Love Does

Today's gift is love does.

You may read the gift and think, love does, what is love does? Love does doesn't make sense. Are you sure about this? Love does makes complete sense.

Love does is what you do because you know it is the right thing.  Love does is how you make someone feel.  Love does is what brings certain people into your life.  Love does is how you deal with challenges. Love does is what God would want you to do.

Today my husband and I celebrate 14 years of being married. As I write these two numbers...1...and 4.... I can't believe 14 years have gone by already, while at the same time I'm thinking of all the things we have accomplished together, all the places we have visited together, all the memories we have created together, all the ups and all the downs, all the twists and all the turns...and what love does for us every day.

14 years ago we committed our love to each other and 11 years ago we committed our love to our first born, our daughter with special needs. Through our journey with her these last 11 years we have seen how love does....how it does work, how it does make you feel, how it does help you when you feel alone, how it does bring people into your life for a reason and how it does change you.

When my daughter was diagnosed with Rett Syndrome we felt alone, scared, mad, frustrated, and loved. What love does is it helped us come together at a time when we were at the bottom of the barrel. We couldn't believe this was happening to us and we certainly did not know why (and still do not have the answer).  It was our love...our love for each other and our love for her which helped us climb out of this deep, dark hole we were in. At this point we knew our life for our family, our life for our daughter wasn't going to be what WE had planned, and it certainly wasn't going to be perfect.  At the time of her diagnosis, we were married for 8 years, she was 5 years old, her sister just turned two and it was the day before Thanksgiving. Yes, we had a heartfelt doctor (there is a lot of sarcasm here!) at this time who felt the need to NOT wait until the Monday after Thanksgiving to deliver the news to us...the news which wasn't going to change in 5 days...the news which would change our lives forever.

Looking back now on "D Day", what we call the day we received our daughter's diagnosis of Rett Syndrome, love does was there with us....love does was the fact it was the day before Thanksgiving and while our world was just turned upside down, we still had so much to be thankful for.  Love does was the fact a week later we found out I was expecting our third child, a son, who has completed our family in more ways than one!  Love does shined through to show us we must move ahead and support each other no matter what comes our way.

Did you know there is a book called Love Does, by Bob Goff?  I am in my last chapter and it is one of the best books I have read.  Take the time to read it and I think your life will be changed too and you will begin to see how Love Does.  His books is overflowing with life and love lessons, you will not only enjoy them, but learn from them.

My daughter's diagnosis of Rett Syndrome made us stronger than we realize....stronger as individuals, but also stronger as a team.  Love did some amazing work when He trusted us with our daughter and love does still work in mysterious ways.

Tonight, on this special day, I would not only like to thank my daughter for showing us how love does by being herself and teaching us and others around her, but also my husband.  He is my best friend, he is my strength, he is my partner, he is my laughter, he is my everything....even when I drive him crazy.  I am not perfect and I have my faults (some....ok many)....but he loves me anyway.  He loves me with all my issues....because love does.

Here are some quotes for today....

...we need to stop plotting the course and instead just land the plane on our plans to make a difference by getting to the "do" part of faith- Bob Goff, Love Does

Living a life fully engaged and full of whimsy and the kind of things that love does is something most people plan to do, but along the way they just kind of forgot- Bob Goff, Love Does

You may not end up where you thought you'd be, but you'll end up right where you're meant to be- Author Unknown

Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other, but looking outward together in the same direction- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Posted with Blogsy