I can hear you squeal at the thought. Of course that’s without knowing what got you there. I would have pictured that it wasn’t you dying that made this happened. I would have pictured that it was you living and speaking that made your face appear on my television screen. I picture you next to Brene Brown and Ann Voskamp. I picture you on the big speaker circuit telling stories and making everybody laugh. Or bringing the house down with one well-placed piece of advice or spiritual wisdom.
I remember thinking when you were sick: what was God going to do with this? Because you could do so much more alive. Did he know that? Maybe if I just told him he would listen. Maybe he would think my idea was good. But life doesn’t always go like we suggest or pray for, does it? Just this morning I cried over the things that I can’t change. That I can’t control. And I really, really like control. Or at least the illusion of it. Let me at least think that I can fix something that’s gone so wrong. Let me at least think that I can make an impact or change something. Just give me a little control. But it doesn’t work that way. I don’t have control over what’s currently happening in my life, and I didn’t have it over your story either. And neither did you. I tell myself how happy you are in heaven. That you don’t know our turmoil down here. And yet I remember you praying prayer after prayer after prayer. And I believe that those live on. So maybe you knew even then. Maybe God directed your prayers even then.
Maybe our only real control is in letting go of control. In figuring out how to trust a God that we cannot see. One we can only feel and know.
Pastor Mark often talks about how we struggle to believe in God answering our prayers—in believing he sees us and knows us and hears us— because we know everything we’ve done wrong. And there is no reason for God to listen to us. There’s no reason for him to know us or love us. And that is why we don’t ask and we don’t trust and we don’t believe. Because we know we don’t deserve it. And then there are the instances where we do ask really big and still don’t get the answers that we requested. Between the two scenarios it’s a wonder that we connect with God at all. But neither of those are God issues. They are human issues. They are us issues.
God has never changed. His answers are his answers whether we understand them or not. And he will and does listen and care whether we deserve it or not. Which we don’t. But that doesn’t change who He is. We’re the variable. Not him.
And that right there, Kara, is the reason you’re on Netflix. Because even as you were dying you were shouting FAITH and LOVE. You were shouting GOD IS TO BE TRUSTED. You refused to buy into the lie that God makes all things good in OUR understanding. You instead reminded us over and over again that God makes all things good in HIS understanding.
Boy howdy, sometimes I really struggle with that not understanding part. I’m currently reading in Matthew. The part where Judas betrays Jesus and the people call for him to be crucified. I’ve read or heard this passage in my life more times than I can count, but today it hit home. God’s will sure looked terrible didn’t it? His own son be begging not to die if the cup could be taken from him. God did not answer that prayer the way we would have thought it should be answered. He answered by letting his son suffer so that we wouldn’t have to.
I get it when people think Christianity is the craziest story they’ve ever heard. Because it is pretty wild. If I heard someone telling it for the first time, I’d probably think that sounds a little nuts. But I’ve had the privilege of living my life knowing God. I’ve had the privilege of seeing him at work. I’ve had the privilege of seeing him answer things in amazing ways that I never expected. And I’ve had the privilege of seeing what I thought should happen not happen.
Kara, I’ll admit it. Your story… It doesn’t feel better without you. I can’t see his purpose. Unless it’s that so many people are being impacted by you. Unless it’s that someone who walked away from God now sees him and believes him again because you were willing to shout his name. Because you were unwilling to walk away from him even in your deepest darkest painful moments. And you had those. We witnessed those.
I hope and hope and hope that those impacted by you don’t let that fade away. Because then maybe while we wait for the understanding that we will probably only get in heaven, maybe the new stories of faith can ease the pain a little. Maybe your impact can be the thing that makes sense in the midst of what doesn’t make sense.
Just so you know, we’re working hard down here to practice big love. Working hard to choose patience and kindness when it feels really far away. We’re working hard to believe with the kind of faith that you did. We miss you, mama. We miss what you stood for. We miss who you were. We miss what could be if you were here. I think in heaven we’ll have a nice long chat about so many things we didn’t understand here. And I, for one, can’t wait to hear your wisdom on that subject.
XO
Photo credit: Good Photo * good-photo.org
Comments 17
Oh, friend. How well you articulate our collective heart and thoughts. Thank you for this healing post and you courage in posting. Love you so much.
