This weekend was a challenging one. Our family friend, Amy Frasier Wallace, lost her battle with breast cancer this past week. She was a mom of three beautiful young children, and because of that and how young she was, this has been especially hard to stomach. One of the things I've noticed surrounding her passing is how many people get stuck saying the cliches - "God needed another angel" or "It's part of God's plan" or the like. I've never really realized how infuriating and insensitive those comments are until now. I DON'T believe that God wants to cause us pain - that somehow He has a master plan that inflicts grief and suffering on His people. In fact, I believe quite the opposite. Jesus wept over the death of his friend, Lazarus. He knows the pain of losing a loved one. And because of that, He chose to die to end this pain of eternal separation. He conquered death; He does not cause it. Sunday was All Saints Day, and Trinity celebrates it in a very beautiful way with a candle lighting ceremony and reading of names of loved ones passed. I was so thankful to hear Pastor Kari's sermon, which reinforced that Christ conquered death so that we can be family forever in heaven. It is the only comfort in what otherwise is too painful to bear.
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