It’s been a loooong time since I’ve written here. Five and a half years, to be precise.
Lots of life has happened since then. God chose to allow me to go through a series of health challenges that took me to the lowest of lows, but then, thankfully, He’s brought me back again. Two people I’ve known and loved also were put through health challenges, but He chose to bring them home to Him in heaven, so I value the additional days He’s given me here on earth even more.
He didn’t have to grant me more time with my beloved family, to bless me with days to see my children grow up, to be there for them as they reach young adulthood and seek guidance about this strange place we navigate as pilgrims, longing for our future home. While sometimes I resonate strongly with the apostle Paul when he said “I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far”, more often I feel the strength of his second argument, “but it is more necessary for you (my family) that I remain in the body.”
“As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone.
I don’t take this life for granted anymore. My beloved Savior could take me home anytime, but until then, I want to live each day to the fullest for His glory.
Hezekiah’s prayer of praise in the book of Isaiah, after God had spared him from his sickness, says it better than I ever could. “For the grave cannot praise You, death cannot sing Your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness. The living, the living — they praise You, as I am doing today; parents tell their children about Your faithfulness.”
I want to spend the rest of my days speaking of God’s faithfulness, steadfast love, and mighty sovereign grace to my children and anyone else who will listen. God is a merciful, compassionate Father who held me through the worst of storms, and He will hold you, too, if you come to Him with a broken and contrite spirit.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow!