#295 Forever …it is not a destination.

#295

When you think about forever what does it look like to you ? So when you make that commitment to spend forever with someone for better or for worse what does that look like to you ? I’m pretty sure most walking down the aisle would never even think to imagine that their happily ever after on this side of Heaven would look anything like my friend on Facebook and my dear Sister in Christ Ashley Smith Taylor’s walk down the aisle. But I got a feeling if she had to walk down the aisle to her beloved Dallas and do it all over again she would retake every last step and do it all over again. I’ve been following Ashley’s love story and keeping her ,her family and her husband Dallas in my prayers who sure could use them right now for quite some time . I’ve never seen a stronger woman of Faith . Dallas and Ashley are living proof to me that God calls his best and bravest warriors for the toughest of battles. I believe he does this to inspire the rest of us . To show the rest of us how it’s to be done. What it means when you say the words , ” In sickness and in health ….” being there for eachother is so easy when your both healthy. But have you ever watched a man care for his wife when his wife is not well ? It’s the most beautiful thing to witness. Sometimes I wonder if that isn’t half the reason why God doesn’t allow a woman to get sick if only to have a man learn compassion for a woman because it really does bring out a side of a man that is a softer side that you don’t see too much . Recently my Mom fell ill to covid . Did you know you could get covid even after getting the covid vaccination? Well if you didn’t know that , you can. Moving on. But that’s really not what got my Mom so sick. While she did get diagnosed with the covid virus . What really caused my Mom’s system more problems was something completely different. Talk about being down and out. My Mom is still recuperating at home. As my Mom is trying to regain her strength daily. My Dad told me the strangest thing the other day. That he’s been walking with my Mom 2x a day down the street and back. It almost made me want to cry when he told me that. In my 48 years on this earth. I can’t remember a time when my Mom and Dad took a walk together anywhere. Never wait until your wife or husband becomes so gravely sick to make time for a nice walk together. Because if you don’t. God will make sure he makes time for the both of you to do it together before your times up. It really is a beautiful thing to watch a man love a woman and a woman love a man especially when they are keeping the promise they made under God when they said their vows ” In sickness and in health .. for better or for worse ..” Because when one is so sick . Sometimes it just doesn’t get any worse then that . Especially when one must go home .The night I took my Mom into the Emergency Room . She wasn’t getting better . She was only getting worse. She didn’t even tell my Dad. We had been on the phone and I could tell she was scared . I don’t think I even gave her a choice . I think I just said I was coming into town to take her. Like all parents. She didn’t want to be a bother. I knew my Dad would have took her to the hospital . He even said he would have but I was already on my way in plus it was pretty late. As we were making our way across the parking lot I seen my Mom’s Cousins Ronnie and Laurie . Of course we had our masks on so we had to tell them who we were. They were just leaving the ER. Ronnie has been caring for Laurie his wife for quite sometime. My Mom’s Cousin Laurie just turned 65 in February and the last few years haven’t been too good to her healthwise. I don’t know why life is like that for some. I guess some crosses are heavier for others. I just know Ronnie’s got lighter this week. Though I don’t think he wanted it too. Because if Ronnie had his way he would have carried that heavy cross till forever because I don’t believe that cross was heavy for Ronnie at all. Because I think when you love someone so much the cross that you bear isn’t heavy at all . This week. On Friday. We’ll be laying the love of Ronnie’s life to rest and in the arms of Jesus Christ . My Cousin Laurie and Sister in Christ was called home on Sunday August 15th , 2021. When I heard the news , I thought of Ashley Taylor Smith . It was her words that brought me comfort. It was in her moments of distress that brought me the greatest of ease. Isn’t that strange? How God can take someone’s moment of despair and bring someone else true peace. When Ashley captured a picture of her holding her Husband Dallas’s hand and she wrote , ‘ Forever is not a destination.. it is a promise.’ I know in that moment . Ashley was clinging to hope and needed all the prayers she could get. Ashley is still clinging to hope and prayers. I will always believe and remember the words my Aunt Dolores once said to me , ‘ We have a God in the business of miracles and business is always good!’ Yes he and yes it is Aunt Dee! If your reading this will you please send prayers up for the Dallas and Ashley Smith Taylor Family and prayers up for the Ronnie and Laura (Mendez) Beitler Family. Thank God for the 65 years he did give this world Laurie because she did make it better then what it was and Give God all the Glory because forever is NOT a destination…It is a promise and the devil does not want you to know that.