August 25, 2016

Greetings My Friend, Today I am grieving a special lady who passed. when I knew her she was a teenager in the youth group I volunteered with. As the kids grew up they got involved in their lives, I went on with my life but this young lady found me and we got reaquainted again. We were both at a spot in life where we were going through disability together. She talked many times with such knowldge that it seemed she was more my age than the 20 years younger that she truly was. It was hard for me to accept where she was in her life and at the same time I had found someone who understood. She understood a whole lot and we talked about the things of the past too. She seemed to "know" long before I did that I was struggling. At the time our lives interceted when she was a teenager she and her friends all knew and they loved me regardless of my situation. They do not know it but from the first group to the last group 15 years later I was learning right along with those young people. I saw the struggles the young men had figuring out life, girls, their faith. The young men opened my eyes a whole lot and I saw the sensitive side they truly had. It took me a long time to stop lumping all men in the same catergory but I learned. The girls taught me too. They talked to me about a lot of things and I let them unload. I knew a walk or having a teen help me in the kitchen would open them up and they did. When my young friend got together with me she was divorced and remarried, the same as I was. We shared our struggles there too. That is when I found out she "knew", her friends "knew" and I was amazed. I learned again that we may say things are good but kids know more so that they are not. I learned of her illness and I worked with a lady that had the same illness, one of those long names that is hard to spell. We talked a few times here and there on social media, we met up a couple more times and we again went on with our lives. Today social media is lit up with her passing and my heart is breaking. In my grief I find myself praying for her family and friends. As I ask God to comfort them I sense He is comforting me too. I find myself in my grief talking to God about the loss I feel and I realize that I will grieve her for some time but God will hold me until I have said the last of my good byes and remembered so many things from our time together in this life. I am sure that God will teach me a few things as I already have noticed. It is like Him saying to me I brought you 2 back together for a reason and I now understand how we for a short time shared life and then found each other to share another time. I am thankful for the memories too. I am thankful that I got to be an advisor to many groups of teenagers and I got to learn, to share and to grow with each teenager. Most of the teens are now parents of teens themselves and I continue to marvel at how quickly life passes by even when I am trying to live each moment. May God bless you and keep you make His face shine on you. Love Janet