This last week I was getting ready to go to a memorial service for a dear friend's mom. I had also lost my uncle the week before, and the day before the memorial service my husband Jim was given the diagnosis of ALS. So here I am getting ready for the service and all I hear in my mind is 'death sentence'.
Huh...and then I hear, 'being born, beginning life is a death sentence'. I don't mean that in a maudlin sense, it just is what it is. The moment we enter this world, the instant we take our first breath we begin to die. As advanced as our knowledge is, as progressive as our health care is becoming, nothing is ever going to change the fact that one day we will all die. I am not a fatalist, that is a proven fact.
What we do between our birth and death though, that is what matters. I read once that it is the 'dash' on the gravestone that tells the story. Date of birth - date of death. And what a story we can tell, what a legacy we can leave behind.
As Jim and I sat in that memorial service on Tuesday I heard all of these wonderful people tell the story of Martha Blocker. The life she led, the joy she spread, the gift she left behind. The gift of love and laughter and most importantly of faith. Every person that shared about Martha shared about her great faith in God. About how that faith affected them when she was alive and continues to affect them to this day. She was a light in the darkness, a testimony of God's love and faithfulness. Her grandson JD shared eloquently about her love for the Lord. Her great grandson Trenton shared of her encouragement and inspiration in his life. Her son Doug shared of her great love for him and how she was his greatest cheerleader. And her daughter-in-law Ruthie shared of Martha's affect on her before she even married into the family. As Martha's great granddaughter read in Proverbs 31, what a woman of God she was.
My hope as I go through this life is to have that affect. I know I am not a real people person. I know I tend to withdraw into myself. I know I hide a lot, but I pray that the people I love know just that, that I love them. That I will care for them until the day I die. And I pray that I leave a legacy like Martha did.
And what I pray more than anything is that others will know of my love for the Lord. I have always tried to share my faith, even to those who have no interest. I have tried to share of His grace and mercy in my life. How He brought me out of such great darkness into His marvelous light. How He has carried me through so much to bring me into His salvation and love. And how He has brought healing not only to my body, but to my mind, my emotions. How He healed my marriage and restored such a great love to me for my husband.
I look at my husband Jim and see what hurdles he will have to overcome. But overcome them he will. He has always been a strong man. A man who has taken care of his family, friends and even those who have wronged him. He has given of himself to others in every way. Financially, emotionally, physically. And as I go through this with him now, I know that he will continue to give all that he is able, not out of a sense of obligation, but out of a sense of sharing the Father's love. Every moment of every day since Jim gave his life to the Lord he has been building a legacy for others to look to. Again, not a legacy that shines a spotlight on him, but a legacy that shows how great a God he serves.
We pray for healing for Jim. We trust and know that He can heal if He chooses, but more than anything we pray for His grace to go through this all with the knowledge that He walks with us. He holds us, He comforts us, He strengthens us, and that is the greatest miracle of all. The miracle that He gave His all for us, that we might enter into His love and into His family.
This is not a death sentence as you would suppose. This is just the beginning because we serve such a great and mighty God. This is only the start of the legacy, the inheritance that will be left to our family long after we are gone. And even then we are not really gone, we are in a greater place. In His presence. Oh what a glorious day that will be!
Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/DarkWorkX-1664300/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=3414235">DarkWorkX</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=3414235">Pixabay</a>
Huh...and then I hear, 'being born, beginning life is a death sentence'. I don't mean that in a maudlin sense, it just is what it is. The moment we enter this world, the instant we take our first breath we begin to die. As advanced as our knowledge is, as progressive as our health care is becoming, nothing is ever going to change the fact that one day we will all die. I am not a fatalist, that is a proven fact.
What we do between our birth and death though, that is what matters. I read once that it is the 'dash' on the gravestone that tells the story. Date of birth - date of death. And what a story we can tell, what a legacy we can leave behind.
As Jim and I sat in that memorial service on Tuesday I heard all of these wonderful people tell the story of Martha Blocker. The life she led, the joy she spread, the gift she left behind. The gift of love and laughter and most importantly of faith. Every person that shared about Martha shared about her great faith in God. About how that faith affected them when she was alive and continues to affect them to this day. She was a light in the darkness, a testimony of God's love and faithfulness. Her grandson JD shared eloquently about her love for the Lord. Her great grandson Trenton shared of her encouragement and inspiration in his life. Her son Doug shared of her great love for him and how she was his greatest cheerleader. And her daughter-in-law Ruthie shared of Martha's affect on her before she even married into the family. As Martha's great granddaughter read in Proverbs 31, what a woman of God she was.
My hope as I go through this life is to have that affect. I know I am not a real people person. I know I tend to withdraw into myself. I know I hide a lot, but I pray that the people I love know just that, that I love them. That I will care for them until the day I die. And I pray that I leave a legacy like Martha did.
And what I pray more than anything is that others will know of my love for the Lord. I have always tried to share my faith, even to those who have no interest. I have tried to share of His grace and mercy in my life. How He brought me out of such great darkness into His marvelous light. How He has carried me through so much to bring me into His salvation and love. And how He has brought healing not only to my body, but to my mind, my emotions. How He healed my marriage and restored such a great love to me for my husband.
I look at my husband Jim and see what hurdles he will have to overcome. But overcome them he will. He has always been a strong man. A man who has taken care of his family, friends and even those who have wronged him. He has given of himself to others in every way. Financially, emotionally, physically. And as I go through this with him now, I know that he will continue to give all that he is able, not out of a sense of obligation, but out of a sense of sharing the Father's love. Every moment of every day since Jim gave his life to the Lord he has been building a legacy for others to look to. Again, not a legacy that shines a spotlight on him, but a legacy that shows how great a God he serves.
We pray for healing for Jim. We trust and know that He can heal if He chooses, but more than anything we pray for His grace to go through this all with the knowledge that He walks with us. He holds us, He comforts us, He strengthens us, and that is the greatest miracle of all. The miracle that He gave His all for us, that we might enter into His love and into His family.
This is not a death sentence as you would suppose. This is just the beginning because we serve such a great and mighty God. This is only the start of the legacy, the inheritance that will be left to our family long after we are gone. And even then we are not really gone, we are in a greater place. In His presence. Oh what a glorious day that will be!
Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/DarkWorkX-1664300/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=3414235">DarkWorkX</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=3414235">Pixabay</a>