"The redeemed will walk there."
-Isaiah 35:9

It seems as though so many around me are losing people. Sarah just lost her friend to cancer. Kara just lost her friend in a tragic accident. Today, Laura will probably lose Alyssa, her three-year old cousin. She's dying of a rare disease, one that has been predicted to take her sometime during the night.

I don't feel that I'm very good at consoling grieving friends. I don't know what to say. Maybe I'm not supposed to say anything. I've lost someone close to me, as well. I don't remember wanting to talk about it much to my friends. But it must be different when it is a friend you lost. Or a little girl.

I talked to Laura on the phone this morning, and she told me the news. She'll be at her aunt's house tonight to visit her cousin, one more time. In between sobs, she asks me, "How do you say goodbye to a three-year old?"

When people leave us, it hurts. They take a part of us with them. Only when it is our time to follow them are we complete again.

And it is so hard to say goodbye.