This happens to other people.

This has been one of those weeks. The kind that come along (hopefully) only once in a lifetime. The kind that change you from the inside out. The kind that draw a line between then and now, that can never be crossed again.

This week, our family bid farewell to a woman with a warm, giving and adventurous heart. The loss was tragic and unexpected, and has left unanswered questions and a gaping hole in the hearts of so many who knew and loved her.

I also watched as a monstrous hurricane wreaked havoc on my beloved home state of New Jersey. From Manhattan down to our beach home on the Jersey Shore, the devastation is heart stopping and unlike anything I've experienced before. 

This kind of wreckage happens elsewhere, to other people, not to us. It is something you watch on the news, tear up over, pray for and even donate generously to help clean up, but it is most certainly not something you ever expect to experience.

Hubs and I, though safe from the storm in Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana these last few days, watched in horror as our world was turned on its head from several different perspectives. We worried about our loved ones near and far, missed the hugs and cheerful laughter of someone to whom we'd grown quite close, offered meager strength to those in pain, and recounted endless  memories shared in a place that seemed untouchable until now.

I have been forced to juxtapose the loss of a loved one with the loss of a special place. In truth, I feel conflicted about the pain I am experiencing over both of those, even though the latter seems so trivial compared to the former. 

I've prayed through these feelings and found some comfort in the permission to grieve. I have learned it is wholly cleansing to give yourself over to the hurt for a little while and release it to God. And I am once again amazed at how He shows up when we give things over to Him.

Oh how He has shown up in the last few days.

He has revealed Himself through the thoughtful concern and prayerful comfort offered by friends, old and new. I am so deeply humbled by the outreach we received, even in the midst of the difficult times others were facing.

So while I still have some unresolved feelings over everything we've experienced this week, I will say that I am so grateful that I will never, ever have to go through any of life's most difficult days alone.

To my friends and family impacted by Hurricane Sandy, I love you so deeply and I am praying for peace and comfort for you all. 

For our beloved Shore, I am hopeful that we can rebuild that place we all hold so deeply in our hearts and share it again together and with future generations.

And to my dear brother-in-law, sister-in-law and your family, my heart is aching for you and my desperate prayer is that the Lord will just wrap you up in loving comfort in this sad and confusing time.