Unexpected Blessings

Justin and I said goodbye to a friend yesterday.

This goodbye was different. There have been several hard goodbyes recently, but this one…this one hurt.

We were both in shock when we found out. No words were said, we just scrolled…read…and then picked up the phone.

Justin is more prone to crying than I am, but this was a tie.

Justin:“Have you read her obituary? I can’t stop crying.”

Nope. I had to work up to reading it. I knew it would wreck me and I wasn’t wrong.

She is a young mom of two precious kiddos married to her high school sweetheart. She went to the doctor for an appointment, was in surgery a few days later, and before the week was over…she was gone.

Just like that.

Reading the posts on Facebook was beautiful...cathartic… Her sisters’ love for her and the closeness between them. Her coworkers were more than that. Her friends…lifelong. But the one thing that was said more than anything else was her love for Jesus. Her love for her husband and family were a close second, but it was her relationship with Jesus that was so personal yet so well known.

I know you shouldn’t ask, “How are you?” because really, what can be said? The pat answer, “Doing as well as expected.”? Your heart just hurts for the person hurting.

But we asked and his answer surprised me. His face lit up (as much as it could light up given his sadness) and he shared that he was doing okay, but…only because of the goodness of God. He shared how much God had been up to since her surgery. Even in his deep sadness, he still wanted to praise God and brag on Him.

I think it was out of hope.

That amid all of this sadness and grief, what a loving and beautiful God to surround this man with blessing upon blessing. That while the loss is thick, he is reminded that he has a good Father who loves him and loves his wife too. And that He did not cause the pain but is there with him in the pain. What a beautiful thing, right?

I smiled when he shared that God woke him up one night and told him he needed to start writing down all the blessings. I’ve had God do that to me and I hope one day he shares that list with us, because what a testimony it will be!

I don’t know about you, but seeing others go through their storms with an unwavering reliance on God selfishly bolsters my faith. I know we each have our own personal relationship and I can not borrow another person’s faith, but I do feel like I can learn from others examples. And this isn’t about me, but it does remind me that we do this in community. Your faith walk does affect those around you in ways you may never know.

So today, I am grateful for the example our friend shared in her life, for her husband’s faith today, and for her family’s longstanding faith that I’ve been blessed to witness the past 10 years. She will be missed and the road ahead will be bumpy for those left behind, but there is the hope we all have…that we will be where she is one day.

I pray we all have Facebook posts who read like hers - stories of our love for Jesus, of our spouses and our kids, and for everyone who knows us. What better things can be said?

And I pray I can remember God’s many blessings when the storms come, because they will come. And if I doubt, that I will remember this friend’s story who had faith and hope when things seemed the darkest and can still sing His praise even when my voice is hard to find.