It's been one year since our lives were turned completely upside down. A year filled with much sorrow and grief, but also one with laughter as we just sat around the table talking about all the crazy-yet-hilarious things he used to say and do. These three hundred and sixty-five days without A-dub have been hard, and there have been many days where peace couldn't seem further away as we stared into the darkness wondering when and if it would ever end. In the abundance of heartache and strife, there has also been an abundance of hope. Jesus is the reason for that hope, and my heart has been lifted from despair countless times as I have just sat in His presence and read His Word.
I wrote these words last year, and my heart is even more convinced of the God-breathed truth in them now:
Yet, even in the midst of my sorrow and despair, I find peace in the comfort of the arms of Christ. I believe that lives will be changed for the better through this tragedy. I believe that there is a purpose behind this anguish that is greater than ourselves. I believe that Christ is gracious and merciful, and I will cling to His heart and His hands through this agonizing time. He is the only one that sustains, and I will run to Him, broken heart in hand, fully confident that He will restore and renew. Nothing other than Jesus Christ, himself, is going to get us through this, and I will not hesitate to give Him all the glory due His name, even though I don't understand.
Time doesn't heal all wounds, God does. Our wounds may not be mended yet, but I have seen His hand at work in every life affected by that July 6th night. Our God never fails, and He never leaves us the way we are for very long. When we offer ours lives to Him, giving Him total control over everything in us, we begin to look more like Him with every breath we breathe. Until our time comes to stand face-to-face with our Maker, He's not finished with us. Tragedies and heartaches are allowed in our lives to help us grow, to strengthen us, to purify us, to draw us back to Him. He longs to comfort us in our sufferings, but He waits for us to offer Him our pain.
It is my prayer on this day, just as it has been every day since, that we would call upon the name of the King of Kings, eager to be rescued from the grip of the enemy. May we live in the freedom that Christ died to establish for us as we run from every lie thrown in our faces. No one is more powerful than our God, and we have been granted redemption through His Son, Jesus. Let us run to Him, who grants peace to our uncertainties and failures to understand, trusting that He's working all things together for the good of those who love Him. In the words of Aaron Keyes, even what the enemy means for evil, He turns it for our good.
A-Dub may not be with us anymore, but our memories of him and all the goodness he left behind won't ever be gone from us. Though he was taken, he was never really taken, for we'll always have him in our hearts. Always.
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows."
2 Corinthians 1:3-5
It is my prayer on this day, just as it has been every day since, that we would call upon the name of the King of Kings, eager to be rescued from the grip of the enemy. May we live in the freedom that Christ died to establish for us as we run from every lie thrown in our faces. No one is more powerful than our God, and we have been granted redemption through His Son, Jesus. Let us run to Him, who grants peace to our uncertainties and failures to understand, trusting that He's working all things together for the good of those who love Him. In the words of Aaron Keyes, even what the enemy means for evil, He turns it for our good.
A-Dub may not be with us anymore, but our memories of him and all the goodness he left behind won't ever be gone from us. Though he was taken, he was never really taken, for we'll always have him in our hearts. Always.
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows."
2 Corinthians 1:3-5
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