Loss and Grace

The month of September has been rather tough for our family.  My mother in law, Sharon, unexpectedly passed away.  Sharon had been diagnosed with cancer in July.  It was not the cancer that took her.  It was a lung infection and other complications that ended her life.  Even though it was one of the hardest things our family has faced, we were blessed by God's grace through it all.  A friend of mine told me the other day that worrying about what could be is far worse then when it actually happens.  It is in the time of need or during a crisis that God blesses us with his Grace.  God does not call us to worry and therefore worry cannot be surrounded with grace.  This is so true.  During our moment of crisis the grace that surpasses all understanding surrounded our family.  Sharon's life was full.  She was a teacher for many years, involved in her community, and wonderful Grandmother.  Even though we will miss her, to have the reasurrance that we will one day be joined in heaven is amazing.  I know this is a blog dedicated to the YFC mission in Liberia, I felt like I needed to share this.  When our friend Dan Zumi from Ghana said to me "we do not need to cry for the problems we see in our World, for if we did we never would stop crying.  Instead smile and thank God every day.  He is good."  Dan was talking to about worry.  I am a cryer and I always will be.  God made my heart very sensitive and my eyes very leaky.  It is not those tears that are the problem.  It is the worry and hopelessness that IS the problem.  Give it to God.  Do your part, pray, give thanks, and he will do what he does best.