Notes from Mama

By Dawn Howard

Through her varied personal experiences, Dawn Howard has come to realize that life contains not only many moments of joy, peace, happiness, and love, but also times filled with distress, pain, and sadness. She has also learned that how we react to every situation and feeling depends on our relationship with our Creator, our Savior, and the Holy Spirit.

In a compilation of notes gathered over thirty-plus years with guidance from the Holy Spirit, Howard shares reflections that touch on her journey through life with the intent of helping others to see the light beyond the tunnel and recognize the glimmer of hope consistently provided by God. While sharing insight and personal stories, Howard reminds believers to utilize biblical wisdom to find answers to their most troublesome questions, inner peace and hope during challenging times, and ultimately their divine purpose.

Notes from Mama is a collection of personal reflections that encourage God’s children to find calming insight within divine wisdom in order to leave the world a better place and realize their full potential.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: May 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664229402

Dawn Howard

Dawn Howard is a wife, mother, grandmother, and registered nurse. After working within a variety of health care settings for several decades, Dawn transitioned into a role as a faith community nurse in 2015. Notes from Mama is her first book.

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Copyright © 2021 Dawn Howard.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by

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without the written permission of the author except in the case of

brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author

and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of

the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of

people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or

links contained in this book may have changed since publication and

may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those

of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher,

and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-2939-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-2941-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-2940-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021906605

WestBow Press rev. date: 5/14/2021

CONTENTS

Introduction

1 Blessings

2 Christmas

3 Come

4 Dare to Be a Daniel

5 Emotionally Drained

6 Encouragement

7 Feeding of the Five Thousand

8 Fight the Good Fight

9 For the Beauty

10 Funerals

11 Gangs

12 Gossip

13 Graves

14 Happiness

15 Heavenly Realm and Reality

16 Impossible or Possible

17 In the Twinkling of an Eye

18 In My House Are Many Rooms

19 Lessons

20 Life

21 Like a Child

22 Like a Rock

23 Miracle

24 Mother’s Day

25 My Favorite Time of the Morning

26 Now I Can See

27 Open My Eyes

28 Our Rock

29 Passion

30 Peace

31 Realization

32 Relationships

33 Right Steps

34 Struggles

35 Thanksgiving

36 The Lord Is My Shepherd

37 The Man and the Mat

38 The Power of God

39 The Power of Prayer

40 The Voice of God

41 The Womb of Mom

42 Trials

43 The Night Before Christmas

44 Unexpected

45 What a Day of Rejoicing

46 Where Were You?

47 Wonder

48 Work and Play

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living

Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale

House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture marked (NKJV) taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright

© 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New

International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica,

Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.

zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks

registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.®

Scripture quotations marked (CEV) are from the Contemporary English Version

Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible,

English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing

ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked (BSB) are from The

Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible, BSB

Copyright ©2016, 2018 by Bible Hub

Used by Permission. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

This book is dedicated to

my husband and children.

INTRODUCTION

Life is a journey from the moment we are born until the day of our death. It can be a time of joy, peace, happiness, and love but also a time of distress, pain, and sadness. It all depends on our relationship with our Creator, our Savior, and the Holy Spirit. These notes reflect my thoughts as I have journeyed in this life. These notes have been selected from my journal notes that I originally intended for my children, but over time I felt led by the Spirit to share it with others. I still have much to learn but am not so unwilling or scared to take the next step toward the heavenly home. I am certain that I have been there before, even though I might not remember it now. As soon as I see the light and feel the warmth, all my memory will come back to me. For we read, I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb (Jeremiah 1:5 NLT). I hope to share my love for the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost with each of you so that it will touch your heart in a way that you too will want to make the journey home. It is a difficult journey—many wrong twists and turns are made, and the mountaintop trail has lots of roots to climb over—but our Lord Jesus Christ keeps us from tripping and falling. If we do fall, He reaches out His hand toward us and pulls us up again, and again, and again for He doesn’t want to lose even one of His sheep. He picks us up at times and carries us to a place of safety. He sends our angels to protect us, for angels are mighty warriors. There is a war here on this earth. It is an unseen, spiritual war between good and evil; if you blink, you will probably miss it. We, as humans with finite minds, can’t begin to understand the infinite no matter how hard we try. Through it all, we need to remember that we are created in the image and likeness of our Creator and that He holds us in His mighty hand. May you receive peace and understanding and learn the truth in the words that are written as the Spirit guides my heart, mind, and hand.

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Blessings

JANUARY 16, 2020

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

—Psalm 118:26 (NIV)

As I thought of the title for this book, this verse automatically came to me. That’s quite strange because I didn’t know whether it even was a verse, but sure enough it is. That’s how the Spirit can work in our lives if we allow it to. As usual, my Lord always points me to which book I should pick up in the morning. It can vary, but they are all about God’s Word. This morning, I was prompted to pick up the Upper Room¹and read Casting Our Nets written by Andrew Garland Breeden. I very rarely have the opportunity to read the devotionals in this magazine; however, the church that I am now attending provides it.

I opened the magazine to the middle, where one of the editors had written about routines and the fact that he was a routine person. He further went on to explain that routines can put us into ruts and limit our opportunities. He wrote about the scripture where several of the disciples were fishing and were unable to catch fish. Jesus told them to cast the nets on the other side of the boat. After they did, the fish in their nets were so plentiful that they were unable to haul the catch into their boat. The disciples simply changed the side on which they cast their nets, which got them out of their usual routine and the rut.

I thought of my husband and myself after reading about routines. In the past couple of weeks, we have moved away from thinking the same old thoughts, and as a result, we are being blessed. God blesses us so that we can bless others. The devil sure has been trying to get in the way, but we are fighting hard to resist him and his demons. We know that the angels sent by God are armored and fighting as well.

We need to list our blessings so that, whenever we get down in the mouth and begin to complain, we can be reminded of God’s goodness. Every morning we need to wake up and thank God for our night’s rest before jumping out of bed. Prayer is talking with God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is talking with the Trinity, not only in a silent manner but speaking the words as well.

I am notorious for talking to myself and even answering myself. Now, I tend to talk with God and Jesus when I need to express my emotions