Life changing true stories told to encourage, empower and inspire us!

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"Fill your mind with light, happiness, hope, feelings of security and strength, and soon your life will reflect these qualities." ~Unknown

Email me anytime: coreen.velvetoversteel@gmail.com

"The Greatest gift that you can give to others is the gift of unconditional love and acceptance!" ~Brian Tracy

All post and stories are the sole property of Velvet Over Steel aka Coreen Trost. I write and create post in order to help others, so share as you want. I just ask that you link back or give VOS credit. Some of the stories are going into a book in progress. Thank You ALL.. for your support and help!!
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." ~ John Quincy Adams

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Random Thoughts... for 2012

"Our life always expresses the results of our prominent thoughts." ~Soren Kierkegaa

This past year has flown by faster than any I can remember.  As a new year it about to begin, I have hundreds of thoughts and memories running through my mind each time I sit to write in my journal or work on my book.  Since I've been too busy to blog much in the past year, I thought I'd add a few of them now.  
  • 2012 started Happy, had highs & lows & ended Great.
  • The trials in between had much needed lessons.
  • Everyone has experienced trauma in their life.
  • We should all have more empathy and compassion.
  • Traumas can transform if allowed to push us forward.
  • I have shared experiences with my best of friends.
  • We must leave our comfort zones in order to grow.
  • That was needed for my new career and direction.
  • We often stay in jobs and situations out of Fear.
  • Have Faith! You don't know, what you don't know.
  • Sleep deprivation is everyone's worst enemy. 
  • Negative environments are not worth the damage.  
  • Unhappy people find fault with each other.
  • Hurting people, hurt others.  Don't let them hurt you.
  • Showing kindness, can stop the negative verbiage
  • Standing up for yourself shows self-respect.
  • Immature people push blame and want revenge.
  • Mature people try to understand why things happen.
  • Respect, the words used and tone of voice do matter.
  • It takes 10 positives to make up for 1 negative.
  • Nikki Haley is my example of strength and leadership.
  • She has character and someone I'd like to emulate.
  • Being strong annoys the people who want control.
  • We're suppose to put our children First!
  • No amount of critisisum over the years helped us.
  • Volunteering and getting involved is so rewarding.
  • I meet the most amazing people when I volunteer.
  • We all need our own friends, interest... Lives.
  • No one should depend on you for their happiness.
  • Anymore than you should depend on someone else.
  • When you're direct and honest; don't ever feel guilty.
  • It's more important what someone does than says.
  • I'm not emotional any longer because I'm not afraid.
  • I'm not afraid of dying or the future; I have Faith.
  • When I see death, I pray for the souls and families.
  • Kindness and Compassion are a Hugh part of my job.  
  • The last job prepared me for my current career/job.
  • Having the passion for it, makes me really good at it.
  • So much accomplished... so much more I want to do!
"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see." ~John Burroughs
 What we overcome... helps us Grow

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Footprints on our Heart...

"Be mindful that today is a gift and tomorrow isn't certain.  So lets try to leave loving footprints on the hearts of every soul we meet." ~ME

Footprints In Your Heart

Many people will walk in and out of your life,
But only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.

Handle yourself, use your head;
To handle others, use your heart.

Anger is only one letter short of danger.
If someone betrays you once, it is his fault;
If he betrays you twice, it is your fault.

Great minds discuss ideas,
Average minds discuss events,
Small minds discuss people.

He who loses money, loses much;
He who loses a friend, loses much more;
He who loses faith, loses all.

Beautiful young people are accidents of nature,
But beautiful old people are works of art.

Learn from the mistakes of others.
You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.

Friends, you and me.
You brought another friend,
And then there were three.
We started our group,
Our circle of friends,
And like that circle -
There is no beginning or end.

Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow is mystery.
Today is a gift.
That's why it's called the present.*

Eleanor Roosevelt

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christmas with Love...

"Christmas is a time for unconditional Love for yourself and all those around you!" ~unknown

What a wonderful, happy and fulfilling couple of days.  Feeling very Loved thanks for my special friends and amazing sons.  Love and appreciate you All so much!!  XOXO
 "May the festive season of Christmas make all our relationships grow stronger and longer.  Reminding us to appreciate and love each other all through the year." ~ME
Our Faith in Christmas 

Friday, December 21, 2012

Searching for Happiness

"We search so much for the right choices, the right paths to walk through, the right time, the right reasons, and the right person.  But life isn't just about searching for things.  It's also about letting the unexpected happen and finding joy in things and people we never searched for..." ~Author Unknown 

"While we search our whole lives to find happiness, we sometime miss the opportunities around us.  We're too busy searching for something specific that we think will make us happy.  We need to stop searching long enough to appreciate and enjoy the spontaneous surprises of each day.  Only when we embrace all of life's experiences, large and small, can we find what we.re looking for... happiness that's already inside each of us." ~ME

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Good over Evil

 "I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.  This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." ~Martin Luther King, Jr.


In my lifetime I've seen so many tragedies resulting from evil in this world.  From the horrific events we all see in the news; to the very personal ones that have happened around me. 

Back home in a town of 500, a young boy was shot for no reason by a neighbor, while visiting relatives with his brother.  I remember how fearful I was to let my children out of my sight after that.

Years later while my sons were still in school, a favorite teacher was killed by her husband in a horrific tragedy that left their 3 children without both parents in the end.  I shocking event for all the children in the school community.  

A year or two later, a beloved friend and her son tragically killed by a drunk driver.  The entire community mourned including my sons whom loved these 2 people like family.  Heart wrenching and so hard to understand why or how these things can happen.

I remember my friend and her son's funeral service so vividly.  The Pastor of our church talked about how God doesn't let bad things happen.  That bad things happen because Evil/Satan is in the world and because God gave us free will, allowing some to choose evil or make bad decisions; such as driving drunk unfortunately.  

