2 years... seems like yesterday

        My mom passed away two years ago today.  To many, I can see why two years would seem like a very long time.  To me, time has passed but her struggle for life seems like only yesterday.  There isn't a single day that goes by that I don't think about my Mom, say "Mom would know..." or wish so badly it hurts that I could just have one more conversation with her.

       The only comfort I find is she was a Christian. I know that she is in no more pain, there is no more suffering and she is with our Eternal Father.

      A question posed to my family more than once over the three years of her battle with cancer and her death is "Why bad things happen to good people?". Who doesn't ask this?  Who doesn't question why pain comes to those who serve God?  This is my testimony. My answer to why bad things sometimes happen and how joy can come from these bad things.

   “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 

who comforts us in all our affliction, 

so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 

For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” 

~ 2 Corinthians 1:3-7

I know pain and sorrow and suffering and exhaustion and denial and depression and hopelessness and so many more afflictions because I rely on God.  Christ is the source of my strength and He knows what I can handle. I am never given more than I can withstand.  He comforts me in my trails so that I can comfort those who do not know Him and the comfort He provides. Bad things happened so that I can help those who have bad things happen to them.

       When she passed, it was of no shock to us, but hard none-the-less.  I can remember all day the 11th, we knew it was close a matter of hours or maybe dwindling into another day but not much more - my thoughts, my prayer was a song. 

No more night. No more pain.
No more tears. Never crying again.
And praises to the great "I AM."
We will live in the light of the risen Lamb.

I encourage you to follow the link and listen to the beautiful words and lyrics of this song.  Make it your prayer today for someone you know who may be facing "nights" and pain.