As I have walked this journey of publishing Sara's story and now walk the path of spreading her spirit led discipleship, I am overwhelmed by the stories we receive about how people are being blessed by reading Sara's story. The outpouring of love and support has been amazing. God has put many angels on this path to help spread His love through Sara's story.
One example of the angels I have met are two ladies, a mother and daughter, Jenni and Joanie. They have a strong love for God and trust His plan. This trust led them to start up JB Square Media. Their mission is to provide people with positive messages...messages of love.
JB Square media produced the above video for us to use in the promotion of Choose Joy: Finding Hope and Purpose When Life Hurts. These wonderful women are using their talents for God's good. Thank you, Joanie and Jenni!
Below is a post that Sara wrote giving us her perspective on the talents God blesses us with...
I have had so many conversations about heaven and
our spirits and what I believe in the past month and a half. Very few of them
have been instigated by me. Most of them are discussions with friends who are
trying so hard to figure out why the things in our lives happen, and they want
to know what I think about it all. They want to know if I’ve had any
revelations about life and death and Dad.
The truth is, I haven’t.
The truth is, I believe what I’ve always
believed... and I’m living life after Dad’s death the same way I did before. I
just keep trying to do the next right thing, while stepping forward in faith
and trust.
I know, it’s not a sexy answer. But it is the
truth.
Shortly after Dad died, I was having one of those
conversations with Katie,
my best friend from high school. Katie and I grew up in each other’s homes, and
my dad loved her like another daughter. Despite “Katie” being her full given
name, Dad liked to lengthen it to Katherine or Kathleen... just to be a stinker
and get a rise out of her. And I think he especially enjoyed her because she
was as ornery as he was. She laughed at his jokes even if they weren’t funny,
and threw as many back at him as she could think up.
But he’d give her hugs and tell her he loved her
as easily as he’d poke fun at her, and that’s why losing him broke her heart as
well as mine. She lost her second dad. And when we were talking she said that
she didn’t understand why Dad had to be the one to go. She kept trying to
understand why God needed him in heaven more than we needed him here.
I realized how many people had said the same thing
to me over the previous weeks... that he was such a good man, but that God
must have needed him more. And I have to tell you, I just don’t
believe that’s true.
God is God. He can do all, see all, be all.
God doesn’t need us for anything.
WE NEED HIM.
I think the truth is that we all need Dad here
more than God needs anything. But because God is God, He knows the big
picture that we don’t. And if it was Dad’s time to be with Him in heaven, then
it was for Dad’s sake, or for us to learn something by his absence, or to
spread the lesson of his legacy.
I think it was just something God foresaw in a
greater plan that He sees and we don’t.
That’s why we have faith. We are simply called to
trust that He
knows better than we do. Whether we like it or not.
For me, it’s a lesson I learned as I got sicker
and lost so many abilities. I remember thinking that it made absolutely no
sense to me that God would give me so many talents and gifts, and then not let
me have the opportunity to keep using them. So many things I loved to do were
slowly being stripped away, and because I had used them for His glory I
couldn’t understand how being without them could be the right thing.
He gave me a voice to sing His praises, and I used
it to lead worship at church, sing at wedding celebrations and to bring peace
to those at funerals. I spoke at and led retreats, I was social and did good
deeds for others when I was out and about in the world. I lived life happy,
dancing and laughing and trying to bring joy to people.
I couldn’t understand why he gave me the gifts if
they were just going to be taken away.
But then I learned that I had the gifts when He
needed me to use them. I didn’t squander and waste my talents, and they brought
Him glory when they were supposed to. And I realized that if my talents were
gone, if they were taken from me, then it was because I wasn’t supposed to have
them anymore.
I trusted that He saw the bigger picture, and I
stepped forward in faith by living the life that was in front of me. I stepped
forward, knowing that whatever He wanted from me now, He would make sure I had
the gifts to use in the moment. My gifts back then served God’s purpose, and if
they were gone, so was that purpose.
I believe the same is true for Dad. He took
the gifts God gave him at any given time in his life and he used them. He
didn’t squander and waste his talents, and he brought God glory when he was
supposed to. And if Dad is gone, if he was taken from us, it’s because He’s not
supposed to be here anymore.
Trust me when I tell you that I would rather lose
all my abilities and freedoms a million times over than to lose Dad. He was a
gift in all of our lives, and we cherished him. But we have to keep stepping
forward in faith, trusting that God sees the big picture and knowing He will
give us what we need to get through any given moment.