Guide to Finding Love

These images have been dug deep from my heart as a guide to anyone looking for a closer relationship to Love. I spent my life (till the age of 29) knowing God was there, but only feeling Him from a distance. This created a hole in my heart that I was continually trying to fill with things of this world.

 I was left unsatisfied...

I did not know how to find Love.

 But, Now I do.

Once I found Love and it overflowed in my life, I began writing out my testimony.

It is unfinished, as God is not finished with me. 

But I am working on the emotional time of readiness to dive back into completing the book soon.

My Illustrated Testimony shows the importance of finding love in my life.

It was something I never knew how to do until I was taught how, 

It changed my life.

http://thelostsocklife.blogspot.com/2013/03/supertab-autobiographical-comic-of-my.html

HOW THE SCRIPTURE TELLS US TO....

FIND LOVE. 

BE STILL INSIDE

This is the hardest part! To sit down, be still and listen... near impossible. If it's not the kids, spouse, work, dogs or surroundings that distract us... it's our own minds! Our mind gets filled with thought of the Earth; paying bills, getting taxes filed, getting the dogs their shots, feeding the children... whatever. We can't possibly hear

 His Still Small Voice (1 Kings 19:11-13) if we have a thousand other voices trying to make us anxious. Satan knows this... so... he likes to whisper words of doubt to keep us busy all day long. It's easy to fear things that you cannot control. This even happened to Jesus, yes, really. He had times of anxiety that he had to escape the world in order to hear his Father's voice. But there's somebody that wants to help...

 

My art (above)

God wants to take our burdens, 

calm us down, give us peace and free us from anxiety that binds us.. He says so.

Matthew 11:28-30

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Jamie Grace sings about it here...

LOVE THIS SONG!

https://youtu.be/3lBtnreAcAE

Psalm 46:10
He says, "Be still, and know that I am God:"

Here are times when Jesus had to be alone, escape people, be 

still and quiet to hear His Father's voice...

And early in the morning, while it was still dark, He arose and went out and departed to a lonely place, and was praying there. 

( Mark 1:35)

And immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He Himself was sending the multitude away. And after bidding them farewell, he departed to the mountain to pray.

 ( Mark 6:45-46)

And they came to a place called Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, "Sit here until I have prayed." And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. And He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch." And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground, and began praying.

 ( Mark 14:32-34)

And when day came, He departed to a lonely place; and the multitudes were searching for Him, and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from going away from them.

 ( Luke 4:42)

But He Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.

 ( Luke 5:16)

And it was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. ( Luke 6:12)

from Super Tab (above) 

My art (above)

LET THE EARTH MELT AWAY

I know when I'm on a mission to hear God's voice, I get distracted by the world around me... things around me that I feel touching my skin, things I see around me that are unsettling, things I hear that try to pull me away or make me loose concentration... pretty much every human sense can cause me to stray away from my mission. The world is physical. God is spiritual. He is inside us... deep and quietly waiting.

John 4:24

"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

1 John 2:15

"Do not love the world or anything in the world.

 If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 

Romans 12:2

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Then you will be able to discern what is good, pleasing and perfect will of God."

2 Corinthians 4:18

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, 

but what is unseen is eternal. 

IMAGINE A NEW PLACE

Psalm 23:1-6

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 

He makes me lie down in green pastures, 

he leads me beside quiet waters,

he restores my soul. 

He guides me along the right paths for His name's sake. 

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 

I will fear no evil, for You are with me:

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil: my cup overflows. 

Surely Your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, 

and will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

from SuperTab (above)

SEEK LOVE

1 John 4: 

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

We could try our whole lives to find love from the Earth. Earthly love will fail. It can try to do the job, but will come short every time. People disappoint, let us down, discourage us... I know through God relationships can be healed. I know it. But it is THROUGH GOD, that it can be healed. His love through us, our pride aside with our forgiving hearts humbled. Without God, without LOve, it is impossible. So, before you can try to seek love from things, pets, or people of the earth... 

He is the source of where it all comes from.

