Footprints in the Snow

I wanted to post a wintery painting on my social media today since it's now December and when deciding which one, I realized it needed to be this one. Since I was a young girl, Dec. 1 has been a contemplative day for me. If you've had someone close pass away, you know what I mean. I awoke on December 1, 1974 to my dad coming into my room to tell me and my sister that my mom had gone to heaven that morning after her battle with breast cancer. Loss is hard on everyone, and being a 12-year-old girl and loosing my mom, one of the effects it had on me was to make me think that I didn't really need anyone, that no one is truly dependable because they can't always help being taken away. So, I am fine on my own - Me and Jesus. Well, that totally independent spirit might feel like it's getting me through the tough times, but it's really unhealthy. God created us to be in community as well as to have a relationship with Him. Through the last several years, that has been driven home to me both through experience and through studying God's Word and other helpful studies. As I've gone through many more very difficult times in life including divorce and the loss of every member of my immediate family, my natural tendency was to curl inward, tell myself I need no one, and just do things that make me happy on my own. However, I have become acutely aware that through every single time, there have always been people who showed me love, walked with me, and supported me. I honestly don't know what I would have done or been without them. We are not meant to be an island, as much as we sometimes think we