death hurts

A very feisty, dear lady went to be with her Jesus this morning. I had the pleasure of knowing her for some of the most important of my teenage years. She was like my second mom for a lot of those years. Very wise, realistic, and honest with me. Sadly they feel like a blur to me today. I can only remember pieces of that time-- Her giggle, The way that only she could say, 'Oh, brother', but mostly, I just ache or feel numb.

Today one of my greatest comforts is-- 'We were not made to deal with death, we were made to live forever.' When Erin died I felt bad for struggling with it so much. I'm a Christian. There is life after death. It almost felt wrong to hurt so bad. Someone told me that and it changed so much for me. When mankind was created, death was NOT on the scene. Our sin brought that into the picture. So there will be a great struggle. There will be great pain. While I am grateful that she is no longer suffering, that she has received her healing,  that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I WILL see her again, death hurts. It hurts deeply. I'm so sad that life no longer includes her, that I will never be able to introduce my children to her, hear her giggle, or experience her wisdom again in this life.

As much as I loved Glenda, I didn't expect her death to hit me this hard. We've known for years that this was going to happen due to her illness, and known for weeks that she was in the final stages of the disease. I suppose that no matter how death comes, be it sudden or expected, it hurts like nothing else.

Please, pray for her husband and children. I cannot imagine the pain they feel. They have had to watch their wife and mother slowly wither away the last 5 years and today she is really gone. Please, please, cover them in your prayers.