Seek Him... He will be there. 

It is His deepest desire.

Jeremiah 29:12-14
"Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
I will be found by you, declares the Lord"

Matthew 7:7
Ask and it will be given to you: seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.

Deuteronomy 4:29
"But from there you will seek the LORD your God,
and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul."

from SuperTab (above)

It was here, for the first time I met with Jesus. 

I asked Him the questions in my heart. 

He filled my emptiness and overflowed my heart holes with abundant spiritual satisfaction. 

These were holes nobody on this earth knew were there, not even me. Only my Creator knew. 

He showed me hurts I had buried deep and hid away until i forgot they were there. He restored my soul, just as His word said. 

His promises are true. 

I pray with all my heart that you will find time to be alone to meet Him in your secret place of Peace. 

It is what Jesus said ever time He met with His disciples, "Peace be with you..".

The Holy Spirit is here for that very reason. I big price was paid so that you could have that Peace with you always and everywhere. Let go of the world and find what really matters.

What will last for an eternity when all the things that we worry about are gone and over... 

He will be there waiting. He is there waiting now.

My Best Friend...

We vowed to be together in every kind of weather.

Through rain or shine, we would stay together.

We went through nature of all kinds

and found the third chord to binds.

Without our faith in our Creator

our love could not be any greater.

Neither you or I promised to perfection, 

but we know that God planned our wedded connection.

He took our sunshine and raindrops combined

and made a rainbow that some sadly never find. 

Some leave without looking through eyes of hope

not knowing that three chords must make the rope.

When all three are held strong in matrimony

In all weather this rainbow they will see.

For without the rain we will never grow

and this bow of color we will never know.

We held on tighter when the waves began to pound

and lowered our anchor to reach solid ground.

He is the rock on which we hung tight

in the brightest day or darkest night.

He was the light that we followed

when others were being swallowed

by the tide that changed it's course

and is full of hate and hungry for divorce.

We were strong till the end

because we called Him our friend.

There is no other possible solution 

that could have given us this perfect resolution, 

but to give credit to the strongest chord

the One and Only Savior and Lord.

We remembered the promises we made to Him from the start...

We vowed to be together till death do us part.

Just as He planned a day for our lives together to cleave

He planned also the day from here you would leave...

________

This end has come where you part from here

and go home to be where the weather is clear.

There is no thunder or stormy blast there, 

just gentle breezes and light that is fair.

The grass needs no rain to keep it growing green

just the light of the Lord to give it luminous gleam.

He has taken you now to this beautiful place

that one day I'll go too and will see again your face.

The flowers will grow reaching out for Him

singing praises, psalms, and a hallelujah hymn.

We will not have to worry for what kind of weather

for that third chord that bound us together

will be the bright loving light that will never sever.

I will meet you there my love when he calls us back together

and we will walk hand and hand and talk about Heaven's weather.

I love and miss you Shannon.

Till we meet again, 

Your wife and best friend, 

Tabitha

THE MAN

Shannon Thomas Seaton

November 9, 1977-July 17, 2013

A man of faith, a loving father, a wonderful husband, a good son, a passionate teacher.

Shannon 

Shannon was my best friend in the world. He had a lot of sides to him that I was so blessed to see. His favorite kind of animals were hard calloused types like the rhinos ans elephants. I think that was because that was how he wanted others to see him. He wanted to appear strong and intimidating on the outside. But inside he was a soft sentimental man.

He got so excited when he saw this Sippin' Syrup truck in H- town and wanted to pledge allegiance to his hard core rapper side. Ha ha. 

This other picture of him is when he restored and painted a vintage trailer we hauled from our first house to our new home in order to make it an art trailer for me to work in. He even hooked up air for the summer so I would be comfortable! I never did work in it though... beccause I would rather just work along side of him in the house in our His & Her Lazy boys. Loking back now, I am so glad I never did. We eventually turned it into a Barbie trailer for the girls and he lovingly and supportively moved my art space inside. 

                                      

Origami cranes and sock dolls? Not what you would normally think of when you thought of

Shannon Seaton... 

