The Bridge To God

 At about 1pm today we received an urgent email that our friend, Chris Cardwell, was not doing well and we should pray.  I called Brad to pray with him over the phone and then prayed for a little while after that call...after I prayed I kept thinking of the song Fix My Eyes, by For King and Country, so while I was working I pulled it up to listen to it.  I felt like God was wanting me to hear it...all I was thinking was....yep, that's a cool song remembering the verses and chorus.....but, I totally forgot about the bridge in that song.  Once the bridge started, I felt like God was letting me know, "I am bringing Chris home today"....I remembered my prayer time with Karly several days ago and our talk about how God will heal Chris either here or as he enters Heaven and "We know THE WAY"....and it hit me that Christ is the bridge to Chris's healing.

I hadn't heard any update as I finished work at around 2:30pm and I headed home.  As I arrived, my oldest three daughters were getting off the bus and coming up the driveway.  I told them about the situation with Chris, checked my email to see if we had any updates, and asked them to join me in prayer for him and his family.  We had such a good time of prayer together....I think I will always remember how sweetly and earnestly those three girls prayed for his healing, his family, and for God's will to be done.  After we were finished, I checked my email again and we had a message from Pastor Toyer that he had passed only 8 minutes before....so during our prayer time.   We cried and hugged and talked about how we know that he is healed.

Later, I received a message from a lady via Facebook....we were not Facebook friends and I had not posted Chris's name anywhere on Facebook, so I am not exactly sure how she found me (bridges....right?!), but she relayed an incredible story to me about Chris.  She said, "I only know Chris, not his family or other friends"....then she went on to tell me that Chris had befriended her husband in the hospital....her husband had the same disease as Chris.  Chris had been a tremendous support to him and Chris had even run in a 5K between his two rounds of treatments to support her husband.  Her husband passed away in September and Chris had still stayed in touch with her and helped her through some of her grief....she said, "he kept me sane!" and she said, "he told me when he got to heaven he would say hi to my hubby!"  I have been so blessed to be able to connect with her several times tonight and to learn more about how my friend ministered to others during his most difficult days!

This is Chris between his battles with leukemia....many of his friends thought he was crazy running this 5K.....but, he is doing it for a new brother, Tim Tobin....I have so enjoyed learning this story tonight and I thank GOD for the blessing!

The bridge in Fix My Eyes goes...

The things of Earth are dimming

In the light of Your glory and grace

I'll set my sights upon Heaven 

I'm fixing my eyes on you, on you....

Those are the lyrics I was not thinking of, but when I got to the bridge....
I felt a peace in my heart that Chris was at this place.