Believe

"God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain, but without stain." ~ C.S. Lewis

     It seems our family has had nothing but change this year.  Some of it wonderful, but a lot of it painful.  Wes and his girlfriend of over six years broke up earlier this year, and just recently, Cait and her long-time boyfriend, Nolan, ended their relationship.  And we mourn  the loss of these wonderful young people's presence in our lives.  We miss them.
     Life is funny like that, I guess.  Some of our relationships stand the test of time while others do not.  Some people come into our lives and stay, others only for awhile.  But the time we spend with these 'temporary' people is just as important as the time we spend with our 'lifetime' people.  And when we lose them, the pain is almost unendurable.  They seem like such a part of us, but we mustn't think of it like that.  We have to be glad for the time we had them in our lives, we have to learn, to grow, to experience the things we were meant to with these people and then, sadly, we have to let them go.  Taking with us the growth we have experienced and the lessons we have learned and the heartache of the loss.
     But one thing I know for certain after forty-four years, life does indeed go on.  Even when you think you can't take another step or breathe in another breath, life miraculously goes on.  The sun still rises, the sun still sets and we find we are stronger than we ever thought we could be. And then, when we are ready, God shows us, like He always does, that this was all part of His plan.  The pain and suffering leads us to where we never knew we always wanted to be and because of the way life has molded us, we are ready to be there.  My children sometimes ask me how I know this and I tell them, there were so many times I didn't KNOW it, but somewhere in my broken heart, I must have BELIEVED it.  And still do.