But he did them with me cause he was my creative friend and mate. He liked to create side-by- side with me at times. These were some of my most favorite memories together because it is how we fell in love working creatively together long ago in Mask & Puppetry class at SHSU...

This was taken on one of date nights at Kitchen's... He is pretending to smoke.

So don't be alarmed.

My cutie at another Kitchens date night. 

He loved Bar-B-Q.

He wanted to try all of the to[ picks on the Texas Monthly Magazine.

I've said if he could have changed one thing about me, it would be that I would have shared in his passionate affair with BBQ...

He was just a meaty man... "GO MEAT!"

 One of my favorite things about Shannon was the silly things he would do to make his girls happy. For example: The picture below shows this weird white rectangle that was a random piece of trash accumulated at our home that somehow got turned into a dental guide by the imagination of our daughter Maisy. He let her give him a "examination" to keep her happy.... These are the moments only the fortunate family witnessed.

and this one of him wearing a necklace made out of toy beads made by our jewelry designer daughter... Maisy. This was taken his last week here.

He painted rooms colors for me apon special request. He trusted my decisions as a crazy artist no matter what. He wanted to make me happy... And he succeeded. This is him painting our 2nd daughter Madelynn's nursery before her arrival...

I went through this crocheted creature cup cozie obsession where I made almost everyone in the family a cup warmer. I made him pose for these photos so I could do a special blog post. I am so glad he did.

Here he is at Tyler zoo in front of his favorite animals. I wonder what he was thinking...

We looked forward to working on the Miss Mineola Girl's Scholarship Pageant every Summer. We worked as a team painting, cutting, and glittering. Yes, Shannon glittered! 

Maisy has beeneyeballing this dollhouse kit at " Hoppy Loppy" ( how she said hobby lobby) for almost a year. Shannon got it for her on her 6th Birthday and they were building it together. Sadly the shingles never got done. 

Shannon was very excited about planting a garden with Maisy. They had worked for 2 years trying to perfect tomatoe growing, but ironically... Neither of them liked the fruit. 

I guess they were doing it for me.

Shannon was a very supportive husband that went out of his way to spoil me and always make me feel loved and appreciated. 

                                                                        THE DAD

Shannon, Madelynn, And Maisy,

Maisy was truly Daddy's little girl. Here they are building a gingerbread home and collecting tickets from Pizza Palace.

Forget Zack... it was Shannon the Lego Maniac! Building Legos with the girls was a long intimate process. Shannon was a child at heart in many ways. Buying Legos for the girls was just a good excuse for him to sprawl on the floor and be an adventurous and maticulous architect. He definately passed this genius trait down to both our girls... I am still stepping on those legos not seen by the naked eye at clean up time... OUCH!

Swinging the girls on the back yard swing set that he put together from the box. 

I have never seen him get so angry about anything before in his life than he did at this building project. But, it was all for love.

Shannon with Maddy at her first Mineola Jackets football game. I always loved seeing him hold her because they looked so much alike,

Please forgive this picture of Shannon with the girls (gun fingers to head). But, it makes me laugh so hard inside. It was just one of those days on family vacation.  It's was hot at the cattle show in the Texas StockYards and we were having to wait for it to start... the girls were being totally cra-cra!

I had to take a picture to remember his comical patience through the misery.

We very often used comic relief to help us through parenthood and our marriage.

It is what kept us living... was laughing through it.

Stock Yards, Spring Break Vacation 2013

Shannon always pushed a cart full of girls on our shopping outings. There is nothing more attractive than a man that can handle his girls In public! Seriously...

He was always so sweet to help entertain the girls when we went out to eat at restaurants. 

He was not above holding a Barbie, coloring a kid's menu, or wipey swiping a dirty baby face.

May Days 2013 and Galveston Aquarium

Daddy and Maisy in Galveston. He always wanted to move there when we got old and retired so we could be close to Maisy as she studied to be an underwater veteranarian. 

We were starting the vacation tradition of photographing the family when we went to my most favorite of all childhood vacation spots

 Wimbetley, Texas...

