I like to plan ahead so my day goes smoothly. At night, I get the lunches, diaper bag and coffee pot ready. I lay out my kids clothes the night before too. In fact, this morning, I laid out the kids jammies and got the tub area ready before we even left the house. I knew we’d be gone until late, so this was a surefire way to have the kids quickly bathed and in bed immediately upon our return.

Call me OCD or call me crazy, but I’m all about making the transitions in my life easy. However, recent events made me realize that some transitions will never be easy no matter how much planning we do.

Next Tuesday, Kevin and I will be sharing our testimony again at ReEngage. While I’m excited to share our story of redemption, I’m a little uneasy…mostly because I haven’t yet re-written our ending. You see, last time we shared our testimony it ended with us coming out of a storm and celebrating the birth of a new child. Unfortunately for us, there’s a new storm on the horizon. We’ve learned so much in this past year, that I’m having trouble putting it briefly for our audience.

What I want to convey to our ReEngage couples is that you can’t plan around the storms of life… you can only prepare to weather them. While everyone’s journey is different, the truth is that there’s always a storm coming. I’m not sure what storm you’re facing, but for us, it involves the early death of our son.

So if we can’t plan around it, how do we prepare for it?

Kevin and I are preparing the only way we know how- We are praying together, reading the Bible, and being intentional & intimate in our communication & relations. We’re placing our attention on Him. Every time we center our focus on God instead of our circumstances, we are preparing for the harsh winds of life.

All that said, I’m obviously still not looking forward for what’s to come. In fact, I’m a big “why” baby. I’ve often wondered why God would allow my son to be born with this illness. I also wonder why He would send us back into other season of darkness. It’s interesting because just today I read a devotional by Christine Caine and it addressed that very issue. This is what it said-
“God’s heart beats for every lost person every single second of every single day. That’s what he wants us to remember. We, too, were once lost, but now we are found. And because we’ve been found, he has called us to be part of his search-and-rescue team.

Are you willing to take the light God brought to you to illuminate your own rescue, to others? Carrying the light is the only reason God would send you back into the dark.”

Does that last line pierce your heart like it does mine?

I was naive to think that Kevin and I had been through the worst before our marriage. The worst is yet to come. For those who’ve gone before us, I would not dare disrespect you by saying that I know what it’s like to lose a child. I don’t. In fact, there’s a lot of pain and suffering in this world that I know nothing about.

But at the end of the day, I do know this…

There are transitions in life that will never be easy. In the blink of an eye, everything we know can change. The storms of life are coming. You can’t plan around them, so how are you preparing for them?

God doesn’t call us to live in fear of what’s to come.

He just calls us to come.

Matthew 11:28 
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 

Isaiah 41:10
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 43:2
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

John 16:33
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”