Angie,<\/p>\n
Wow. I can’t believe it’s been 11 years. Some days it seems like yesterday and some days it seems like a lifetime ago. I don’t cry as often and I can think about you and laugh at the memory of your silly antics and goofball anecdotes.<\/p>\n
Still, there are those times that I think of you and burst into tears. In those moments I swear I would do anything to be able to hear your voice, or laugh with you, or just give you a hug. Those are the days I miss you so much it physically hurts.<\/p>\n
It’s funny to think that when we were kids we fought so much, never once thinking we wouldn’t have each other. In fact, we couldn’t wait to get away from each other most of the time. If only we would have known, huh?<\/p>\n
The hope that I have and the thing that brings me joy is that I was there. I was there when you raised your hand when the evangelist asked if anyone wanted to ask Jesus into their heart. I was there when you made your decision public by following through in believer’s baptism with the witness of our new church family. I was there to watch the change in your heart and life as the harshness that had always guarded your heart securely began to melt, and the Jesus in you began to make His way to the surface. I was there as hope started to shine in your life and joy started to take the place of bitterness and anger.<\/p>\n
What a peace that gives me since I know the Word promises that You are in the presence of our sweet Jesus. My heart aches because I miss you but I don’t hurt for you. You are where I long to be and as a follower of Christ I will someday join you in dancing before our Lord. That thought makes my heart smile.<\/p>\n
Until then I will continue to love and miss you, and occasionally burst into tears. By the way, I very much see your glimmer of orneriness in your daughter’s eyes. That makes my heart smile too.<\/p>\n
I love you and I miss you Ang.<\/p>\n
~ Kat<\/p>\n
For those of you reading this, I don’t know if my sister will ever read it. I don’t know if she can hear me “talking” to her and I certainly don’t pray to her. There is a lot about her current situation I do not know or understand because as the bible puts it, for now I see dimly but then it will all be made clear. Meaning when I join her in heaven I’ll get it, but until then I know I can stand on the promises that I do “get” and that is when she left this earth she immediately found herself amongst the Holy of Holies. And where she is now there are no tears and there is no pain. To wish her back here and away from Paradise would be the epitome of selfishness. I confess that there are times that I do fight that selfishness because I just flat miss her. But because I love my big sister, I want God’s best for her and I know she has it. She has Him.<\/p>\n
So I write this letter “to her” but for me and I share it with you. I guess because I know everyone has lost someone that they love and sometimes it’s just nice to know you’re in good company.<\/p>\n
“And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 NLT)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Angie, Wow. I can’t believe it’s been 11 years. Some days it seems like yesterday and some days it seems like a lifetime ago. I don’t cry as often and I can think about you and laugh at the memory of your silly antics and goofball anecdotes. Still, there are those times that I think […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[72,71,68,66,67,69,70],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kathyaddis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kathyaddis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kathyaddis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kathyaddis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kathyaddis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=71"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/kathyaddis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72,"href":"http:\/\/kathyaddis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71\/revisions\/72"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kathyaddis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=71"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kathyaddis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=71"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kathyaddis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=71"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}