HAVE YOU EVER...grieved?

            This week we celebrate the life of my Dad.  He passed away 7 years ago from pancreatic cancer.  He had been married to my mom for 35 years.  They met right out of college at their first teaching job.  He had 2 daughters and now 4 grandkids.  We all miss him every day.

            Grieving is a natural part of life.  I can say that now.  Up until 7 years ago – I had no idea what grief was.  I had been sad.  I had lost other family members and friends.  This was shattering.  Real grief changed my life.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.  Matthew 5:4

            I don’t like change.  I lost my father.  My mom moved further away.  I was a stay at home mom with 2 young children.  I had nothing to focus on but my grief and the changes in my life.

            My oldest child had just started kindergarten.  I remember how everyone changes when they go to college, fall in love, get married, and have kids.  But I still didn’t like change.  I like routine.  The mundaneness of my life.  Nobody rock my boat!  Especially, you God!

            Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 that God comforts us in our troubles so that we can learn to comfort others as well.  In Revelation 21, John experienced God’s plans for us in heaven.  God will wipe away every tear.  And most of all I know my father loved the Lord.  Someday, as 1 Thessalonians 4 says, my family has the hope that Jesus will bring us all to be with him in heaven. In God’s timing. 

            Change made me grow as a person.  It was all part of God’s plan.  My life has changed more in the last 7 years than in the last 39, because of how God has been working in my life.  Because I finally accepted the changes, God is also working through my life. 

HAVE YOU EVER…changed?

Psalm 46:1-2; Romans 8:18