2-51pm
Yep! It happened! Today, with the day bright and the rain over, I went for a jog around Fish Hoek. Clocked up just over 6km, labouring so slowly in places, a walk would have been quicker, but it was great. While I lumbered along, I thought back to a conversation I had with a friend on Tuesday. Her husband passed away 18 months ago and so I asked her how bad it was. Her husband had a terminal illness, so his life would be shorter than others – that they knew, but the end came suddenly. I wanted to know, how bad is the grief? How dark is the darkness? She said it was bad, but it would have been a lot worse if it were not for the children. It was a line I had heard before. My sister-in-law’s husband, Brian, passed away a month after his by-pass. “The boys have been wonderful” Monica would say, over and over again, “I don’t know what I would have done without them.” And that was when I thought, I must say, ‘well done to the sons’ on air! Then I remembered, there was no longer ‘on air’ for me! But, I can say it here. Well done to the children of the parents who have passed away and they have stood close by the surviving parent’s side and been pillars of strength. Well done! You may not realise what a comfort you have been!
I figured there is no such thing as ‘good grief.’ It’s just always hard. My friends agree that the main thing that eases the deep pain is the knowledge that they will see their loved ones again. Our faith in Christ assures us that when we die, we go to be with Him. Acts 16:31
“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.”
It’s not difficult. In fact it’s lifechanging…
You can’t have an encounter with Jesus and not be impacted. Acts 4 carries that story. After the man at the Beautiful Gate had been healed, word got out & Peter and John were thrown into jail for the night. The next day they had to appear before Annas, the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander and other men of the high priest’s family. They must have been so curious as to what had happened. Peter spoke boldly, testifying to what Jesus had done. Their words had power. Acts 4 vs 13 “Whey they saw the courage of Peter and John and realised they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus”. It doesn’t matter what you do, how educated or intelligent you are, when you know Jesus, you have a supernatural power that God uses to impact those around you.
After the run, I snapped a photo of the farewell flowers which are still hanging in there…a week later…
I went out for breakfast with friends and then had coffee with another friend. So that’s been a social morning! Now I’m home. We’ve been watching the French open and yesterday Truffles joined us – not often you get such a perfect picture…
I call it her ‘cat of the year’ photo! Her coat has got nice and thick for winter.
So that’s Friday. Mike has taken Monday off, so it’s a long weekend for us! 😀
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂
Gratitude Pic…celebrating life tonight with a sit down salmon dinner
