Our family has been on an interesting journey over the last 10 days.  In the middle of last week, I ran over our 15 year old cat while backing out of the garage with my girls in the car.  He’s mostly deaf and although the car was running for at least a minute, he never heard it in order to get moving.  It was awful!  Now, well over a week later, he’s still hanging in there, but due to his age this trauma has proven to be too much.  We know that he has days left with us, as we can’t fix what’s wrong and we won’t allow him to suffer any longer.

It has brought such interesting tendancies to light in our lives.  Bottom line, we want to avoid sadness at all costs.  I don’t want to feel the sadness, I don’t want my kids to feel the sadness, Mark doesn’t want me to feel sadness, and we would do anything to protect each other from it.  The problem is that if we try and protect each other from this, we are actually robbing each other of valuable emotions such as grief, gratitude, longing, and closure.  These emotions, although sometimes painful, are precisely the moments when God shows up at His best.  It is often in the sadness that our Comforter, Peacemaker, Healer, and Tear-drier shines His brightest.

It is also a valuable lesson that life is hard in this broken world.  Happiness is elusive, but Christ’s love is a firm foundation to stand on.  Unfortunately my girls and our family will face darker days than our favorite cat dying at a ripe old age.  This is simply training ground for holding on to joy in the midst of the sadness for the young hearts we are raising.  If we try to make it go away or shove it under a proverbial rug, we are not equipping them to handle what else may come their way.

And so, we will march on through the sadness and let Jesus go to the places in those small hearts where He needs to go.  I trust Him with their sadness (and mine, too) and I know He will use it to birth in them perseverance, compassion, and depth.  We really can’t go through life avoiding sadness or we will miss out on some of the most beautiful experiences in our humanity.

Thanks for all the well wishes for our family!  We serve such a good God and I’m so grateful that He’s got my kids in His hands!

I hope that this blog finds you at the end of a great Thanksgiving holiday!  We spent the weekend with my husband’s family and enjoyed ourselves a lot!  Mark’s flu from last week was gone within 24 hours, so thankfully he was able to eat plenty of yummy food.

Thanks to K.C. for jumping in to the media team at Hazel Dell.  As she found out, it’s really easy and fun!  If you are interested in volunteering in that area, but think you’ll be lost, you won’t!  Everything is laid out right in front of you and it’s basically clicking the next button when you’re done with the previous one.  You can volunteer for that or any other position at coffeechurch.com under the Resources link.  People always ask us where we NEED them…the answer is anywhere you want to be.  We have at least one open spot in every area, so jump in to volunteering today!

I spent first service in with KidCity.  There is nothing more fun than watching your kids learn the Bible and worship!  FYI…lots of times I paint the picture like my kids just always LOVE church and want to go.  It’s not always the case.  They are just like your kids, and some days they want to sleep in and play hooky.  They just know that most of the time that is not an option, so they suck it up and usually end up having a good time.  The best way to help your kids love church is to go so often that they have the opportunity to make friends.  That goes the same for you!

My daughter, Delaney, had a school choir performance after church.  Man, she’s beautiful and sweet!  I loved watching her sing her little guts out!

For those of you following my cat drama, Max is doing pretty well today and seems to be healing, although he isn’t eating as well as he needs to.  For those of you not following my cat drama, I may or may not have run over my 15 year old cat, whom we adore…yeah, it was a long week…

I love this story posted by my friend on my Facebook – “And there was a woman in our Church on Sunday, visiting from California. A woman who grew up in a non-Christian home and who has always been turned off by “Christians”. She always felt judged and like an outcast. She had tears in her eyes during worship and told me several times after the service on Sunday that she “loved my church” and wants to “look for a church like mine” when she gets home. This is an answer to prayer!! Thank you…for being you North Creek.”  That’s why we do what we do!

I hope you enjoy the upcoming Christmas season!  Spend your time loving your family, telling the story of Christ, and believing for miracles.  Be blessed!