Ecclesiastes 3:1,2 "There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven. A time to give birth and a time to die."

Oh how true I found these words this week. Tyler's first grade teacher, Dee Dee Irvine, passed away Saturday. Only 5 years older than me. 47 years old. A wife and mother to three adult children. About a month before Christmas she started having some sort of "episodes," somewhat like seizures. For about a month doctors were unsure of the problem. Then they knew. I tumor in her brain. Cancerous and unoperable. Two months later she died.

I attended the funeral Tuesday. I've only been to a few funerals in my whole life. This one was truly a celebration of life. Over and over I heard ministers, friends, and family describe Dee Dee as a woman with a sweet smile, kind, gentle, fun-loving, family-oriented, and a lover of Jesus. Over and over people repeatedly said how they never saw in her even a hint of bitterness or anger at God at what was happening to her. They saw peace, a supernatural peace that can only come from God.

I couldn't help but wonder what people would say at my funeral. Would I have been such an example of Christ to others? Would I have loved like Him? Would I have been gentle and kind yet strong like Him? Would people say I was humble like Him? Would people have noticed an unshakeable peace in me because I knew Jesus? I hope so, oh, how I hope so.

I also couldn't help but think at how quickly her life went from perfectly healthy to terminally ill. Psalm 90:12 tell us to number our days, so we may have a heart of wisdom. It's hard to live in the reality of heaven sometimes. I went home that night and hugged my boys tight and called my husband to tell him I love him.

The very next day my friends Cassie and Nate had their third child, a little girl named Reece. Welcome sweet baby! "There is a time for every event... a time to give birth."

Sometimes in the face of circumstances I don't understand, I can only say, You are God, and I am not. I trust You, Lord. How great a God we have who knows the perfect time for all things, death and birth.