Gift of the Epiphany

I have come to love the Mike's monthly unofficial challenges. They spark my imagination and cause me to dig, explore and search out truths. They also cause personal memories of mine to sparkle for a bit. January's challenge was no exception. In fact, the events that I'm now journaling still amaze me because those steps felt so ordered, yet unmistakingly, not mine.

* Christmas 2025: the first Christmas spent since losing my oldest son in September. My brother from out of state came to visit and distract me, knowing that his presence would help to get me through. Cooking helped with that, too. I had others to see about. They needed me and my love.

* After company left and New Years rang in: That is when it got quiet and still enough for me to feel the void and reality. Okay, depression hit hard. It hurt. I cried and mostly stayed in bed. To make matters worse, my sweet dog got some kind of respiratory cough, too and I was so afraid of losing him, as well. I wasn't in a good place at all. I prayed for help.

* Last week on the 7th of January: Although I couldn't muster any motivation to write or create, I did scan Vocal to try to distract myself. I saw Mike's prompts and noted that January 6th (my father's birthday/born 1925) was also "Epiphany." Of course, as the article referenced below states, is celebrated because the Magi followed the Star where they found baby Jesus. I thought I might try to write something about how some people in my state celebrate this day. In fact, I gathered an article to share and it's listed below, too. But I didn't quite feel up to it, so I saved it and perused my subscriptions for further reads.

* That's when: I saw a poem written by a sister in faith, Colleen Walters. The poem intrigued me and was beautifully written.

And at the end of her poem, she posted this video which I watched:

* I am going to tell you now: This documentary caused me to experience God in a level so devastatingly intense that my gut still hurts, and my breath still feels crystallized. I've always had faith, but now I have confident faith, deep faith. My epiphany came when I saw how ordered and magnificent God truly is. And knowing that, I knew that my son was in the best of Hands. I was humbled and crumbled as Job must have been in Chapter 38/39 when God answers his questions with rhetorical questions.

I am posting this in Wander because this was quite the journey I took...

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