It’s Hard To Say Goodbye

Recently, I went to visit my mom.  She is living at my daughter and her husband’s AFH and has been for the last year.  Alzheimer’s seems to be winning the battle for her mind, and every month changes in her behavior are evident.  Most days, she struggles to participate in conversation, and appears to be unsure who I am.  On this particular day, her caregiver wanted to show me a book she had bought the day prior.  It was called, “I Wasn’t Ready To Say Goodbye.”  My mom didn’t remember buying the book, and seemed puzzled why she did?  She looked at the title, rolled her eyes, and showed no interest in the book that only the day before must have struck a cord with her.  As I sat there, I choked down tears, and wondered if that book would be of help to me!  

My visits with my mom are complicated emotionally.  On one hand, the sight of her deteriorating is so deeply painful.  I never leave feeling good; but rather am filled with grief.  I long for what could have been.  On the other hand, my heart takes delight that I have any time with her at all.  Before my dad passed away a year and a half ago, our relationship was fractured and for the better part of 7 years; we didn’t see much of each other at all.  I have chosen to see our time as a “cup half full” after initially questioning why God had allowed the time we had left to be hindered by this disease.  My struggle led me to decide to trust in God’s goodness despite my lack of understanding.  

And so, I hang on to the moments I do have, moments like one that happened several weeks ago.   We had a family gathering at my house and my mom was there.  Sitting across the table, she smiled at me and said to my daughter, “She and I have been friends for a long time….we go way back.”  Kelsey my daughter replied, “Oh is that right?” after which my mom said, “Yes, I’d like to take her home, she’s a keeper”.  We all chuckled at the obvious, but inside I had to wonder, “Would she have said this to me if she didn’t have Alzheimer’s?”  It’s entirely possible that with her memory fully intact, our time together now would be very uncomfortable in a much different way.  How do I know we would have been able to work through the very difficult issues of our past?  I thank God for giving me time with her, time that is obviously short, but nonetheless sweet.  And yet if I were honest, I don’t see her as much as I could and maybe should. 

Why?  It’s hard to say goodbye.  Some people avoid it at all costs; I know I do.  Let’s face it; good-bye’s can be very painful and awkward.   Recently, I found myself resisting the idea of saying goodbye to the people I have worked along side for 17 years.  I was informed that they were planning to send a letter announcing my resignation and thanking me for my years of service….a month before my last day of employment.  I knew what this would mean.  I would have to face people, people I care about, and engage in emotional conversations.  I didn’t want to, but it was evident that no digging my heels in was going to change the course of action being planned.  I was going to be forced into saying Goodbye, and I wasn’t ready. 

I don’t know if Jesus was ready to say Goodbye to his friends and disciples, but he did.  We read of three different times in the New Testament where he chose to discuss what he knew was coming to those closest to him.  Matthew writes about one such time in chapter 20 of his book:  17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and spoke to them privately, as they walked along. 18 “Listen,” he told them, “we are going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. They will condemn him to death 19 and then hand him over to the Gentiles, who will make fun of him, whip him, and crucify him; but three days later he will be raised to life. (GNT)  By example, Jesus teaches us that perhaps the most loving thing we can do for others is not avoid the subject of goodbye, but rather embrace it.  But notice how he did so.  He didn't sugar coat the truth or gloss over the painful ending to come.  No, he spelled out the facts in a way that gave them hope:  his difficult ending was leading to new life.  

Hope is a precious commodity in the midst of a painful goodbye.  My friend Marsha is a hospice nurse.  Listening to some of the conversations she has with patients and their families, I have come to believe she is the master at difficult goodbyes.  Recently, she went to visit a patient in her 90’s. Her daughters answered the door, and walked her into the bedroom.  Left alone, Marsha’s examination and experience told her that the woman was getting close to death.   Rather than avoiding the obvious and realizing the woman was unaware her time was short, Marsha initiated a difficult conversation by asking:  “Do you know what is happening to your body?”  The woman replied no.  Marsha explained she was dying and tears spilled out onto the wrinkled cheeks as she began to sob.  When asked what she was feeling, she choked out her response, "I don't want to go!"  More questions revealed that it was very sad to leave her family.  When asked, "What brings you comfort?" this grieving woman mentioned "I haven't been able to read my Bible for several days".

