Today is the day. You see, sweet reader, five years ago, April 25, changed my and my family's life forever.
I've considered all day as to whether I should write anything about this or not.
The fact is this: It HAS been five years. This is a blink of an eye in a lot of ways and in other ways, a very long time.
This is a picture of our Macy Jo. She was the youngest of our children and died on this day, five years ago. Actually, as I write this, it was about this time of day. Macy was certainly a surprise blessing...one of those that comes directly from this promise in scripture: "If you delight yourself in the Lord, He will give you the desires of your heart." You see, we had tried to delight ourselves in the Lord, and we didn't realize it until we found we were expecting her, but she was one of the desires of our hearts!!!
And, what a blessing she was...our lives are better for having had her here with us, even though it was only for a short time, by our time line.... I stand convinced, though, that she accomplished on this earth exactly what God's purposes were for her. This day, five years ago, was not surprise to Him...it took our breath away, but NOT His!
She impacted us and taught us, and helped us see God in a different way...and because of that, we, hopefully, impact, teach and encourage others to see God perhaps in a different and exciting way!
Our mourning has truly been changed to joy...of course we miss the part that Macy would have in our lives now...but if we learned nothing else...we did learn this: life goes on here on earth, whether she is here or not. And, our responsibility is to keep trusting our God in spite of and in the midst of our pain.--The JOY of the Lord is our strength!
God is more interested in our obedience than He is in fixing our pain. He desires obedience more than sacrifice...more than anything else. He IS the God of comfort...and the God of strength...but those are only available to those who claim Him as Lord of their life!
A lot of times, here's where people get mixed up in...they want His comfort and strength, but don't want to claim Him as Lord of their lives! So, they claim God is not good...the truth is, He's good all the time...and He knows bad things happen here...
Jesus, Himself, told us: "In this world you will have trouble, but take heart I have over come the world!"--those are sweet words from a man that died for me... catch it: in this world...we'll have trouble...the reason is get this: (write it down if you have to) this is NOT Heaven....
THIS IS NOT HEAVEN...that will come soon enough...
We go through really bad stuff while we're here, on this earth, because our enemy prowls around looking for ways to seek, kill and destroy...he will use anything he can...especially the death of those we love the most to trip us up, and get us to believe lies about our God....because he is our enemy, because he hates us...and because he knows there is power in the name of Jesus and His word--and he'll do anything he can to alienate us from that power and that word! Satan attacked our family that day, because he hates us, but we knew to claim victory in Jesus' Name! Praise HIM for that!
I do not have anything in me that could face life without those I love the most..and Macy certainly was one of those...but I am here to tell you, write to you, that it only because of the living God working in me...His word is my comfort, my strength, my rock...it is where God reveals His character to me...where I can learn to trust Him more and more! And, I praise Him for being so very good to me! --Even me!
I've considered all day as to whether I should write anything about this or not.
The fact is this: It HAS been five years. This is a blink of an eye in a lot of ways and in other ways, a very long time.
This is a picture of our Macy Jo. She was the youngest of our children and died on this day, five years ago. Actually, as I write this, it was about this time of day. Macy was certainly a surprise blessing...one of those that comes directly from this promise in scripture: "If you delight yourself in the Lord, He will give you the desires of your heart." You see, we had tried to delight ourselves in the Lord, and we didn't realize it until we found we were expecting her, but she was one of the desires of our hearts!!!
And, what a blessing she was...our lives are better for having had her here with us, even though it was only for a short time, by our time line.... I stand convinced, though, that she accomplished on this earth exactly what God's purposes were for her. This day, five years ago, was not surprise to Him...it took our breath away, but NOT His!
She impacted us and taught us, and helped us see God in a different way...and because of that, we, hopefully, impact, teach and encourage others to see God perhaps in a different and exciting way!
Our mourning has truly been changed to joy...of course we miss the part that Macy would have in our lives now...but if we learned nothing else...we did learn this: life goes on here on earth, whether she is here or not. And, our responsibility is to keep trusting our God in spite of and in the midst of our pain.--The JOY of the Lord is our strength!
God is more interested in our obedience than He is in fixing our pain. He desires obedience more than sacrifice...more than anything else. He IS the God of comfort...and the God of strength...but those are only available to those who claim Him as Lord of their life!
A lot of times, here's where people get mixed up in...they want His comfort and strength, but don't want to claim Him as Lord of their lives! So, they claim God is not good...the truth is, He's good all the time...and He knows bad things happen here...
Jesus, Himself, told us: "In this world you will have trouble, but take heart I have over come the world!"--those are sweet words from a man that died for me... catch it: in this world...we'll have trouble...the reason is get this: (write it down if you have to) this is NOT Heaven....
THIS IS NOT HEAVEN...that will come soon enough...
We go through really bad stuff while we're here, on this earth, because our enemy prowls around looking for ways to seek, kill and destroy...he will use anything he can...especially the death of those we love the most to trip us up, and get us to believe lies about our God....because he is our enemy, because he hates us...and because he knows there is power in the name of Jesus and His word--and he'll do anything he can to alienate us from that power and that word! Satan attacked our family that day, because he hates us, but we knew to claim victory in Jesus' Name! Praise HIM for that!
I do not have anything in me that could face life without those I love the most..and Macy certainly was one of those...but I am here to tell you, write to you, that it only because of the living God working in me...His word is my comfort, my strength, my rock...it is where God reveals His character to me...where I can learn to trust Him more and more! And, I praise Him for being so very good to me! --Even me!
3 comments:
Awesome...the events of that day and that week have impacted so many people. Your words and experiences are exactly what those same people need. I am so proud of the work you do to comfort and uplift others. God uses you in a mighty way every day.
Thanks, that was and continues to be my prayer...God must be glorified, or I don't want to be here any more...as long as there's air in my lungs...Praise HIM!
I knew I put my waterproof mascara on for a reason... God never wastes our pain, and your lives prove that. 2 Cor 1:3-7 :)
Post a Comment