I am feeling how Joy can be deeper than happiness, and how it can transform the current of mourning.  I believe with all my heart that Jesus has overcome the grave, but the grave in the moment is right here- My father is not with us anymore-  He is in God's presence, in a place where sorrow, pain, and doubt are overwhelmed by an immensity of Joy and worship that is unimaginable.  While I feel a deep sadness thinking about the reality of not hearing his voice around the house, not starting campfires with him, or not praying with him again on earth, I know that this is not the end of his story, and that it is not the end of our stories.  He has begun something entirely new and beautiful in the presence of God, and until we join him there some day, we can know that our work is to glorify the same God her on earth.  We are working alongside him to honor the Lord.  That is a Joy, and it overwhelms sadness and reframes the mourning that we are in.        


Didrik used the word immense in his last post.  God's goodness is just that- It has enveloped us over the past three weeks like the space around us.  All of the prayer, community, uncertainty, and love that encircled the last days of my father's life has been confusing, but it has been deeply beautiful.  I feel honored and blessed to be a part of what God has been doing, and to join with all of you who have interceded and poured out love to my father and my family.  God's Love is bigger than death, and Jesus has overcome the grave.  Papa is integrated in to the fabric of that reality now in a way that is hard to imagine, and we are so blessed to see glimpses of it here on earth, where His kingdom is already and not yet present.