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Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

Speaking Love

May 28, 2014 by HappyGoStuckey 5 Comments

I saw her standing next to the milk.

Her little girl had chocolate brown eyes and animal cracker crumbs stuck to her sticky face.

I walked by, gave her a small smile and she ducked her head, apologetically making a funny comment about “having to open the cookies just to finish her shopping.”

I knew. I had been there yesterday.. except it was a hastily opened bag of goldfish and my little one was having a very loud “moment” until I distracted her with a snack.

I nodded my head and told her as much.

Immediately, I saw it on her face. Safety. She visibly relaxed and then went on to ask if she could ask me a question.

She did and we talked for a minute about babies and toddlers and how to try to just get them to eat-for-crying-out-loud. 

I sensed something in her that I had felt in my own heart a hundred times so I spoke brave to this stranger/ fellow mama.

I said, “Hey you’re doing a good job. You’re just the mom she needs.”

Her eyes filled with tears and she said, “Thank you. Thank you very much. I’m trying.”

She walked away and I wondered if anyone was regularly encouraging her. Anyone in her corner? Telling her she’s a beautiful mom? Smiling at her with kindness?

I missed an amazing opportunity to try to connect with her more, but when I looked for her she was gone.

As I walked away I realized what an amazing gift you give someone when you just…. say something kind. Be a blessing. SEE THEM.

Because, we really never know. We never know what their life is like. What their heart is like.

And it goes far beyond kind words. It’s the Gospel that takes our kindness from self-help to actual words of Life. 

Last September, we became intimately acquainted with the ministry of encouragement. Not because we were experts in encouraging others but because we needed a whole lot of encouragement.

And the most undeniably amazing thing we learned? God KNEW exactly what we needed to be encouraged. That’s the True Power of Encouragement. That no matter the form the encouragement comes in, God sees our hurts, our needs, our struggles and He KNOWS. He is Jehovah El Roi. The God who sees. 

The God who sees. That puts a whole entirely new meaning and wonder to being encouraged. And to being the encourager. 

He is All-Sovereign and All-knowing and He could have chosen a different way to make us, a different way for us to be made– but He did not.

He made us for community and for one another and for Him. We GET to encourage one another. WE GET to be the living love of Christ to others. WE GET to allow the light of the World to shine into and out of our dark places.

We are given the gift of being the Grace Gift to one another. 

 

Linking up with these amazing ladies over here on the Power of Encouragement. 

Close & Comfortable (FMF)
Nothing to Change. (FMF)

Comments

  1. Deb Anderson Weaver says

    May 28, 2014 at 10:26 am

    This is beautiful and so true.

    Deb Weaver

    Reply
  2. charity Hassel says

    May 28, 2014 at 11:10 am

    now that my kids are out of that toddler stage I look for moms like this- the ones with three kids in and on the shopping cart, trying to patiently handle it all… I love to say things like… you’re doing a good job, hey, we’ve all had those days.. it gets better, you have your hands full but your heart fuller! encouraging others is a delight! (:

    Reply
  3. jenpcv says

    May 28, 2014 at 2:03 pm

    Bringing tears to my eyes today! What a lovely experience…makes me think how I can impact others in a similar way-those simply, everyday acts that make a person’s day.

    Reply
  4. Meredith Bernard says

    May 28, 2014 at 2:18 pm

    Great thoughts today, Cynthia. I had a similar incident happen to me recently, except I was on the receiving end. I was in the shopping line with my two littles and the woman in front of me heard me say that we were in a hurry to my little girl asking so many questions. She gave me her place in line and said she remembered the days…and she missed them. I found safety in her eyes, in her words and in her gift. She has no idea how what she did affected me and I wish I could go back and hug her. Tell her thank you again. I don’t think she knew what her little bit of encouragement did to make my night better. I learned from her how important it is to be on guard and to be looking for opportunities to encourage someone else. Sorry for the novel of a comment. 😛 Always encouraged by your words. 😉

    Reply
  5. Jennifer says

    May 28, 2014 at 4:06 pm

    Beautiful. I had a similar experience last night at a restaurant. I love your statement, “It’s the Gospel that takes our kindness from self-help to actual words of Life. ” So true! God is a faithful farmer. He will bless the seeds you planted!

    Reply

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Hey There!

I'm Cynthia and I'm so glad you're here. I am an introvert with an extrovert's love of gathering people together. I love good books and capturing moments. Whether you visit me here or on my own front porch, I'll be the one holding the Iced Coffee for us both.

