Page 8
H
ave you ever experienced such heartache that you couldn't even put it into words? Even though many years may have lapsed, simply trying to talk about it makes you well up? I have. It has taken me a long time to pen the emotions that cloud my world at times. I have rattled my brain trying to understand why things in life happen the way they do and I struggle to live with the pain of irreconcilable situations. Without going into unnecessary detail, I just need to say that my heart hurts over my relationship with my daughter. Try as I may, I never seem to say or do the right things and I end up shrugging my shoulders in defeat. We all have skeletons in our closets; we all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We all need forgiveness from the Lord; we all need to forgive and to be forgiven, to love one another and strive to work together to live in harmony. It's when the other person can't forgive... how do you go on living each day with a
Our 3rd Anniversary!
July 2021
In and Out of the Fire
smile on your face? We know that the other party may be hurting as well, but when communication breaks down, there is
I was coming off my lunch break and heading back to work in my car, listening to a gospel radio program one day
no way to come to any resolution. The Bible tells us in Colossians 3:15: "Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others." Ephesians 4:31-32 says, "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." As Christians, we strive to be Christ-like by walking in His ways and loving each other like He loves us, but when the other person doesn't share your convictions, it's very difficult to work through conflicts.
in 2002, when God spoke to me. It was as though God was in my car with me. Words cannot even describe the sense of warmth and intimacy that came over and surrounded me at that point, and when He spoke, His voice was the voice of pure love and tenderness. He said to me, "Do not worry for Krystle, for I will let things happen to her, so that I can bring her unto Myself." I wasn't frightened, and never have I felt, nor heard a voice more beautiful and peaceful in my entire life. That was all He said, but Jesus was telling me to trust Him; to lean not on my own understanding, but to cast my burdens upon Him (Proverbs 3:5).
Many years passed, yet nothing really changed between my daughter and me. I had been living in NL for a couple of years at this time when, one day, I received a call from her significant other saying that Krystle wanted to talk to me. Once again the conversation became difficult, but before she hung up, she told me that she was expecting her first child, my first grandchild. I was overjoyed; my first grandchild! On June 15, 2011, my beautiful grandson, Austin, was born. It wasn't easy; there was almost four thousand km between us, but I managed to visit him three times over the next five years before Krystle again cut the cords on our relationship. Five more years have passed since then and I haven't seen or heard from her, nor have I spoken to my grandson, who is now ten years old. My heart breaks; I think of all the time lost when we could have been loving on one another, but instead, there's silence and disconnect. Just a few months back, I began doubting if God ever spoke to me that day, almost twenty
