So Far From Home

This past week, home has just felt so much farther away. There have been storms, damage, and loss of wonderful people back in my hometown. It makes me want to be closer to my family, and long for the day Jesus comes back, when there will be no more sorrow.

Romans 12:15 says "Rejoice with those who rejoice, and mourn with those who mourn." 

Jeff & Lydia, (Curtis' sister and her husband) on their 3 week anniversary at our wedding

Today, we're rejoicing with Lydia and Jeff as they celebrate their 1st anniversary. Congrats to this beautiful couple, we can't wait to see you this week & live closer together for this year!

Praying for this wonderful family as Ryan, first on the right, went home to be with Jesus today.

Just over a month ago, Curtis and I were at home, rejoicing with friends as they said their vows and professed their love, promising to spend forever together. Today, we are mourning from afar as my dear friend's new husband passed away. I'm heartbroken over all they've gone through. I don't understand why a wonderful, godly young couple has to go through something like this. We pray, and we cry out to God, it doesn't seem like enough but it's all we can do. He has a plan for all of this, but it's so hard to imagine what that could be right now.

Some may wonder, how could I trust in a God that causes these things to happen? To that, I say, how could I not? Right now, what we need most is to have that comfort of knowing that He will be with us always, and He will give us peace. There is more to life than this world here and now - in fact, there is an eternity of being in the presence of Jesus after this. That hope can carry us through every trial we're given on earth.

We serve an all-powerful, all-knowing God, who has had every moment of our lives planned out from the beginning of time, before the earth existed. I trust that everything He does serves a greater purpose, one we cannot understand now. He has the power to give or take away, to heal or to bring home to be with him. I sit here, 1600 miles away from my family, and when the storms are raging back at home, all I can do is trust in my all-powerful God to keep them safe until we can be together again. 

I miss you all back in Iowa and wish I could be there with you. For now, I'll be praying continuously for you all. We're always looking forward to our next visit, and of course that glorious reunion that will happen when we all are in heaven together. I love you all!