IC My New Life

All summer long I have been involved in a Discipleship Training group at my church. The goal of this group is to build relationships with others and help lead others to become Disciples. A Disciple is one that is following Jesus, who is being changed by Him and is committed to being on mission for Christ to make more disciples. As we make more disciples we also form new groups.

As part of training in this group we divided up into pairs and told a Bible story to a small group. Then we asked questions and discussed the story. In my group we had two very sweet couples. I told the story and Ed asked most of the questions and even went more in depth with the story. He is a Bible scholar compared to me. But in order to learn you have to start somewhere, so I try to learn as much as I can.

As we discussed the story of Jesus asking Peter, James and John to follow Him, Jesus also told them He would make them fishers of men. Somehow we got on the subject of Christians not having a perfect life. Some people think that all Christians go around smiling and praising God all the time..not so! Christians go through the same struggles and heartaches that everyone does we just know that we always have Jesus helping us.

I remember looking at one couple in particular who was going through a very difficult time in their lives. I said they had no idea they would both have cancer at the same time. As I looked at him through his teary eyes, I said no matter what you always know that Jesus is by your side!

A few weeks later when we were in our Discipleship Training group, our Pastor received a phone call. It was the husband of the couple that has cancer. She was in the hospital with complications with her heart and the doctors said there was nothing more they could do.

We decided to leave immediately and go visit this family. Fist we stopped at their house and talked and prayed with the husband. Then we went to the hospital to visit the wife and her daughter. There was four of us and we gathered around her bed. She grabbed my hand and with her very weak voice she told us that she ready. She was ready to be taken off all the machines and ready to meet her Maker. As she was saying some of the last words she would ever say, she also asked how others in the church were doing. She was always thinking of others.

She knew she was going to heaven so she asked if she could peak around the clouds and check on us every once in a while. She told me that I did a beautiful job the night I lead the Bible study. Tears began to flow down my checks. I knew that was the last time that she was able to go to church. I felt so blessed that God used me to speak to her about His love that night. I also knew this would be the last time that I would see her alive. When it was time to leave I hugged her and told her that she was going to make a beautiful angel. I hugged her one more time because it was hard to let go of such a sweet and thoughtful person.

As we walked back to our cars, I was still crying. I didn’t want to let her go. I didn’t want God to have her yet. I know it was selfish, but it was truly how I felt at the time. A few days later heaven received their beautiful angel. Her life on earth was done, but her kindness and thoughtfulness will be missed by many.

She sounded so confident and sure when she said she was ready. She was ready for her new home and her new healthy body. She deserved it and we had to let her go. Sometimes when I look up in the sky on a beautiful sunny day I wonder if she peaking around a cloud and smiling down on me.

I dedicate this blog post to the memory of my sister in Christ Sandra McClain.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 24th, 2014 at 10:18 pm and is filed under Friends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.