The First Phone Call from Heaven

There are two stories for every life; the one you live & the one others tell

You have to start over. That's what they say. But life is not a board game, and losing a loved one is never really "starting over." More like "continuing without.

Fear is how you lose your life...a little bit at a time...What we give to fear, we take away from...faith.

Sometimes, love brings you together even as life keeps you apart.

sometimes what you miss the most is the way a loved one made you feel about yourself.

the pain we suffer is a way to make us appreciate what comes next.

Miracles happen quietly every day - in an operating room, on a stormy sea, in the sudden appearance of a road side stranger. They are rarely tallied. No one keeps score.

the words people do not speak are louder than the ones they do.

if you find one true friend in your life, you're richer than most. If that one true friend is your husband, you're blessed." She paused. "And if that one true friend is your sister, don't feel bad. At least, she can't divorce you.

No soul remembered is ever really gone.

The news of life is carried via telephone. A baby's birth, a couple engaged, a tragic car accident on a late night highway - most milestones of the human journey, good or bad, are foreshadowed by the sound of a ringing.

Faith, it is said, is better than belief, because belief is when someone else does the thinking.

Knowing heaven is what heals us on earth.

There is a time for hello and a time for good-bye. It's why the act of burying thing seems natural, but the act of digging them up does not.

Bad news has no limits. We often feel it should, like a rainstorm that can't possibly get any heavier. But a storm can always worsen, & the burdens of life can too.

If you find one true friend in life, you're richer than most. If that one true friend is your husband, you're blessed.

If we knew what comes next, we never would have worried.

That’s the thing when people leave us too suddenly, isn’t it? We always have so many questions.

What in life can love not penetrate?

A mother's voice is like no other. We recognize every lilt and whisper, every warble or shriek.

You don't miss things. You miss people.

What happened next depends on how much you believe.

The pain you go through in life doesn’t really touch you . . . not the real you. . . . You are so much lighter than you think.

people in grief can imagine many things. It makes them feel better. It doesn't make it real.

All blessings do not bless the same.

So often, we push away the voices closest to us. But once they're gone, we reach for them.