The Past Ten Days and Processing

Hello,

I'm sorry if you're here looking for my regular posts. I'll hopefully get back to those soon, but in the meantime, life has quite turned upside down, and I've stayed away from much of the regular online stuff in the past ten days.

Ten days ago, our dear friend and mentor, Peb Smith, died suddenly, unexpectedly, from a heart attack. I have been in utter shock. If you know me or have been reading The Scarlett Thread from the beginning, you may remember that Peb is our friend who was a physician and was called out of medicine to start a ministry in Kenya. Bob went twice to Kenya with Peb. They also had some amazing experiences together over the years. I won't go into all that now. Bob just happened to be in Texas when we found out the terrible news. The next day Peb's family asked Bob to do his funeral service. He extended his trip and drove to north Texas to be with them and celebrate Peb's life. What an privilege for Bob. Please pray for Peb's family, as they adjust to this incredible loss and learn to live on this earth without their husband, dad and granddad. Please also pray for the ministry and the beautiful ones in Kenya who are also grieving over this tremendous loss.

In the meantime, just two hours before Peb's memorial service on Tuesday, we had a crisis of our own. Again, I won't go into the details, but our dear 10 year old had a collision on the soccer field and fractured her ankle/leg/foot in two places. It was severe enough that we went to the ER in an ambulance, a first for both of us. And severe enough to require emergency surgery that night. It was all quite traumatic for her and she is still pretty fragile. She has a massive cast and is basically immobile, so it's been overwhelming for my very active girl.

I would appreciate your prayers for all of us. I am processing much and just focusing on my sweet family right now. I know that God is good, always good. He is the One I have leaned on every single step of the past ten days. I will continue to worship and honour Him. And even through my tears, I will sing to Him and lift His name. Not because He caused any of these things to happen and I have to honour Him in spite of it all, but because He is a good Father Who can and will bring something good out of each heartache and moment of grief. He is love and He loves us flawlessly. He promises that His thoughts and plans include a future and a hope for us, and I take Him at His Word.

Blessings and love. xo