Marsha picked up her well-worn Bible and read from Psalms 116 "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints".  The tears subsided as words of scripture and prayer brought comfort and peace.  She was reminded that death was not the end, it was the door to the entrance of a new life without suffering, pain, or sorrow with a Savior who loves her completely and is eagerly awaiting her arrival.

Marsha left the bedroom feeling blessed, and walked to the living room to talk to the woman's daughters.  She was surprised when they thanked her for the words she had spoken in private...they had been listening to the whole conversation on a baby monitor!  

Marsha, although she was unaware of it, was modeling something most of us are very uncomfortable doing.  We may not feel ready or equipped to say our Goodbye’s in this life, and certainly avoiding them would be easier.  But easier isn’t always better.  In the long run, the truth is a meaningful goodbye can help both parties let go and move on to what’s next with a sense of value, comfort.  

The letter about my resignation went out this last week.  I’ve started to have those dreaded conversations.  But, honestly, they have been for the most part a blessing I’ve been thanked, affirmed, and reminded of shared experiences.  And of course I’ve had the chance to do the same in return.  As much as I dislike the emotions and sometimes awkwardness that ensues, overall it has been nice.  

I wish I knew what lay ahead for me, but I don’t.  God has set out only a few breadcrumbs leading to my next step.  But I do have hope.  It’s rooted in a promise given to me several months ago.   Driving into the parking lot on my way to work, I heard the Holy Spirit say, “Difficult endings, bright new beginnings.” In the midst of saying goodbye to people and things I love, I’m also feeling excited for the fresh start God says lies ahead.  

-Laurel Bahr

Divine Revelations

Years ago, I had a friend named Elisa who was raised in a Jewish home and later made a decision to make Jesus Christ her Lord and Savior.  She was a Jewish-Christian.  She was very proud of her heritage, and used to flaunt it by telling me she was a “completed” Christian.  Which, of course, insinuated that I was an “uncompleted” Christian!  She was such a snob!!

But, I have to admit, being Jewish would be pretty cool. In the Old Testament book of Exodus, it was the Jewish people that God selected out of all the other nations to be his bride.  Moses initiated the engagement or betrothal when the Israelites were still Egyptian slaves.  Acting as the friend of the bridegroom, Moses extended the proposal and then brought the “bride to be” to meet with God at Mt Sinai.  Standing at the base of the mountain, the people were presented with a marriage type contract, the Ten Commandments.  If they agreed to the terms, they would be considered legally married. 

Even today, religious Jews see every wedding ceremony as a celebration of their national marriage to God at Mt. Sinai.  In fact, whenever the Torah is read publicly, the Jewish people believe they are hearing the terms of their Marriage Contract with the Lord. 

In a Jewish wedding, the contract that is signed is called a Ketubah.  It literally means “written document”.  

After the terms of the ketubah are read in a marriage ceremony, the bride and groom take a public oath before witnesses that they will abide by the details of their covenant. 

This same practice is seen in the book of Exodus in the marriage between Israel and the Lord.  The Lord’s oath to Israel was “Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people.”  (Ex 19:5; KJV)  After the Lord, as Husband, presented his vows, Israel then gave hers:  “They responded, “We will do everything the Lord as said; we will obey.”  (Ex 24:7b) 

Once the agreement had been reached, Exodus 24 says, ⁹ Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel climbed up the mountain. ¹⁰ There they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself. ¹¹ And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence!  Israel’s leaders got to experience a divine revelation of God at the conclusion of the marriage ceremony.  Up until this time, God had revealed his presence to them through things like a cloud, a fiery pillar, thunder, and smoke.  They saw evidence of God, but only now were they able to “see Him” in a new and more personal way.

I think that this is something God wants us to pay attention to. Who doesn’t desire divine revelations?  Sign me up right?  I want to “see God”, I want to experience his presence in new ways.  If you have no idea what I am talking about, then that’s okay.  For most of my life, this terminology would have been unfamiliar to me too.  But, something changed in my 30’s.  I had tried the “buy a house, have kids and build a career” way of life.  And it was great, but somehow I had wandered away from my commitment to God.  He wasn’t first anymore.  Not exactly sure where he was, but it was further down the list for sure.  Anyhow, it was my Jewish friend Elisa who invited me to a Bible study for women that led me to get my priorities straight. 

