Sunsets have always delighted me. I find solace and serenity in colors intertwined together. It seems as though God took purple, orange, pink, blue and fuscia blobs of paint and dotted the evening sky. Then He swirled His hands around to create such gorgeous scenes at the closing of the day - kind of like finger painting God's way.

I have lots of sunset photos and each one is different and beautiful in it's own right. I've learned that the more colorful sunsets come preceeding or following storms. The mix of clouds help to cause the colors across the sky. Isn't that a lot like life? I long for the warm fuzzy feelings of life going right. But often to get to that point, I need to have some storms to redirect my path. And I might not appreciate the warm fuzzy or miss it totally if not for the storm in my life that preceeded it.

I had a great opportunity to spend a week with dear friends in Florida in mid-February. We were doing some personal work together while training ourselves in new materials in the ministries we direct for wounded and abused. I anticipated the new things I would learn about myself and deeper understanding of God's plan for my future. I realized before the warm fuzzy would need to come a storm or time of discovery which might be uncomfortable.

And indeed it came and indeed it was uncomfortable. It hurts to look at the damage I cause with my unrepentent attitudes and actions. It is never pleasant to see my shortcomings and understand the deliberate changes I need to make. The warm fuzzies that come from being humble and willing to undergo the "surgery" to remove unhealthy things in my life is well worth the effort.

The warm fuzzies of understanding, hope and growth did come and I'm thankful for the opportunity to spend this time with friends.

Here's a sunset to encourage you to ponder the whys of the storms in your life and God's plan for healing from them for you.

Gatherings of thoughts -- so what does that mean. Well actually maybe I should just have titled my blog Gatherings.

I have been gathering things since I was a young girl. A neighbor lady and I used to take walks and look for what we called Indian Beads. They were stone fossils that looked like beads and many had holes in them and could be strung. Two years ago a wonderful package arrived in the mail. It contained some of the stone beads we had collected. My friend, Gloria had saved some and sent them to me along with some photos of me taken as a little girl. Both of those things are precious to me. They show a side of me I hadn't seen in the photos and the beads remind me of a time past.

I still gather things. My favorite is walking the beaches for shells, rocks, feathers, drift wood or whatever God brings me. After reading Captivating by Staci Eldridge, I have longed to find a star fish like she finds in her book. Last year on Sanibel Island God granted my longing. He gave me not only a star fish, but one called a Brittle Star. It's not as prevalent or easy to find and has a wonderful star on it's tummy and tiny colorful tendrils. I have it in a shadow box and it often reminds me just how faithful God is at times to grant my silly requests of Him.

This year while walking the beach with Dane in Bradenton, Florida I found a sand dollar. It was a gift from God to remind me that He has created lots of things for me to gather to remind me of His glorious creation and my part in His plan.

Psalm 139 always brings me hope because I was formed in the darkest parts of my mother's womb and God knew I was there and would keep me safe despite the desires of others. My journey would be a struggle as a young girl in unpleasant surroundings, but God had a plan to prosper and keep me.

So I leave you to day with a question. What do you like to gather?