I don't believe that God causes any of these tragedies to happen.  That is free will or the evil in the world.  What I believe is that God is there for us when those things happen; to comfort us and to bring people together.  I also believe that he uses bad, even tragic situations to teach us lessons for the greater good.  Lessons in love, compassion, appreciation, acceptance and even forgiveness.  Which help us to see that there truly is more good in the world than bad.  The evils of the world will not push me out of believing there is good in the world; or away from God.
 "At the end of the day, good will triumph, even though, we at the time, can not see it." ~unknown 

Sunday, December 16, 2012

A Prayer for the Children


We've unfortunately seen many senseless acts of violence in our lifetime; however this most recent one is tearing at the souls of everyone even more because of so many innocent children involved.  I can't imagine losing a child... and as I see the pictures of both the children and their grieving families I can't stop the tears or the longing to ease their pain.  All I can do from here ho is Pray for the children, their families and the entire community.  I can't fathom such heartache...

A Prayer for the Children

On Friday, December 14, 2012, 20 children were killed in a shooting rampage at an elementary
school in Newtown, Connecticut. Seven adults, including the gunman, also died at the scene. As
the families and friends of the deceased mourn the loss of their loved ones, we pray for the
children, and for all those whose lives have been affected by this tragedy.
Our hearts are broken.
Today, in the midst of holiday cheer,
we are painfully reminded of the cruelty and fragility of our lives together.
How do we live with such unimaginable grief?
How do we comfort such intolerable pain?
How do we care for each other in a world where violence seems so readily accessible?
Great comforter and protector,
We have no answers.
No words that can heal the broken heartedness we feel.
Yet you have promised to heal the broken hearted and to bind up their wounds.
We cling ardently to this assurance.
This is the world that Christ is born into;
A world bursting with broken-hearted people.
This is the world that you call us to sing, ‘Rejoice’ in.
The pain is too fresh, the wounds are too raw,
Yet still, we light the pink candle in anticipation of your fulfilled promises.
Until then,
we will continue to pray
For the parents,
For the families,
For the victims,
For the teachers,
For the first responders,
For the survivors, and
For all who have been crushed by this shooting.
We will hold them in our hearts.
We will strive to compassionately care for each other.
And, we will honor and lift-up our children,
For in them the light of Christ beams.
Amen.

Alydia Smith
The United Church of Canada


Tuesday, December 11, 2012

The people we need...

"We need people in our lives with whom we can be as open as possible.  To have real conversations with people may seem like such a simple, obvious suggestion; however it involves courage and risk." ~Thomas Moore
"Maybe some people just aren't meant to be in our lives forever.  Maybe some people are just passing through.  It's like some people just come through our lives to bring us something: a gift, a blessing, a lesson we need to learn.  And that's why they're here.  You'll have that gift forever." ~Danielle Steel, The Gift

Sunday, December 9, 2012

What's meant to be....

"When people come into your life for only a SEASON... It was meant to be.  They come for a REASON...  So, let it be..."
"What's meant to be will always find a way."
As the poem goes:  'People come into our life for a Reason, a Season or a Lifetime...'  It's often times hard for us to determine, in the beginning, which of those a person is supposed to be.  Primarily because we ourselves are too close to the situation to be objective.  Often times our own wants and needs, get in the way of just letting situations and relationships just take it's course..., whatever that course may be.

What gets many of us in trouble, is when our desires cause us to see situations and people the way we wish them to be and believe what we want to.  When these feeling and emotions take over, it sometimes allows us to assume and even expect something that may or may not... meant to be. 

Most of us, however, can see the truth later on... which of those 3 they were and even see why we were meant to meet that person... no matter how long or how brief.  God then hopes that we also see the reason or lesson... and there is always a reason along with a lesson or two.  

I've personally been on both sides.  When I was naive and too trusting, I was the person picturing happy, even romantic futures.  Then as I grew and became much more intuitive and understanding of the paths and lessons that we are to encounter throughout our life times.  Now a days I seem to be on the other side where I feel I'm the person who comes into lives for a reason, maybe even a season to support, direct or help in some way.  

I believe that we are all meant to be the 'Reason, Season or Lifetime' for many, many people throughout our lives.  Sometimes, unfortunately we encounter someone who misunderstands why we've met.  They assume and even expect things that are just not meant to be or why we are here for them.  They don't see what we are here to teach or show them.   

It's a touchy situation when have to set boundaries, while continuing to be a good friend and teach the lessons that God has placed them there to do.  That person has to remain strong, listen to their intuition or gut... and stay true to their heart and only be what they are meant to be for that person.  

The main lessons I've learned are: self love first; be the person you wish to find; do the things you want to do with that person someday; and above all else... never expect, never assume, never demand... just let it be and enjoy the moment, the friendship or the situation.  
"Maybe some people just aren't meant to be in our lives forever.  Maybe some people are just passing through.  It's like some people just come through our lives to bring us something: a gift, a blessing, a lesson we need to learn.  And that's why they're here.  You'll have that gift forever." ~Danielle Steel, The Gif
Love them or Leave them
Can Men and Women be friends?

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Our Faith in Christmas

"Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind.  To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas." ~Calvin Coolidge 
"Christmas is a gift of love wrapped in human flesh and tied securely with the strong promises of God.  It is more than words can tell, for it is a matter for the heart to receive, believe and understand." ~unknown

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Unafraid...

"To be one's self, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity." ~Irving Wallace
"To express-unafraid and unashamed what one really thinks and feels is one of the great consolations of  life." ~Theodor Reik
"There is much in the world to make us afraid.  There is much more in our faith to make us unafraid." ~Frederick W. Cropp

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