October 21

On June 4, 2011, I got THE call.  It was my Momma telling me my Daddy had died.  I was scared.  How was I going to do life without him.  I called Carolyn and told her.  I called Susan and told her.  We started making plans to get home.  But I was scared.  Burying a parent was uncharted territory for me.

 

I was scared because Jake was in the middle of the sea somewhere circumnavigating Barinoff Island in Alaska without a phone.  I called Kenny but he was unable to reach him.  I finally had Carolyn use her contacts to contact someone in the Coast Guard.  They found his boat and had him call home.  I gave him the news on a satellite phone.  He found a nearby island and a guy with a float plane who got him to Ketchikan and from there to Seattle.  I could get him home from Seattle.  God had this all under control.

I was scared about how we were going to make it without Daddy.  How was Mom going to make it?  What about our grandkids?  Their Granddaddy was gone.  They no longer had a grandfather – either of them.  Daddy was my sounding board for so many things and who would that be in the future?  Fear crept in during those days.

But I leaned on God.  It was the only way I got through that loss.  There is no way to describe the void left in your heart when you lose that first parent.  What would I do moving forward?  Everything was going to be different now.  But as I leaned on God for strength, I came to realize that all of this was in God’s plan and was his perfect timing.  When you are afraid, you should lean on God and ask him for power and love.  He promises a sound mind, but we can’t think clearly if we are clouded with fear.  Leaning on God and not on our power which often results in fear is a much better choice for us.

I’ll close by saying this every time I end a post………….Let go, and Let God!  Don’t let fear in your life.  Use fear as a means to lean on God.