Andrea O. Freeman

Ephesians 3:17 NIV ....  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.  And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love ..... Psalm 16:8 NIV ...  I keep my eyes always on the Lord.     With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Psalm 46:10 NIV ...  He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;   I will be exalted among the nations,   I will be exalted in the earth.” This morning as our family enjoyed online worship together, I was refilling my water bottle and I walked over to my two house plants near the dining space window.  I am no plant or gardening expert by any means, but I have found a few plants here and there over the years that have made it.  I have kept them with the care they need, a rhythm of watering every few days, pruning as needed, and re-potting as they have outgrown their  original containers.  I adopted these 2 plants from memorial services for our loved ones over the last...

 163 days.  I can't believe it's been nearly 32 years since we officially began our life together.  I remember when you asked me to marry you on a fun evening out for a festive holiday get away to see the lights at Silver Dollar City in December of 1993.  Mike and Amy joined us, and little did I know they were in on the secret and knew what was coming.  You surprised me as you and I had a moment in the wilderness chapel, and you got down on one knee and asked me....it was yeah, a storybook, fairy tale, all the feels kind of moment!  My Ry is really a romantic and an absolute charmer at heart.  I can't imagine it being any other way.  It doesn't feel like it's been over 30 years.  A lot of life has happened since those early days when we'd only been together for about 9-10 months.  I knew I was going to marry you just a month into our relationship.  I knew God gave you to me, and me to you.  163 days til we celebrate another yea...

 I don’t know about you, but so far 2025 has been um…. Intense.  I can’t think of another word to describe it at the moment.  I am type A, first born, determined, a hard-core planner, don’t you dare procrastinate in my vicinity or I may have to give you some unwanted advice.  Just being honest here, but I’m having a hard time with it and finding more than ever I have to lay it down.  Pray, and pray, and pray, and yep I’m gonna keep sayin’ it til it annoys the heck out of ya, PRAY!  Maybe it’s just part of getting older, but I find more than ever before I am having to pause multiple times a day and practice this cycle:   Breathe, Pray, Release   1.       Breathe:    One of my first steps I take when my focus is bulldozing toward panic mode because of what I am hearing and seeing on the news, radio, tv, social media, from the chatter in conversations around me throughout the day whether it’s a work day or the w...

The week leading up to Easter weekend this year, as part of my focus, my reflection upon this season of my life, my prayers, my meditations, my seeking greater space and breathing room-I determined it was time for me to depart social media.  I had been thinking about it last year just prior to the holidays and the impending presidential election year of 2024.  So I did just that, and it has been precisely what my heart and my mind needed.  Since my Mom died in January, I have been thinking and internalizing a lot more with the goal to refresh, renew, re-focus.   This season of experiencing simultaneous grief and peace has sharpened my internal perspective far more than any other time in my life.  The reality is as life rolls on day after day, month after month, year after year, the rhythm of life brings a level of comfort and complacency for all of us.  The unexpected can shake us, awaken us to a part of ourselves deep down that we didn't know was ther...

 This year I chose to devote some time focused on the Lent season leading up to Easter.  I honestly couldn't recall the last time I spent time focused on Lent and had to consider what it is and what it meant to me.   I understood it to be the time frame representing the 40 days that Jesus spent wandering in the wilderness before he began his public ministry.  I have heard over the years from friends choosing to give up or abstain from something in their lives to help them better focus and grow in their walk with the Lord.  I have done something similar at several points in my life over the years, but nothing really significant in terms of giving something up that wasn't material or tangible.  This year is different in one way in particular, the loss of my Mom in January.  I am coming up to a lot of first's without her, including Easter.  Easter holds a really special place in my life because it was during the Easter season in 1979 that I acce...

 Early Tuesday morning January 2, 2024, I got a call that my Mom was slipping away and the family should come.  We knew she was not doing well these past couple of weeks as she had developed pneumonia and covid, and she was struggling just to manage breathing.   When I arrived, the nurse brought me in to Mom's bedside, and quietly stepped out to give me some time alone with her before my Dad and my brother arrived.   I cried like I have never cried before in my life, and went to my knees beside her, resting my hand on her arm.  I have no words to describe what it felt like in that moment, the finality and the reality of it.  My brain understood she was gone, no longer there.  But my heart, regardless of how far gone Mom had been for years now..... my heart was suddenly flooded with the feelings, the sounds, the memories of her across my entire life, rushing through my head in that moment all at once.  It felt like time kind of stopped, s...

  'In this time of fear When prayer so often proves in vain Hope seems like the summer bird Too swiftly flown away Yet now I'm standing here My hearts so full, I can't explain Seeking faith and speaking words I never thought I'd say... There can be miracles When you believe Though hope is frail, it's hard to kill  Who knows what miracles you can achieve? When you believe, somehow you will You will when you believe' (When You Believe, songwriters: Kenneth Babyface Edmonds, Stephen Lawrence Schwartz/performed by Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston "The Prince of Egypt" soundtrack 1998) I've been reminiscent recently as we are preparing for Christmas, of things that are especially meaningful to me.  The sights, the sounds, the aromas, the feelings, my mind is full of so many. One of my favorite sights as a child, still a picture in my mind even now:  The Christmas tree aglow, and one of my favorite gifts was an antique baby carriage with a beautiful antique...

