One week ago we were sitting in a church filled with many people, remembering those we have grown to love and call our friends.
It’s hard to understand even after just a few weeks have passed.
Tara’s brother and sister talked about their sister.
It was good for them to share from their hearts and it was good for us as people listening, to hear ‘who she was as a sister’ not just the wife of David.
Her brother said ‘for her to come to a small town, and then to meet a wonderful family’ was God’s greater purpose.
He said ‘perhaps, in God’s bigger picture’, it was not an accident.
Because she had lost her own mother she would understand the pain of that kind of loss.
When she moved into a small county town to go to a ‘Christian college’ and do her psychology work with a family with young people who ‘lost their mother.’
Perhaps God was orchestrating another ‘purpose’ behind the scenes.
What a perfect place for her to settle in and learn to care for and eventually love this ‘special family.’
She would be someone who could truly say, “I understand.”
Because she did.
The love grew between herself and the family and mostly between herself and David.
It was a healthy kind of love that took it’s time.
In the service the time came for the four grown children to share about David and Tara.
Each one playing a part and a role in saying good bye to a wonderful dad and mom.
I am sure they are still filled with questions as to why it had to happen.
Why and how and what took place that evening on a country road.
The investigation still continues.
It seems to be just a tragic circumstance and I am hoping it won’t go any further.
Then yesterday in our State another ‘hard to believe’ series of shootings took place.
Ten people passed away and many were wounded by a senseless act of evil.
Those people didn’t get up and go to work and go to school thinking that ‘today is my last day to live’.
Just like Dave and Tara who were riding down a country road for a casual time outside.
They didn’t know or have any idea it would be the last ride, they would ever take together.
It is proving to me more and more as I get older, that we cannot let a day go by without telling our loved ones how we care for them, how important they are and what purpose they have in our lives.
We must not waste a moment.
Many people will begin this fall season with loss.
They will have the holidays to look towards, with memories of loved ones in their heart and mind.
Tears will come and so will anger, sadness with sit with them as they struggle to remember.
Sorrow is for a lifetime. Yes it softens. The intensity shifts to memories instead of intense tears.
There are many things in this life we will never understand, but if we believe in a God who has a higher purpose, then we can hold onto and cling to the hope that only He gives us.
That should we die early and should we leave way before we wish to, there is a place of comfort and a place of peace for us to reside in forever in a new heavenly home.
Loss is hard. No matter if it is a car wreck, shooting or physical ailment.
I think the lesson for all of us, is to choose, how we will live and how we will love.
And I will even add, how we will learn to say good bye.
Because someday we will have to even when we have no answers.
The Service was very moving.
Incredibly sad, I have never been to a service for two people at the same time.
Lot’s of beautiful flower bouquets. Lots of pictures.
The children who are now grown did the service. Each of them taking turns sharing something special about their parents.
The slide show was a wonderful example of ‘who’ they were as a couple and as individual professional counselors.
They loved each other. They loved their family.
They were full of energy and life until it was cut short one evening.
The service showed how they were as grand parents and as parents.
It showed how they loved.
I still cannot believe they are gone.
Our good friend passed away yesterday morning.
It is a bittersweet ending to the tragic life ending story that unfolded a week ago.
A normal day, riding your bike out on a country road ends in tragedy and sorrow.
We grieve. We ask why and have no answers.
We trust when we don’t know how.
God knows the day we are born and the day we die.
It is not for us to know, only for us to live our lives right and good and in peace so that when tragedy happens, there are no words left unsaid or regrets never solved or healed.
We will miss them and I ask for prayers for their immediate families.
For the upcoming holidays without parents.
For the ‘first’s that are so hard to manage at any age.
What a reunion they must have had when he arrived after her, in heaven.
They were believers so we know that is their final place now.
Our sorrow is for a season and our memories are for a lifetime.
It is a hard feeling to lose a loved one and if that loved one is a parent it leaves one feeling alone, in a very different way.
I know because my parents have passed in the last two years.
Please pray for their four children as they move through this very difficult time.
Our family friend is still in critical care ICU.
We pray for the family who is left, his four grown children and grandchildren.
We pray for doctors to have wisdom, strength, knowledge, and of course compassion.
This has been an incredibly hard and difficult time as the waiting room becomes a place of residence for them, until they know his stability, his recovery process, or even how to make critical decisions for him and his care.
I personally do not know how to pray.
He is so broken, so injured. It will be a miracle of God if we see him wake and even move.
We believe in a God of miracles.
We also know He works within his own time frame.
Our time is not God’s time, nor is our wish His will.
We all wait and pray and ask God for hope.
It’s all we can rest in now.
I had written my first word prompt for the five minute challenge.
Then I thought what was really up front on my mind was the prayers for a family friend.
So I am asking those who read this ‘blog’ to pray for a friend of ours.
His life will never be the same again.
On September 9th he was riding his bike on a rural country road with his wife.
They were hit from behind and she was killed instantly.
He is currently still in the hospital with very critical injuries.
His life will never be the same.
I have prayed for the driver who hit them.
I would imagine that person’s life will never be the same either.
It was a normal day of sharing life together. Doing what they enjoy.
By evening a nightmare had happened and life changed in an instant.
Nothing remained the same.
In a single moment in time.
There are many hurting hearts surrounding this story, hearts full of sorrow and deep concern.
On that moment, in that instant, nothing remained the same.
Just like on September 11th, 14 years ago. No one knew it was coming.
There was no warning.
It was a life changing, life altering moment for everyone involved.
Please pray for this man our very dear friend.
For his health to return. For the wisdom of the doctors.
For his broken shattered heart and body to heal.
