Clinging to hope

"I pray you'll suffer loss - and witness how your Creator can use all things for good."

Suffering and loss.  We will all have to face it.  It's inevitable in our fallen, imperfect world.  No matter how prepared you think you are for it, no matter economic status or spiritual maturity - loss comes.  We have but one hope, our Jesus and his promise.  

Loss comes on various levels, from the loss of a home due to foreclosure to the loss of a loved one. Every time we enter a new town we make friends.  We enjoy our time together, and we learn from them and then we have to leave.  With leaving come the tears from me and my boys and my husbands heart melts for us.  It's there.  We know every time that we will be leaving and that tears will be shed but I wouldn't trade the opportunity to get to know all the wonderful people we have come to call friends.  I love Lisa's wise words in regards to loss;  "To cope, my kids had to know that it was okay to feel agony, but they also needed to cling to hope."  Should we never dare to live?  Shall we just sit and pray no bad will come our way?  That is not God's plan for any of us!  The losses that we may suffer in this journey, even those that seem beyond comprehension, are to simply bring us closer to God.