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Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all the answers, yet.

While you sit in a season of waiting,
the calendar can often be a cruel companion, reminding you that days go by, weeks, months— with what feels like very little change in the right direction.

Perhaps you can easily assent to: 
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but you strain to see just how it will be when: “...a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12)

Wherever you and I are today— whether we wander, wait, stand firmly planted, or some pressed together combination of all three — we can take heart.

We are not alone.
And this will not be wasted.
What seems to be an unending blank space, an indefinite pause, is a space for new things.

Long before all is made right, and whether or not it all is tied up neatly with a perfectly crafted bow— we can know this:

We do not have to know the outcome to be faithful today.

✨Joy is not disregard for reality as much as it is obstinacy against despair.✨
Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. T Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. There. I said it. These days I’m gravitating to the true & the beautiful as rest for my weary self... and I wonder if you are too.

So much so, that I’m starting a new little offering, it’s called “The Feast: Wonder for the Weary” and the first issue goes out this weekend. It’s a bit more personal (okay this first one is WAY more personal. 🤭) It will be a little bit of everything, all with the goal of offering REST to both the feasters & foragers alike. If you’re already a subscriber— no need to do anything, if not— click through my bio to “keep in touch” and join the feast.✨
We are a people of both lament and praise. We hol We are a people of both lament and praise.

We hold questions without answers— yet we hold them in hands already full of good things.

We hold our daily bread, our daily gifts, and we hold the daily closeness of the God Who Sees.

The God who is no stranger to our lament, and Who Is the reason for our every hope.
He does not grow weary of our asking. Of our need to be told again, He will. 

You friend, are not invisible.
You are seen and cared for by the God who does all things well. (Even when they feel anything but.)
Married love ambition: making the kids roll their Married love ambition: making the kids roll their eyes at our “gushy-ness” as often as possible. 

President & CEO of the Lance Stuckey Fan Club— in every season, but especially on days like today.
Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty k Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty kitchen.😍🌧📚

On this chilly Saturday, we spent entirely too long browsing for books at our library and then all came home to a fire, mochas, and cocoa, respectively. Of all the things we do not know at this very moment, we know the gifts abound, and are worth counting.

PS, if you haven’t spread whipped cream on a foil-lined baking sheet to freeze, and then cut out cute shapes with cookie cutters to top your coffee or hot cocoa, may I suggest you get thee on that at once.
“If God sends us on strong paths, we are provide “If God sends us on strong paths, we are provided strong shoes.” — Corrie Ten Boom

✨File under, things to save in a fire.✨

The prayer journal pictured here contains six months of the hard & the sweet.
Six months of prayers asked & answered for ourselves and for others.
Six months of seeing through prayer, not how it changed our circumstances necessarily but how it changed us.

I always appreciate a record like this— being able to clearly see the paths we are led down, rocky though they may be? Priceless.

The ways God has come near us & drawn us to Himself again and again are written on these pages and I’ll treasure it forever.

Also pictured: Psalms Illuminated Scripture Journal. Highly recommend. Thank you always, @allifarnell
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it th “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

While scrolling through my photos today, my heart was heavy to realize how far back “before” was.

Before masks and distancing, before loss, before other, more personal bits of hard. Multitudinous change, neither all bad nor all good.

With our free time, we’ve introduced our girls to Tolkien, Bilbo, Frodo, and especially Samwise the Brave. They are officially hooked and we are delighted to watch them discover another world where evil doesn’t win, and the courage of the small matters much. {they close their eyes at the Orcs and we haven’t had a nightmare yet!}🤞🏻😂😬
I’m leaning increasingly more into the analog th I’m leaning increasingly more into the analog these days.

It started with the Sourdough and a dozen different kinds of jam last year.
I suddenly find great calm in activities that stand in direction opposition to hurry, the textbook definition of ✨work in progress.✨ And really, if you could see the other side of this piece, you would believe me. 🙃

Thank you to @thebarmyfox for making embroidery so accessible!
@thenester says, “It doesn’t have to be perfec @thenester says, “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful,” and I believe that the weeknight meal equivalent is, “Just because it’s easy— doesn’t make it a second-tier supper!”

Thank you, Spaghetti with Meat sauce for being both a ministry to mom AND a crowd pleaser. Especially on a dreary January-ish day. It is ✨quite alright✨ to make something we’ve made a million times just because we know it makes the people happy.🍝
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