Hi My Sweet Friends!
I have been absent for a while. I’m sorry!
The thing is… I’m much better in the kitchen that I am with any type of technology. I recently switched from a PC to an iMac and I’m having trouble with the transition. I’m learning… but I haven’t figured out where my photos are going so I can’t add them to posts. I promise to get this figured out over the holiday so I will be back on track by the first of they year!
In the meantime, I want to take this opportunity to say, THANK YOU! Thank you for taking time to visit She Cooks. I know how crazy life can be and I know how many directions we can be pulled. I do not take it lightly that you choose to spend time here in my kitchen. For that, I am truly grateful.
So many people are counting down the days to Christmas with joy and anticipation. Sadly, everyone isn’t. Some, including me, count down the day with dread. Yes, I do know that we are celebrating the birth of Christ. And, yes, I am filled with the hope that is The Gift of Christmas. But… it is still sad for those of us who are lonely.
If you have lost someone or are physically separated from someone by distance, Christmas can be hard. And New Year’s Eve can be even harder.
Please know that you are not alone.
From now until January 1st, I would like to pray for you.
If you are sad, lonely, hurting, or suffering in any way, please post a comment. You don’t have to share anything personal. All you need to do is say, “I need prayer” and I will be lifting you up by name through this difficult week.
My friends…
You are loved. You are appreciated. You are adored by our Heavenly Father. And He has given us the Gift of Hope. This precious Gift came to us wrapped in swaddling clothes so that we can live with Him forever in a place that will be beyond anything we could ever imagine. A place that holds no pain. No sadness. No loneliness.
Only joy.
Only love.
Only peace.
May you experience the peace of His presence throughout this holiday season. And may He fill every empty place in your heart.
Love and Christmas Blessings!
Sweetest Blessings,
LeAnn
{ 57 comments… read them below or add one }
Really working at KNOWING this season is about Him and not my loneliness and depression.
I need prayer and will be praying for you and watching for other posters here!
God bless!
We lost our youngest daughter at 19 in 2007 to a freak car accident …just 3 weeks before that her 1st cousin who was only 16 was killed in a freak car accident. Christmas can be very tough …not only on us, the parents…but on their brothers and sisters……Please pray for the siblings during this holiday season….many tears come as we miss them so. I do know our Jenny was saved and now is in the presence of our Lord and pray Cameron was too.
Merry Christmas, and thank you for your prayers.
I need prayer.
Just found this website today, although I read the daily devotionals from Proverbs 31 Ministries. My husband of 28 years died suddenly in his sleep at age 54, in 2009; we were not ready for him to go. December is quite difficult, as it is not only Christmas time, but also his birthday. Please pray for myself and my 3 kids who are still having a very difficult time. (Now ages, 19,20,24)
Thank you!
Thank you for your gift of prayer, it was exactly what I needed today. I’ve been struggling with keeping the joy in and the sadness out during this Christmas season. I so enjoy your website, it is a blessing, as are you.
Thanks for praying for us all…Single parent. I am divorced, I do have two teenaged children, but I am still lonely.
Love and Blessings
LeAnn,
I need prayer.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have many blessings in my life. My deepening relationship with God is the biggest. My three children come next and all the amazing friends who have been by my side these three and a half years since my husband died. I thank you for the gift of prayer…I will also be praying for those who have posted. “Day by day the Lord also pours out his steadfast love upon me, and through the night I sing his songs and pray to God who gives me life.” Psalm 42:8
Please keep my sister & her 3 kids in your prayers. She signed divorce papers almost 3 wks ago. She’s having a hard time w/everything & my heart is so heavy this Christmas season because of the things she’s going thru. She has raised her 2 step kids since they were babies & her soon to be ex told her he wanted all the kids to stay together….well he told her a few days ago he’s taking his 2 kids today to live w/him & leaving her the 1 that belongs to both of them. Today is a much dreaded day…we are praying he’ll change his mind & allow all the kids to stay together. He’s threatened to take them before but we’ve prayed & he’s changed him mind realizing he was hurting the kids.
