands, 2 boys in the group.
I’m an RN, an epileptic (since age 20), an MK, and someone who has moved often enough to know that I hate moving! We lived in Jamaica for 7 years early in our marriage. Our daughters were born there and our lives were changed in many ways by living there.
Fl, TX and IL have been our homes. We now live in AL near one daughter and family. My blog is GrittyGrace.com. I’ve been blogging since 2007.
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First of all, you sure don’t look almost seventy! Your post was a good reminder to all of us to be grateful the life God has given us and for every season we are in.
i was at a blogging conference and got a lot of makeup for this one:) the next photo will be more realistic. not allowing my hair to be its natural color helps a lot too.
Lovely words that cause me to value my days even more. Thank you, Martha!
yes, bonnie. reading kara’s story put my gloom into perspective big time! i don’t like the changes aging is making on my body and mind for sure. but to be able to be alive to see more of the outcome of the story GOD is writing in my life? it is a huge gift!
Martha,
It has been a joy getting to know you through the Consilium.
“We only can deal with how we react to what GOD gives us today…We get to rejoice as we watch GOD work.” It is so easy to become weary and forget to rejoice always. Your perspective is beautifully said and full of Truth.
Thank you!
Debbie
thanks for stopping by debbie:) yes, it is very easy to forget to rejoice…especially when we are bombarded with so much bad news from everywhere!
we need to know where to go: GOD’s Word and which friends and sources where we will be reminded to trust what GOD is doing in us, each other and even in the world around us…no matter what it looks like at the moment!
thank you God for every day I have to mature. Thank you for teaching me I can be forgiven, and am able to be a stronger Christian. Growing old-er is a true blessing to me. BTW 70 must be the new 45 looking at you, gf
hi janie, 70 (right now it is 68) may look good in a photo but it doesn’t feel anything like 45 if i sit for very long!
at the very core of our faith is the fact that we are forgiven if we are “in Christ.” that is why he came to earth and had to die…to pay the price for our sin/to atone for it.
his resurrection proved that he won the battle over satan on the cross. we don’t have to live in bondage to the guilt of our sin b/c when we came to Christ for new life, we gave Him all the ledger books that contained the lists of all our sin…past, present and future.
what did he give us? his perfect record of living 33 yrs. on earth without one sin in tho’t, word or deed.
we aren’t needing to prove anything to him by our good works. we are “in” because of HIS work. we have a perfect record because of what HE did.
that’s why christians don’t have anyting to feel self-righteous about. we aren’t going to heaven b/c of anything we did! we’re the sinners. we don’t deserve anything.
paul said it well, “i will glory in my infirmities that the power of christ may rest upon my.”
our salvation is all of christ, our christian life is all of christ. we are a forgiven people. i think that is worthy of a few hallelujahs:)
Martha, I have to first say – 70 looks beautiful on you! Like you, I have been following Kara’s story through her blog posts & have yet to get through one without bawling. And then I try to read it aloud to my husband & go to pieces all over again. May we embrace each day the Lord has given us & use it to His glory & honor. That is truly my prayer. So grateful to have read this today! Blessings!
thanks joanne:) yes, i agree. i would never be able to read her posts aloud.
i do find her hope thoroughly contagious and her embracing of today something i need. i have always tended to live for tomorrow and what will be and old age has definitely hit that one in the face!
at my age, looking at tomorrow, on earth, can be very depressing! the “what if’s” can put me in quite a spin. until last year, i worked 5 years in rehab nursing which only made it worse! i felt like i was staring my future in the face!
so learning to embrace “today” and its challenges and responsibilities is enough. i need to walk through it by the grace of GOD and not be overwhelmed.
I came to visit today after reading about this post on my Facebook The Consilium page. Btw, I’ve been blessed by this group even though I’ve not yet shared much. I will be doing so.
I loved your post and outlook on life. And I have to agree that you look amazing. I am 61 going on 62 all too soon. I don’t always like the changes I see in the mirror. But I have my health and for that I am so grateful.
I love your heart of gratitude. You open my eyes to so many things we get to see as we get older. Although I wasn’t able to have children, I do get to love on many preschool children in my class. God is so good. And He gives me the energy to keep up on … most days. 🙂
Thank you for sharing your heart today.
thanks for stopping by debbie. i missed seeing you earlier. i can tell you that gratitude isn’t natural to me for sure:) it has been learned over time
i have also learned that i didn’t want to become a mean old lady. i liked being around older people that were happy and pleasant with high doses of humor. most of the people i knew that were like that trusted in the lord for their hope and rested in Him for forgiveness as they moved through their lives.
they also tended to be open about their failures and flaws. i certainly don’t walk thro’ life happy all the time but i’m glad gratefulness shows thro’.
i guess GOD is at work in me after all:) that is encouraging.
First… you wear 70 well… and wow… how God speaks to us in so many ways… what a perspective… your words and Kara’s life will help be more thankful for each day I share with my family and those I love… a gift not everyone family gets!!! blessings to you~
thanks ro…and blessing to you:)
Aging really is a gift, Martha. When I was in my mid-40s, we lost 3 very good friends to cancer. They never got to see their kids start high school, learn to drive, go to prom, leave for college… Every milestone event I experience with my children reminds me of how blessed I am. It makes the wrinkles and gray hairs a little less aggravating 🙂
Great to see you here!
yes susan, it is something i take for granted even tho’ i lost my dad when my 2nd was a young baby. he never met my 3rd daughter and didn’t see my girls grow up to remember him.
yet i forget so easily. thanks for your comment.