A Decade.

Big thank you to the lovely and talented Heart and Glory Photography for our family pictures. 

Today marks ten years since the passing of my dad. It’s been a decade since I’ve heard his voice. A decade of life that he was not here to experience with us. While much of the sting of grief has subsided, there will always be an ache and longing to have him here to see our children grow up, to hug him, and to hear his wisdom and laughter. But the Lord, in His kindness, has carried me through the heartache and has “redeemed the years that the swarming locust has eaten.”⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

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Over this decade God has graciously replaced my paralyzing grief and anxiety with a new song. A song of peace and joy. Joy because I was his daughter for nearly 22 years. Joy because of the Gospel and the promise of a new heaven and a new earth. Joy because I can look back on a decade and see His hand of faithfulness. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

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When I remember my dad, I remember his steadfast faith. He was not perfect, as none of us are. But he stood firm on the truth of God’s Word and modeled for me an unwavering love of Christ and of the spiritual disciplines of prayer and Scripture memorization. Through cancer and constant affliction from this “thorn in the flesh,” he was never shaken. Not because he was a flawless human being, but because he was deeply rooted in Christ Jesus. ⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

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When God gave me “rooted” as my word for the year, I didn’t know all the ways He would use it to minister to me. As each day and month has passed in 2018 I’ve seen this concept unfold in the roses in my front yard and in the spiritual pruning of my heart. As I come to this ten year anniversary and the close of 2018, I now see that God chose “rooted” not just for me, but as a way to commemorate my dad’s life. 

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His life reminds me of the bigger Story. As followers of Christ, we are planted in the Good Soil and refreshed by the Living Water so that we “may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, THAT HE MAY BE GLORIFIED.” (Isaiah 61:3)⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

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May we each experience joy in all seasons as we plant our roots deeply in Him. I pray that God would till the soil of faith to bear fruit that tells of His goodness for decades to come. 

This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. ⁣⁣⁣⁣