a tiny lady with a big heart

Last weekend Nuni and I celebrated our first anniversary together.  It was an incredible day, which started out at the Easter Sunrise Service at 7am.  If you know Nuni, you may be thinking, “Nuni?  7am?”  Nuni classifies himself as a “P.M. person” – he likes to spend his waking hours in the afternoon.  Anyways, on Saturday I asked him if he wanted to go to the sunrise service – if he didn’t, it was fine, but I was going.  He said he didn’t want to, but later on he told me he’d changed his mind – but it wasn’t because of me – it was because of God! 🙂  So we went and were greeted with a lot of “Happy Easters” and “Happy Anniversarys.”  It was really lovely to be around so many of our friends.  After the short outdoor service at the gazebo, we went inside the Wye Lake Cabin for breakfast.  We happened to be standing behind one of the dearest and tiniest old ladies in Watson Lake(and beyond), Jean Barnes*.  She congratulated us on our first year of marriage, and excitingly told us that “it only gets better!”  She and her husband, Fred*, have been married for 54 years!  Imagine.  And they are so cute, they really are.  We started chatting a bit and I asked her how many children they had.  She said, “Well, we have two, we had three, but one is gone now.”  We said we were sorry, and she said, “It’s okay because he’s with the Lord now.  And you know, the Lord once said to me, ‘I have your son, but I gave you mine.'”  Tears immediately welled up in my eyes(as they are now) – for so many reasons.  For her family’s loss.  For her faith and trust in God, and her joy and zest for life, even through the most difficult of trials.  For the amazing sacrifice that God made for us.  And for the way He knows us so intimately and speaks to our hearts, sometimes so clearly.

That is one of the most beautiful things about Easter – about Jesus dying for us.  He went through everything.  He faced so many trials – no matter what we have been through, He’s been through worse.  He can always relate to us!  He knows what we’re going through, and He says, “I’m here for you.  I’ll help you.  I will love you no matter what.”

As another wise lady once said to me, “Isn’t He a beautiful Jesus?”

*names have been changed