Endless Light

Oh, dearest lighthouse, radiant and bright,  

You cast your glow upon my life’s night.  

With every beam, you poured your soul,  

Into my heart, you made me whole.  

Endless thanks I offer you,  

For in your light, my dreams came true.  

Yet, my lighthouse, you have two sides,  

One that in my family tree abides.  

Each lighthouse crafted, unique in its way,  

To shine in darkness, to guide the stray.  

I stumbled upon you one fateful day,  

Unaware of the journey that lay ahead, come what may.  

Significant you were, in my history’s tome,  

Her story, your light, a guiding home.  

In my darkest hours, you showed the way,  

Forever grateful, I am, for you, I say.  

You stole the show with memories dear,  

Of laughter, tears, and moments clear.  

Creating memories that time can’t erase,  

In my heart, you hold a sacred place.  

Appreciation falls short, mere words to convey,  

Gratitude and gratefulness, I humbly display.  

Dear lighthouse, thank you for your guiding light,  

You’ve become a part of my legacy, shining bright.  

God bless me with you, cherished times we’ll keep,  

In my history, your story, forever to seep.  

Thank you, dear lighthouse, for brightening my way,  

Along the path, you’ll forever stay.

Things Unseen

For we walk by Faith, and not by sight.~ II Corinthians 5:7

Be careful what you ask for…

We whisper our desires when we talk to God,

crafting gilded palaces inside our minds,

painting visions so flawless, so brilliant,

that when the blessing finally arrives,

we walk right past it.

We often miss the blessing because the cover of the book

does not match the pages we wrote in our own heads.

We confuse the blueprint of our wants

with the quiet grace of our needs.

Be careful what you ask for.

When you speak to the God,

know that he listeth to the heart, not the ego.

You pray for financial relief,

and when the weight on your shoulders lifts,

when the daily panic fades into quiet quietude,

you call yourself forgotten

simply because the answer came as a steady breeze

instead of a winning lottery ticket.

You beg for a way to navigate,

a path through the “wilderness of broken wheels”,

and a bus fare appears,

or an outstretched hand offers a ride.

“Where is my new car?” you cry,

blind to the fact that your feet are moving,

unaware to the truth that your prayer was heard.

Be careful what you ask for.

You ask for peace,

yet forget that peace is forged in the fires of chaos.

You pray for joy,

not realizing it is birthed through the valley of grief.

You seek abundance,

but first must learn the lean wisdom of poverty.

You pray for love, for a partner to walk beside you,

and when a soulmate arrives to hold your heart,

you turn them away;

because they do not match the polished portrait painted in your mind.

Be careful what you ask for.

God does not cater to the flesh.

He gives us what we need to prove our spirit,

testing whether we walk by sight… or by faith.

He hands us the rough, unpolished stone

to see if we have the vision to hold it with care,

to see if we truly trust the blessing that’s handed to us;

before He hands us the diamond.

Before you receive what you want,

you must honor what you need.

For that is where faith lives.

Now,

Do you understand?

Humanity often misjudges God’s answers because we view our prayers through sight, expecting blessings to arrive wrapped in the glamorous, physical forms we envisioned. However, God responds through faith, delivering the quiet, exact spiritual provisions we need rather than the material desires we want.
We pray for relief, peace, or companionship, but walk right past the blessing because it looks like a bus fare instead of a new car, or a steady breeze instead of a winning lottery ticket. We reject the gift simply because the cover doesn’t match the story in our minds.
True is, faith recognizes that the very things we ask for come forged through their opposites: peace is born in chaos, joy is birthed through grief, and abundance is understood after poverty.
The Test of Trust: Before God entrusts us with the fleshly “want,” He offers the unpolished “need.” Accepting the unpolished stone proves we are walking by faith in the Giver, rather than by sight of the gift.