I went, I got into reading God’s Word, I started to pray and see answers to prayer.  And then one day, I was leaving Bible study, and while walking across the parking lot I remember telling God, “Lord, use me, use my life for your glory.”  I can see now, that this was a turning point.  God began to reveal more of himself to me as I gave more of my life to him.  Experiences in worship, prophetic words in prayer, visions and prophetic dreams, all of these came after I made a more complete surrender to his will for my life. 

There is no “high” more thrilling than being in God’s presence.  It’s funny that the Israelite leaders got this high literally on a mountain!  John Denver had nothing on them! 

This is a good word for me today.  Recent weeks have been full of family drama, conflict, disappointment and changes at the church.  Each by itself, not that big a deal. But together, they took their toll.  And rather than run to God and immerse myself in prayer, I just felt frozen. Can’t say this has ever happened before.  But even in this, I felt that God understood and was there with me if and when I was ready to talk.

Today I went to church and the message was on the paralytic and the four friends who took him to Jesus (Luke)  They went out of their way to make sure their friend was touched by God and healed.  I thought about my friends, and how they have been there for me this month.  I feel so much better, lighter and more optimistic about the future because they brought me into Jesus presence in prayer.

Do you have friends like this?  Do you need prayer?  Please leave a request, and let’s band together as Sistah’s before God’s throne.

The Lord is My Rock

“I love you, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; 

my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.”  Psalm 18:1-2

I've been in awe of the Grand Canyon since my parents took me there when I was nine.  I remember being afraid of falling into it, and when I took my own children there thirty years later I was a bit nervous that my nine year old son might live out that fear.  Yet the beauty of the vast rock drew me, and viewing it from the safe distance of the South Rim no longer satisfied.   A year ago, my daughter Sarah and I braved the challenge of hiking to the bottom of the canyon and back.  The trip down took almost 3 ½ hours, and my knees took a beating. The next morning my calves were so tight that I couldn't take a step down without hurting.  Thankfully there was nowhere to go but up.  The way back out was grueling, and took more than 5 hours.  At times I thought I wouldn't make it, but my lovely athletic girl coached me not to look at how much further we had to climb, but just look at the path directly ahead.  The muscle pain and fatigue (lasting several days!) was well worth the experience of meeting the physical challenge.  Now I've enjoyed the beauty of the Grand Canyon up close.

That year I was also climbing out of a deep emotional canyon, as I experienced the pain of my marriage ending.  As I struggled with the process of forgiveness, my wise counselor told me I needed to ask God to bring to mind the memories of hurt, and write them out.  He coached me to write down three things: what happened, how it made me feel, and what it taught me about myself.  I resisted this idea for some time; I knew it would be painful and I didn't want to relieve those moments.   But I also didn't want to stay in the bottom of the canyon of grief, so I reluctantly started the journey.  When I processed those memories over time I was able to identity several lies that I believed as a result of those experiences:

I am unwanted, unloved.

I have no voice, no impact.

I am not worth protecting.    

                                           

I took those lies to the truth of God’s word, and found verses that counteracted them.  Through Jeremiah 31:1 the Lord told me “I have loved you with an everlasting love”, and in Isaiah 41:9 “I have chosen you and have not rejected you.”  Other verses reminded me that I am “anointed to preach good news” (Isaiah 61), I am a strong woman because Christ strengthens me (Philippians 4:13), and my Lord “protects the unwary; when I was brought low, he saved me.” (Psalm 116:6)

These are solid truths that I can hold on to, rocks that I can stand upon.  In order to remember them, I wrote each truth on a rock, and placed them in a glass jar that I keep in my bedroom.  When I doubt my value or am discouraged about my circumstances, I can pick up a rock and read the truth about how God sees me.  He is my Rock, in whom I take refuge. 

Marsha Craig 

Sing a New Song

“The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation.

