Here on earth we are put together in families. Our loved ones become inexpressibly precious to us. We live in intimate associations. One gets so close to mother and father, wife or husband, sons and daughters, that they literally become a part of one's very life. Then comes a day when a strange change comes over one that we love. He is transformed before our very eyes. The light of life goes out for him. He cannot speak to us nor we to him. He is gone and we are left stunned and heartbroken. An emptiness and loneliness comes into our hearts. We brokenheartedly say "That the one whom I loved is dead." It is such a cold, hopeless thing to realize. Then, out of the very depths of our despair, comes that marvelous declaration of our Lord: I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. John 11: 25,26

Then we know! We know we have not lost our loved ones who have died. We have just been separated, and as long as we live there will be an empty place left in our hearts. To some extent, the loneliness will always be there. But when we really know that one is not forever lost, it does seem to take away, a little bit, of the sorrow. There is a vast difference between precious memories, loneliness, the pain of separation, on the one hand, and a sorrow that ruins and blights our lives, on the other hand.

Hope these words are of comfort to you my friends. Please, please know that you are always on my mind and in my heart and prayers. My hands are not better yet, in fact the left one is very numb right now, so it is hard to type. But even though I can't write every day as I did before, I think of you every day. In Christian Love, Melissa

Not now, but in the coming years, it may be in the better land: we'll read the meaning of our tears, and there, some time, we'll understand.