Joy Comes in the Morning

Psalms 30:5 says that our sorrow may last for the night but joy comes with the morning. Well, I will say that on Friday night, I just couldn't see how that joy was going to come. And it didn't come the next morning. I was in North Carolina for my uncle Thomas' memorial service and everything was just hard. It was hard to be in his house, remember the times that we had been there with him and to have him missing. Adding to the tragedy of the accident, was the fact that we did not know if he was a believer or not. It was very discouraging and did not seem like there was hope.

On Saturday, I was looking through my uncle's bookshelves and came across a Bible and a devotional book. That gave me pause and made me wonder. (Disclaimer--he had more books than anyone I know. There were full bookshelves in every room in his home) Then, when I was looking at another bookshelf in the living room, I came across the book, "A Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel. Everytime I got discouraged or sad, God put something in my path to encourage me. Then, I found "More than a Carpenter" by Josh McDowell. And then Evidence that Demands a Verdict. And then another Bible. Then a book by Billy Graham. (Of course, in North Carolina, they have a freeway named after Billy Graham!) And then a video series on Creation. Now, uncle Thomas was the epitome of the term intellectually curious. He read everything and wanted to know about everything. If it was on his shelf, he had read it. So, was this curiosity or was there something more?

At the memorial, his good friend Barbara mentioned how flying made Thomas feel very close to his Creator and said that she has no doubts about where he is. She knows that he is in Heaven. At that point, I was just clinging to those bits of hope.

Later, at the reception, we were talking about when we all had to leave to go home. Someone mentioned that my flight was leaving at 6 a.m. on Monday and that we were going to need to leave around 3:30 for me to be there on time. Luci Mae, one of Thomas' friends offered to drive me. I knew that no one else wanted to get up at that hour to do it! I asked her if she really was sure that she wanted to and she assured me that she did. So, I took her up on that offer.

After a night of tossing and turning and dozing off and on, I got up at 3 a.m. and got ready for the trip. I had already dragged my suitcase downstairs the night before and so, I waited for Luci Mae. It was starting to hit me that I was in Thomas' house for the last time and it was hard to leave. Luci Mae pulled up, we loaded the car and started the drive to the Charlotte airport, about 45 minutes away.

We talked about her background, how she knew my uncle and shared memories. Then, she asked what my beliefs were and I told her that I was a Christian. Then, she told me a story. When she first met uncle Thomas, he told her that he liked to fish. She also loved to fish and invited him to go fishing at her cabin. It was a long trip and she really hoped that they would catch fish, so the trip wasn't made for nothing! After they fished, they went into the cabin and Thomas picked up a devotional book by Joel Osteen that Luci had on the table. He started skimming through it and said, "You know, I don't think he believes in Jesus. He only talks about God and he doesn't mention Jesus at all in this book." Luci was surprised and they looked through the book and saw that he was right. So, she asked him, "Do you believe in Jesus?"
He told her, "Yes, I do believe in Jesus. I don't go to church very often, but I do believe in Jesus."

I started to cry when she told me this. Luci started to apologize for making me upset and I told her that I was crying because I was happy and so relieved because I didn't know before this. I firmly believe that God put me in that car with Luci Mae this morning. He orchestrated the situation because He wanted me to know that uncle Thomas is in Heaven with Jesus. Luci Mae was an answer to prayer and I am so thankful that she was bold and asked that question. I am so thankful for the friend that she was and for her faith in Christ.
It took a week, but my joy did come this morning.