I met a remarkable woman yesterday. In for an interview, she arrived earlier than what she thought traffic would allow, so I visited with her for a bit until Kevin was free.

Like most women do when left to their own devices, we got right to the heart of the matter…our families. She told me about her three children, then her eyes went from bright pride to a soft sadness when she got to her husband. He’d died from a sudden and relentless bout of cancer about a year and a half ago, and the reality of it was still obviously tender. On top of that, he was followed in sudden death by her father, with whom she was very close.

I told her how sorry I was, that I couldn’t imagine such a brutal loss, and she answered that it about did her in. For a while she set her own grief aside, to help her children whom had all adored their father, and grandfather, but after a while she found herself having anxiety attacks and finally ending up in the hospital for a bit.

You can’t ignore a broken heart, or wrap it up in a bandage of self-pity.” she said. “I learned that the hard way. I think it’s like other wounds, where you need to take some time to be still and really feel the pain, but then you have to get up. You have to move and live again, and allow God to dress those hurt places. If you don’t do it in that order, you atrophy and wither, and cause other wounds to form because the first didn’t heal the correct way.”

So there she was, right in front of me, going about the business of living again. Making a move toward some personal goals and picking up the torch that her husband had left behind, as head of her family and a beacon in her community.

After Kevin met with her, he called me back in to schedule more appointments. He looked at me with a kind of wonder on his face, and said, “Do you know her story?”

I glanced at her with a knowing smile and said, “Yes.”

Then I gave her a hug as I walked out.

Yes, I know her story.

It’s a story of healing.

It’s a story of hope.

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3 ESV

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV