Sadness Yet Peace

I always marvel at who is related to whom or how a friend knows another friend that you wouldn't expect them to know. There truly is something to be said about Lynden being a small tight-knit community. If you're not related to them, then you need to be careful because you probably are somewhere down the line. Or you know them through someone else. The world can easily become smaller at any time. 

Here's an example, our fed rep for Cargill, his grandson Cash just passed away. I became aware of his story about a month ago. An email came through at work asking for prayer, I knew I recognized the last name of Parriera but it wasn't until later when I mentioned it to my dad that the connection became clear. Then I found the blog detailing the last year of little Cash's battle and the highs and lows of every moment. I remember it happened to be my day off when I found the blog. And I read through it, the entire blog all 134 posts that morning. I couldn't stop. I began to learn about this family, and this sweet little boy. I was thoroughly amazed at his parents and their rock solid faith and Cash's resilience through all the chemo and treatments he went through. I smiled, laughed and then would cry at the sweet pictures of Cash that would get posted. 

I found the timing ironic that I came across Cash's story at this time in my life. We're studying the Gospel of Mark at church right now. And we've been talking about faith. Particularly what Jesus will do, could do, can't do, and won't do. At first I was concerned with the won't do and can't do. I thought to myself, what do I believe that Jesus won't do or can't do? I was looking at it in a negative way. And then my pastor clarified by saying, God won't change. He can't be unloving, he won't forsake us. Better perspective huh? And as we processed that as a staff we also talked about how to pray for people who are dealing with illness or life threatening illness. Yes we need to believe and have faith for God to heal them. But we need to pray for His WILL for them. Whether it's healing in this life or eternal healing in Heaven. We need to pray for them with all four of those faith perspectives. So I did. I prayed like crazy for little Cash. I prayed for God's best for him and his family. I often found myself in tears after. And then when I saw the post that he had passed away my heart was heavy but also at peace at the same time. He received his healing. Everyone's prayers were answered.

God does answer prayers, we just need to remember that it's not in our way, it's in His.