Françes

The Blueprint

Ye thou I walk through the valley, there are shadows of death, but no evil feared; God already gave me the rest. His rod and his staff comfort me still. No weapon formed can ever hold me against God’s will!~Françes

How often do we stand at the edge of our own calling, paralyzed by the quiet, creeping chill of doubt? We feel the stirrings in our chest, a purpose placed upon our spirit, heavy and burning, yet we hesitate due to the uncertainty of the unknown. We tremble before the weight of it.

But I have learned this truth: God does not hand you a storm without teaching you how to walk upon the water. He will never whisper a mission into your soul without the grace and strength to carry you through to its end.

When the God lays down a blueprint before you, remember, the Master Architect has already finished the work to perfection. The design is flawless. The foundation is set. He does not ask us to redraw the lines or question the measure. He asks only that once we surrender to his will and give him our YES, we build.

We build not by the strength of our eyes, but by the conviction of our stride. Faith is the chisel. Trust is the stone. To reach the glory waiting on the other side, we must learn to love the unseen, to believe in the promise before the morning dawns.

Yes, weapons will form in the shadows. The winds will howl, and the steel will catch the light. But hear me: they will not prosper. They may form, but they shall never defeat the hand held up by Heaven~ God’s grace endures FOREVER.

So step into the blueprint. Trust the design. And build.~ Françes

A visual biography: Featuring Françes

Imagine that the idea planted in your heart was meant for you to pursue it, as it holds the power to transform your entire life. What if you were crazy enough to believe in yourself and trust that everything would work out just fine? That’s what faith is all about. Go for it! What do you have to lose other than the fear that holds you back?

Since I was around 28 or 30, I had a strong desire to write a book, a story about my life. I called it “therapeutic release.” As a writer, you learn to let your emotions flow “let the pen bleed” as you begin to tell your story. Over the years, I’ve been reflecting on the book I actually started writing before my computer crashed. This go round, I had the brilliant idea to use social media as my visual biography.

I’ve not ever been one to tell a story at the expense of others, because a lot of lie experiences are still kind of sacred to me (unless someone actually went through those ties with me). My primary focus of a “biography” was to allow the world to experience the beautiful moments of my life through my eyes.

What better way to fully immerse yourself in a story than by watching it unfold in real time by the storyteller?

So here goes nothing… the true definition of an open book.

Life: Featuring Françes

A trip to Mars

The refined allure of gray dances in the air as I admire the breathtaking view before me. You, a stunning spotted vision, are etched into my view. I find myself pondering whether you will ever truly grasp the profound depths of my love for you, a love that courses through my veins like an unquenchable fire.

Captivated by your exquisite smoothness, waves of chills cascade down my spine, igniting a fire within me. Each encounter with you deepens my most cherished experience of love, leaving me breathless in your presence and our memories.

A presence of two moons graces our connection, making us uniquely intertwined; I often long for you to travel the galaxies of my mind, landing on every cherished memory we share, each one a radiant jewel illuminating our love.

If I could unleash a single, fiery wish, it would be to soar into a spaceship coupe or dance wildly among the stars, reveling in the breathtaking details of the universe, as we passionately acknowledge and cherish the incredible beauty that lies within us.

In a world where lifetimes intertwine, my deepest hope is to find you in each one. As I embark on my journeys to Mars, I carry with me the sentiment that you will always be searching for me there, holding onto that connection we share.

~Thinking of you always, Françes

A Journey in Wonderland

Have you ever loved someone so deeply it brings you to tears?
Not the kind of tears that fall from pain alone,
but the kind that come when you suddenly understand a song
when the lyrics stop being words
and start sounding like your life.

I believe we fall in love many times,
but we truly fall in love only once.
Once your soul recognizes that feeling,
it remembers.
And nothing else ever feels quite the same again.

Yes, people come and go.
You may love them.
You may even care deeply.
But true love, the kind that imprints itself on your spirit
only happens with one.

And what if that one
is the very person the universe refuses to let you keep?

What if the connection is so powerful
that when you’re together,
time bends,
the world dissolves,
and reality itself seems threatened by the force of it?

