5 years

5 years

My dad passed away 5 years ago.

5 years ago (Sunday), my heart was hurting worse than ever before.

It was the day before my dad's 56th birthday.

It was only 9 days before my parents' 31 anniversary...

And I'm not going to lie... It was hard. And I cried. ...a lot.

While he did continue working (pastoring his church and also teaching at a local middle school) until almost the end, my dad was so sick. He had suffered off and on for almost a decade. He was on dialysis, thanks to the effects of kidney cancer. And his heart slowly gave out on him, thanks to multiple heart attacks and other random heart related issues. So for right at a full decade, my dad was sick. So while it was hard to let him go, I also knew, deep in my heart, that I didn't want him to suffer anymore.

And as a result, when the end came, he reminded us of something he'd preached my entire life. As Christians, we are not exempt from struggles and suffering. Far from it, actually... But we know that if a person is saved, they have nothing to fear when it comes to death. They know they're going to a better place. The glory of Heaven and eternal life with our Heavenly Father is beyond compare.



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I've written memories-filled posts every year on the anniversary of his death, which can be found below. While still sad, it's nice for me to be able to look back and remember how God's been with me through the past 5 years...

1 year

2 years

3 years

4 years

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 Today, I'm joining Erika and Andrea, for their weekly Friday Favorites linkup and sharing about one of my most favorite people - my dad. And while the reason for this post is by no means a favorite, I still am so very grateful for all of the memories I have.