I had known your sister since Middle School @ Hoover…I remember everything about her and her grace. She was so beautiful inside and out=) I always wanted to look just like her;) lol What girl didn’t? I found out about Angie about a year ago and was so devastated and in shock for the longest time…I had no idea she had a son:( I did hear that she was depressed and had been in an abusive marriage and for that my heart just broke even more so…As I sit here and type these words to you it just crossed my mind, that her and I did have alot more in common than either of us knew at the time…I was depressed and didn’t even realize it at the time!!! It was in our eyes, as they are the windows to our soul…God is an AWESOME GOD and I will pray that everyone finds their way in the world as long as I have breath!!! God Bless you Michael and as you’re aware of time doesn’t heal all wounds; It’s what we choose to do with that time that matters!!! and YES she’s dancing with Jesus=)

God Bless you and your family~

Hey Jen,

Great to hear from you. Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you are doing well!

Mike~

I’ve been thinking about you all a lot lately. I enjoyed your letter to Angie, as I think about her often as well!

Which verse am I thinking of…??? “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds”. I can see it vividly in my mind, but ???

Love you and miss you all!

Your (little) Cousin,
Jenny

SarahB:

I lost my parents at a young age , I miss them , I love them, and I truly wish there was NO hell in fear that they might be there. There is no joy in this sorrow , Your concept of giving glory to God because it brings into focus our need to win souls is heartless!!!

The joy in Christ is the strength to still call him Lord in spite of all that happens. To know he cares, he know he brings a sense of peace.

There is a time to cry, a time to remember, a time to plant and a time to harvest. Time seems to help but is not the answer. Neither is works and by the way I don’t save anybody…..neither do you!!!!

Four years ago I lost a young friend to suicide and it seems to me that it is not something one ever “gets over.” We do simply go on – wrestling with it as we go.

I’m sorry for your pain. May God help the people who leave tasteless and critical remarks to your outpouring of grief.

Do you think you’re the only one with a sister in Hell? You should be giving glory for the opportunity to bring salvation into focus.

Your equivocation on Angie’s damnation brings into question whether you will win souls or millstones.

No doubts.

Michael,

Thank you for sharing your very personal pain with us. I too lost a precious jewel — my wife. Death, God is such a hurdle for us Christians. Yes, we can discuss, argue, rationalize but at the end of the day…. we are left with something miss.. our love one. I will continue to pray for your pain, pain of all Christians who lost their love ones. I am sure we will have to bare this burden till we meet our Lord and love one(s) again.

Thank you so much for sharing this! My experience in 1972 with my cousin David–16 at the time–was remarkably similar. He was one of the brightest at a high school for bright students. I was 20 at the time. He and I had gotten close because my immediate family was out of the country where Dad was planting churches at the time. I had shared with him in much the same way as you shared with Angie.

I hope your writing was as helpful for you as it has been for me!

God bless you!

Joel

I seriously hope that Edward did not really mean what he has said!

Edward T. Babinski contradicted another commenter’s commendation of your courage by saying, “It doesn’t take courage when we’re all tied to the tracks. Staying sane is what’s difficult.”

But really, I think it takes an awful lot of courage to stay sane when tied to the tracks. It takes courage to find ways of staying sane (like writing this letter and sharing it–with your sisters, your blog readers, etc.), and then to do them. I would guess that the plethora of comments (however kind or understanding many of them are) you receive from being a high ranking blogger, in the end doesn’t lessen the pain of Angie’s death and the questions it leaves unanswered.

In the end, I think relationships and connection are the things that make some kind of difference in the face of suffering (and here I agree with Mr. Babinski–Those who have those connections are fortunate indeed, and we do little else in life so valuable as build those connections).

They don’t alleviate the suffering (as you’ve seen in your sharing with your sisters—neither the pain of missing Angie nor the theological uncertainties about her death disappear by being shared), but relationships with the people around us somehow make suffering livable for another day when it (the suffering) can keep being lived together with those near to us, however imperfectly.