 Give your burdens to the Lord and He will take care of you.  Psalm 55:22 I had the absolute joy recently of taking a trip with my Dad and my Brother to Santa Fe, New Mexico - it was perfectly timed and just what we all needed.  The weather was absolutely perfect as the leaves had changed to these beautiful hues of gold, green, red, orange, and the sky was clear blue, the landscape of the southwest was nearly indescribable.  The food was delicious and as we remembered fondly from years past:  red, green or Christmas - how to choose?  If you know, you know!  The feeling in this part of the country, the melting pot of so many diverse cultures come together in one place to celebrate and soak up the art/music/culture is something you can't describe in words but must experience in person to appreciate fully.  Despite the obvious vacant spot on that trip-Mom-it was something we all needed I think, my Dad especially.  Santa Fe is one step closer to ...

 I have been going longer stretches this year without blogging, not sure why but I find it difficult to write more often than I have in years past.  I'm sad to admit my Mom's declining health, the slow grief of losing her more and more to alzheimers and trying to help my Dad manage through it all is a heavy burden.  So to lighten that burden, I have found comfort in long drives of silence, taking time to listen more than I speak, the sound of the birds chirping and singing after a cool rain, the secadas humming away in the humidity of a summer day, the smell and taste of homemade salsa in my kitchen, the soft comfort of my favorite blanket as I nap on a Sunday afternoon.  Sometimes the little things in life are just what is needed to find peace. We brought an amazing song in our worship set this weekend at our church, and I am still lingering on 2 lines in particular that resonated with me and this current season of life: ......Sickness is not my story, You are! Hear...

 It is a beautiful Spring evening here, and as usual I am up late and my mind is buzzing, can't sleep.  I am thankful for the reminder tonight in my devotional time that God is incredibly patient and gracious with me, even when I am at my absolute worst.  I'm doing better with my stress and what seems to be a slow grief that I have learned I simply just have to manage.  Dad and I talk a lot, the reality that we are all dealing with a level of anxiety we hadn't planned for.  Nobody plans to have a loved one with alzheimers/dementia, so when it happens, well it hits like a really bad dream that you just can't wake from.  It's one Mom will never wake from.  I haven't seen her in months, hope to go with Dad in the next couple of weeks.  The last few weeks he says she hasn't been very responsive, just sits and stares at the tv.  She seems to be responding positively to the activities they are doing especially music, which is a comfort knowing how ...

 'My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.' Psalm 73:26 It's my birthday month.  I'm about to hit 51 with all I've got.  And all I've got is not much, but God.... Years ago I met this amazing person.   I wasn't expecting him to cross my path, but God had something in mind for me that I was not prepared for.  I am thankful for God's absolutely perfect timing, how He knows so very well and so very precisely what I need.  I was reminded in my quiet time tonight as I read those two words in the scripture 'but God', that no matter the depth of my inadequacy....He fills me.  He is my rock, my strength, my source, my anchor, my portion, my all in all.   I still get the feeling now, not much different than I did 15-20 years ago....I'm not enough.   28 years married to my true Love, and I question it from time to time.  My oldest child is approaching 26 this year, and my youngest w...

  ‘A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices…..’ I know a lot of you share this sentiment for the year of 2022…..I’m  weary .   If there’s a word I would choose to represent this year, it is just that.   My humanity threatens at every turn of this road called life to call it done, give up, throw in the towel, wave the white flag.   I.can’t.even. I can’t really pinpoint one thing, it’s a cascade of “things” that this life has thrown in our path.   At the end of the laundry list of “things” I could list for you here, I can point to one “thing” that has held me steady somehow.   Jesus .   He is Jehovah Jireh, forever enough, always enough, more than enough.   I am going to continue to age, ache, stumble through everything this life hands me, but He is steady and unchanging.   When it seems He is far from my reach, it’s hard to swallow the reality, the truth of the matter:   I am the one who has wandered.    His presenc...

  Psalm 91:1-2  Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." The year end is rapidly approaching, and as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, I am aware of how quickly time is moving forward.  This past year has been full of moments of unexpected experiences.  We lost Ryan's Mom in early January, and while we knew she was not going to be with us much longer due to a number of health issues, it's just something you can't be fully prepared for.  We had blessed time together gathering family and sweet friends to honor her life and praise God for our time with her, how she left her loving, gracious mark upon all of our lives.  As we stepped into those first few months of the year, the stress and demand of work, and for Ryan finishing out his degree at MSU, it was like a glaring neon sign in our faces that we could not avoid....

