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« Coping With Grief Through The Holidays | Main | Running Out Of Hope »
Tuesday
Oct262010

Do I See Death or Life All Around Me?

Last Wednesday morning a friend of ours called my husband and left a message that he needed help with his computer.  My husband left a message back – typical “voice mail tag.”  We all play this kind of tag numerous times during a given day.

The difference is our friend was in a serious accident a few hours after he left the voicemail – an accident from which he did not recover, at least in this world.

Another friend’s father also entered his eternal home this week-end, following a lengthy illness.

Yet another friend is in the hospital as I write, battling  the dreaded disease of cancer and has decided to opt out of any kind of treatment – she is ready to be with Jesus.

In the midst of all of this pain and suffering -- a baby was born this week-end AND I walked by a young woman who is pregnant – just beginning to ‘show’ – and she is glowing!

I was in my car this morning, taking some time away from the office.  The sky was dark, leaves were blowing off the trees, and the rain came!  My heart was heavy – so much pain, so many people suffering.  I was driving a bit aimlessly, realizing that my chosen destination would not work, for it was outside – and IT WAS RAINING AND COLD AND WINDY!  No way could I sit on a bench in a beautiful garden-setting to do my journaling. 

In my aimless wandering, I found myself heading west - thinking and pondering and praying – so much pain and suffering and sadness.  And right in the middle of it all I just happened to look up -- and I SAW IT!  A beautiful rainbow – God’s promise.  It was amazing!  God is definitely a God of hope, a God who keeps His promises.  A simple reminder that the rainbow of promise comes out of the darkness in our lives.

Had I been sitting in a sun-drenched garden this morning I would still have been feeling heavy and sad and weighted down with the suffering all around me.  BUT because God had something different, something better for me, I was in my car, headed west with my lights and windshield wipers on, and I experienced the touch of God – that touch a loving Father brings to His children – His rainbow of promise!

God is a God of life and death.  If I only see one, I miss His faithful promises.  If I only see the other, I miss His new beginnings.

SO – I say with the Psalmist, in Psalm 51…Lord, in the midst of the balance of life, “Help me to hear and see joy and gladness all around me!”

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    Do I See Death or Life All Around Me? - Barb's Blog - Barb Roberts | Author, Helping Those Who Hurt | Speaker, Author, Counselor

Reader Comments (7)

Good things to be reminded of....

October 26, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterLaRue

Thank you for those words, Barb. I saw the rainbow too and it reminded me too that God is here and He is keeping His promises never to leave us - whether in life here or continuing on to LIFE with Him!

October 26, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterHeather C.

What a great reminder. I recently experienced that "circle of life" with the funeral service of my mother-in-law on a Friday morning in August and the birth of my niece's twins on the following Monday afternoon. There was sadness, but also great joy and gladness! Praise God!

October 26, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterCarol C

Good reminder...fits in with some things I want to say at a women's gathering on 12/6 where I've been asked to speak. It's to be a Christmas message using "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." I keep thinking about how Christmas is so difficult for so many of us because life & death & all the other things associated with them keep right on happening, Christmas or no Christmas. So I want to bring a message of hope in the midst of pain & loss because He DID become flesh & DOES dwell among us & within us.

October 26, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterJean S

Two weeks ago a dear cousin who with her family, friends and husband have prayed for years for his release from prison - he has been incarcerated for 37 years - heard that his release had been signed. Does that give me hope when I am looking at a bleak, hopeless future, or present, for that matter, if I have been praying for months or years for a change in something that appears immovable, set in stone, unmanageable, something I just can't swallow? Whatever it is, behind the scenes, God is working on my behalf. Oh, me of little faith!

October 30, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterDorothy

I neglected to give Bruce. F. credit for the last sentence of my entry above, " . . . behind the scenes, God is working on my behalf."

October 30, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterDorothy

Had not read this one until today. Boy did I need to remember. There is light in the darkness, and with out the dark the light could not be so bright! Thanks for the reminder Barb, now to pray that I could focus on the rainbow!

November 5, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterJami Adams

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