Ten Thousand Umbrellas

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Good morning, you, there with your coffee cup.

Oh, how I love you.

You breathe my name in your prayers, on days when I cannot pray at all.  So many of you have told me, “There hasn’t been a day, Tricia.  Not a day has passed when I haven’t prayed for your family,”

or “I have prayed constantly this week, Tricia.  I have not stopped,”

or “We are still here, in this with you.”

In my mind, I picture you: an army marching through the storm, carrying ten thousand umbrellas.  The storm is every kind of scary: the clouds loom, the wind blows, the sky is gray and threatening.

You walk with me, shoulder to shoulder, your umbrellas held fiercely high.  And the storm has not swept me away.

I am humbled, my friends, by your faithfulness, your longevity, your willingness to remember.

I know I’m not the only one in a storm.  I carry an umbrella for you, too.  With you.

This morning, I raise mine alongside yours: Cheers to sunshine.

Tricia Lott Williford

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  1. A little less than 2 years ago, I was grieving the death of my father. A wonderful friend pointed me to your blog, which was shortly after Robb passed away. Whenever I grieve over my dad, I pray for you and your boys. As hard as it was to lose my dad before it was his time, I cannot imagine losing my love. We love you and stand with you in support, love and prayer!

  2. Love this metaphor! Yep. So even on the days when the wind starts blowing them inside out and we have to walk along kinda blindly so nobody gets an eye poked out…even then. We’re holding these umbrellas. Like everyone else, I know it’s just as much for us as it is for you that we are compelled to carry them.

  3. I’m happy to be a part of that umbrella army. (Mine is purple, btw. In case you were wondering. With glitter. Always glitter.) I will always be part of it, just as you and your family via the blog have become a part of my constant life. 🙂

  4. Cheers !

  5. This post is so cool! I too, pray for you every day. Sometimes several times a day. I have followed you since Robb passed away, I have learned so much from “knowing” you. On the days you can’t pray, know that I will pray for you.

  6. Tricia, my umbrella is brown with pink polka dots….it’s the happiest umbrella I could find….think and pray for you every day……

  7. I’m reading a life-changing, devastating book by Randy Alcorn called Safely Home, which is filled with delightful Chinese proverbs. At one point a man praises his wife – his prayer warrior – modifying the proverb that “Women hold up half the sky,” saying his wife “holds up his half of the sky” with her prayers. Such beautiful analogies we have to try to explain the power we have in prayer, and at the same time, the utter dependence we have upon the one who said,

    Thus says the LORD:
    “Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool;
    what is the house that you would build for me,
    and what is the place of my rest?
    All these things my hand has made,
    and so all these things came to be,
    declares the LORD.
    But this is the one to whom I will look:
    he who is humble and contrite in spirit
    and trembles at my word.</em"
    (Isaiah 66:1-2 ESV)

  8. Tricia this is beautiful and I love it. Know you are loved even though you do not know all of us.

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