Good Advice

10.18.13

    On Friday, we had a lunch date with one of the guys I use to work with at my previous job. He is a fellow believer, and he was the first person we saw when we got out of the car at the memorial service. He had handed us the book with some of his and his wife's favorite Bible verses on them, and the book is now on Alex's nightstand for us to look at.

     We talked for a good 30 minutes on catching up things, some work things, and some discussion of the memorial service and everything that we had learned up to this point (including how long we were suppose to wait before trying again- yay!). Andy knew the girl I had been extremely jealous of (see previous post), and I told him that I was still really struggling with that. I mean, really, really struggling with that. I would still have moments when I would just sit and cry over my daughter and how much I missed her and how empty I felt (both physically and emotionally). I had asked Andy to pray for me for that, and of course he said he would. He also gave us some really cool advice: he recommended that we try to start memorizing scripture so that whenever we started going down the roads of "why" or jealousy or whatever unhealthy attitude we had, we could just redirect our thoughts by reciting scripture. I really like that idea and have tried to put it into practice. Of course, my favorite verse is the one on Kaitlyn's urn, but I had stumbled across a few more that I really love.

    Before we had Kaitlyn, I had been stocking up on Christian music for some reason. I have never been a big Christian music lover (because it all kind of sounds the same), but its funny to me now how God decided to prepare me for things without me knowing it. I had downloaded Chris Tomlin's Burning Lights CD (it was on sale the previous month on iTunes), and the very first song is called "Awake my soul". I hadn't even taken the time to listen to the whole CD until after Kaitlyn passed, but that very first song came on my phone one day while I had it on shuffle, and I just broke down crying because the verse it sings about is this:

Ezekiel 37: 1-14

The Lord’s power overcame me, and while I was in the Lord’s spirit, he led me out and set me down in the middle of a certain valley. It was full of bones. 2 He led me through them all around, and I saw that there were a great many of them on the valley floor, and they were very dry.

3 He asked me, “Human one, can these bones live again?”

I said, “Lord God, only you know.”

4 He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, Dry bones, hear the Lord’s word! 5 TheLord God proclaims to these bones: I am about to put breath in you, and you will live again. 6 I will put sinews on you, place flesh on you, and cover you with skin. When I put breath in you, and you come to life, you will know that I am the Lord.”

7 I prophesied just as I was commanded. There was a great noise as I was prophesying, then a great quaking, and the bones came together, bone by bone. 8 When I looked, suddenly there were sinews on them. The flesh appeared, and then they were covered over with skin. But there was still no breath in them.

9 He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, human one! Say to the breath, The Lord God proclaims: Come from the four winds, breath! Breathe into these dead bodies and let them live.”

10 I prophesied just as he commanded me. When the breath entered them, they came to life and stood on their feet, an extraordinarily large company.

11 He said to me, “Human one, these bones are the entire house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished. We are completely finished.’ 12 So now, prophesy and say to them, The Lord God proclaims: I’m opening your graves! I will raise you up from your graves, my people, and I will bring you to Israel’s fertile land. 13 You will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you up from your graves, my people. 14 I will put my breath[a] in you, and you will live. I will plant you on your fertile land, and you will know that I am the Lord. I’ve spoken, and I will do it. This is what the Lord says.”

Here's a link to listen to the song, it spoke to me on so many different levels and I hope you like it. I like to remember verse 14 whenever I start feeling overwhelmed. Another promise from God that I am clinging to.