There is someone I love like no other.
My soul doesn’t just recognize his
it yearns for it.
My heart smiles every time I hear his voice.
He is the only person who can make the world disappear
just by standing near me.

I can’t measure the love I carry for him.
There is no scale for it.
But I know this:
he is my person.

He knows when I’m hurting before I say a word.
He feels me, even from afar.
It’s as if our worlds collided once
and never fully separated again.

The irony is cruel
when I am free, he is not.
When he is free, I am tangled elsewhere.
As if loving each other now
would be like unleashing a storm
too strong to survive.

Maybe we’re still learning our power.
Maybe the universe is protecting us
until we know how to hold that kind of love
without burning everything down.

I don’t understand it.
I wish I did.
But I know this:
he has met me in Wonderland so many times
that I wait for him there now.

In dreams, we are inseparable.
He understands me there even more than he does here.
Our laughter is endless.
Our time is magical.
My soul feels alive in ways it never does while awake.

One day, the two worlds will intertwine.
But until then,
I cherish the moments we steal
the laughter,
the knowing glances,
the unspoken truths.

He is everything I needed
before I knew how to ask.
Everything I wanted
before I knew it was possible.

If I ever find the courage to tell him,
I would say this:

You taught me how to be soft.
You are the air that steadies my fire.
You are calm in my chaos.
You are the smile that survives my worst days.
The cool breeze on a burning afternoon.
The melody hidden inside every song.
The scent of roses before they’re seen.

You are beautiful, inside and out.
The world pauses when you’re near.

If love were a story,
you would be my favorite one to tell.

Until then,
I’ll see you soon…
in Wonderland.

And still I wonder
why do we love love
when love so often seems
to hate us?

Love Doesn’t Hurt

In a dark and empty space with no one around, nothing but coldness and silence filled the airy sounds. Standing over her body, she begins to scream WHERE AM I, I want to wake up now, this has to be a dream! What is happening to me? she asks in great fear. Where is my baby? Why can’t I hear her cries? I no longer feel her near?

As she sees her once beloved smothering her with a blanket, she tries to yell for him to STOP. Still able to see herself struggle for dear life, until her breathing suddenly stops. Her life begins to flash before her eyes, and she realizes her spirit has left her body, and she is no longer alive.

Suddenly, she wakes up gasping for breath as she finds herself with water pouring down on her face, as the one who claimed to love her is in a panic, trying to bring her back from her current state. Finding herself with a face full of tears, all she could do was ask… how did my life get here?

No longer wanting to engage in the evening, she grabbed her daughter and closed herself in her daughter’s room and cried herself to sleep, as she asked herself, “Will I ever find the strength to leave? Because for my life, I do not want my child to grieve.”

You never know what a person is going through because of the pain that they hide behind a smile, the scars that they hide behind make-up, or the tears that they silently cry when they are in a room full of people. A person can bear so much and seem like their life is so perfect. They say never judge a book by it’s cover, and I now understand exactly what that means.
There were days that I found myself so envious of those that had the flashy & pretty things, until I realized, there is a price to pay for almost everything. So just what is that price a person is willing to pay? Happiness for wealthy, pain for riches, even if it means life for death?
Not everything has to come with a price, but it amazes me just how many people in this world that will pay for their life just to appear as though they have it all. Once you realize your worth, you never look back at such a life ever again.
It is very hard to break certain cycles, but they must be broken in order to know the true meaning of happiness. Wounds will never heal as long as you keep pulling off the scab, so that the scar will not look ugly. You have to go through the not so pretty days, in order to see the beautiful ones.

Offshore

The lighthouse is a reminder that even in the stormiest nights, inside every human heart, there is a quiet lighthouse waiting to be lit, reminding us that no matter how dark the sea gets, we can always find our way back.

You are the lighthouse planted firmly in my history.

Her-story, should I say; the architect of the legacy that brightens up my day.

When the dark was heavy and the waves were high,

you didn’t just flash a warning; you poured yourself into me,

carving out a safe harbor with your steady, unshakeable beam.

Appreciation is far too small a word.

