Murray Family,
I’m writing this from Guatemala because I can’t be there or talk to you guys, but I seriously love your family and how awesome you are.
(One of my best friends from ESU and college roommate Pat Murrays father passed away the other day and I just recently found out since I don’t always have internet access. He has been battling various illnesses, tumors, cancer, including rare a kidney disease he has had for majority of his life).
My heart sunk when I saw the message and my eyes watered up, and that doesn’t happen to me often. Just getting a chance to hang out with your family shortly before I left was so comforting and fun, I felt so encouraged and happy leaving there. You were all so interested in what I was doing and all so generous to support my trip. I remember your Pop, just laying sick upstairs, heard I was there and came down just to say hi… what an awesome dude. He didn’t have to do that, if anything I should have went up to say hi to him since he was sick, but he beat me to it. I’m so thankful for that memory and the awesome example of what a great man should look like.
Revelations 21:3-4 “He will dwell with them and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away”.
This is a great reminder to us that the pain you feel is wiped away by the blood of Jesus, but also that Pat, the struggles over for your dad… There’s no more pain, no more tears, no more disease, no more death, no more doctors appointments, no more surgeries, no more sleepless nights, no more bad days, NO MORE! He’s fully restored and finally living pain free and shining down bright on your whole family.
The people it’s tough on is you guys because we’re still battling, we’re still fighting, and now it’ll be harder without a great example of a strong willed fighter looks like. It’s hard to see it, especially in times like this, but God does use ALL things for good. He actually especially likes to use the bad things and hard times for His and our good. The power of the testimony this will bring is guaranteed to bring glory to the Lord because even if something is bad, He will use it for good.
Stay strong Murrays! You’ll be getting prayers from all over the world, that’s a fact! Anyone reading this, the Murray family could use all the prayers they can get now because God is their comforter and true rest and restoration comes from him. I’ve always struggled with praying for people I don’t know, so if you’re reading this and struggling because you don’t know them just know that God doesn’t need you to know them. Just throw out a short prayer because James 5:16 “The prayers of a righteous person has GREAT power.”
And don’t you dare underestimate the power of your prayer, because then you’re underestimating the power of our God. I guaranteed you God is bigger and more Powerful than you can ever imagine, even if you’re imagining as high as you can. He’s not just that big and that powerful, He’s that real, and that present in our everyday lives, and He loves you (whoevers reading this, weather you believe in Him or not) more than you can ever imagine! Gods the only true rest, He’s the only true restoration, He’s the only true comfort, so call on Him, and run to Him!
I love ya Pat, I love ya Murray family, I hope you read this and I hope I get to talk to you guys soon!