Thank you, LeAnn. When all of the Christmas music and displays in the stores started a couple of months back, it was so hard to take in. When someone you love is gone or seriously ill, it’s challenging to make merry. Thank you for your compassionate message and offer to pray. Yes, Christ is the reason for the season, and we can still experience His peace and His joy in the midst of it all. “And the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” May our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ indwell all of the lonely and hurting with His amazing love, compassion and hope as we receive His greatest gift – Himself. For we ask in His name.
LeAnn bless you sweet girl for your wonderful blog and most especially for your prayers for all of us. Please know that I am praying for you as well…thank you for your God-given gifts of cooking, praying and lovin’ on all us chicas. You are a blessing to us. In spite of your loneliness and longing, I wish you a wonderful Christmas. I will soon be checking the “widow box” myself, so yes, I need prayer, but I know all these other women do too. Love to all of them. And to all of us, may we have the grace and peace to endure.
Thank you for prayers for our son William who struggles with depression at Christmas due to the loss of his health at this time several years ago. This is a wonderful ministry of yours & I will pray for you,LeAnne.
We lost our beautiful Mother to cancer July 22, 2011. I would like to ask you to pray for my wonderful Father. He has known Moma all his life and was married to her for over 50 years. I just pray that he will have some joy and peace this Christmas.
Please pray for me and my daughters. Thank you for your words of encouragement and support!
Wow, the previous posts had me in tears and prayer for God’s mercy and grace to fill the void of loneliness.
I am single and often feel “left out” of celebrations at this time of year because the FAMILY is a central focus. I am a family of one, longing for so much more. The Proverbs 31 post on Wednesday the 21st was nearly too painful to read because it hit so close to home. But oh His love does indeed comfort and sustain.
LeAnn, I love your fixing your recipes and reading your blogs. Thank you for being real with your readers. By the way… you will come to LOVE your MAC!!! I am totally technology challenged and I could not imagine life without my MAC. Once you go MAC you never go back.
Merry Christmas,
Jill
My precious friend, as you give the gift of prayer to others over this season, I am upholding you. Surrounding your heart with prayer. You live life with such incredible grace. I often think of you and your life is such a testimony to me. Praying this Christmas, through the times of tears, you will feel God’s loving arms holding you secure.
Love you LeAnn.
So blessed to be your friend.
Hugs,
Joy
We aren’t feeling Christmas this year. (Not the material part anyway. We are focusing on Jesus only) My husband lost his job in October. He wasn’t able to get unemployment because his company never paid into the fund. He had been there for 19 1/2 years. We don’t have any health insurance right now.
One and half weeks ago my husband was in an accident. The driver of the other car was at fault. My husband’s head shattered the window on the driver’s side of the truck. The truck was totaled but praise God he walked away with just a few cuts and scrapes. Also, a lot of soreness. In the ER he was checked over from head to toe with scans, and other testings. No brain bleed, no blot clot in the brain, no broken bones. We are still thanking God for being with him on that morning.
We both need prayer. Thank you for offering to do so.
I will be lifting all the other posts up in prayer too. I can relate to the sister going through a divorce. My first husband left me after 25 years of marriage. I can relate also to husbands dying. My second husband died of a malignant brain tumor. We had only been married 8 years. It is an eye opener to how my present husband could have quickly been taken from me too.
I need prayer. Thank you.
I will pray for you this holiday seson. Love and blessings.
I would like prayer, please. I also will pray for all those on here.
Please pray, thank you for your transparency.
I need prayer. Thank you and God bless.
I would like prayer for my family, my husband is deployed right now in the Middle East and Christmas will be hard without him here. There is also another need that is heavy on our hearts. Thank you so much for takingthe time to remember others and for your prayers, we appreciate you and your ministry! By the way, your recipes are absolutely fantastic!
I understand so well your feelings of loneliness this time of year. I just didn’t expect my life to be this way at this time in my life. I love Christmas, the celebration of Jesus birth, the lights and the music, the cooking and even the presents. But, (here it comes) I didn’t think I would be looking at the tree alone. Please remember me in your prayers as I will remember you. I look forward to “She Cooks” so much. It brightens my day @ work. God’s peace to you.
