Once upon a time...

...and they lived happily ever after.

 

We all want the fairy tale, don't we?

We want Prince Charming

    and the castle

        and the horse-drawn carriage.

 

But the fairy tale doesn't come without a price!

There's the wicked step-mother 

with the poison apple.

(Is "wicked" step-mother even a real thing???) 

    The wicked step-sisters

    with the dirty hearth.

        The wicked witch

        with her tall tower. 

 

At the beginning of "once upon a time"

life is good,

filled with love and light.

At the end is "happily ever after".

But that middle stuff really stinks!

It feels unsurvivable!

It's dark and heavy and lonely!

It's that way in real life!

I got the "happily ever after"

with my Lanny Love

and he with me!

And I love our fairy tale

that is not fairy tale at all

but, rather, delightful reality!

But the happily ever after,

fairy tale life

came with a price.

Widowhood is hard!!!

My Lanny Love felt life held nothing.

I felt that life held nothing.

It felt unsurvivable!

But it wasn't!

 

And, really, don't you suppose

Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella and Rapunzel

all thought the ending was worth the middle?

I sure do!

Now, "happily ever after"

may not mean remarriage for you.

 

For example, Hansel and Gretel didn't involve marriage.

Nor did Little Red Riding Hood. 

Or Jack in the Beanstalk.

But they all lived happily ever after!

 

God has a plan!

And this time of deep sorrow and loneliness

is survivable!!!

Hang on...

...Your happily ever after won't look like mine...

 

...But your happily ever after is there!

 

How do you get it?

Quit living in and for the past.

    I know that's not easy!

    It takes work and determination and trust in God!

    You can do it!!!

 

Quit expecting God's version of your happily ever after

to look like yours.

    I know that's not easy!

    It takes work and determination and trust in God!

    You can do it!!! 

 

Accept His gifts, 

they're far better than you could hope or imagine!

  

 

I will restore to you the years 

that the swarming locust has eaten, 

the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, 

my great army, which I sent among you. 

“You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, 

and praise the name of the Lord your God, 

who has dealt wondrously with you. 

                                                ~~ Joel 2:25-26 ~~