Life is hard, but God is good. The past two weeks have been an emotional rollercoaster of sadness, grief, fear, and hope. The question "WHY?" has been foremost in my mind.

It began with a dear old friend of mine suddenly going into kidney and liver failure. She was transported to a larger hospital in Des Moines and within a day, sent back home to go into Hospice. My mom and I went to see her and the family the next evening. How sad to see this beautiful woman as her body gave out on her. This was a shock to everyone. They knew there were problems, but no one anticipated how bad it was.

The next day, as I continued to pray for her, my phone rang and my sister was calling to tell me my dad had had a heart attack. He was doing okay, but had to have a stint replaced and another put in. The weather here was bad, the holidays were coming, my other friend was dying and I couldn't get to my dad out in Denver. It hurt.

On Sunday, we suddenly had hope about N. Her kidneys had begun to function again, they were looking at quickly changing her level of care. We had hope. Surely a miracle was going to happen!

Sadly, it was not to be. On Monday it was discovered that she had excessive bleeding on her brain. She went to be with Jesus at 7:00 that night. A beautiful 52-year-old wife, mother of 2, 4th-grade teacher of many, gone. She was ready to go Home, she even thanked her husband for letting her be selfish and leave this earth, a beautiful example of a wife. I am so thankful to have known her.

Within two days my dear friend, V, the lady I spoke of a couple of months ago in this blog, took a turn for the worse. She went home to be with Jesus this past Friday night. I can't begin to explain the emotional tail-spin that put me in. I adore her! She will always hold a special place in my heart. Now, I pray for the situation regarding her husband and all of her many children. She is at peace, Praise God, but there is much left to do here in regards to some complicated situations.

It has been very difficult for me to get into a holiday mood. I celebrate these beautiful women who have crossed my life path, I celebrate the glorious arrival of our Lord and Savior into the world by humble means, but I'm struggling with the commercial aspect of the holidays. I'm struggling with the condition of our country, especially the spiritual condition. I'm struggling with the idea of relativism and post-modernism. I'm struggling with the idea that people no longer desire the truth and have, instead, opted for personal truth.

It's this time of year that we are reminded how the world came to know this Jesus. Emmanuel, God with us. He came to us in a human form, in a human way to a young teenage girl and her betrothed husband. He came naked, wet, and crying, just like the rest of us. He came because we were in bondage and didn't even know it. He came because He loved us so much He was willing to die for us to rescue us from our bodies of death. He came to show us a better way. He came to be our Savior. May His name be praised!