When Tragedy Strikes...

My dad wrote this on a wipe off board in my garage, a while before I had to hear the call, that he died in a tragic accident just hours before he was going to pick me up from the airport.(if you didn't know, you can click here to read it, it's too hard to talk about all the details still)

Yesterday, I hadn't heard about the gut-wrenching, tragedies that happened at the school shooting, and then the stabbings in China, until way later than when it happened. My heart just sank and I felt like I just wanted to be able to rewind it and and see if I could make it not happen, if I could.

I can't imagine what those parents must have felt yesterday. I can try and I just feel like throwing up and crying and I know how I felt when I got the call that my dad had tragically died- it was too instant, I did not want to hear it, believe it, I wanted to crawl out of my body, nothing felt good or comfortable, nothing felt ok, I did not want this to be real, to be my life, I just wanted to yell or pass out. I can only imagine what those parents felt, what the family of the teachers and adults there felt...

The sad part of this life, is that it is filled with sadness, evil, hurt, tragedy, evil people who do evil things, and the most important part...it's filled with hope.

The beauty is, I believe anyway, (and I hope no one gets offended by me talking about God, it is just what I believe and I understand if you don't agree with me, but I just hope you will listen with a kind ear to what my heart clings to. If you don't believe the same things, I understand, but I hope that maybe just talking about how I feel, might make you feel a little love in your heart too)

that God gave us the choice to do what we want in this world, some people choose to believe in God, some don't, some people choose to be kind and some people, whether they are mentally sound or not, choose to do evil, awful, and disgusting things, that's just part of life. The choices we make, that this world is not perfect..but heaven is.

Heaven is where God says, this is mine, here there will be no hurting, no pain, no death, everyone will be made perfect, it is just love, the choice is that you made to choose love and choose heaven, and there is no evil there at all! I know my dad is there, and FOREVER is so much longer than this little tiny life!

I pray for all the people who heard the news that their loved one was hurt or killed yesterday...I pray that God would comfort their heart, fill them with the peace and hope that they can see their precious loved one again, that Jesus is holding their precious babies in his arms in heaven...free of the pain of this world, and they are waiting, to welcome them to heaven, for an eternity free of pain and full of more joy and love than this world can only imagine...

My dad had written "HAPPY DAY!" in my garage...and as I drove into my garage the first time, after knowing he wasnt' alive anymore (oh this is still so hard to type, blurry teary eyes)...I saw those words and I just cried even more...

But now, I look at those words and I think...no this is a happy day! My dad would only want me to make this a happy day! IT is happy because I know he's in heaven, happier than he's ever been, and I will spend, not years, but eternity with him.

We must take this life, what time we have left...be thankful, be hopeful, live in such a way that we pour love and kindness on all those around us, because you have no idea the hurt that someone is going through...

and if you have a loved one, now waiting for you in heaven...

live with a little extra love in your heart, from them, to share with the world..and know

THAT HEAVEN is not at far off as you think...AND AN ETERNITY with them, sure beats this short, problem-filled little life....

I am sending huge hugs to all of you, from my heavy heart to yours....may some of this weight be replaced with overwhelming love, your kandee

I love this song...

as my eyes are filled with tears trying to see my keyboard right now...I can't wait for the day in Heaven when tears are no more....please, please feel the love and hugs I'm sending to your heart too..