For his family and friends who will surround him with love, prayers and help.
We ask God for healing but we also ask God for his will and perhaps even a miracle.
We don’t know how the future will look for him for there will be many struggles ahead
as he journeys through this ‘season of sorrow and recovery.’
Nothing will ever be the same.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted: he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. Psalm 34:18
The word for the day is Same.
On this September 11th… the day we all remember in history as horrific and horrible.
We will never be the same as we were then.
In fact on many levels we are worse.
Our laws are changing. Our leaders are not as strong or patriotic.
I don’t feel the same pride we all had in our United States of America.
It is sad. It is remorseful. We need repentance and hope.
I am fearful for our freedoms and our ability to choose for ourselves.
This climate of removing our ‘laws’ and traditions and moving away from
God and his mercy.
It is dangerous. It is and can be scary.
Those who hope in the Lord and trust in his provision know we have hope.
But it is still very unsettling to see all that is going on and with another election two years away from now, a lot of things can take place that we might not like.
Or want or believe in.
We must remain strong and remain patriotic and proud.
Our flag will fly and bring freedoms to us.
Our USA is amazing and good and wealthy and can be deep down spiritual.
Let us hold onto to our ‘truths’… and may God continue to Bless America land that we love.
We still have some warm days ahead of us here in the Pacific Northwest, but the temperatures at night are dropping which tells me fall is soon to appear.
My favorite time of year. Where leaves change colors and radiant yellows and oranges are painted all over the landscape.
The crispy weather and the often times rain comes with a force we have learned to love.
We need rain so bad in our ‘area’ it has been very dry and the rivers are just beds of rock.
Rain is what we are known for, and overcast cloudy days.
School is back in session and the kids were very excited to end summer and get into a new routine.
I am sure mom’s were very excited too.
The next few months my plan is to clean and tear apart rooms and purge out what is keeping and what is leaving using the ‘do you like it or love it’ method. Or is it sentimental and a keep sake or did you purchase it at a garage sale and you don’t care where it goes.
My husband is retiring in less than a year.
We will be doing some traveling in a motor home too.
I must do this organizing this fall and winter and just get it done.
We are also considering a move to a condo or a smaller home on one level with no stairs.
So with that kind of move it is going to be important to only take what we love.
The joy of organizing is really worth it, just hard to get started and motivated to do it.
The word for the day is Yes.
Dictionary.com says: it is used as a strong expression of joy, pleasure or approval. Used also to express affirmation.
to express hesitation, uncertainty or curiosity as in yes?
I say let’s do a bit of stirring right now and challenge our thinking.
The word Yes can be both encouraging and positive and also discouraging and negative.
How can that be? well take for example a lab report.
Yes your cancer has returned. That is a negative… the other side of it could be, Yes your cancer report is negative. A positive (using the word yes) negative. Both are true and can be possible.
Yes you got news you are hired on the new job, it is true, this yes could be a negative if you must leave home and family or friends to take the job. A positive negative.
Yes your lab test is positive and because of that you must get life saving blood draws the rest of your life.
A positive negative. Reverse that and the negative eventually becomes a positive as you feel better.
Yes you were stopped by the officer because of a few ‘issues he saw while observing your driving’, the negative is a ticket from him.
A positive is his correction of you at the same time as getting a negative.
You said Yes, when he asked you to marry him, but it could also mean a life style change of name and or location.
A positive negative.
Life is always going to be filled with the word Yes and it’s various forms of meaning.
We can either reach out to it and accept it, or we can fight it and be discouraged.
I think we can choose to let Yes be a choice.
Yes I will receive all that it delivers to me.
Do you remember a time in your life when you had a positive negative at the same time?
It’s kind of confusing and I am hoping this little ‘writing’ makes sense.
Today I am honored to be a part of Emily Wierenga’s blog kicking off her book tour.
Her new book, Making it home is a must for every home library along with the other books she has written.
I am so thrilled to be a part of this team and to help and encourage Emily.
She is an awesome writer and a beautiful wife and mom of two boys and who was just recently blessed with a new baby girl. God is using her words to help many. May we encourage her and purchase her book, spread the news about her book in any way you can.
click the link to my words:
http://www.emilywierenga.com/
http://www.emilywierenga.com/blog/
One Word 2018 Simplify/2019 Simplify/2020 Rest, 2021/Comfort
Simplicity
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Philipians 4:13
I can do everything through him who gives me strength. ==================== Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow." Courage is not the absence of fear but it's taking action in the midst of it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A diamond is a chunk of coal that made good under pressure.
It's your heart, not the dictionary that gives meaning to your words. Matthew 12:34 (msg) version.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Below you will find a few of my favorite websites or blogs. They have given me encouragement and challenged me on this journey.
Ann Voskamp's blog A holy Experience This image of a bleeding heart represents a journey of healing from brokenness to wholeness. Some of my favorite books: One thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
Married over 46 years and entered into my 65th year of life.
I am a mother of two and grandmother of six and mom to two very spoiled kitties. I love to worship and encourage and of course write whenever I can find a topic or subject to share about.
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Thank you for visiting my blog.
I hope you find it encouraging and that it gives you
'Something to think about'. The vision for this is to challenge the reader into a new and different way of thinking. I appreciate and always value your comments. Having others walk alongside and join in the sharing is part of the process.
Thank you for joining me... on this journey. As we get encouraged ~ Lord help us to encourage others. "And the day came when the risk to remain a tight bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." Anais Nin my blog button The crosses are found on a beach at Winema Christian Camp on the Oregon coast.. a place to relax and find God in the process. My favorite place ....to rest and restore my spirit.
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