Tuesday, March 20, 2012

We're still here!

I can't believe its been over a month since I've written anything.  Time has flown by. There are a few reasons for my lack of writing:
1) I don't really like to write
2) We've been busy
3) Our lives are not very exciting

I didn't think anyone would want to hear about how I wake up, go to work, and then catch up on notes each day until its time to go to bed.  I would also be horrified if anyone knew that we were very content to stay home last weekend and watch the Ninja Warrior marathon on tv (don't judge until you've seen it- its addicting!)  We have done a few fun things- we spent a weekend in Hilton Head with some of our best friends from Greenville, and we have had some good visits with family and friends.  I am  thankful for springtime- the blooming flowers, longer days, and beautiful weather have been good for my heart.
Sad moments creep up on us (and they always will), but we are able to smile, laugh, and get through each day.  

I read this quote the other day, and I love it:

"Christ is building His kingdom with earth's broken things.  Men want only the strong, the successful, the victorious, the unbroken, in building their kingdoms; but God is the God of the unsuccessful, of those who have failed.  Heaven is filling with earth's broken lives, and there is no bruised reed that Christ cannot take and restore to glorious blessedness and beauty.  He can take the life crushed by pain or sorrow and make it into a harp whose music shall be all praise.  He can lift earth's saddest failure up to heaven's glory." (JR Miller in Streams in the Desert)

I had to read it a few times initially, and I have read it a few times a day since.  
My heart is still broken, and that little piece belonging to Thomas will always be missing.  God is using our hurt, our tears, and Thomas's broken little body. He is using Thomas's two weeks to help people see their blessings, be better parents, and trust His plan in good and bad times.  He is healing our hearts, and He is making our story of sorrow and pain a beautiful one.

"Accept the way God does things, for who can straighten what he has made crooked?" (Ecclesiastes 7:13 NLT)

"He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end." (Ecclesiastes 3:11 TNIV)