He is my God, and I will praise Him.”  Exodus 15:2 NIV

                When we last wrote about the Israelites, they had just experienced a miracle – God parted the Red Sea and they walked through on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.  What they thought was a dead end (a huge body of water on one side and angry Egyptians on the other) became an unlikely path of freedom.  The entire army of Pharaoh that had followed to recapture them was swept away.  God had fought for them; He kept His promise that seemed too good to be true when they were discouraged from being treated harshly.  Their natural response was to sing.

Sitting with Grandpa,
the old piano in the background

 I have a love for music, not as a performer, but as an emotional outlet.  I learned to play the piano as a little girl, on an old upright that has been in my family for four generations.  I used to make up little songs about Jesus and sing my heart out, unconcerned about who was listening with the confidence that comes with childhood.  I realized I didn't have such a good voice in 5^th grade when my sister and her best friend taped me singing to my favorite eight track tape while wearing headphones.  They played it back, laughing, and I was surprised to hear how bad I sounded.  But I still sing my heart out, in church and in my car, just not when people are listening.

Music was a lifeline to me when I was going through the worst pain of my divorce.  I downloaded worship songs to my I-phone and lay in bed at night with my headphones on, trying to soothe my heart and get some rest when sleep was wouldn’t come.  I played the same songs over and over:  songs that reminded me of God’s love and promises to rescue.  Most were contemplative songs, songs of brokenness, and songs of lament that expressed my grief and helped me to hold on to the God who promised to bring me through. 

              I imagine the Israelites had familiar songs they sang while working as slaves in Egypt, making bricks.  They had many years of harsh labor which only got worse after Moses arrived, and each time things looked bleak they played the same tapes over and over.   When they were backed up to the Red Sea they didn't expect God to rescue them.  They told Moses “Didn't we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’?”  But their tune changed dramatically when God did the unexpected and rescued them.  God not only gave them something to sing about, He became their song.

                I can relate.  Like the Israelites, what I thought was a dead end has become an unlikely path of freedom for me.  I no longer feel deserted and abandoned.  God has been so good to me.  He’s given me a new place to call home that I love, deepened my relationship with family and friends, and made the money I have stretch to meet all my needs.  Recently, I realized my I-phone playlist no longer fits.  I have a new song in my heart that is light and upbeat.  It’s time to go back to I-tunes and download some new songs.

Beautifully restored, the old piano sits in my new living room 

                Do you have a new song to sing?  Has God brought you through something hard that you thought was a dead end?  Don’t forget to stop and savor the victory, even if it’s a small one.  Sing a new song, even if it doesn't sound good to others.  Change up your playlist, and share it with your Sistahs.

                

Amateur Redecorating Adventure!

This week I went to Seattle with my friend Marsha.  Her sister Allison invited us to come and asked if we could help her decorate her living room.  We arrived late on a Wednesday night, looked at a few pictures on Pinterest selected by her as inspiration, and were eager to wake up the next morning and start creating!

Allison had a lovely couch, 2 chairs, and 2 beautiful paintings already in the room.  She and her husband also had some furniture they weren't using....one piece we found interesting was her husband Jeff's childhood dresser.  It was a little beat up, but had great knobs and style. We moved this into the room, rearranged the furniture, and decided with a little paint and dark wax this would be a great statement piece.  (I didn't know I would be sharing all this...wish I had taken some "before pictures" for you all..)

We also found some yellow pillows that Allison wasn't using and when we threw those on the couch it was obvious this needed to be an accent color! The yellow was already in one of the chairs and paintings, and went beautifully with the blue walls.

Another treasure we found in the garage was a sofa table!  We moved that into place, and were so excited it was ridiculous!   We spent the rest of the day shopping for accessories at no less than 6 different local stores.  We looked for the right mirror, and things that would provide interest and texture.

Running back and forth to the stores, painting the dresser, and searching the house for last minute touches we laughed when we realized how much we were trying to do in just 8 short hours!! We have no port folio, no recommendations, and yet had been entrusted with a budget as if we were interior decorators!!  What had possessed us to have this kind of courage and confidence?  Who knew....

Allison and Jeff came home and were very surprised!  We provided a few options for the mantle, and they selected their favorite.  The dresser was hard for them to embrace.  They had never seen one in a living room.  So we moved it out...but then it went right back in.  It lacked something without it Allison said.

