"He Carried Me"

So I was just sitting here doing some stuff on my computer and I suddenly realized that just two weeks and two years ago my dad sat me down on the couch and told me something that changed my life. I had been talking to my sister, Bridget in the other room and the other kids were just doing their own things. It seemed like a completely normal day...but it wouldn't be for long.

My dad and mom walked in from talking outside together and had us all sit down in the living room. My dad, a commander in the Navy, looked us all straight in the eye and told us that he had been called to active duty in Iraq. I was speechless...my world got blurry and i couldn't think straight. I finally got a few words out of my mouth and asked me how long he'd be gone. He looked at me and started crying and whispered, "a year." It was then the tears came.

How could God let me daddy go away to a war zone for a year at this point in my life? I was just goign to start highschool soon, i was trying to figure out being a teenager, i needed my dad there to help me and God was pulling him away. I felt completely lost and alone sitting there watching my dad cry.

Anyway it was a long and hard year for me and the rest of my family. But God pulled us through and brought me closer to Him and to my friends through it all. And i thank Him for that.

So today i am thanking Him for bringing my dad home safe and giving me strength to get through tough times. I know i will have many more throughout my life that may not end up with a happy ending like this one did but i know that God will always be by my side and He will also put people, who love me and are willing to help me through it, in my life.

So i encourage anyone out there who has a rut in their road and can't get out that God is there ALWAYS and even when it might feel like He is so very far away...He isn't!

"Even though I'm walking through the valley of the shadow, I will hold tight to the hand of Him, His love will comfort me, and when all hope is gone and I've been wounded in the battle, He is all the strength that i will ever need, He will carry me!"

~Miranda