I’ve started and stopped this post several times. What words could I ever string together to explain what the last year has been like.
One year ago today I got up like every other Sunday morning and headed to worship with my church family. But by the end of the day I was in the cardiac care unit at a local hospital with a 2-1/2 inch stent. Who could ever have guessed a 42-year-old healthy woman with no risk factors would have had a major heart attack … while singing with the choir at her church?
It still seems surreal to me.
But here’s the thing, as much as I’m working hard to take care of myself and stay heart healthy, I learned something far more valuable on April 27, 2014.
Life has no guarantees.
Four years ago today, tornadoes ripped through north Alabama. Across the state over 200 lives were lost. Every day people I know are still sorting through the sorrow and loss they experienced April 27, 2011.
Life has no guarantees.
Marriages end. Loved ones die. Children rebel. Churches split. Friendships break. We find ourselves overwhelmed by the weight of expectation and obligation. Not enough time. Not enough money.
And when it feels like we can’t go another step, when we begin to wonder if anything we do really matters, when we question if the hard times are ever going to end, we must remember these words of Christ:
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. John 16:33
Life has no guarantees. We will face the trials and the tribulations. We will experience the sorrow and the loss. We will know doubt and fear and struggle.
But that isn’t the whole of our story. Because in the middle of the strife and heartache, we can know the peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7). Because Jesus … the healer, the restorer, the Word, the way, the hope, the light … Jesus has overcome.
And in Him we are more than conquerors!
So today, whatever you are facing, my prayer is simply this: that you will know His presence and walk in His strength.
xo,
Teri Lynne
P.S. Thank you to all of you who have prayed and loved me so well over the past year. I’m overwhelmed by how generously God has blessed me with friends both online and off. And, so you know, I’m doing great!
Kate Battistelli says
I love this and love and miss you! I’m so glad what you experienced a year ago was only a wake-up call and not your call home. Yet in it all, you give God the glory and your perspective is exactly right, it ISNT the whole of the story, Jesus is! Hugs and love to you my friend!
Teri Lynne Underwood says
I miss you too, Kate! And I am so thankful for your wisdom and friendship. You are a gift to me and I am forever thankful the Lord crossed our paths.