"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Fathers house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place I am going."
Today is my son Donnie's birthday's. It's hard to believe he's been gone almost eight years. I've been asked before (and maybe you have too) whether, with the passing of time if I'm over it. I can clearly say 'yes' and 'no'. Those of you who have been there know what I'm talking about. We grieve, we heal, we think, 'okay, I'm ready to move on.' Then just at that time we face another obstacle we didn't even know we had. Maybe it was a favorite song our child loved. Perhaps someone suggests a special place where we used to go with our child and we find ourselves unable to do so because we fear the memory will hurt too much. And sometime just the 'mention' is enough of a reminder to send us spinning.
I have one of those obstacles. It had to do with a Christmas Tradition and Donnie. When he was little, we'd watch all the Christmas specials on television. But there was one in particular (which I'd rather not say because it is so close to my heart) that I found I couldn't watch. Just thinking about it hurt.
Thank God for divine intervention.
Last evening I turned on the television. I was going to watch a program a friend recommended. Instead the Christmas special I used to watch with Donnie has just started. I didn't change the channel this time. I instead, sat down and watched. It was just like yesterday, with four year old Donnie sitting next to me, crumbs falling from his little hands as he ate his cookies and the calming presence of the Lord surrounding us. Total peace. This was one of those 'your days of mourning will end' moments.
Some people might say the whole thing is a fluke. Not so. God always knows what He's doing and He appoints the time to do it.
I feel like I've been given the best Christmas gift of all; 'Yesterday Once More'
May you be blessed...
Mary Netreba
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