God kept me sane when I lost 6 friends/family members in a 4 year time span.
The deaths (all of which I considered as premature) occurred between 2008-2011. Two were young girls whom I viewed as little sisters (19 & 13 years old). They died months apart, and hit me the hardest. In addition, one of my uncles died on the same date as one of my girls. In the next 3 years, I lost 2 aunts and a cousin consecutively. The timing combined with the constancy of loss may have been my main source of grief. My mind and soul felt as though they were in a whirlwind. And my perspective of life hasn’t been the same since. It’s hard to explain, but despite my grief and questioning, God somehow helped me to keep moving – to keep living. What amazed me was that I had anger – but it was not towards God. I knew that God wasn’t the blame. And even though I didn’t fully understand why, I was able to find peace/rest in Him during this time. I knew the strength that pulled me through was not my own and it served as one of my witnesses to God being real in my life.
~ Courtney Richardson