Feeling

Like most people, when I first joined in the facebook craze, I added anyone and everyone I had ever laid eyes on as a friend.  As I find myself more and more over the whole social networking thing, I delete friends, but there is one friend I cannot delete.  I can't really say we ever spoke in high school.  I can't say I really knew who I was adding when I added her.  But I can say I will never remove her.  I have not spoken a word  to her since I added her, but I cannot help but think of her often.  You see, this friend I have never spoken to (but shared a school with) is a widow.  From what I gather from her words, she met and fell in love with a man, a man who happened to be a soldier.  He went off to war, like he had before, but he did not come back alive.  I am so very touched by this woman.  Her love for her husband if so very strong, it has surpassed his death and prompted her to get involved in different widows' causes.  I am astounded by her strength.  Losing my husband is probably the greatest fear my heart contains.  I cannot fathom it.  It is a fear that has kept me awake at nights as I watch him sleep.  It is a fear I always try to give to the Lord, trusting for His will, but a fear I think I will never let go of.  It tears me up just to think about it.  I see this woman, and her strength, her love for a man she can never hold again, never sleep next to again, and I am encouraged.  I am encouraged that love can go beyond what our minds can think.  I am encouraged that God can get us through any trial we are faced with, even the hardest thing we can imagine.  And I am reminded to pray for this woman and all of the lives she has touched.  Even in the smallest way, she has touched mine.