I admit that I like my computer, but I’d also be the first to admit that I really don’t know a whole lot about it and all the things it can do.

For years, I wrote my articles, printed them, got into the car and drove to the paper to hand deliver them. One day someone asked why I didn’t send them as an attachment. Up to then I’d never heard of such a thing, and so the next time someone was here that was ‘computer literate’, I asked for directions and almost like a miracle I found I could send the article with the click of a button. 

So, since I’m a slow learner in this new age, you can image how I drag my feet when new and different options are offered. I use the excuse that my computer is old and so am I. But on occasion, I find that, because of family, I am forced to try something new and different.

Never did I ever imagine I would like being on Facebook. “I don’t want everyone to know what I am doing.” “I can’t begin to do this.” “Why in the world would I want such a thing?” All excuses. But one Sunday afternoon, one of the family opened such a spot for me on Facebook.

Do I like it? Sometimes. Do I use it? Again, sometimes I do. I usually check my family’s observations and since I am a new great grandma again, I first saw that precious little girl via a picture on Facebook.

It is also a medium for me to be in contact with former international students who have left this area…some returning to their home countries. Email also is another method in which I am in contact with many.

Recently one of the former students wrote something about the blessings of family. She spoke a little about her family and the love that existed within that family.

I recall I responded by saying I was an only child, but on my mother’s side there were twenty of us cousins and what fun we used to have. And I also shared how my own family had grown with marriages and new babies. Plus I recall I added," I have such a large international family also".

Patti’s response was that a family’s love was indeed a blessing. And, I couldn’t agree more.

Patti’s sent a quote about families. The quote said, “Where life begins and love never ends.” What a blessing if that was always true, but in reality families are often broken.

I’ve said many times I fine great pleasure in reading. Recently I finished a book by Soledad O’Brien, a news commentator on CNN. She has covered stories about hurricane in New Orleans, earthquake in Haiti and many newsworthy stories that require ‘heart’, knowledge and determination.

In speaking about young women that often do not reach their potential because of family issues, she made a quote about her own family that has stayed in my mind. She wrote, “Some families pass around problems…mine distributed solutions.”

Life doesn’t always work out in the ways we plan. We experience setbacks. We face serious illnesses. We lose loved ones. We find ourselves without a job. As a farmer’s wife for years, we sometimes found weather contributed to crop failures. Many things occur and it isn’t what occurs but how we face our problems that makes the difference.

I’m not so very wise, but one thing I know for a ‘fact’. Life moves on…’ready or not’, change happens.

If you happen to be blessed with friends and family who offer you comfort, support, and encouragement, it makes a huge difference.

If you don’t, it is sad but you do belong to another family…God’s family.

God doesn’t desert us. God doesn’t fail us. We may become burdened with problems and anxieties, but God is waiting for us to turn to Him for the strength we didn’t know was available.

If that sounds a little trite and you doubt the truth of this, I can only ask that like an old commercial suggested, “Try it. You might like it.”

Life isn’t easy. Problems come. Many times, I’ve been in tears because there seemed so much pain and loss in my life or sometimes in the life of someone I love.

The tears are a part of life. But so is the joy that comes.

It is a bit like a big storm. After the wind, rain, the thunder and lightening, there comes the sunshine…sometimes even a rainbow.

If you are in the midst of a difficult time, you are blessed if you have family and friends who help you over the rough spots. But also remember you belong to another family…”God’s family.”

Facebook, email, and many of our newer means of communication are wonderful, if sometimes puzzling, but there is another way to reach out for help and that is ‘prayer’.

And God is the greatest helper we will ever need. He is waiting patiently for us to ask for His strength to renew us, His love to surround us, and His guidance to lead us through the storms of life into the peace that only He can give us. God is ‘love’ and that love is there for all of us.