re-awakened muslimah

BISMILLAH IR RAHMAN IR RAHEEM Life takes us by the hand and steers us in so many different directions. Many a times we plan, and an unexpected surprise arrives, the plan is no more. Once we welcome the surprise and completely register it in our senses, life takes a sharp turn and lands us in the middle of another unexpected situation. We fumble, rub our eyes and flail our arms searching for a support to protect us from falling face down. The only support that really sees us through is the level of our eimaan and our belief in Allah swt and His plans.  I found myself getting in and out of strange turns and dangerous bumps a couple of months ago. I found myself feeling surprised, and sometimes amused, every time! Just as much as the reality of that particular situation would hit me hard, so would the fact that "Indeed He is the best of planners". Many months have gone by, yet I'm still wondering what messages or rather what hikmah/wisdom it is that those incidents were

BISMILLAH IR RAHMAN IR RAHEEM Winter and nostalgia go hand in hand. Steamy cups of coffee and soft rays of sunlight often lead us to humming a familiar tune or exhaling a crisp breath in memory of somebody long lost.  The winds have been merciless lately in comparison to the mild winters we always get. Stealing a few moments from my breakfast routine I bask in the beautiful sunlight filling my porch... and the image of my long gone Nanoo floats in front of my eyes:  Her waist-length hair creating a frizzy silver halo around her pudgy stout figure as she would soak the sun rays and read the morning paper in winters. The papers rustled and Nanoo shook her head gently to fix her flowy silver hair. Eye glasses perched on her perfect royal nose beneath her broad forehead; the mark of regal beauty.  She wore a maroon men's sleeveless sweater on top of her snowy white clothes. Her skin flushed red by the hot morning shower followed by the sun soaking session. Seriousness cr