The love of a brother.....

My younger brother and his wife were here with us visiting from another state from Thursday to Sunday. The Lord gave us beautiful weather and we all found special moments together.

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My brother is my only sibling and we are 2 and 1/2 years apart in age, as I said above, he being younger. When you have only one sibling you are forced to like that particular sibling, you don't have favorites! (ha) We shared a room until we grew too old to do so......as much as we teased and tormented each other we also defended the other. We share many memories, we have a history together.
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My brother and sister in law visited us the weekend of Labor Day last year as well. This was their first time to our home out here, in our corner of the world, a reunion of sorts and as God would have it, it was perfectly planned, in His time. We had a great time, my hubby and my brother used to be very close and they were able to reconnect and have time together. This I know is a treasure to my brother as it is to me in my heart. Again, perfectly planned by our Creator. They left Tuesday morning early, heading home.......not suspecting they would be back in our state to help me say goodbye to my sweet prince just a few days later.

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My brother, I know, was and is heartbroken over the earthly loss of his brother in law. They had known each other since hubby was 17 and my brother was 14, almost 15. They shared great memories and a history together, the fun and silly times as well as serious.

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My brother was near me, supporting me both in words and in presence the whole time he was there that weekend of my husbands funeral. He asked questions of things I might want to think about and options to things I hadn't thought about. He let me know he was and would be there for me when needed. When he returned home over 400 miles away he called me EVERY night that he didn't work, and if he worked he told me his schedule and let me know I could call him or text him if I needed him. He also gave me my sister in laws cell phone number with the same instructions.....if he had worked the night before he called me EVERY morning he worked or afternoon to check in with me and the kids. Funny about the texting thing. I had never texted. Had no desire to. Hubby and I teased about how people looked joined to their cell phones like we used to be joined to the Atari joysticks way back when. Soon, my brother had me proficient in texting. My kids still say at night when my phone makes it noise, "hi uncle ****", they know it is him. Our children also felt his presence through my conversations.....my husband would be so proud of him and thankful to him.

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Every day, he committed himself to support me, Every day at some point we communicated. You could say he devoted himself to checking in with me.......what motivates that type of devotion?

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Love.

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Plain and simple. It is not hard. It is not scary. It's love. Its unconditional. God commands us to love Him with all our heart, mind and soul. Why? Read in Galatians.....what is the first listed in the Fruit of the Spirit? Love. Why? Again, read through them.....if you don't have love, you cannot have joy, patience.....try being joyful at the person who just cut you off in the passing lane if you are angry at their action.....it's impossible. You have to have love in order to obtain the rest. God uses Love as an example in abundance throughout His word.

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My brother made me feel loved. I will be forever grateful to his example of it. It brings me to tears to think about it. He still makes me feel loved. I did nothing to even work at that relationship during those weeks, I was so lost and living in such shock and fog. But like our Father in Heaven, my brother never gave it a thought. He kept calling, kept texting, kept me communicating and not shutting down. He kept reminding me how much my husband loved me and the kids, kept reminding me where my husband was at and that I would see him again. Thank you my dear sweet brother, thank you. I pray someday that I can be there for you in your darkest of days, in your despair be able to refocus you and just let you know that I love you.

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A huge thank you to all my friends and family for their support, prayers and love both to me, my children, my hubby's parents, his family, my family.....we all carry such a loss, hubby was such a presence! (smile) I guess I have just been really blessed by this committment, I know it is not easy, it took a lot of work and sacrifice on my brothers part to do that everyday....and still today, even 7 months later we communicate almost everyday......it is a blessing ♥