Moonlight

I love the moon.

I'm sure this is a phrase you don't hear very often, and I guess one I don't say very often, but it's true. I was driving home tonight and the sun was just setting. The sky wasn't black yet, but it was getting

dark, and I rounded a curve, and smiled as a saw an almost full moon. Something about seeing it just made me happy..made me smile. I literally said "thanks God." To see this big beautiful object in the sky, just confirms the existence of God to me.

There's also something so amazing about seeing the moon especially when

it is full, reflecting on the ocean..Beautiful!

Here's the really cool thing.

The moon....it has no light of it's own. That's so hard to believe, especially when it's so dark outside and there's a full moon, many

times, it's actually bright enough outside that I don't have to search for the keyhole, it's light enough for me to see it well and just slip the key in. So how can something that actually has no light of its own, shine so brightly? Well it simply reflects the light of the sun. Isn't that interesting...the brightest light in darkness, is something that has no light of it's own...it simply reflects THE brightest light.

So of course, you know the parallels I'm drawing here....I clearly know that I am nothing on my

own, but my sincerest hope is that I will be a reflection of God's love and character, and quite

literally, bring light to someone's darkness. Help them find their way a little easier. Simply spending time with God, and soaking up more of Him to reflect and mirror if you will, who He is, is to shine brightly in a dark world.

There's something about being a light that draws people...Listen I hate leaving the porch light on, just because of all of the bugs that I have to beat my way through to get in...but the very fact that they are drawn to the light proves the point. If you become a light, people will be drawn to you. You have a chance to make a

difference. It doesn't matter if you think you have nothing to offer, because it's not your light anyway...it's just a matter of believing that He can shine through you, by you simply mirroring Christ more and more...you might be a sliver of a moon right now, but you are light! And you know how it is...one night you see a sliver of a moon, but not too many days from now, the moon is full and beautiful and shining brightly.

If God can take a mass whose surface is very similar to coal, and cause it to reflect the sun's light so brightly to the earth, can He not use us to shine brightly in this earth?

I thank God for the moon. I love the moon. It stands as a reminder to me, of all I want to be....a mirror reflection of the greatest light ever!

I am the light of the world; anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark;

he will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

Don't weep for me...

I just want to say I've started this thing 5 different times.....let's see if I keep this one....5 years ago today, I experienced something I pray none of you ever have to, but know some of you already have. I got the call that said my husband had been in an accident and had died instantly. Not a call you ever expect nor want to hear. I guess I'm writing tonight for a couple of reasons...first of all to say, "Don't weep for me." God has brought me so far over the last 5 years. I've been able to see so many blessings in the midst of the pain. So much healing, so much hope even still for my future. In fact, only a couple weeks after John's death, Dr. Mark Chironna was at our church, and was singing a song that was something like "your latter will be greater than your past"....all things are possible...possible,....well at that time I was thinking it was going to be IMpossible to continue on...yeah God gave me great grace and strength, even to speak at John's funeral, and I do hope that there were people who were blessed even at his funeral,...but to believe that the best was still to come, so soon after John had died?! I could hardly believe that....but I felt a very urgent pressing "Do you believe the best is yet to come?" again, "Do you believe it?", and me just saying how can I say that...I just buried my husband?! and the third time, so strongly..."NOW! DO you believe that the best is yet to come?" and I remember falling to my knees crying and making myself say "Yes. I believe the best is yet to come!" Immediately I heard God say to me, "Good. Because if you didn't, you would be calling me a liar. I have told you that 'I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future', if you didn't believe that you'd be calling me a liar". Something happened right then...a freedom from despair.

Yes I grieved. Yes I missed John.

Yes I longed for him on so many occasions, but there was hope for my future. God knew I would need that to

continue on. If I believed that the best was behind me, there was no real reason to press on toward the future, nothing really to look forward to. Although I did not know exactly what that phrase meant,

I knew I had to hold on to it. God has been so faithful through this entire journey. He has provided for me...even when I wasn't sure how we would make it at times, God always provides...He has been there to help my kids adjust and get over losing their daddy....and He has allowed me to "comfort others with the comfort He's given me". Two of my very close friends each lost their husbands...one a year ago and one in January. I could not have walked with them down this road, the way that I have, had I not already been there. I have spoken at women's conferences and been able to relate now to single moms, divorcees, widows, widowers....done jail ministry and ministered to men and sharing things from John's past and what he learned and would want them to know...sharing hope and God's love and how God can take all things and work them for our good, for those of us who love him. You see....if I could have stopped the accident and had my husband with me forever, of course I would have done that. BUT...I can't. Now my responsibility is to find the good that is, and that could come, in the midst of all of this. John never has to fight battles he fought, he's totally free. He's the real winner here, because of Jesus Christ. You see I was grieving over all the things he didn't get to do but I literally heard John laugh, and say, "don't grieve for me! Nothing I ever wanted to do on earth can compare with what I have now!" So don't grieve for us....rejoice that we know a God who gives us life after death....John...well he's living the good life. His life here made a huge difference...it had many long hard roads in it, and it was not fun for either one of us to walk those roads...but he also chose the road of the cross...the road we enjoyed so much together. I still have hope for my future, and a passion to help others find the blessing in the midst of the pain. A wise man once said don't curse your crisis...What the devil meant for evil God will turn for good, and the very thing meant to trip you up, and crush you, will be the very thing that will springboard you into your destiny. I am taking what I learned through life with John, and what he learned and taught me about Christ and us being righteous, and God's grace and mercy, and even what I've learned through death, and sharing it with as many as possible to help make their journey easier. There is no way, that this is the end. I purpose to believe God and allow so much good to come from this, and to believe God when he says...The Best Is Yet To Come!