Friday, February 1, 2008

Catching up from the weekend....

I was just thinking how surreal blogs can be sometime. How we only blog about the great things that happen- but I just wanted to share how the Lord has used some difficult circumstances in our lives to help us meditate on His character.
Two weeks ago on Sunday night John's mom fell and broke both of her wrists. She was in a lot of pain and we were so thankful that on Thursday Laura was able to fly out to be with her for a week. On that Tuesday we found out that John's Aunt Stella was killed in a car accident on her way to work (sorry if this is a recap of Karis' blog at this point). We are so thankful to know that she was a believer and her life was a testament to Christ and His love.
It just seemed like a lot all at once. And I could see it weighing on my husband. We talked about he and James flying out to the funeral for Aunt Stella but tickets were really expensive. Mom and Dad were really struggling because they would not be able to travel out to be with Uncle Terry during this time due to mom's injuries and the amount of pain she was dealing with. On Thursday morning the Lord impressed it on my heart that maybe I should have encouraged John a little more to go to the funeral.
On Friday we both worked day shift together. When we met up for lunch we began to talk again about the funeral. James wasn't going to be able to go, Tim and Kristen were already out of town and Dan and Karis were just getting back into town. James had called John to see if he would be interested in flying out to Indiana. I told John if he was going to go to the funeral I would go to. So, last minute we decided to ask our managers if we could leave after lunch and take Saturday and Monday off of work too. They agreed and we got home and packed up and started off to Indiana. The trip got to be really long, but around 5:00 in the morning we pulled into Plymouth, Indiana and fell into our motel bed to sleep before the funeral. It was great to see and meet so many of John's cousins and Aunts and Uncles. When we got to the funeral and saw Uncle Terry and his boys and were able to hug them and offer our condolences- it was definitley worth the trip. We took some extra time getting back home. We stopped in southern Indiana to visit our friends Sean and Brittney and their family- and ate ALOT at this little spot called 'Grey Brothers Cafeteria'. After getting extremely full we finally got on the road and headed to our stop at Cumberland, MD to spend the night. We were able to have breakfast at a little coffee shop on Monday morning before starting a lot of travel back home to Virginia Beach. We got home just in time to change and meet up with the family for dinner for my birthday... is this getting to be too long of a post? I kind of feel like I'm overflowing into another post...So, I'll blog about that in the next post.
All that to say...the song that has been going through my head in the midst of all of this has been "I Stand in Awe"-
'You are beautiful beyond description, Too marvelous for words, Too wonderful for comprehension, Like nothing ever seen of heard. Who can grasp Your infinite wisdom? Who can fathom the depth of Your love? You are beautiful beyond description, Majesty, enthroned above. And I stand, I stand in awe of You. I stand, I stand in awe of You. Holy God, to whom all praise is due, I stand in awe of You!

3 comments:

Karis said...

"I Stand In Awe" -- what a perspective to have during both good and bad times.

I am so glad you encouraged John to go to the funeral. It meant so much to my mom, and it was great for us to get details of the God-centered funeral from you guys. Way to hang in there hour after hour in the car.

Tim, Kristen , Megan, Emily, and Anna said...

What a great song!! I love that song!! I have been thinking of the verse..."as for God his way is perfect..." Glad you could go to the funeral as well.

Unknown said...

John and Bethany,
You'll never know how much it meant to me when you went to Stella's funeral. It was very heartwrenching to not be able to go, but so encouraging when we learned that you decided to go. Thank you from my heart for your sacrifice in driving all that distance in not very good weather conditions. I have the most
wonderful and caring family in the world! God truly gives grace when we need it most --I am finding out!
Love, Mom (This took quite a while to type with my left hand 4 fingers!-- not too much coor dination going on!)