Happy Thursday!

Okay, last night the computer ate my writing. I had one sentence left to write and my computer decided it was the time to install updates. When my computer restarted the writing was gone. Serious bummer!

John 1:29 “Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.”

Isaiah 53: 4,5 “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities…and with His stripes we are healed.”

Two years ago today we woke up a family of five and went to bed a family of four. For all of us there was a great sense of emptiness and being incomplete. After we came home that night (around 2:00 am), Bruce, Geni and Travis went to bed and I stayed up for several hours straightening up the house for the visitors who would be there in just a few hours. I covered Casey’s hospital bed with the quilt the quilters from the church had given him. I then put as many pictures and memories that would fit on the bed as a memorial to him. As I placed those memories on the bed I realized almost every memory I ever had contained the face, the laughter, the maturing, the fun, the heartbreaks, the successes, and the extraordinary faith of one so young in years and so mature in His faith.

It is hard to fill a hole in this mother’s heart as large as my child. There is a part of me that I don’t think will ever quite complete again, but God in His tender mercies and His suffering death on the cross promises that I will be complete once again.

God promises in His Word that we will not only be complete again, but we have companionship and complete healing. In the part of the verse that says “by His stripes we are healed”, healing simply means wholeness. Casey, who resides as a citizen of heaven, is absolutely whole again. We who are on this side of heaven are given the same assurance here on earth. God, through the suffering death of Jesus provides healing for each of us. God offers completeness and a return of joy as we live each day guided by the Holy Spirit that dwells and abides within us.

We will always miss Casey. But our family walks the road to healing and wholeness each day. We take joy in knowing that even though Casey will never return to us, we will go to him someday and be reunited once again, but until then God walks with us and completes us by His stripes.

Take joy in the journey of healing. Wear comfortable shoes, count your blessings and say your prayers. Love you all so 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.

Prayer alert: Geni has a job interview with Starbucks tomorrow. Please keep her in your prayers. gc