I need a prayer.
thank u so much , LeAnn, that in the midst of your own pain and saddness you have decided to pray for others. I will be praying for you as well. Requesting prayers for my husband and his family as he lost his mom a couple of days before christmas a few years ago and for my mom who is alone this year. GOD bless you.
Last Christmas 5 grandchildren opened presents at their Nini’s bedside as she was losing her 5 yr battle to cancer. On Jan. 4th 2011, Lana Maturey, went to be with the Lord at the age of 57. She left behind a husband of 37 yrs, 3 sons/daughter in laws and 5 grand babies under age 7.
She was the most amazing mother in law a girl could ask for. Truly a blessing to my life. If u could please pray for our family as we all travel today to be together to celebrate the birth of Christ and the yr anniversary of a woman truly missed. Thank you!
Sincerely, Andrea
P.S. thank u for ur wonderful messages and great recipes, I look forward to them!!
I’m not often reduced to tears when I read blog posts, but I was today. I am in my kitchen, cooking up Christmas goodies with a heavy heart. My daughter is not here to share: our Christmases have been filled with kitchen joy together for 23 years, until now when she is living half a world away. The emptiness of the kitchen further mocked me when her best friend, my ‘other’ daughter, came by on a brief visit back home – when I was out, so I didn’t see her; and my husband is still not back at work after illness; I have not been able to count my blessings.
So I loved this honest post. I loved that you share ‘uncomfortable’ feelings of sadness. It is even painful to know what a wonderful gift we have been given in Jesus and yet feel sorrow at the same time: not just a personal sorrow, but a sorrow for the cruelty that awaited that baby thirty-three years later on the cross.
And so I WILL be thankful: for the gift of Jesus; for family – a loving husband and son; and for much better health for my husband.
Thank you, Leanne, for the support and the reminder.
I need prayer. Thank you so much! We will prayer for you as well.
FATHER GOD I PRAY FOR EVERY PERSON THAT HAS POSTED AND WILL POST YOU HEAR OUR CRIES . I THANK YOU THAT YOU GIVE US THE PEACE THAT SURPASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING. I KNOW YOU LOVE US THANK YOU FOR YOUR SON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST THAT WAS BORN ,LIVED AND DIED SO WE MIGHT HAVE ENTERNAL LIFE IN HEAVEN. IN JESUS NAME I PRAY AMEN.
PLEASE PRAY FOR ME. GOD BLESS YOU AND YOURS KAY
Beautiful words, Leanne. Will keep these prayer requests in my heart. Leanne, I made your Pumpkin Streusal Cake AGAIN last night. Thank you for that wonderful recipe. And welcome to the Mac family:) You’re going to love it! Merry Christmas!!
LeeAnn, thank you for the sweet reminder that all is not jolly for everyone. My best friend lost her husband a few months back…this will be her first Christmas alone with thier young children. My family and I are physically separated from the rest of our family by location and this year we are missing them, especially since we haven’t made close friends in our new home town to fill the gap with yet. I will be praying for you!
LeAnn,
Thank you for all you do. Even though we have never met I pray for you ever day and will continue. May you be blessed and filled with peace and love this Christmas. xo If you could pray for my husband, I would appreciate it so much…
LeAnn,
I really enjoy your blog and I feel your suffering as well. I lost my husband 17 months ago and the loneliness is suffocating, even more so this Christmas than last. Thank you for offering to pray for us. I will remember you and your son in prayer over the holidays as well.
Hi LeAnn, oh thank you so much for the things and wisdom you put on your webpage. It’s so calming and makes me chuckle at times when I can totally sympathize. LOL. Yes, I’m alone..my family is spread in other states and countries. I wish I were with a man God had created just for moi, but that’s not happening and I’m lonely as I’d love to be married again and have that special type of relationship and bond, you know?
There are two men who are interested in me but I am being very careful and going about it in God’s way…and they understand. So for now, yes I’ll be alone and a bit sad but keep hope for God’s will to be done for me and be happy with whatever path He chooses for me, because God really does know what is best for me.
