Blessed Sunday!

I received a phone call from my Aunt Wanda this afternoon telling me of the death of my cousin’s wife, Cherri Brown, who died from ovarian cancer. She and my cousin Tony had been married around 25 years. The funeral is Tuesday in Okemah, Oklahoma. I will reschedule my surgery for another time to attend the funeral. Bruce and I will leave tomorrow after dinner to spend the night with Mom and Dad. Ken and Sheena will meet us at Mom and Dad’s house early Tuesday morning and we will all travel together to the service.

Philippians 4:19 “My God shall supply all you need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

When someone in your family dies, friends, family and neighbors always ask, “What can we do?” The truth is that at that moment there is nothing anyone can do for you. Your heart is shredded and you don’t know what to say. You don’t know if you want company or to be left alone. You don’t know if you are hungry or if you will ever be hungry again. All you know is that there is a big empty place in your heart where your loved one used to reside. And even though you know that your loved one is with Jesus and you are grateful they are no longer in pain and anguish, but are happy and rejoicing in God, there are no earthly words or actions that can ease your pain or fill the emptiness.

The more I learn about God, the more amazed I become. Tonight, Tony does not need a God of Strength, he needs a God of Tenderness. He doesn’t need a God of Salvation, he needs a God of Compassion. So what did Tony do today? He went fishing. Tony is a wonderful man of faith and I feel sure that he met God on the water in the quiet of the lake.

Isn’t it amazing that God can meet our needs and still be God? God does not staff out meeting our needs, He attends to them personally. Man cannot be all things to all people, but God is all things to all people. He is the God of love, tenderness, strength, mercy, healing and a list too long to put on paper. God is all things to all people, but He is the God who meets us personally, according to our needs.

So tonight I ask you to pray for Tony as he sleeps alone in his house and begins to learn to live without his beloved Cherri. She was a precious person and a mighty woman of faith. She will be missed by many.

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes, count your blessings and say your prayers. Love you also very much, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.

PS Please. keep Geni in your prayers as she begins her double life in Denton(UNT) by day and Hurst(TCC) by night. Peace, gc