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This morning in church was quite amazing and those of you who were there, I'm sure, would agree.
This past friday, a woman in our church died after a very long and painful battle with breast cancer. She found out last week that the cancer had actually taken over -literally- her entire body. Her last few days she was in immense amounts of pain and on friday, she fell into a deep sleep and never woke up...

So this morning, one of our elders whose family was very close to her and her little son told us the whole story and how God was working through the whole thing. Well, he tried his best to tell us through his sobbing and catching his breath every few sentences. Mostly everyone was crying right along with him. After a while of him telling the story, I almost couldnt take it. Especially when he started talking about her son. I cant even BEGIN to imagine what that must be like to lose your mom like that...and since my mom DID have cancer, the very same thing could have happened. I thank God that it didnt.

I dont know why, but it was so strange to me, this morning was...I kept looking around like, Is this really happening? It was just so clear. And surreal. My mind kind of went blank and she was the only thing I was thinking about. I guess we, well I dont think about death everyday, so it just kinda seemed really tangible to me this morning. And really, it was just bittersweet because, you know, death is a by-product of sin. But if we're saved, death doesnt defeat us. It may seem like it does. Sometimes we think -you die, and that's the end. When really, it's not. (again, if you're saved.) Sometimes it's just the beginning.

Think of the anniversary coming up- 9/11. That was a HORRIBLE event, so many people died and many people say it wasnt God's will, and I'm sorry but it WAS. Think of how many people were saved through that terrible event. I'm positive for many, it was a turning point. Sometimes, God uses something terrible to ignite something in us and make us see that we need Him more than anything.

In our lives, we go about our days and never think about dying, or the fragility of life. But sometimes God throws in some wake-up calls to shake us up and remind us that we're not it! Our lives are not our own and we definitely do NOT control them. We may never know why God does some things, but it's not our place to ask why. We have to trust Him that He knows what He's doing -because He does- and accept it. It may be really hard. Unbearable, even. But that could just be Him forcing you to prove yourself, as the guest preacher talked about today, or like I said, to make you see that He truly is the ONLY thing you need.

Hard times make you prove whether or not your faith is real. Just like when heat is added to gold and it becomes pure and beautiful, trials and terrible events in our life will hopefully make our faith beautiful and bring us closer to Him.

I pray that this is the best thing that's ever happened to Luke (her son). And I dont feel bad for saying that because, if it is and God saves him through this, he'll see his mom again. And it truly will be the best thing.

Kimberly was an amazing woman. Even though I didnt have the privilege of knowing her very well, I thank God for her life and everything she's done. She's not in pain anymore and never will be again. THIS is the best thing that's ever happened to her. She's proven her faith, now she's perfect.