“Everything happens at once.” Or so they all say. My family recently experienced Death and Life in the same day. On July 24, my grandmother, Lorene Stahl, passed away. That evening, my nephew and her great-grandson Grayson was born. Life’s final breath was met with life’s first cry.
How do you reconcile the bitter end with a beautiful beginning? August continues to bring good and bad “everythings” at once – a lost job, a new relationship, a job search, living arrangements to be worked out, and the hope of something new. I am struggling with how to make time to live in moments of grief and joy, to face reality AND plunge ahead. Where am I supposed to go with my heart?
I am reminded of the afternoon in the hospital with my sister, Aimee. She was having a difficult delivery and told her husband she wanted to pray. As they bowed their heads, there was a knock on the door. It was their pastor’s wife there to pray with them.
She read my sister Ecc. 3: “Everything that happens in the world happens at the time God chooses. He sets time for birth and time for death…I know that everything God does will last forever. You can’t add anything to it or take anything away from it. And one thing God does is to make us stand in awe of him.” (Good News Translation)
Life as a woman is messy and often feels out of control. It all happens at once. We can’t add anything to what God is doing. We can’t take anything away either. BUT— “…one thing God does is to make us stand in awe of him.” THAT is where I want my heart to go. That is the point of taking moments to think about where our hearts are in the midst of the everythings of life…. So we can catch a glimpse of the awesomeness of God.
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Anna Hull is a recent graduate of Schreiner University with a B.A. in Religion & minor in Political Science. Currently pursuing her M.Div in Theological Studies through Liberty University, Anna believes in rich authenticity, celebrating beauty, and saying yes to unexpected adventures. Anna loves Jesus and spending time with her family.
 
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I was stunned by how candid you were in this post, Anna. You put such honest words to emotions and sensations that I have known well this summer, even in the midst of death and your own grief. It was a blessing to read your heart. I felt reconnected to the beauty of life’s seasons and God’s heart. Thank you.
Beautiful post, speaking to the realities of being a woman without all the answers…in the midst of such chaos!
So appreciate your willingness to recognize the and/both going on in your life and in the midst of them to see God. Bless you…