My Faith and Courage

With death, there is life. A new life for the loved ones left behind. A new way of living each day. A new way of looking toward the future. New challenges, new direction. You dig deep inside to find the courage to move forward. This is not a better life, just different. You can choose to live like your loved one would want you to, or you can collapse from the grief that consumes your every waking moment.               

I asked God why this had to happen to us. I was so angry with Him. I was very close to shutting the door on my faith, but God would not let me. He knew my pain and gently guided me through each day until I fully understood that God does good things through tragedy.

My husband’s spirit is everywhere -- our church, the golf course we passed each day, and on the roads we traveled together, just to name a few. He has not been with me to physically share in high school, college, and boot camp graduations. He was not there when our son joined the Navy, and received his pilot’s license.  He missed his daughter’s graduation from college and her first day of teaching. He missed helping me teach two teenagers how to drive a car, build a new home and survive a brain hemorrhage. Life experiences are now different because we are no longer sharing them with the one person who was so strong, loving and caring.  

For a mother who was not a leader but a follower, it was difficult becoming “head of household” as the IRS classified me, but I did it. We did it stumbling along the way, depending on God, our church, family, and friends to help us through. I, along with my children, have chosen to live. It took several years to find that desire, but we are there now, successfully moving forward without a husband and a father to protect us from life’s struggles and to share in all of our wonderful accomplishments. We want others who have lost a loved one to know there is hope for the future. With God all things are possible. Our names are Georgann, Katie, and Richard Hendren, and this is our story.