May you and your family (and the other ladies here) have a blessed Christmas. xoxo
Julie
Thank you LeAnn for your sweet thoughtfullness at this time of the year for so many people.
My sister, Merrillyn and I both need your prayers especially my sister, she lost her husband only a few months ago to cancer and she was married 46 years and she is having and
questioning why God took him home. She has a older son who lives at home and she has very serious problems with him too.
Sis and I just lost our mother, 87 yrs. old this month and we are both struggling with her death too.
God Bless and Love to you and your son, this Christmas, thanks.
LeAnn,
Thank you so much for your servant spirit to pray for us. I am a widow of 17 months after 26 years of marriage. My two children, 22 and 25 are still living with me which is a blessing. However, holidays this year seem even harder than those last year. I, too will pray for you and your son, as you know the same loneliness that all of us do.
I read your blog regularly for wonderful recipes and inspiration.
May God be with you this Christmas and bless the upcoming year for you in wonderful ways.
Hugs,
Carol
LeAnn,
This is my first Christmas with out my younger brother and my grandma. He was in a car accident and she had Parkinson’s. The passed within 3 months of each other. Thank you for keeping me and my family in your prayers.
You are such a blessing to me!!
Blessings,
Sara
Hey LeAnn,
I lost my husband 18 years ago this month, our children had just turned 4 and 8 years old. The loneliness and sadness fades over time, but never completely dissapears. This time of year is especially cruel. I still miss him every single day, but I have the comfort of knowing where he is, and that I will be reunited with him one day. Thank you for putting it out there on the table, that yes, Christmas is a time of hope and joy, but through that hope and joy, some people are suffering with loneliness that simply cannot be avoided.
We need prayers. for the past year and a half, my mother has suffered one medical setback after another. About the time we think we have her on a good path to recovery she relapses w/ little or no explanation from the Dr.s. She has lost her job, has no income, and my brother and I can’t take her into our homes, because of Safety issues. I live in a split level home, and the only area we would be able to get her into is the Garage. Every other area of the home has access by steep stairs only.
We are also going into our 2nd year to trying to adopt. We have had several attempts, but each has fallen through. God gave me the desire to adopt when I was 8 yrs old. I know this is what he has called me and my husband to do, but the delay is breaking my heart.
The past 6 months have literally been a game of WAMMIE. Every morning I wake up praying that I don’t get wammied today, and usually it’s either a bunch of small crises, or 1 really big one. I’m tired.
I do have to say that God has blessed me with a husband that I honestly would have lost my mind 6 mos ago without his support. At times when I’m going through the daily grind, and I feel so defeated looking at the mayhem that has been the past 6 months. The only blessing that I can hold on to is my husband. I’m so beyond thankful for him.
I’m sorry to sound whiney – I guess I can just sum it up by saying I’m worn down and tired.
I will also pray for You, Nick and the entire Proverbs 31 Ministry. My Sunday School class and I pass around the “Encouragement for Today” emails and they truly are a blessing.
Merry CHRISTmas, and lots of love,
Nicole
Thank you…It’s been a rough Christmas season but I think I am finally coming around to the remembrance of Him….our HOPE…forever.
I am a school counselor and the stories of stress and distress have been especially difficult for me. Our school lost a 7 year old to murder just a few weeks ago. I am sharing what God has given me through dealing with this sad tragedy as well as those of my other students. May you each see and KNOW His hope and love in the midst of your sadness.
Over the past few weeks I have become even more aware of how much evil and sadness there is in this world. I have wondered how people, and especially many of my students and their families, could have themselves “a merry little Christmas.” Let’s face it. Our world is a mess!
How is it that we can go to our church services and sing “Joy to the World,” when there is so little joy in the world? Many would say that the evil and sadness depart with the magical morning of Christmas because of the twinkle in a child’s eye as gifts are opened. It would seem that the world stops for a few hours on Christmas morning, to put aside differences, to put aside hatred, to put aside evil and sadness. But if it can happen for those few hours, why not a few days, why not a few weeks, months, a lifetime?
