God’s Presence In Dancing Petals
Happy Easter... My friend experienced Julie's presence the day of her passing. I asked her to write the memory for me so I could share it with you. Here is her story. "I went outside to tell my husband what I’d just learned about Julie dying… I was crying and trying to talk... Right as I spoke our fully bloomed and beautiful cherry trees started to gently move and I felt this chill of [...]
God’s Peace Surpasses
Good morning... Now is about the time when those grieving the loss of our friend Julie are tempted to slip into deep despair. This situation will never change. She is never coming back to us. The high of celebrating her life has dropped down into the relentless ache of physically missing her. One friend who lost her brother way too early sent me a text the day before Julie's memorial service. "Hey just wanted [...]
God Guards Our Hurting Hearts
Good morning... After yesterday's post about my friend Jennifer and her daughter's cancer battle, a subscriber wrote: "I had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes after reading about your friend’s sweet child and this email that I read next was just what I needed. I wanted to share it with you and let you know that I will also be praying for Audrey." She shared with me the Girlfriends in [...]
“Fab 5” Friendship
Good morning... For years and years I have loved my friend Jennifer. Quiet and quirky. Compassionate and crazy bright. Jennifer and I met in Bible study when her son and daughter were toddlers. God joined us for divine reasons invisible back then. I remember when Jennifer told me that her five year old Audrey was limping a lot on Halloween night, limping so much she wanted to end candy collection early, an unheard of [...]
My Edited Tweet
Good morning... The joy and pain of being a writer is an incessant obsession with choosing the perfect word. It is hard for my mind to rest when my soul continues to wonder, "What changes might make my final tweet truer, better, more impactful?" So it did not surprise me that after yesterday's post, I spent some time pondering, "God, what final edits would you make?" The word that came to my heart was [...]
My Final Tweet
Good morning... Accepting my son's invitation from yesterday morning, I have prayerfully pondered my final tweet. Even though I have never tweeted before in my life, if given 140 characters, I might send this final tweet to the world. God made us unique, loves us just as we are. Jesus died for each sin, frees, leads, heals whole. Spirit grows in us lasting fruit for all. Walk & talk with God. Now & forever. [...]
Heaven’s King-sized Bed
Good morning... The night before the memorial service, I had an intense dream. It was like I was traveling through an invisible, physical barrier between earth and heaven. I felt as if I was in one of those airplane movies where people hold on for dear life and their faces contort in unimaginable ways as they fight through strong, G-force resistance. In the dream, my body tensed and tightened, holding on for dear life, [...]
In God’s Largeness, Nothing Gets Lost
Good morning... A few days back, a sobering announcement came into my blog email. It took away my breath and brought me to tears. Your list has lost a subscriber: Julie Harlan. I thought to myself, "What an understatement. We have lost much more than a subscriber." Julie was a devoted wife and mother, a beloved daughter and friend, a trustworthy co-worker and spiritual mentor. At her core, she was a flamboyant follower of [...]
A Sacred Shift
Good morning... The scheduled speaker reached out to me, asking if I would be a part of Tuesday's Lovett Moms in Prayer gathering, a group Julie Harlan had helped to facilitate weekly since her oldest son was in kindergarten. She emailed: "It should be a morning of celebrating our sweet Julie with prayer and you were so close to her. Some of our Lovett mothers may be asking "Why?" Your presence with wise counsel [...]
Shedding Our Vending Machine Mentality
Good afternoon... I got home late from a fun Bunko Night with friends, hence the time of this midday post. "I just read a research article today," said a friend at the party. "This study found that 68% of all cancer is random, that means only 32% can be attributed to poor lifestyle choices." Random. Wired to crave control, predictability, clear cause and effect, most of us do not like the word "random." Even [...]
Feeling Life Live On
Good morning... "Telling my boys that their mom had gone to heaven Sunday was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in this life," wrote Chad on Julie's Caring Bridge page yesterday, "but they, like me, cling to the peace and comfort that they will see their mom again and get to be reunited with her in heaven. Charlie, who is almost 11, spoke to me through tears last night as he went [...]
Texting Hand In Hand
Good morning... I am grateful for technology, for the ability to communicate with loved ones near and far. I will keep forever the beautiful string of texts Julie Harlan and I shared privately over the final thirty-eight days of her life. I scroll through the eighty-five text messages exchanged and I smile, so grateful for my friend. Some texts are one word. "Beautiful." "Awesome." "Thanks." Others are short sentences of encouragement. "Praying for you [...]