All I can say???
Wow.
And for the love, TAKE KLEENEXES.
If you have ever lost a loved one, or watch someone you love go through a debilitating sickness, or ever lost faith, or ever questioned there is a God......
This Is Your Movie.
Without spoiling the movie for anyone, I just have to share my heart.
I heard people talking among themselves as they were leaving the theatre "How is that a true story" "Oh sure THAT happened".... and I am here to tell you...
Oh you Doubting Thomas's.....
Miracles Happen.
I lived through one. By the name of Laynie Hope. And it was Spectacular.
I knew every word of that movie, because I watched Lacey live it. I was that mom, yelling in the ER at the poor little nurse that came in to insert Laynie's IV, demanding she get a more experienced person in there to take care of our baby...
When I saw the mom come to the realization that she needed God more desperately than she had ever needed Him before, when her daughter fell in that tree, and when she knelt beside the tree in submission, in full out prayer.....I remember, Christmas Eve of 2009, after they were unsuccessful being able to access an IV for Laynie, with her blood counts critical, sending her home, because there wasn't any more they could do, and then she developed whooping cough, and I came home from Lacey's, so heartbroken, and I fell to the floor in my bedroom, first on my knees, praying and crying out to God to PLEASE don't take her yet, I just wasn't ready to let her go, and to PLEASE GOD, grant us more time. Then finally all the way in humble submission, full out on the floor, crying, begging God to please not take her. And He answered our prayers, giving us 7 more incredible months, letting our hearts prepare, giving us the time we needed to say good-bye, and all the lessons we learned during that time.
So, yes, that movie spoke to me.
Then the little girl describes heaven....... I pictured Laynie, and I just lost it, friends. Poor Steven, crying along with me, trying to comfort me, watching me just ugly cry in the theater.
Our precious little friend, Payten Sutterfield, (at age 3), when Laynie passed away, saw her mommy crying, and told her, "Mommy, don't be sad, she's running and running and running.....with Jesus". I have to tell you....that little statement had a profound effect on our family. It still does to this day. We make TEAM HOPE tshirts every year, and they always have that saying on it, and if we ever start to feel the loss of our girl, we tell ourselves, "She's running and running and running"....and it gets us through.
When you have had a significant event happen to you, it changes you. It can change you for the better, or it can turn your heart black. I've seen both things happen. Some people blame God for all their problems, instead of leaning into Him and letting Him carry them. Some people, it changes their hearts so radically that they are forever changed. That is me.
I've said this a lot, but I believe it completely. God is not the good ship lollipop. He doesn't sit in the heavens and look down and play chess with people's lives. You are born with your last day imprinted on you. Some live to be 105. Some live to be 16. Some live 29 months, and profoundly impact everyone around them in a way, that changes them forever.
Don't miss the miracles, waiting for the answered prayer. The miracles are all the million things that occur every day. I get them every single day.
Every. Single. Day.
And it never fails to bring me to tears. And I stop what I am doing, and I throw up a "THANK YOU, God, I know that was you" to the heavens, because I believe what I believe. I could spend an hour on here telling you all the miracles that happen to our family all the time, but I won't, because I pray that you will stop wishing so hard for what you think you want, and revel and bask in the goodness of what God Brings You Every Single Day.
There's another thing I would be remiss if I didn't say it. We watched this movie after hearing an incredible service at church today. In church, the message was mainly about not getting caught up in the "church", but more about the "relationship" with God. It's not about the RELIGION, it's about the RELATIONSHIP. And I 100% believe that. God isn't going to care that you sat your butt in a pew 52 weeks a year on Sunday, and tithed your 10%, like a good little Christian, and leave that church every Sunday and not think about it again until the next sunday. He wants your heart. He wants you to seek Him out, and have a RELATIONSHIP with Him. He wants to KNOW YOU. And if you don't put effort into that, how will He KNOW you? Read your bible, spend time in prayer. Turn the radio on KLOVE and let the words of the songs speak truth in your life. Give it a whirl.....If you're a miserable mess, and can't find your way out of whatever spot you are in, it's time to hand the reins over to someone that can do something about it......start praying through it.
Don't scoff until you try it. Because I know what I know. You won't believe it.
Don't Miss the miracles.
