To Comfort Others

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 

who comforts us in all our troubles, 

so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

What a privilege and honor it was to visit Manhattan Christian Academy today to speak with an amazing group of sixth, seventh and eighth graders.

• To share KK's story.
• To share my story.
• To cry.
• To laugh.
• To recall that God knows the number of our days and cancer (or a heart attack) can't change that.
• To speak into their lives.
• To listen.
• To remember both KK and Mr. Hobbs (I'm sure I would have liked the self-proclaimed "Black Brady").
• To comfort one another.
• To hug (yes, to hug).
• To give them permission to be sad or even angry in their grief.
• To remind them to talk to God about how they're feeling -- even if their anger is directed at Him -- because He has big shoulders and can handle it.
• To make it clear that sickness, death and disease were never part of God's plan, but having them spend eternity with Him is.
• To advise them to continue to talk to their teachers and to support one another.
• And, ultimately, to share God's story of redemption.

Oh, The Places You'll Go

On Monday of last week, I let my boss know that I would be taking Thursday, January 24 as my day off since the MLK Jr. holiday landed on my normal day off. I didn't have anything special planned for the day except to rest (something I've been learning to plan into my schedule). Little did I know what was to come.

The next day, I received an email from a friend that listened to the Hey Girl! episode (where I shared my journey) on Monday morning. When he was driving home that night, he had a "crazy idea" to ask me if I would be willing to share my story with students at a Christian school in New York City that are struggling with the sudden loss of a beloved teacher/coach. He wondered if I would be available "next week" on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.

As soon as I received the email, I knew that God had orchestrated the details so that this "crazy idea" would coincide with my extra day off. So tomorrow I head into NYC to listen, to mourn with those who mourn, and to share how I grieve with Hope.

When I went to counseling yesterday, I told Dr. Chuck about all that had transpired since the last time we met before Christmas...about how I shared my story on Bethany's podcast as well as the opportunity to go to NYC. I marveled at how God redeems everything if we allow Him to. He asked, "What else are you open to doing?"  I answered, "Whatever God has planned."