J – It’s insane to me that you passed just two weeks ago. The moments seem to be flying by and dragging on, all at the same time. Day by day we are figuring out what this life looks like without you, but babe is it hard. We miss your energy. We miss the love you brought into our home. We miss your goofiness, and ability to help us forget the heaviness of the day, or just a moment. We miss your strength and ability to hold on to us during the storms of life. Simply put, we miss you. But as we know, there is something much greater on the other side and you are living it. Enjoy it. Soak it in. Love you, mean it. – L
Just a couple of months ago I started working with a business and mindset coach. It was always my desire to have a business outside of our family business. Joe and I discussed often that I would need a way to support the family if something ever happened to him. It is not lost on me that this is one of those God winks we have experienced throughout the journey of losing Joe.
I want to share more on these moments that we have God winks as time goes on, but these are moments that we see God’s fingerprints in our lives. Fingerprints that show us he is with us. Fingerprints that show us he has also been putting puzzle pieces into our lives to prepare us. We never saw it, until it happened. Then the pieces of the puzzle started to come together in this beautiful way, during the most excruciating moments of our lives.
But something that has graced my notes and thoughts several times throughout my time working with her, is that she often has said to me, just take the next right step.
But what does that really mean?
What is the next right step?
What if it’s the wrong step in disguise of an emotional decision waiting to be made?
Those thoughts have plagued my brain over our time working together, and when I started to take what I thought was the right steps, a big roadblock hit. A tsunami on STOP and change paths.
I’ll tell you; I never really understood the next right step until the last two weeks.
In a time of tragedy, the next right step is taking the next breath.
The next right step is making the next phone call.
The next right step is hugging the next family member.
The next right step is allowing the emotions their time to marinate.
The next right step is praising God in this storm.
The next right step is giving yourself rest.
The next right step is the one in front of you.
Although our conversation was really about business plans, I cannot allow this lesson to go by without mentioning it as a God wink. He knew I would need this lesson, and in a massive way.
I am one who wants to figure out all the things. Do all the things at one time. All or nothing.
But this time doesn’t need all or nothing.
This time needs space.
This time needs to breath on its own.
This time needs us to slow down and tell ourselves it’s OK to do that too.
This time needs us to remember the good times.
This time needs us to grieve.
This time needs us to have grace – with ourselves and with each other.
This time needs the next right step.
As I look back on that rainy Friday that we celebrated Joe’s life, I think back to a friend who brought me this reminder of the next right step. Having gone through a tragic and horrific time in her life just a few years before, she brought me a reminder to take it one day at a time. The next right step. In that moment, God winked too.
Friend, these times are hard. These are times that you will feel like you’re walking alone. But I promise if you take the next step, the next right one will be revealed.
With all the love, L