What a Day That Will Be...

I really haven’t shared with many people about the loss of my Granddaddy, but this week will make a year since he passed away. Thursday will be a year since he had his stroke and Saturday a year since we took him off of life support and allowed him to go be with Jesus. 

Over the past twelve months, it has been funny to me how Jesus has brought hymns back to my memory. I grew up singing these old hymns from the row right behind Granddaddy. I would watch him sway and sing with his hands on the pew in front of him or make his way down to his spot on the worn red carpet at the altar. These hymns bring back sweet memories and the reminder of the legacy of faith that my Granddaddy left to me. 

The hymn that came to my mind this morning, “What a Day That Will Be,” goes like this:

There is coming a day when no heartaches shall come

No more clouds in the sky, no more tears to dim the eye

All is peace forever more, on that happy golden shore

What a day, glorious day that will be

What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see

And I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace

And he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land

What a day, glorious day that will be

There will be no sorrow there, no more burdens to bear

No more sickness, no pain, no more parting over there

And forever I will be, with the one who died for me

What a day, glorious day that will be

What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see

And I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace

And he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land

What a day, glorious day that will be

I am so thankful for the life that I live and for the time that God has given me to serve him, but I now look with even more hope toward that day when my heart will be whole, my understanding complete and all pain and heartache dissolved at the sight of my Jesus.

The Best of Intentions

I just thought you should know I created this blog on February 3^rd. That would be exactly 10 months from tomorrow. I totally had great intentions. At least twice a month I have intended to actually write something on it. Aaannndd it obviously didn’t happen, so here I sit, in an airport, at a quiet gate, with a peppermint mocha and time to kill!

I’ve flown frequently in the past couple of weeks and have had plenty of time to read. Most recently, I’ve been reading The First Drop of Rain by Leslie Parrott. Read it. For real. She inspired me to finally write. In the opening chapter, she says, “A professor once told me that nothing can belong to us, even our own experience, unless we understand it. I watch my life with my eyes. I touch it with my fingers. My mind considers and my heart longs. Across the landscape of my interior, truth coalesces and I begin to understand. As I write my stories, I begin to understand.”

At the risk of making this sound like a research paper, in another chapter, Leslie Parrott said, “The more we allow God’s knowing of us to come into our awareness, the more we risk and the more deeply we are known by others, and the more hope there is for healing…The joy and liveliness of our personal presence is diminished when we are distracted by the work of hiding.”

You see, I’m not really open about my life, but I want to understand myself and the things God has placed around me. I want these experiences to belong to me – to become a part of who I am becoming. I do a really bad job of processing internally. I come to absolutely ridiculous conclusions. So, I’m going to share some of my stories, hope and healing. I don’t want to hide. So…here’s my attempt at being vulnerable and sharing with you the things God is awakening in me.