If you’ve read any of my post’s I hope you would have found them to be encouraging and uplifting. I’ve tried to share the good that has come out of my grief journey so that you could know that I am healing and getting my footing again and hoping, as well, that you are too. Usually, I brag about my love for the months of the year that bring me the joy of watching nature’s landscape change right before my eyes. As if I’m watching a live presentation of Picasso painting scenery, using vivid colors and graceful paint strokes thus, bringing a whole new environment to life right in front of me at that very moment.
For that reason, September has always been my favorite month of the year. That’s when the change in the season, and new beginnings evolving are celebrated around the country. There’s Fall festivals, Apple Cider Beverages, Pumpkin Carvings, Fall Harvest parades, Hay rides, Apple picking, Hiking through a Corn Maze, and Football! That’s what I look forward to every year. But this year is different.
This year, September started out just like I hoped it would. A week-long vacation in a rustic cabin deep in Amish Country where I indulged in horse back riding, walking the back trails in the Holmes County Nature park , enjoying the majestic waterfall sites. It was great until I got a call that my much younger nephew was critically ill and passed away unexpectedly. Add to that, his sister my niece suffered devastation to her home in North Carolina from the Hurricane Helene that bore down it’s dangerous winds and rain to wreak havoc across the state.
Needless to say, these two events in September brought an abrupt end to my emotional high. It changed into a month of grieving and sadness and uncovered some of my own sadness over the loss of my husband Michael (oddly, my nephew’s name is Michael). For the 3 weeks after the sad news of his passing, I couldn’t control the emotions that kept flaring up and sending me back to my state of mind 5 years ago. I struggled to find the right messaging to keep my niece lifted and hopeful and to comfort my nephews’ beautiful children he left behind. It was hard!!
So, I did the only thing and the best thing I knew to do…PRAY! I started mixing my message to my niece and Mike’s kids with hope. Saying things to my niece like “let’s look at the positive that you escaped that huge tree that came through the roof into your bedroom not even 5 minutes after you walked out of it. Let’s celebrate the blessing of protection cause your home and material possessions can be replaced, but not you. And, let’s be joyous that you have a good home owners insurance policy! It’ll be alright!”
I also starting praying for myself, asking God to give me strength to put my feelings aside and focus on what good I could do to help my niece and nephew in some truly meaningful way. He is still answering my prayer as I type this post to you. I’m learning so many more things about the power of prayer and the goodness of God. Every time I am confronted with a new challenge, issue, concern, or catastrophe, I go to God and ask for his intervention. And what I realize is how so many times, over and over again, He works all things together (good and bad) for my good! All I can say is “Isn’t God Good” for those who follow and serve him in the manner He is so very worthy of?
If you have a story to share about the goodness of God and how he is helping you to regain your footing and move forward in life, would you please share it with us? This is a nonjudgmental, safe and secure community space for healing. I hope you are coping and healing along your grief journey. God’s Blessings and Love!!!
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