joy comes in the morning

brock & madi at dona juana's funeral

one word that describes juana's life - alone.

almost every time we visited, whether just our family, or a group of friends, she always let us know that she was alone. she reiterated over and over again that she had no parents, no brothers and sisters, and no kids. she would always say "estoy sola, no tengo nadie..."

her funeral felt just like that.

the catholic church did a small service. we carried her casket in the back of the truck from buena vista to magdalena with a few people walking behind us.  some local men helped dig the hole, we put her casket inside and filled the hole with dirt.  they asked me to pray a prayer, and that was it.

not even one member of the family whose house juana has lived in since we met her attended the funeral.

my daughter madi reminded me of my last conversation with juana the day before she died.  it was a beautiful sunny day but her back was towards the window and she laid in bed facing a concrete wall. when i asked her if i could turn her to face the window, she said "no, i dont like the sun. i like the rain."

madi said this to me as the rain poured down from above.

it was a moment that reminded me of juana's life.  alone.

i am thankful today for the truth of scripture.  thankful that "joy comes in the morning."  thankful that juana is finally with Jesus.

she will never be alone again.

"...weeping may last through the night, but joy comes in the morning."  psalm 30:5