"FLC" Cuff

 I woke up at 2:30 this morning with these 3 words playing in my head over and over....FAITH, LOVE COURAGE...FAITH, LOVE, COURAGE...FAITH, LOVE, COURAGE.  As a jewelry maker and as someone who is inspired by words, I have to FEEL words in my hands before I can let them go.   I got up to go into my workshop which, minutes later, tripped out my dog and woke up my husband.  I explained that I woke up with "Faith, Love, Courage" on my mind and had to make something (this no longer surprises him) and he said, "Oh! FLC"...and went back to bed.  As I wondered how to FEEL "FLC", I felt God encouraging me to burn it, or brand it, into leather.  This isn't something I typically do but He ministers to me through my work and this was no exception. Beloved, sometimes we feel like the world applies heat to our lives that tests our endurance, through a deployment, sickness, a death, the loss of a job, heartbreak...the list goes on.  It will test our FAITH...but this is the opportunity to make it ACTIVE.  Through it all, LOVE...give it, receive it and know God's love is unconditional, with no end. It takes COURAGE...but you WILL come out stronger.  As I face my own "furnace time", I ask God to scar me JUST ENOUGH...to make it count.  At the end of the day, I want to know that my faith was tested and held firm, I want love to be the bottom line, and I'm more brave than I thought I could be. Faith...Love...Courage.