Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrent's and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won't collapse because it is built on bedrock.
~Matthew 7:24-25
~Psalm 25:5 NIV
The psalmist said,
Prayer: Loving God, thank you for carrying and holding us. When we have fallen, when we are broken, when we can no longer move you call, "Do Not be afraid." In every situation of our lives help us to res in you. Amen
~Steven Scheid (Upper Room)
"Where? Where has it gone, that light, that spark, that love that looked into mine? What has it to do with that cold clay? It's here, here, here in my heart. She's in me, around me. Nothing in that clay."
~Anzia Yezierska
~Joshua 1:9 NIV
The earth is my sister. I love her daily grace, her silent daring, and how loved I am. How we admire the strength in each other, all that we have lost, all that we have suffered, all that we know. We are stunned by this beauty, and I do not forget, what she is to me, what I am to her.
~Susan Griffith
~Martha Hickman
~Emily Dickinson
In filling the empty space from the love one I have lost, Life has giving me an opportunity to share the artistic and creative work of Crystal's color pencil drawings and coloring. I now have a card ministry called "Crystal Expressions" which is a collection of her artwork used in handcrafted cards. I use Crystal's art to bring smiles to seniors, hospitalized kids, foster children and those who are lonely, isolated and suffering. These cards were mailed to "Small Acts Big Change" to be distributed to nursing homes and assistant living facilities. The spirit of Crystal's art lives on and is enjoyed by the elderly and children across the United States, Canada, Scotland, Holland, Germany, France and England. These are the places where her art has been shared to bring encouragement and a smile.
~Corita Kent
photograph Crystal Michelle Fallin, age 3, Palm Coast, Florida 1987
When my daughter departed this earth everything brushed against the raw wounds of my grief, reminding me of Crystal. A tilt of the head, a laugh, fragrance of candles, the beach, walking the neighborhood, places where she ate, attended daycare, schools, playgrounds, the Nutcracker Ballet, and the list goes on. Even drawings of children who resemble her attracts my attention. It often brings tears to my eyes and sometimes it's difficult to bear but I also can't let them go. These binding threads of grief is gradually, bit by bit, becoming gifts of loving memories that can never be taken away. So there is hope where loving memories can also bring smiles. The binding thread of grief also brings treasures. Crystal's artwork lifts my spirit and I use it to bring smiles to the lonely, isolated and elderly through non profit groups The Angel Card Project and Kind Cards for Cool Kids. I used her artwork and added graphics and text for Valentines and mailed the cards to 100 people around the country.
"May I honor --and trust--the processes of grief and of healing, knowing that in time, a new day will come."
~Martha W. Hickman
"They seemed to come suddenly upon happiness as if they had surprised a butterfly in the winter woods."
~Edith Wharton
Crystal's friends held a memorial service for her on the banks of the Matanzas River at Helen Melton Schmidt Park located at Summer Island. It's off the the beaten path, just the way Crystal would have liked. They held the service in a small cove on the river bank. They lit a sky lantern and release it into the clouds and it floated over the river and high above the horizon. They threw flowers into the river.in her memory. Every time we drive by the park, we think of her life's celebration by her friends but it is also brings out the shadows of grief that reminds us she is gone. Grief is always in the shadows.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds nd glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:16 NIV
Isaiah 58:11 NIV
"Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God."
~Corrie Ten Boom
~Matthew 5:3 NIV
In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
~John 16:33 NIV
~Isaiah 40:28-29 NIV
~Matthew 11:28-29 NIV
~Mother Teresa
~Jeremiah 6:18 ESV
"Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything Beautiful, for Beauty is God's Handwriting."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