Gratitude and gratefulness are standard things often heard,

but what you gave me was the map to my own survival.

You stole the show, even in silence,

teaching me how to stand tall against the wind.

God blessed my path with your light,

and I will thank you endlessly for the way you shined,

ensuring the warmth of your glow outlives the storm.

As my journey in life continued to flow

There was another lighthouse along a new shore, that had a radiant glow.

A different place in time, a different kind of brightness

Within my darkness, you shined.

Found unexpectedly on a day I couldn’t predict the weather.

I didn’t know what that journey would be for me,

only that you illuminated a season when I needed to see.

We had the memories, the fun, the laughter, and the tears;

a brilliant, blinding flash that created echoes for years.

Your light was temporary, a beacon for a specific shoreline I had to pass,

but it helped guide my way when the night waves were too harsh to grasp.

Dear lighthouses, thank you for helping me.

You too are stitched into the fabric of my history,

a bright reminder that even when the ships move on,

we never forget the lights that brought us safely home.

Matthew 6

There comes a quiet hour in every life, a still, unrelenting moment when the noise falls away, and we are forced to look into the mirror of our own souls and ask:

Was the wound truly that deep, or did we simply nurse the scar until it became our armor?

If those that “hurt” us breath were to cease before the rising of the sun, what frayed threads would we leave untied? What heavy, unspoken words would die upon our tongue, haunting us for a lifetime?

Did we love them enough to let it go? Did we speak it into the world until they felt it, or did we let the silence swallow it whole?

How effortlessly we cling to the thorns that tear us. We harbor anger like treasure, guarding grievances that a single, tender word could have dissolved. We let pride build high, jagged walls between ourselves and the ones who once held our hearts, choosing the cold victory of being right over the warm grace of being reconciled. We forget that the souls who walk with us, the ones who held our secrets, who were our safe harbor in the storm, are rare, fragile blessings. We are not guaranteed their tomorrow.

I know this darkness, for I too once fell victim to my own grudges in life. Allowing pride to sit upon a throne built of old pain. But I’ve since learned the true definition of forgiveness. If a soul once brought light to my life, if the thought of their loss would leave a hollow ache in my chest; then my pride has no place here. I am undone, yes. I am a work in progress, still reaching, still growing through the cracks of who I used to be.

Because in the quietest depths of self-reflection, a terrifying question remains:

If God were to measure His grace to us by the exact measure we mete out to others... where would we stand?

Did He not command us to forgive? Matthew 6:14-15 clearly instructs: “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

If that truth shakes the ground beneath your feet... then perhaps it is time, at last, to lay the heavy burden down. Perhaps it is time to change.

Trapped in a Maze

How often we wander through the thick fog of our own existence, feeling utterly lost, torn between the grueling demands of survival and the persistent aching of our wildest dreams. When your soul harbors a hundred different passions, the weight of possibility can consume you, leaving you standing still in the center of what feels like a maze, wondering where this endless road will finally open.

Yet, the truth whispers through the quiet: when we stop scattering our light and pour all our fire into a single flame, that solitary path will illuminate everything else we were destined to become.

Time marches on, but we are the architects of the hours we are given. I used to let the shadow of passing years whisper that it was too late, that the window had closed, that I was too old to tear down the old walls and begin anew. But living is not the same as merely existing. Some wake up after forty years of dreaming and finally decide to retire the old scripts, choosing joy by any means necessary. You are never too aged, never too far gone, to reach for the life that will make your heart sing without condition.

The heart remembers what it has wanted since childhood. You won’t truly be at peace until you honor the calling that has weighs heavily on your spirit. The person you are called to be.

“As I grow, I learn, as I learn I reach, as I reach I climb, as I climb I succeed!” Words that I tell myself and am learning to believe in, so that I will no longer be consumed in a maze that I have always had a map to get out of, but was too afraid to look at!

Fear keeps us in places we don’t want to be in, so with that, I am learning to let go and take a dive fearlessly!

This is my thought of today! Until next time! ~NLR~