What if? What if all you hoped for could really happen? Chuck challenged me early in our marriage to believe in a happy ending. I was afraid he was going to die and leave me alone. This wasn't some prophetic thing...at the time I was worried everyone I loved was going to die and leave me alone....Worse, I was worried I would be caught unaware when someone I loved was taken from me. I was still grieving my mom's death...Mom died so quickly...so unexpectedly. I promised myself to never become so complacent that I let someone slip out of my grasp again. Whatever it took, I would be prepared for the next one...the next time....

Chuck encouraged me to believe...and believe I did. Crazy how life works. Yes Chuck was taken too soon for my taste, but in reading through my blog, I see the hope there...all the way through...I believed in our happy ending. I still believe in our happy ending. I am so very, very grateful for that. I cannot begin to imagine how hard this journey would have been without HOPE. I thank God for giving me that hope. I thank God for changing my heart...changing my life...letting me live with great expectation (no small feat for my frightened heart).

I write this because my friend, Paul, brought up a great question on Sunday. What if everything you've read or heard about God, heaven, and the afterlife is true? More than that, what if everything you've heard about God's love is true? What if you really are the apple of his eye? What if all he really wants is to give to you? What if he really is the ultimate parent...what if he really can teach you to love better...live kinder...be gentler? What if he really can change you? What if he really is the way to freedom from addiction, shame, abuse? What if he really can give you a life of peace even in the amidst great suffering and pain? What if?