Marked

Ben and I headed to Trussville yesterday to have lunch with my Mom and do a little shopping.  It was such a pretty fall day and we got some fun birthday shopping done.  Ben had the best time....riding in the cart and people watching.  What started as a fairly light-hearted day became all the more serious when mom got a call from the funeral home that Dad's marker had arrived.  It felt like a tone of bricks landed on us.  We knew the marker was going to be here about 3 months after it was ordered, but we didn't expect to hear it was here.  I haven't been to my Dad's grave sight since his birthday in August, so going there to see the marker was very difficult. 
It has been a little over 3 months since my Dad went Home.  Some days it still seems like yesterday.  I miss him every day....in every way.  The marker being placed was the final "arrangement" that had to be finished.  As we walked up to see it, it was like walking out there for the first time.  Seeing his name there was more painful than you can imagine.  It was like my heart broke all over once again.  The words that my mom chose to go under his name was "Great is Thy Faithfulness".  The hymn that I have known since I was little started racing through my mind.  My heart knows that by His faithfulness  I was given the most precious Dad for almost 32 years.  I am blessed to have been given him and have chosen to believe that all of this is part of the bigger plan.  I have chosen to believe that by Grace I will see my Dad once again.  I have chosen to believe that Great is His Faithfulness!  But, my heart still aches and my eyes still cry.
My Dad's earthly grave has been marked.  But in these 32 years, I have been marked as well.  Without the marble and stone, I have been marked by my Dad's life and testimony and his overwhelming and abundant unconditional love.