Good morning!
Welcome to your morning coffee! May our Heavenly Father bring us peace and rest for our souls in the midst of grief. Father, losing loved ones is so hard. And it should be! We love them. And we want to be with them. Please help us, Father, to accept your timing in all things, whether by your design, or by your gracious allowance. No one gets to tell you when you can and cannot see your own kids. Father, in the powerful name of Jesus, and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we thank you for Lois. Amen.
Your Morning Song: "Under His Wings" written by W.O. Cushing and sung by the Altar of Praise Chorale
Your Morning Scripture: John 11:25
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.
Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
...
My six-year-old son looked at her hands. They were gnarled up like the knotted roots. He kept looking.
"Why are your fingers like that?" he asked her.
She spoke before I could. She gently explained to my son why her fingers looked the way they did, arthritis, and then talked about missing being able to play the piano. She was so kind, and so matter of fact, and smiled. So, my son smiled, and listened.
I was jealous, of course. He didn't listen as carefully to me as he did to Lois. But she was Lois.
Lois Heimberger, my dear sister in Christ, died only a week or so later, on September 8th, at 5:23pm, at 96 and a half years old.
I will miss her at our Bible studies with Janet and Marilyn (and occasionally my little kids). I will miss her quiet voice, and very firm handshake (arthritis be darned). I will miss how joyfully she sang, following along in the hymns as best she could. I will miss how deftly she set aside any talk of her own struggles, to focus on others.
But not forever. Because of Jesus, I do not have to say goodbye to Lois. It is only, see you later. I will see her again someday. Along with so many of my loved ones who are at rest, present with Jesus.
He is the only way to be saved from the horror of death. It is still the enemy. It is never a good thing. By grace, through faith, our "goodbyes" are turned to "see you laters."
Let's grieve at losing Lois but let our grief rest on the peace of knowing for certain that she is with Jesus. And that someday we will be with her, with Him.
The grief of God's Children must always rest on the peace of the promised resurrection in Christ. He weeps with us, but will someday remove all tears, all crying, all pain.
My heart settles on the small, few memories I've shared with Lois. I only knew her a little. She was caring, and gentle, and thoughtful, and kind. And she so dearly loved Jesus. And I am marked by the beauty of how she loved my son in his shameless question. I think of it often, and have turned some of my own harsh, exasperated words away from him, because of her.
And that is only the barest hint of her legacy of faithfulness and trust in our Lord Jesus. She is with Him now! She has certainly heard, "Well done, my good and faithful servant!" Her faith is gone. Now she has sight and can see Jesus, face to face. Forever.
See you later Lois. Thank you for loving me and my son.
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