 The reality that we are nearing the end of October, and just 2 months away from the end of 2022, is kind of hard to believe when I think about it.  I'm going to be brutally honest here:  2022 has been hard.  My Mom's health has declined significantly as the Alzheimer's/Dementia has progressed and takes away more and more of the amazing person I have known her to be my entire life.  The doctors, nurses, hospice care team have helped us know what to expect along the way, but it's a heartbreaking thing to watch unfold.  I haven't been able to shake it completely, some days are worse than others, the grief of losing her slowly hangs over me like a fog.   I'm struggling to go to sleep tonight, too much on my mind and heart, so I'm hoping I find some sense of relief and release as I type out the words of this blog entry.  My family has experienced some significant highs and lows this year, and in recent weeks more of the latter.  I have had a...

  If you have had a conversation with me the last couple of months, you know things are - for lack of a better word - INTENSE in my house.   We just celebrated Ryan graduating MSU in May with his Bachelor's in IT CyberSecurity.  Our oldest daughter Rylee has been offered a full time teaching position, teaching English at Nixa High School just outside of Springfield this Fall.  We are in the countdown to her move into her first apartment in a couple of weeks.  Our older son Bailey has ventured into a new job this summer with a friend, and is loving it.  Our younger son AJ started his first job this summer at Taco Bell.  Our youngest daughter Chloe is living her best pre-teen life this summer hanging out with her bff's, swimming, sleeping in, etc.  Ryan is hard at it on the 'hamster wheel' of job hunting post graduation:  apply, interview, wait, get passed over, and repeat ......That last piece has been quite frustrating and disappointing ...

  I'm currently in the middle of a beautiful Lent devotional study "Waymaker: Finding the Way to the Life You've Always Dreamed Of" by Ann Voskamp.  She has become one of my favorite authors the last few years, among several that I cherish in my daily devotional times.  She speaks both in tone and context in a way that is incredibly comforting and clarifying, and entirely necessary as I am journeying forward in this life God has given me.  I shared at a recent women's breakfast event with our church about a piece of this devotional that has been speaking into my life, and today I was struck once again by the focus she is delivering to us through her writing.  Her writing inspires me also to write, to share out of the abundance God is pouring into my own journey along this treacherous and blessed pathway unfolding ahead of me day by day.   Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of...

'To find the peace and productivity we desire, we need to come back to the basics of the first commandment.' - ( Staying Focused in Uncertain Times, Elizabeth Grace Saunders-Real Life E Time Coaching, DivineTimeBook.com ) You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. -Matthew 22:37 I was warned by my parents, by friends, and by others who have far more years of life experience ahead of me, that time moves faster as we get a little older.  2022 started off with a couple of  'unexpecteds' for my family.  And if I'm being honest, it has shaken my focus.  I wasn't always the most confident one in the room.  I'd say it wasn't until my 30's when I really started feeling comfortable in my own skin.  I would dare say nobody is born with full and complete confidence in themselves.  Life experiences shape that for the good and for the bad over time.  What the Lord gives and takes, it tests our focus....

'A woman is like a tea bag - you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.' -Eleanor Roosevelt 'Listen to your life.  All moments are key moments.' -Frederick Buechner 2022 has arrived, and little did I know what would start it off.  January 3, Ryan got a late night call from his Dad, the kind of call that nobody wants to get.  It was apparent to Ryan when he saw the phone call coming that night, that something must be wrong because it was not like his Dad to call us that late normally.  The next 24-48 hours, the days that followed were blurry, painful emotionally and physically, and just the beginning of a process we know we'll be working through with Ryan's Dad as we help him with this painful transition in life without his partner, his love, Maggi.  Right away, Ryan and I took time that evening to bring our children together, to embrace and weep, but also to know and grasp the beautiful hope that she was free from her body's struggles and ...

  Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.  -Ephesians 3:20 NLT The Christmas season is upon us and we are just one week away from the day we celebrate the coming of Christ to this world.  God knew what He was doing when He planned this entire happening.  Joseph and Mary had no idea this was coming, but through scripture we read how God prepared and informed them of His plan as the earthly caretakers for His Son Jesus.  God provided an angel to both of them to tell them precisely what they needed to know, but I can only imagine how absolutely terrified they both must have been.  This is a situation that in and of itself, its format if you will, plays out in one way or another in our own lives.  Not exactly the same scenario, but a version of it in terms of its play by play.  I can recall several situations that played out in my own life, but I was not p...

 As I write this entry, just hours from now my son Bailey will be returning from a 12 day experience touring Spain with his collegiate choir.  I had a beautiful writing come across my social media feed from Ann Voskamp this morning about the beautiful opportunity we have every single day with Father God to thank Him for who He is and what He has provided to us.   When we struggle to find and know our God, on what seems to be the worst of days or maybe just a brief moment in a day we are experiencing.....what is the grounding here?  We need Him, every hour of every day and we need to spend more time with our hands lifted to Him in a posture of thanksgiving rather than raising our fists and our voices in anger and frustration, or pounding our chests and crying out in anguish because He's not who we need right now or He's not doing precisely what we expected in our greatest hour of need. "I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord No tender voice like Thine can pea...