My Best Friend


June 29th, 2023

My husband was, wholly and completely, truly and honestly, my very best friend in the whole wide world.

Some of you may think that is “co-dependence.” Some may think it’s “a little much.” Others might say I’m exaggerating. If you’re one of these, I’m so sorry (for you) that you don’t understand.

I think that’s how it should be. If something made me happy, he’s the one I would call. If something made me sad, he was the one I’d call. Excited? Him. Lonely? Him. Frustrated. Him. Overjoyed? Him. You get the picture.

I think that is one of the hardest parts. I literally want to call him every single day. Several times. I want to text him. I want to FaceTime him. I want him 𝘵𝘰. 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦. 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦.

I don’t know how to reconcile the healthy, smiling, happy, loving, kind person he was with the one who is 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. How is this even real life??? We should be sitting on the patio, watching the dogs play and talking about Lillian swimming in the pool. We should have eaten dinner together tonight. We should be deciding what to watch on TV before bed. We should just BOTH be here.

Moments like this are really, exceptionally hard to redirect and they attack out of thin air, just materializing with no forewarning. This whole week has been difficult, if I’m being honest. We’re 2/3 into the second month he’s been gone and instead of getting any “easier,” it’s getting more and more REAL.

I don’t want to do this. I wasn’t supposed to be doing any of this, this life, without him. I’m older than him. He was in his FORTIES. What makes that fair or right or okay? Nothing. And nothing ever will.

So here, for tonight, this is my reminder. It is a song by Casting Crowns and this song is what fills my head as I type this. “You’re not alone…” because God speaks when my heart is weary and hurting.

If I listen, He will always speak.

(Link to the song is below the lyrics if you would like to hear it. Play it loud just for me.)

“Oh, my soul.
Oh, how you worry,
Oh, how you’re weary, from fearing you’ve lost control.
𝘛𝘏𝘐𝘚 𝘞𝘈𝘚 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘖𝘕𝘌 𝘛𝘏𝘐𝘕𝘎 𝘠𝘖𝘜 𝘋𝘐𝘋𝘕´𝘛 𝘚𝘌𝘌 𝘊𝘖𝘔𝘐𝘕𝘎
And no one would blame you, though,
If you cried in private,
If you tried to hide it away, so no one knows…
No one will see, if you stop believing.

Oh, my soul,
You are not alone.
There’s a place where fear has to face the God you know.
One more day. He will make a way.
Let Him show you how, you can lay this down.
‘Cause you’re not alone.

Here and now,
You can be honest;
I won’t try to promise that someday it all works out,
‘Cause this is the valley
And even now, He is breathing on your dry bones.
And there will be dancing.
There will be beauty where beauty was ash and stone.
This much I know.

Oh, my soul,
You are not alone.
There’s a place where fear has to face the God you know.
One more day…He will make a way.
Let Him show you how, you can lay this down.

I’m not strong enough! I can’t take anymore!
(You can lay it down. You can lay it down.)
And my shipwrecked faith will never get me to shore.
(You can lay it down. You can lay it down.)
Can He find me here?
Can He keep me from going under?

Oh, my soul,
You are not alone.
There’s a place where fear has to face the God you know.
One more day, He will make a way.
Let Him show you how you can lay this down.

‘Cause you’re not alone.
Oh, my soul, you’re not alone”

Anger is a Vicious Beast


June 28th, 2023

𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘮. 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭. 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘺 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦.

Today is this kind of day.

I’m angry. Not angry AT God but angry because this is the way that it is.

Anger is like a drug. When you’re at the peak, you kind of feel a little better for awhile. Raging over something detracts your attention from the primary emotion you’re feeling, just like drugs soothe the pain at the forefront of every thought process when you’re hurting. The sad seems like it fades just a little bit. But when the drug wears off…that’s when you hit a period of time where you feel worse than before even taking it; the anger doesn’t leave but retreats to the background, the heartbreak pours over you tenfold.

Fortunately, I know that God is bigger than my anger and all of my emotions. I don’t have to try hiding it from Him. Shame, fury, disappointment, fear, sorrow…He can handle them all.

I can rail on about anything and not expect anger back, not expect disappointment, because He created our emotions. Granted, there are a few I wish He had left out but they are what make us human.

I am not my emotions. They don’t define me and they do not control me. I do go through periods of time when they seem to have me in a chokehold (case in point: today) but I trust and believe that my God is bigger than any and all of them at once. When I choose to praise, even if it is angry-sounding, brutally raw praise, He hears me and honors that with relief. It may be a complete, unexplainable peace or it may be small little increments of lessening of the overwhelming part, but He is faithful.

Even in my brokenness, especially in my brokenness, He hears me and there is always a response if I’m seeking Him in what I do. I hope I always have the strength to seek Him, even when I don’t feel like I do. I hope you do, too.