Tough Saturday

Today started out just wonderful but ended up being a hard day. Amber and I got up around 9 am and dd a little garage sale shopping. Although we weren't looking for anything in particular we both enjoy doing it. It is something we get to do together and it makes us laugh a lot. We didn't find anything but didn't really care. We then had the chance to have lunch with my family and Austin at Casa Ole after helping then for a few minutes with their VBS backdrop (it looks great by the way). Afterwards we went to Amber's parents home and spent some time with her family and Josh. We hung out, laughed, and I had a great cup of coffee. That is when I got a phone call from my pastor informing me that a longtime faithful church member had suddenly and unexpectedly passed away this afternoon. He came from Beaumont immediately and we went to their home to be there for them. Wow. I am 26, have no experience in these situations, and have absolutely NO words to say to help this man who just lost his wife. I have never lost anyone even remotely close to me except my granny who died of Alzheimer's and by the time she died we were all at peace after seeing her suffer for so long. But I care about him and hate to see him suffer. So, I go and follow my pastor's lead. I hug his neck and shed tears. I hear him share how he found her and have her CPR trying to bring her back to life in the minutes that must have seemed like hours until the bulance arrived. After staying for a couple of hours and praying with the family I walk away with the same question everyone has... Why? She was a good person... Why her? She really loved God... Why her? I don't pretend to have answers or act like I know. I am probably supposed to but I don't. I can only hurt with the family and encourage them with scriptures of God's love and plans for our lives that are better than what the world has to offer. From there I traveled with Amber and Georgia to support Emily Jacobs in a weekend spiritual retreat called Chrysalis in Port Arthur. We sang songs of praise to God and prayed for her. We then had a chance to see her and those moments will stay with her for a long time. They did for me when I went on that retreat. Tomorrow is the first opportunity Amber and I have to see our ETBE seniors. I am really pumped! Someone gave a $3,000 gift to their Ghana Mission trip last week from our Church! WOW! We thank God for that gift. We still have to reach $10,500 which is a lofty goal but I believe anything is possible with God. Thanks for sharing this summer journey with me.