Remembering September 11, 2001: A Life That Was Changed


Today, we remember all those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 as well as those who signed up to serve our country in answer to this tragedy and have lost life or limb or who have subsequently suffered mental illness. We pray for our world and for our leaders. We pray that our children and our children's children will not know this type of tragedy.
We each have our own stories of this day in 2001. Many of us were changed from the inside because of  it. I know I was.
My job to that point required working long days and weekends. We all missed time with family and friends and many of us missed time with God all for temporary purposes – software that would be outdated quickly and working hard to earn the things money could buy.
What I learned that day is how little things mean, but how truly important people are. I think we all called (or tried to call) our family and friends that day to tell them we loved them and how important they were to us. We all loved a little deeper and showed more kindness and compassion toward those we encountered than we might have ever shown in our lives.
On September 11, 2001, while I had already begun to dimly recognize this and was in the process of moving back to be with friends I truly loved and cared about, the actions of that day showed more completely that what I was doing had no lasting importance. I was focusing on the wrong things in life. What I was doing was not wrong, but my attitude was. I was NOT living out my life's mission.
God calls us to be in relationship with Him first. He calls us also to be in relationship with one another. It is not that we should not work, but that our work should honor God and that we should seek to be in a right relationship with God and with one another. God gave us the Sabbath Day for that purpose. I had not been to church in years at that time. Thankfully, God called me back to Himself.
In Revelation, we see that God allows disasters with the hope that His people, that all of us, will turn back to Him and call on Him. We read that it doesn't happen much. Thankfully, it does happen at least to some degree because I am one whose life was turned around through these events. I am certain that there are many others, as well.
The loss of life of so many that horrible day breaks my heart. The families and friends of those whose loved ones perished that day brings a sadness beyond words. We must remember that day and those who died for their sakes and for the sakes of their families. May God grant them peace and fill them with His love.
As God worked on me subsequent to that day, He allowed me to marry and I have been a stay-at-home mom for nine years. I had my own business, but my children came first because I learned that day that the legacy I leave with them is not for a few days, months, or years, not even for a single lifetime, but for many lifetimes to come through their outreach to others. They are my mission field.
Computers are fun. They are my personal hobby and business venture; however, God is my all-in-all. My family, my friends, and my community are those I seek to love and serve and share God's love with because that is the legacy I truly desire to leave behind. That is my mission. This is why this blog is “Mom's Home Mission.”
How did your life change with the impact of September 11, 2001?

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