We were very tired by the end of the day, but it had been a rewarding experience.  By just rearranging the furniture, pulling in some things they already had in other places in the home and adding accessories, the room had been transformed. We stayed within our $750.00 budget which was also very good!

Before we went home, we decided to give them one more surprise.  During our early searches, we had found a collection of paintings done by Jeff's grandfather.  We took a risk and hung them as a collection on a wall in the bedroom we were staying in.  We also pulled a secretarial desk in from storage and paired it with an antique blue chair and another one of those great yellow pillows we found!

We arrived back in Spokane late Saturday night which left no time for blog writing!  My daughter Kelsey thought some of you might be interested in our adventure!

Have a great week everyone!!

A Sure Thing

Have you ever just known something was going to happen?  Like your best friend’s prom date turning out to be a total dud?  Well, maybe more significant than that… perhaps you just ‘knew’ when you met your husband that he was the one.  Or you just ‘knew’ that you were going to be a teacher some day?  I haven’t had a lot of those assurances in my life.  The only thing I have consistently wanted to be is Wonder Woman and my high school best friend’s prom date I thought she would marry (she didn’t) and my husband and I kept breaking up and getting back together before we finally decided we couldn’t get along without each other.

But I have had a few instances in life where I had an inexplicable peace about a situation that made NO sense.  The first was a job that I quit.  My boss was volatile and moody. Work made me almost physically sick with the stress of not knowing if today everything would be fine or I’d get fired. My husband was going to grad school and I was our income and our insurance.  But after 3 years of this, I finally broke down into tears one day in the bathroom. When I finally calmed down, I felt this strange assurance that I needed to quit.  I would have a hard time getting another job because as an executive assistant I would need a reference, and I couldn’t get a good one from my current boss.  I thought my future was going to be at Starbucks.  But even scrubbing toilets was starting to look like fun! Bring on the Frappuccino’s!  

Long story short, I quit. On my last day I got a call for an interview that resulted in another executive assistant type position (that I ended up having for 5 years until we moved to Spokane).  On my first day of my new job my new boss told me ‘I had an unsolicited reference on you.’ It turns out he knew a woman who retired from the department I’d just left.  She informed him that my previous boss was extremely difficult to work for, and that I had been a wonderful employee to put up with it as long as I did. God had it all taken care of. That was 10 years ago.

Just last summer I had another strange ‘assurance’.   Since we moved to Spokane for my husband’s job at Whitworth we had been renting the top floor of a house.  We LOVED the neighborhood but when we started looking at the houses for sale in it we realized most were out of our price range.  Through some neighbors we found out about a house around the corner that was going to be up for sale.  The owner had recently passed away and his kids were trying to sell it. We talked to them, looked at the house and wanted it even with all the updates and crazy yard work it would require.  But we calculated what we could afford and they wanted about a lot more.  We had calculated and re-calculated monthly expenses, utilities, tithe and mortgage.  This was the most we could afford and we had total peace.

They ended up listing the house for what they had offered it to us for.  We were sad.  It had everything we wanted and such a neat history.  And then something strange happened.  I again had this feeling, an assurance that God was going to provide us THAT house.  It made no sense.  I prayed and prayed and asked ‘God am I really understanding you?  Is it THIS house or just A house?  I know you will provide, you always have. Am I just not letting myself grieve over the loss?  Holding on to some misguided hope?’ 

I was participating in a ‘read through the bible’ plan with our church and each time I would specifically pray about this situation and this strange assurance some passage would JUMP out at me like in John where Jesus says ‘From now on I tell you so that when it happens you will believe Him who sent Me.’  Or in Luke where it says of Mary after she heard from the angel that she was pregnant ‘blessed is she who believed what the Lord has told her.’ Over and over I heard in scripture and in this strange peace of my heart, God had THIS house for us.  So I started looking for that check in the mail.  “Come ON God do you not see all the people coming to look at that house? We need to get going!”  No check arrived. 

Months went by and the house didn’t sell for what they were asking, for what it was WORTH. 

Six months passed. We kept watching the price drop and when it was within 10K of what we could afford we emailed them.  They got back to us and said ‘If you can use our realtor we’ll sell it to you’.  Get this, their realtor?  A woman from bible study!  I hadn’t recognized her picture on the sign because she’s since gone blonde. 