I am joyfull to be blessed with these memories of sharing a little bit of Heaven with my Shannon.

Now he is able to see the entire thing.

Here they are in WImberley, our last family vacation.

June 2013

Shannon loved napping with his girls...

                                              

This was the girls with thier daddy at the Mineola Train Station. We always watned to ride AMTRAC to go back to the Hill Country.

He loved Mineola and all it's history. He was always on EBAY triying to snag up some vintage postcard or picture from Mineola's past. He was a history nerd.

We always wanted ald fashioned family photos for our mantle. 

This was done in Galveston, Texas Summer 2012.

He even love his cardboard wife!

Maisy's first bike... red triycle.

Shannon just took her training wheels off her 2nd "big girl" bike the week before he left.

Shannon would always use the ketchup to draw little pictures on a dip plate for Maisy. The waitresses would always smile... And so would I.

This is a totally hilariously sweet memory...

when Maisy was little she used to have these Disney Princess mini dolls that were a pain in thr rear end to dress up,! Well, Shannon would. Frequently lay on the floor and arrange all the dresses for them to play "Sebastia's Dress Shop". Shannon would imitate Sebastian (crab from Little Mermaid) and dress up all the dolls. Eventually this game was requested so frequently by Miss Maisy that e every time he cringe! But... Like a good dad, he always would.

THE HUSBAND

I made Shannon fake drink coffee for a blog post... He hated coffee,  but loved me.

Here we are at Canton Trade days which we almost monthly attended.

We love collecting antiques: weather houses, paint by numbers, and anything that caught our eyes. I will have many memories of this shopping spot.

We loved the corny dogs and acting a little corny too!

10 years together...

This is us on the weekend of our 10 year wedding anniversary. 

Shannon surprised me with the renewing of our vows,

Thank you Lord for allowing me to have 10 awesome years married to the best man a girl could find.

After the renewing of our vows, he took me to get my nose pierced and go bowling,

We stayed the night at a bed and breakfast in Tyler and tried on hats with a stuffed stranger!

MAN OF FAITH

Shannon was shy about his faith at times. He always complimented and admired me for being brave enough to pray and speak my heart about the Lord in church and public. But, he prayed at home every night before we went to bed and we prayed before we ate. The Lord touched Shannon a month before his passing in a special way. Shannon attended tje UM Army trip with our church's youth group and came back revitalized spiritually! I was sad to be away from him for a whole week this Summer, but to see how God's hand was working in the whole scheme of faith was more than priceless.

This group of kids blessed him more than they will ever know. 

He bragged about their attitude to work for Christ without complaining or ceasing in the heat. He came home from the trip very sentimental and renewed. This lead us to many follow up conversations about our thought of Heaven and dying. God put peace in my heart before Shannon left by me knowing without a doubt that Shannon was spiritually ready to go home to Heaven.

For this I am forever great full!

HIS DREAMS...

He had an eye for beauty...

He didn't like to be in front of the camera, but he loved it behind.

He was beginning to bloom with creativity.

 

The blog he never started... going around the state to eat beans, bacon, and other random foods.

His biggest dream was to make by biggest dreams come true...

it's true, that's just how he rolled.

http://thelostsocklife.blogspot.com/2013/12/good-food-and-dreams-remembering-shannon.html

http://beansbaconchopsticks.blogspot.com/

He loved football...

He wanted a tattoo...

There were things still left on Shannon's dream list ... Like being a photographer, traveling the world to eat BBQ, watching the Cowboys play, and getting a real tattoo,,,

But life itself is like a dream. One happy day we will wake up in the arms of our loving Father and have no worries, shame, fear, hate, or tears. These are things of the world. Things of this world will pass away, they are dust in the wind, flowers quickly fading, moith eaten and filled with rust. He is in the light of his Father singing with the angels and carefree as a child, 

I know I am changed for the better by marrying this man. I know his girls will always lve to remember his love and laugh. 

I love and miss you dearly Shannon. 

Till we meet again...