Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Dearest God,

My cousin asked if we could get together. Needing a break, we sat at Olive Garden, eating our meal, yet not really noticing. We were sharing the benefits of faith. We concluded that you prepare us for life's troubled journeys.

We were amazed at the routes of faith you provide. Hers was the purchase of a women's bible that she read straight through. Suddenly it was as if Esau and Jacob were her close friends. Mine has been visions that prompted responses as an act of faith.

Although my cousin lives in Arizona and I have only seen her three times in the last two decades, something has changed between us. We talked about the beauty of faith and how we develop a resiliency to trudge victoriously through life's challenges. Although pain and sorrow strike, we have the knowledge and hope of tomorrow, even today through faith.

As I gazed at her, I welcomed her newfound faith, her trust in you, and her love for you even in the midst of her daughter's daily dying with cancer. While she wept because she watched a single tear stream down her daughter's stoic cheek this morning, she celebrates faith that sees through the tear to the other side of death.

As I watched her walk to her car three hours later, I breathed a thankful prayer for her witness, her testimony, her hope, her courage and strength and most of all her faith in you.

What a week
this is
turning out
to be,
Great Lord.
Like an
old gospel singer
used to say,
it is
testimony time.
In just
two days
I have witnessed
the ultimate gift
you give us
in faith
and I
have celebrated
with great joy.

Love to you in all things, Andrea