Good Bye
When we were
missionaries, our family moved halfway around the world. We were far from
loving family and our children were two, eight and ten. There were many
sad faces the days leading up to our departure, but no one was as sad as my
mother-in-law. Days before we were to leave, she would hold our
two-year-old daughter and sob. She would cling to her to savor every
moment.
It is a known fact, in
my family, that my husband is the weepy one. Me...not so much. He’s
the one who cries at movies, sad stories, or things he’s read. He often
will glance in my direction whenever something tugs at his heart to see if I’m
equally affected. Tears will stream down his face like Niagara Falls
while my eyes are as dry as the Sahara Dessert. However, I will admit,
seeing my mother-in-law cry over the pending loss of her grandchildren for
years on end was difficult. This was before Facebook, FaceTime, cell
phones and even email!
Now, here I am getting
close to saying good bye to that same “two-year-old
daughter.” She and her husband are months away from taking four of our
grandchildren to a faraway place to be ambassadors for Christ. That big good
bye is getting closer by the day, but like I said before it won't be
my first.
I’ve said, Good
byes, to loved ones as they have pasted from this life to eternity
and many, many friends as ministry has moved us from place to place all over
the world…I just want to interject here that I’ve heard the song, Friends
are Friends Forever, more times than I care to say.
Yet, the biggest and
best Good bye of my entire life was at an altar when I
was seven years old. That was Good bye to the old
and hello to the new. It was also a promise that there would be one thing
in my life that I would never have to say Good
bye to.
In Romans 8:38-39 there
is a promise to the Believer that nothing can separate us from the love of God.
For I am convinced that nothing
can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The
angels won’t, and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep God’s love away.
Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, or where we are—high above the
sky, or in the deepest ocean—nothing will ever be able to separate us from the
love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when he died for us. (TLB)
I’d love to never be separated from any of
my family or friends, but these separations are inevitable. My life is destined
for many Good byes, except for this one—God’s love
isn’t going anywhere and that's a promise!
I think I’m feeling a strange moisture in
my eyes. Could it be…
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