Our Night of Weeping

...weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. -Psalm 30:5b

The LORD, in His wisdom, has taken from me my dearest friend.

I have been blessed.

Joycie and I recently celebrated thirty years together.

Last night, my daughters (Sandy and my adopted daughter April) sorted through a young mountain of photos, gathering up memories. My adopted daughter Candy punched up a list of songs as we shouted out Joyce's favorites.

I was reminded again and again how blessed I am.

Of how God came out of nowhere, in the most unlikely place, with the love of my life.

And how we proceeded to weather life's storms, thanks mostly to the love and perseverance of this wife, this mom.

I was the rock, oh yes. But she was the glue that held this rock in place.

Since Jesus found me, out flopping around in a self-created wilderness, I have tried to remember to thank Him every day for this best of wives, this Proverbs 31 woman.

How grievous it has been to see her suffer a seemingly endless round of affliction. How often have my prayers and the prayers of our Christian family gone up begging God for her healing.

And yesterday morning, He granted those prayers.

As usual, His providing was not the one we had in mind.

As always, it was the right one, the best one, the perfect one.

The LORD has given so much, and in so many ways.

And He has taken something I would have said I could not live without. But this is a temporary taking, you see. And, as always, what he gives in return for what we surrender to Him is so much more precious.

Blessed be the name of the LORD.

For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. -Isaiah 55:12