42 Days later....

David said it well for me in the Psalms...."Be merciful to me Lord, for I am faint: O Lord, heal me, for my bones are in agony.  My soul is in anguish.  How long, O Lord, how long?  Turn, O Lord, and deliver me....save me because of your unfailing love....I am weary with my sighing: every night I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with tears. My eye has wasted away with grief..."
Today was another step in closing a wound that may take a lifetime to heal.  Had picked up the stone I'd found by the river and had engraved for Barbara's headstone last week and decided today to go place it on her grave. Was actually planning to do it by myself, but just before leaving,  was talking to Samantha who decided to join me.
The scripture on the stone, "For He is our peace" was a prophetic one in our lives. We had chosen that verse for our wedding announcement, (which took place three months after we had met)  and was way before we were followers of Christ. Those five words of scripture became the foundation of our marriage and the inspiration to embark in a generational transition from what had been both of our family's lack of a godly heritage.  God took two loser misfits and wove a beautiful tapestry for His legacy through the peace He gave them, their children, and their children's children...
I was glad that Samantha came, for it was the first time she had been there since the burial and was pretty overwhelmed. We talked about a number of things, but at the end as I walked her back to her van, she was talking about how she'd heard people on their deathbeds are often calling out for family and how they equate that with God.  We laughed as we remembered Barbara's last name she called out was mine, because even though she had suffered the first stroke, she was vexed with how I was answering the doctor's questions regarding her past drug use....as if it really mattered.  But then it hit me what Sam had just said, and it came to me those last words that Fantine and Eponine sing as saints to Jean Valjean on his deathbed in Les Miz...
                      "To love another person is to see the face of God".........
Thank you Father for the gift you gave me in Barbara....for it was through my love for her that I finally saw Your face....
In His grip,
Papa Tripp