i know how you feel

This is for those of you that have loved and lost, have come and gone, have said hello only to have to say goodbye.

I have noticed in life that often times our hearts have contradicting feelings simultaneously, how can it feel so good to know you're going home, and hurt so much knowing you have to say goodbye? How can it feel so right to love someone with all that you are, and then have this knowing about you, that it's time you let them go?

You have these moments too, right?

Moments that you enter in and you are undeniably sure that you were made for moments, such as these.

Moments when you know that it's your time to pack your bags and carry onward into your journey, but that doesn't make it any easier to leave those you love behind.

Hellos and goodbyes are ever so frequent in the lives of those at NOE. People enter in for a time, and then God calls them home. This means, emotions rise for a time, tears frequently leave their traces, and sighs become the pauses that somehow hold us together.

We are in such a time, and with that being said, it  opens the dusty suitcase of nostalgia that I stowed away last June.
Vivid memories rush in.

And I wonder why?

But then again, I think I know, I think it's one of those times that God allows you to identify with the pain of another.
When you can truly, truly say to someone you know how they feel and mean it with every fiber of your being.

One of the three, is leaving us, come Monday.

And I know how she feels,

there's a desire to run home into the arms of those she loves, but then there's this trifling sense that home isn't where she thought it was, that quite possibly home is right here.

there are moments when she is laughing in the company of those she loves, when all is right, and then suddenly she is consumed with the pain of leaving, all too soon.

And you know what? In times like these, I have found that only God, in His love suffices.

I've spent a life of hellos and goodbyes, and with that being said, they never become any easier. I don't know one place as home, my heart has many. But even though we lack understanding in times such as these, we'll look back and see that everything, even the heartbreaking goodbyes had a reason. Everything, everything has its' season.

So this is for Sophie, who has spent just a little less than a year here, opening her arms and her very heart to Centro NOE.  This is for you, dear. Our hearts might never understand these moments, on this side of Heaven, but one day I know you'll see the beauty in it.

One day.

Until then, cherish every moments and relish every laugh and word with those that you love. And know, just know that you'll never be replaced, nor forgotten. No, you never will. We'll be waiting for you.

If your heart has caught up on such a contradicting mixture of feelings, it's my prayer that you'd see God in your midst. He's there, I'm absolutely sure of it. Look closely, love. Hold tight to hope, cause there's always hope. If you loved and lost, come and gone, said hello only to say goodbye- you've been given the beautiful chance of seeing purpose. And oh how, everything under the sun, has a purpose.