A Long Road

A dear friend lost her mother.  When I heard I cried tears of great sorrow.  I cried because I know the pain my friend was feeling at that moment and I know the pain she has felt every moment from that day until now.  I also know that she has a long road ahead of her.  I don't exactly know when I felt "normal" again.  I'm not sure I ever will.  Mom is gone from this earth and her death has left a gaping hole in my heart that nothing, not even time, can fill.

Grief really is like the tide.  Some waves are bigger than others, but there are always waves.  That is how I feel about the death of my mom.  There is always grief hidden under the surface.  The thing is, to look at me you wouldn't think that.  There is always pain.  I think that is one of the harder things to accept -  once time passes the people around you tend to forget that you are still grieving.  That, somehow, you are "over it".  You never are over it, you never recover. 

I pray for my friend, daily.  I pray that she will always know that I remember.

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.  For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.  For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.  Therefore comfort one another with these words.

 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18