I woke up this morning thinking about Ezer—that beautiful Hebrew word often translated as “helper.” Most people think of Ezer as “wife,” but that’s only how it’s used twice in Genesis.

Every other time, Ezer refers to the Lord Himself—coming in for battle, coming to rescue, coming to stand beside.

And right now, it feels like I’ve been in a battle. Closing this door, moving on—it’s a lot of work.

The art we commissioned seven years ago came off the walls and more furniture was moved. Plus, the cabinets are emptied or ready to be emptied tomorrow. God blessed me with a husband who understands how to get things done and he made two trips today.

Today, some human emotion took its toll, and I cried. God has done so very much in our Smyrna store. The tears were from gratitude more than anything else. Through the tears, I kept praising God. I kept singing, “I love You, Lord, for all You’ve done, for what You’re doing, and for what’s to come.”

I’ve been singing that through tears for a long time now, and it still breaks something open in me every time. I know this is part of the grieving process. I know we’re doing the right thing by closing this chapter, and I don’t have any bad feelings—just the deep ache of letting go.

But each time the tears came, I took them straight to Jesus. And every single time, that’s what stopped them. Praise the Lord.

Thank you, Jesus.