Today as I was preparing to write and praying, God kept bringing this to my mind: Be Still and rest in My presence.
My heart is a bit heavy today. I can’t think of the first day of fall without remembering my daughter’s first best friend: Jared Wells.
They met in kindergarten and quickly became inseperable. Two peas in a pod. (By the way, the pictures up above came from my daughters scrapbook ). His mother, Paula, and I also became good friends bonding over our love of the Lord, our daily walks after we took the kids to school, and life in general. Many afternoons of sun, fun, and laughter were spent together. We even had the pleasure to take him to Disneyland for the first time! 🙂
Their friendship lasted until around third grade when they moved away to Arizona. This was before Facebook and all other social media platforms so keeping in touch wasn’t as simple. Life got busy: we moved, they moved, I had another daughter, etc.
I’d like to say I kept in touch on Facebook once it became available, but it’s a chore to me to post, because I don’t like posting about myself in general. And, my daughter Suzanne, was not allowed to have her own Facebook profile until she was 18–I know, mean mom!! So, Facebook became more of a visual way of keeping in touch rather than a communication tool.
Years went by, middle school, and finally we get to senior year–2014/2015. Ironically, I started reading the book of Job on the first day of Fall 2014. The reason I can say this is because several times the Lord has placed it very strongly on my heart to read the Bible cover to cover and date it as I go along, almost as though I am journaling through it. Here is an image of my bible dated on that particular day.
About two days later, I got a very strong prompting to check my friend Paula’s Facebook page. It was so incredibly strong I couldn’t ignore it.
I remember letting out a small scream and crying as I read the beginning of her post:
Jared Wells 1997-2014
Apparently, September 23rd–the first day of Fall–he was out running before school, training for a marathon, when he was hit by a van and instantly killed. He was a senior in high school and planned for a career in the military. My heart broke that day for so many reasons and I pray often for his parents and sisters.
I sought God’s wisdom and discernment on how and when to tell my daughter. She is extremely sensitive and this was her first real experience with loss. It was several weeks before we had the conversation, but in my heart of hearts I knew she had some inclination to it and I’ll explain why.
About a week after Jared passed away he would have celebrated his birthday. He loved pumpkin pie and would have wanted it for his birthday. Through social media, his mother asked everyone to have pumpkin pie on his birthday, in his honor, and post the pictures. Tons of pictures poured onto her page.
Before I told my daughter what had happened to Jared we celebrated her 18th birthday. What kind of cake did she want?! Pumpkin pie!!! She never asked for that before and she hasn’t since. I can’t help but think that somehow this was connected to Jared, and their strong friendship. I believe, through Christ our hearts and souls are connected, even after death. Even though in her mind she didn’t know the loss, her heart did.
It warmed my heart so much that night and I thought of Jared. What an amazing best friend he was to my daughter the first few years of school and what an amazing young man he was becoming.
I shared all of that with her and she knows, like me, what a gift people are to us and we should never take any relationship or day for granted. Everything we receive are gifts from God and today, even more than usual, I cherish everything.
So, yes, today God I am resting in your Prescence. I am going to Be still. Be thankful. Love every person you have allowed me to share my life with and share the hope that your Son, Jesus, can bring to every person!!
All the glory to God,
Shanon
Image of “Be Still…” by CHEKABC–Christian Schooling @ home http://chekabc.ca/blog/be-still-and-know-that-i-am-god
Heaven Sent Sentiments 