Good morning…
On September 10th at 9:48 am, after reading our post, We Are Learning To Trust, one reader wrote me a touching email.
“Last night my family and I moved my husband of 63 years into hospice care. Your writing about trust spoke to me profoundly this morning. My journey these next few weeks or days leaves no option but to trust. Which I do every day. The only way to survive the next days is to trust and obey for there is no other way but to trust and obey. Thank you for the reminder.”
I wrote her back.
“With God, all things are possible. Trust and obey, this is God’s way. You are in my prayers.”
At 9:32 pm that same night she emailed me again.
“After writing about trust to you this morning, shortly afterwards my husband passed from this world into the arms of Jesus. God is good.”
I responded right away.
“God is good.” What a beautiful recognition in the midst of your deep loss. My prayers are with you as you continue to harness the power of radical trust in God. May you find comfort in God’s ever-presence and strength in the love of God-within-skin-on people. Please keep writing to me, if our bond feels stabilizing during this time of great grief. Sending my love along with my prayers.”
Then I added a P.S.
“P.S. If the Spirit moves, might I have your permission to use our loving interaction to show what radical trust looks like when it is brought to life between two ordinary people?”
In a little while, she wrote me back.
“You have my permission to use my communication with you. Maybe God can use my experience to help someone else know just how good He is. Please pray for my family. Services are Saturday at 3:00. You may know my daughter.”
I tenderly replied.
“Oh, I love your daughter. Her four kids have overlapped in similar grades at school with our four kids, and she has been in Bible studies I led a few times. I am so grateful to know this connection and will reach out to her. I am praying for you, for her, for your entire family as you walk through these challenging days in a daze. I am sorry for your loss, what a huge loss it is. But your radical trust in God helped to usher your husband peacefully to our forever home. I would love to hear your stories of how you feel his presence with you expanding over the days ahead. My prayers are with you all as you prepare for tomorrow’s service.”
On earth or in heaven, I look forward to my eyes meeting the eyes of this inspiring wife, mother, and grandmother. This seasoned woman of faith is quietly teaching all of us to trust God, radically, deep down in our roots. Every day in every way, we are each intimately invited to trust and obey. This, my friends, is God’s higher way.
God gave his Law to Jacob’s descendants, the people of Israel. And he told our ancestors to teach their children, so that each new generation would know his Law and tell it to the next. Then they would trust God and obey his teachings, without forgetting anything God had done ((Psalm 78:5-7, CEV).
Even in the midst of great grief, let us each trust, “God is good.”
…Sue…
