New every morning...(Migrated from PostHope)

 Quick updates for those who are here for the details. You can find the more reflective stuff below the "bullet points":

• God has answered prayer and gifted us with a place to stay while in San Francisco!  Special thanks to Monica Ponce who put the ask out to Grace Fellowship and to Michelle Chinn who answered.  It's hard to know how to humbly accept such an enormous gift - but we are deeply grateful. 
• Please pray for protection from COVID infection for family members and myself.  I am taking all necessary precautions and am scheduled for my pre-op COVID test on Monday, January 17 (which also happens to be my father's 75th birthday)!  A positive COVID test would delay my surgery and a negative test at this point with the high infection rates in the region would truly be a miracle from God - I am a firm believer in miracles. 

Now for the reflection...

As my name suggests, I have pretty much always been a morning person.  Watching the sun rise has always been my preference, though they are usually not as colorful as the typical sunset.  There have been many preparations in the works this week before my trip to San Francisco and admittance to the hospital but I still take time in the mornings to enjoy the quite awakening of each new day and hear the still, small voice of God calming my heart.  On October 31, 2021 I opened my mother's last journal - only a few pages used - and decided to make it my own. This journal was gifted to her by Church of the Sojourners, with notes of love attached, including one from me, as we both entered into a covenant membership/commitment with the family I called home for about 15 years.  So, both this journal and this unusually colorful sunrise (the camera on my phone doesn't really do it justice) are a gift to me in these moments, along with the daily scriptures that have been my companion for the entirety of my faith journey.