Life. It's an amalgam of good and bad, and very much like a huge cardboard box full of mementos and pictures from the past, thrown in hastily and requiring a lot of sorting. The thought of sorting it all out is burdensome and so the box sits. Likewise, sorrows that are lurking and hurting as well as victories buried under heaps of defeat are in that box of Life. I avoided feelings about the memories represented in the cardboard boxes just as I avoided the actual sorting of the cardboard box contents. Then came the invitation to my Aunt Rose's 100th Birthday. I decided to make her a scrapbook for her present and that led (forced) me to sort out boxes of stuff to find material to use. While I was finishing her scrapbook, I ended up dipping into lots of boxes and got all of my Stein (Dad's side) and Boisvert (Mom's side) memorabilia and photos sorted and filed. It felt great! The process had begun and so had the healing. I continued by filing and sorting the photos and mementos from my adult life. I had left off on 1993. (Yikes! It was then 2011.) I declared that once I finished the degree I was working on I would begin my scrapbooking in earnest. Graduation came and went in 2013 and I procrastinated for a few more years. Fear was holding me back. I was afraid to face the pain I had once experienced again. Guilt held me back. I had made decisions that I had been judged on. If only I knew the healing freedom that was in store for me. I believe the Lord had been and has been leading me to use scrapbooking as a tool for restoration. I chose to overcome and God helped me.
However, just making right choices doesn’t guarantee happiness. A better commodity is joy. Scrapbooking has brought me healing but no activity, relationship, or thing can bring joy. There is only one source for joy in my life and that is my relationship with Jesus Christ. I can flail about with monumental discoveries and take great strides but joy comes from the Lord. That said, I began the Good-For-You Scrapbooking blog to share my story about how God is using my scrapbooking to restore what the enemy stole or tried to steal by way of years of struggle and pain, most from a toxic (first) marriage. He really does make all things new.
Also, I resolved to scrapbook the good and the bad of life. I know the craft stores don’t cater to this notion, but I have ways to make it work.
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