19 Year Ago Today

 

 Nineteen years ago,September 18th, I became his wife. Two years ago, on September 19th and the morning after our seventeenth wedding anniversary, I became his widow. While there are heaps of good stories to be told during our nearly twenty years together, marriage poses many challenges, I've discovered. It's not the fairy tale you envision as a young girl. But we made vows that we meant to keep. It wasn't the fifty plus years that I hoped for, nineteen years ago. But I'm proud of us for keeping our vows for the seventeen years that God blessed us with, nonetheless. I am so proud of the life we built together.

    Darrell passed away after a month and a half long battle with covid pneumonia the morning after our seventeenth wedding anniversary. For those of you, who are new here, I told our story in this post: istndamzd.blogspot

    I don't have many words to share today. I feel like I've said it all. I'll share this, though, because it was such a tender mercy/gift from God to my widowed soul, as He revealed Himself to me through my husband's passing. I've told the story before, and I'll probably profess it a million more times, Lord willing, before I leave this earth. Before they vented Darrell, he was in the process of drafting a text to me. He was asking me to turn our bathroom light off. He slept on the side of our bed closest to our bathroom. I firmly believe that my fragile husband saw the Light, in those final hours, but thought that he was home and that I had left the bathroom light on. I know his salvation and I'm certain that Darrell entered the kingdom of Heaven soon thereafter. I find such peace and comfort in knowing that. God is real, folks. I pray that, if you are reading this today, you have found or will find your salvation in Him. 

If you confess with your mouth "Jesus is Lord" and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead to deliver you from your sins, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified , and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. -Romans 10:9-10

    September 18th will never again be a day of celebration for Darrell and I but it will infinitely mark the day that began the life that we built together. For that, I'm truly grateful. 

    The kids and I are doing well, two years later. God's outpouring of love and mercy, during our darkest hours, kept us afloat. My children are each thriving and there never seems to be a shortage of love and laughter in our household. I can only imagine how drastically different our navigation through grief would have been had we not known our Father. 

Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are made new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. -Lamentations 3:22-23

Relishing in His goodness...

Christy 

IStndAmzd79@gmail.com