Heart Breaking

Today I'm heading to a funeral.  I haven't seen this man for about 11 years but still my heart breaks a little thinking about it.  The last time I saw him he was a few days out of a coma and shortly after he had to be admitted to a rehabilitation center as his injuries didn't allow him to be  cared for at home.  He was my best friends dad and was in a coma due to the car accident that took my best friends life.  A few weeks ago it was the 11th anniversary of that accident and every year I can't help but think how that accident changed their family's life and also my own. 

 They had a small family just a mom, dad, son and daughter.  I used to go over often to play when I was little and to hang out as we got older, I'll never forget the love that they had for each other and for myself as well and I will always treasure those memories.  

That day, my friend Amanda, was driving from the mall to a Bible study with her dad in the car.  She didn't gauge the turn correctly and ended up being hit by a car.  She died a few hours later.  

I got my own license a few months later and I know her accident caused me to be a more cautious driver.  Personally it is what showed me there was a God and that He loved me.   Yes, it was a horrible horrible time in my life but through it I felt God's love for me in a real and tangible way. Since that day I have been able to rest in that knowledge knowing that love has carried me through some of my toughest days.  

As for Amanda's family, her mother died a couple years after she did while I was on a missions trip to Haiti.  I wasn't able to go to that funeral but I did visit her shortly before her passing.  Now her father has also passed.  My heart and prayers go out to her brother, and I ask you to also keep him in your prayers today.  That he would feel that same love strengthen him to get through these tough days ahead.