A beautiful sunny day at Maranatha family camp turned out to be one of the hardest days of my life. Everything was going wonderfully as I was tanning at the beach in Michigan until my mom got a phone call from my grandparents. Little did any of us know the dreadful and shocking news we were about to hear. My mom’s face turned from a lovely smile to a face of horror and dismay while on the phone. My uncle had just passed away. My heart sank in despair as I was looking at my mom with a gloomy face and tear-filled eyes. “We have to leave as soon as possible to get down to Texas to see the cousins and aunt Meg” my mom said, trying to sound confident and strong.

 

The first hour of the car ride home was filled with silence and tears. No one knew what to say. All you could hear was the sounds of sniffles and the low rumbling of the car engine as we drove down the highway late at night. Many thoughts were running through my head as salty tears trickled down my cheeks. What would all the holidays be like without him? How would everyone recover from such a blow? Why did God let this happen? I didn’t have answers for any of my questions. All I could think about was how much I missed uncle John.

 

At that moment, as I was gazing up at the twinkling night sky through the car window, God placed an amazing feeling of hope in my heart. He began to change all my sorrow into feelings of celebration for the magnificent life my uncle had lived. Uncle John was bigger than life itself. He would take any challenge or adventure that came his way. I thought to myself how lucky I was to have such an amazing and godly uncle in my life. God changed my grieving to thanksgiving. I was thankful for the example he was to me. I was thankful that he believed in Jesus. I was thankful for his adventurous spirit. I was thankful that I would get the opportunity to see him again in heaven.

 

Although this was and still is one of the hardest times of my life, God is using it to show me that good can come out of the bad, and that even though we are mourning, we are mourning with hope. Someday in heaven I am going to see uncle John again and when I do I am going to thank him for everything he taught me.