Finally, it is not raining!  We’ve had the longest, dreariest winter into spring.  The daffodils put on a lovely show outside my front door the past several weeks!  But even with that, I’ve longed to see the sun shine and the streets dry and it is starting to happen – at least for a few days in a row.  I sat with some friends yesterday afternoon and drank tea and laughed.  I felt normal.  At the end of our time together, the wife, I’m sure wanting to address the elephant in the room, asked, “Martha, does it get any easier?”  I quickly responded, “Yes!  Yes, it does.”  I actually shocked myself at my answer and felt a little guilty for sounding so upbeat.  I explained how a year ago I never imagined going a day without crying.  I do still cry, but the recovery is much quicker.  To be honest, I had just shed some tears earlier in the day talking to another friend long distance, describing my lack of faith that questions so much sadness in the world and how could a good God be in charge of all of this.  Surely, He could bring it all to a halt with just one word!  And why doesn’t He?  She reminded me that there are just so many things that we won’t understand this side of heaven and that for some reason, God puts so much emphasis on faith.  Over and over in the Scriptures it talks about how important faith is.  We only need faith the size of a mustard seed to move mountains.  Well, I’m not moving any mountains so obviously my faith is smaller than that, and yet it has carried me.  

As I am writing, I am reminded on this Easter weekend that even that good God could have called a legion of angels to save his own son from being murdered by an angry mob!  Why didn’t He?  For reasons that we don’t understand, EXCEPT that Jesus’ murder has allowed us to spend an eternity in heaven.  A dear family member who is battling cancer recently wrote in a message that “Greg will be waiting to give me a guided tour.” How sweet is that….the scariest thing she is facing is comforted by the fact that in the end, whether sooner or later, she will be welcomed into an eternal home. 

My prayer today is that we will gather every tomorrow and celebrate the hope we have in a resurrected body.  Happy Easter!