Two weeks after losing her father, Murray Barrett, along with 12 other members of the First Baptist Church of New Braunfels in Texas on March 29, Jenn Barrett says she's now "confused" after her mum, Dianne Barrett, died in her home just two weeks later on April 11.
Jenn's father was driving a group of older adult church members home from a three-day retreat at the Alto Frio Baptist Encampment when he crashed into Jack Dillon Young's pickup truck along U.S. Highway 83 North just south of Ranch Road 1050 in Uvalde. Less than two weeks later, shortly after burying her father, Jenn's mum died alone at her home.
"I know that my God is good. I know that His plans are right and true. I know that all things work for His glory and my good. But I am confused," she wrote on her blog the day after her mother passed.
"Is it OK to say that? I trust God knows what He is doing and I trust that He has a plan ... but it doesn't make any sense right now. If mom was going to die, why not just have her on the bus two weeks ago? Why put mom through the pain of grieving the loss of Dad just to have her join him 13 days later? Why put the four of us through planning a second funeral with the ink still wet on our thank you notes from the last one?" she asked.
Dianne, 55, and Murray Barrett, 67, were married for 32 years, according to News 4 San Antonio. They met at Texas State University and Dianne's career in the Air Force took their family, which included four children, all around the country. They settled down in New Braunfels 15 years ago where Murray taught school and mentored children. Dianne worked as a ministry assistant at First Baptist Church.
"And I'll see him again," she said. "Hopefully not too soon. But I'll see him again."
In a post she called "Orphan" Jenn remembered her parents as "a gift to this world."
"My parents were amazing. They loved and served with everything that they had until their last moments on Earth. My father passed driving the bus full of seniors returning from their annual choir retreat. My mother was working on details for the annual Seder up until she went to sleep. Both of them were a gift to this world and wanted nothing more than to leave the world better than they found it," she said.
Despite her confusion over the events that led to the death of both her parents in such quick succession, however, Jenn is praying that God will use their passing to make her a stronger witness for Him.
"I will continue to wonder what God is up to and I will ask for wisdom as we (family) work through the complex legal process to follow. I will write another obituary, we will process another cremation, and we will make another slide show. We will order another set of flowers and each of us will give another speech at another memorial," she wrote.
"My hope and prayer is that in a year when I look back on this unimaginable tragedy I will say with confidence that God has shaped me into a stronger woman and prepared me for His great work in my life," she added.
This article was originally published in The Christian Post.