As I have been considering what a mess our world is in, my thinking was directed to the sadness of a young couple traveling to another city to pay taxes while riding on a donkey, the woman pregnant. My focus went to an innkeeper who perhaps did not want to be bothered with them. Then there’s the fact that this couple had to bring their baby into the world in a smelly barn, which we know had not been sprayed down with Lysol. We know that there were evil tax collectors and evil kings everywhere. Their world, too, was a mess!
My mind returns to the present, and the sad economic times in which we live. As families come in to pick up gift cards from our school, I hear that they may have to use part of the money for spark plugs for the car, to hopefully keep it running. Or I hear their thankful hearts to be able to buy one fun item, and the rest clothes and shoes and boots for the winter. “Where is the joy in this world?” My eyes fill with tears as I ponder this question.
It is, in the simplicity of Christmas, that I think to myself, “We can celebrate Christmas; we can sing joy to the world. We can have the peace and the joy for more than a morning, a day, a week. We can have it for a lifetime. How is it that we can grieve and mourn the evil and sadness in this world, long for heaven, and still sing, “Joy to the World?” A baby was born hundreds of years ago, born to give us hope, born to bring us new life. In a messy world long ago, in our messy world today, HOPE was born and can live in our hearts. That hope, of course, was a baby named Jesus, who came to save us from evil and sadness and our own sin. No wonder the angels sang when He was born! He was also called “Immanuel,” which means, “God with us.” In a messed up world today, you can have peace and find strength for a lifetime because of a baby born hundreds of years ago. This is what gift I pray for you this Christmas: That you know that God is with us, in the form of Jesus, through the messed up world, through the evil and sadness, you can have HOPE in your heart!
Merry Christmas!
LeAnn
Thanks for your prayers and I too will pray for you. God is bigger than all our problems and He Alone can fill our hearts and lives with Peace and Joy no matter what we are all going through. It truly is about Jesus and not us. Once we focus on Jesus and others then our own problems seem so tiny. May God’s peace rest in the hearts and souls of all you gals. In Jesus name Amen
KathyM in Illinois
Leann,
Know that I will be lifting you in prayer during this time. Thank you for the sweet blessing that you are. And thank you for letting us share time in your kitchen
Dear LeAnn,
Did you have any idea when you posted this that you would have such an overwhelming response? So many people hurting and so much pain. But, there is still hope even in the midst of the pain. There is still joy and thankfulness even with the pain and loss. I too have always enjoyed Christmas, the true meaning as well as all the beautiful lights, decorations, music and cooking. But, I never dreamed I would be so lonely. Even with a 21 and 18 year old living at home. They are busy and focused on their own lives and don’t really need me. Jesus let me know years ago that He would be my husband, my provider and my comforter and He has done exactly that. Sometimes my human heart just longs for a Godly man to share my life with. Usually life is busy and I don’t have time to think about how my heart “feels” but these special family holidays can really bring those feelings to the forefront. I appreciate your prayers and please know dear friend that I will be remembering you in prayer as well as all of your friends that have posted here. Love, prayers and hugs!
I need prayer as marital separation is hardest through these special days… Thank you!
Thank you so much for your offer of prayer!!
I am requesting prayer for my friend A. who has been divorced for almost 6 years. She has 3 wonderful children, who haven’t experienced a “family-type” Christmas in that time, except for this year. My husband and I opened our home and our hearts to them and they had a “magical” time. The reason I ask for prayer for them is that they didn’t want to leave. They are so in need of family, so in need of consistency and for that matter, routine. A. is hyper-vigilant with her kids, which has its benefits and it also has its downfalls. The oldest child is rebelling with lying right now. It causes much strife in their home right now.
I also ask for prayer for myself. I deal with disabling pain and it really drains my spirit.
Thank you again!
Please pray for me and my family. My husband is currently incarcerated and we are spending our holidays apart for the first time. God is working miracles in his life and we are truly blessed because of it. I miss him dearly. Thanks for your prayers and your ministry.-
I DESPERATELY NEED PRAYER!
please pray? my dad died 2 years ago today and i miss him terribly.
really really down, and can’t shake it. been told that feeling this way ‘dishonors my parents memory’. mom died about a year before.
just trying to get through today.
thank you for praying.