God provided us THIS house.  It still amazes me that He did.  And even more amazing is that He told me

about it before it happened! 

Now before you start thinking ‘how nice for you.’ Let me share that as amazing as this is, I don’t really understand exactly why God would provide a specific house and not do others things.  He has not healed me of my horrible migraines.  He provided this house but I have several family members and close friends who are hostile to the gospel.  He spoke so clearly about this house, but he has been silent on so many other questions: Why did my brother in law die at 29? Why did I have healthy babies and a friend of mine have a baby who will eventually need a heart transplant?

Yet through this strange assurance God has spoken to me in a way that I needed to hear him.  I feel like it was a unique way for Him to speak to the core of me, in a way I didn’t know I needed.  This isn’t just a house, it’s a place where I will raise my children, share my story with neighbors, include people in my life and have more ministry opportunities than I can fathom.  When I walk into this house with another horrible migraine, just getting off the phone with someone I love who doesn’t love Jesus I will remember “God is here, He knows, He is in this life… and this is where I am supposed to be.”

Serendipitous

 “I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to me, 
but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy."  
John 16:20

It’s Easter morning and still dark outside.  I couldn’t sleep and got tired of trying.  Sitting in my chair with a cup of coffee, the word that comes to mind is: serendipitous.   Not a word I am used to using, I decided to look it up.  It means to discover by chance in a happy way.  I can’t help but think of Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James, after Jesus crucifixion.  The Bible says that they too were up early on that very first Easter morning.  Still dark out, they went to visit the tomb where Joseph had placed Jesus.  They had been there.  After being by Jesus side during the crucifixion, and witnessing the horror of their loved one's death, they had followed Joseph who wrapped the body in linen and placed it in a tomb.  A large rock had been rolled in front of the entrance.  I cant imagine the grief they must of have felt or the fatigue that surely had set in.  Yet, there they were, up early and eager to go to the tomb to be as near Jesus body as they could.

But, nothing could have prepared them for what happened next!  Matthew 28:2 says, ^“Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it.”   Can you even imagine?  Expecting to face a long hard day filled with sadness and grief, the two Mary’s instead witness a demonstration of God’s power accompanied by the appearance of an angel!  That’s Serendipitous! 

Maybe today, you need God to “shake” things up in your life and add a little serendipity while he’s at it!  I know I do.  Last week I was pretty down.  We received confirmation that a family member has a terminal illness and has little time left to live.  My grief was compounded by the fact that this relationship is fractured and has been for a long time. This week I resolved in my heart to let it go. It’s a complex situation that will take a miracle to end well.  

Are you facing the end of something difficult?  A job, a relationship, a ministry, a dream, or desire you had?  When Jesus died, it appeared to his disciples that everything they had hoped for also died.   And yet, what the two Mary’s are about to discover, is what they thought was the end, was in fact, just the beginning!   

With the large stone rolled away from the entrance to the tomb,the two women ventured inside.  And what did they find?  Not Jesus!  The Bible says they “were puzzled”.  I guess so!!!  Who wouldn’t be?  But, the angel said to them,   “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day. Then they remembered that he had said this.  (Luke 24:6-9)  

Yesterday, I was just going about my day, when I remembered a promise God gave me many years ago. And yet, everything about my current circumstances would say, "Sistah, you got that one wrong".  You know what I mean?  I don't always hear God right. But, this morning, as I am studying this passage, I sense God's spirit telling me to "Be still and know I am God."  

Time will tell I guess.  How about you?  Are you willing to let some time go by before you give up on God's promise?  Can you let the vision of what you thought was going to happen die, and wait to see how God is going to resurrect it?  Maybe it will be when you least expect it?  Serendipitously!

Mary and Mary were both surprised and elated that Jesus was alive.  The Bible says that "they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples—and everyone else—what had happened."  (Luke 24:9)  ,On this Easter morning, let’s allow ourselves to feel the excitement and wonder of the resurrection.  Let's not forget, but instead remember: 

• Let's remember the cross and the love of our Savior how endured so much so we could live.
• Let's remember the promises God has made to us.
• Let's remember to share what God has done for us with others.