Thank you, Friend. So good.
Oh my heart. Jill I love these worlds. I would love to say with more time we would get better at control or letting go of it. But we don’t. It follows us to teach us humility and love and a fullness of Joy. I just loved reading her name. I say in a breath Kara.
So blessed to be reminded so beautifully of her legacy once again! Thank you, Jill!
Thanks Jill for these words. Earlier today the Netflix ad with her on it scrolled by and I touched the computer screen and whispered, “I miss you girl! I sure do miss you!” And then you write these words that bring both a tear and a smile. ❤️
Oh, Jill, I don’t know how anyone could have articulated what we all have thought since God called Kara home better than what you just did. When I see how God brought so many of us together, even from afar and how we could see God’s love in action in the midst of the hard happenings of this life because Kara would not do anything other than share His amazing love with us, I am in awe. Would we love to still have Kara here sharing Him with us…you bet! Would we ever question God’s grace and goodness in all He has done because his faithful servant was willing to walk the path He had for her? No, because even the we don’t understand, we trust Him. I thank Him for the many who will gain a better understanding ofHis amazing love because Kara and her family walked a path they didn’t choose, want to wouldn’t have minded walking away from if their human-ness could make that choice. When we see Him face-to-face, we will understand. for today, we accept and thank Him for all He is doing with Kara’s story.
Wow! So very powerful.
Just, wow. Thanks, girl. Such deep, hard, needed perspective. xoxo
Both your love for Kara and your honest faith shines through in this post, Jill.
Ahh, Jill. These words . . . so real and honest and life-giving. Thank you for sharing your perspective and your words about Kara. I so appreciate your heart, friend. And I’m saying a prayer for you tonight.
Jill, your comments on Kara and God is another reason God in His Sovereignty took her home. Because your comments as a result have encouraged me in my spiritual walk. It’s so hard but we keep persevering! Thank you!
Sigh. Such sweet words. Thank you!
Oh my…so precious. Hugs and love to you ❤️
I watched the documentary this week…and it was so precious and sweet to see and hear her, again. I only met Kara twice: Once at a memorial service at our church, and once (in passing) when she and Jason came to Focus on the Family to record their interview with us. Seeing her on the camera showed her life as big as it felt – she fairly jumps off the screen with her grace and kindness – and joy that just oozes. I want that. I strive for that. But the control that you mention is my downfall…oh, how I want that control. Yet, as you say, it is an illusion of order.
I’m so thankful that this documentary has made it on Netflix…and yes – can’t wait to hear the stories here, and in heaven, on how God is still using Kara and her precious family for HIS glory and the redemption of unknown numbers.
Dear Jill,
I can only imagine how much her family, you and her other close friends miss her because I know I sure do! Thank you for your beautiful and heart-rending, inspiring, questioning words.
Every single time I think of Kara (which is quite often) I find myself wishing she could come back–for just a while, just long enough to spend a few days with her loves, visit those she loved dearly here on earth, maybe write a few more words or do a podcast sharing a glimpse of Heaven and her walk with the Father there. How GLORIOUS that would be! But then I think “Lori, that’s not the way to look at it. For what believer, having BEEN in Heaven with Jesus, would want to return to Earth?” In my earthly human mind and body, I say “I would so I could see my loved ones again just briefly” but somehow I know it doesn’t–and shouldn’t work like that for that is not His plan!
I DO pray for her loves –including Jason and the lovely Sarah! Just as I know Kara prayed for the Godly woman that would become Jason’s wife and the children’s stepmom. I pray they have blended in a Divinely led way, that they have all bonded and that they are grieving less because God has given Jason and the kids Sarah! I pray that the kids will ALWAYS remember Kara–and I have NO DOUBT they will–even little Story Jane. I hope someday Jason or even Sarah may choose to give us a glimpse of the NEW story God has written! I pray that Kara’s lessons live on–in ALL of us!
Thank you for writing this. Andrew & I cried watching the documentary, but were inspired once again by her message that “suffering is not the absence of God’s goodness.” Her story impacted me so deeply & I’m thankful for the ways it lives on in friends like you and tributes like this. I love the way you write, Jill.
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