For Such A Time As This

The college class just finished a study of Esther. Most of you know that the most popular verse in Esther is when Mordecai says that Esther may have been placed in the kings palace "for such a time as this." There are so many times in life, when things happen and I think "God, why are you letting me go through this?". More times than in my own life, I look at the lives of other people I care about and ask that question. More and more I am being reminded that God sometimes allows things in our lives, so that in the future He can place us in places "for such a time as this." Where do you find yourself today? Are you in the middle of something that you don't understand? Maybe it will help someone else in the future. Look around. Is there someone hurting or questioning that could be helped, answered, spurred, or encouraged by your experience. Act now...maybe you are there for this precise reason! God, even though it hurts, thank You for putting me here...for such a time as this.

I always hated Art and Architectural History!

At Clemson, one of my least favorite classes was Art and Architectural History. This was a required class that took lots of study time and still brought down my GPA. But this morning, I think I have finally figured out a piece of the puzzle. Do you remember "The Scream", an expressionist painting by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch? Ever wonder why he painted it? What must have twisted the mind and feelings of the poor guy who is depicted in the painting? I am pretty sure that this is a painting of a guy named Mikey as he is walking out of a staff meeting where someone said, "Let Mikey do it, he'll do anything." Haha!
Love,
Mikey...I mean Angela

Micah Bradford Griffin

This has been one of the hardest weekends I remember. Thursday morning, my oldest friend, Mindy Griffin, gave birth to a beautiful 7 pound, 11 ounce little baby boy named Micah. Sometime between 6 and 7 pm Thursday night, he passed away. Friday through Sunday I was blessed with being able to be with Mindy and her husband, Jason, and their other three children. My heart breaks for them and for Micah's grandparents and aunts and uncles. It was amazing to see the strength of Mindy and Jason. I know that they are hurting, but they are drawing strength from Christ. I was reminded again this weekend (and especially today) of how much comfort, encouragement, and strength we draw from our Christian family. I can't imagine going through the difficult times in life without the love of my church family.

Today at the funeral, Heather sang a beautiful song by Watermark called Glory Baby. Some of the lyrics are "I can’t imagine heaven’s lullabies and what they must sound like, but I will rest in knowing, heaven is your home and it’s all you’ll ever know." While extremely sad, this is a very encouraging song. I was encouraged to think about little Micah in the arms of Jesus, never knowing pain or hurt, but only heaven. It also made me long for heaven, . . . again. Every time this world gets hard, isn't it great to think about our future? Things may get better here, but we are promised a perfect eternity if we trust in the blood of Christ and ask him to save us. I hope that you can rest in this hope when tragedy hits. If you can't, please call and let me help you find hope!