SADNESS…and REJOICING

My! I have been surrounded by death all the last few weeks. We lost 2 fine men in our church recently. Then, yesterday, one of the dearest women, went on to glory! She wasn’t my aunt, but that’s what I called her…Aunt Eunice. She taught me piano for many years, and was organist in our church. Her daughter and I were close and I went on summer vacation with them many times to Gatlinburg, Tenn. She knew the Bible, chapter and verse. And, she became a wonderful Bible teacher to many newly marrieds in our church. She could explain Revelation better than anyone I knew. She will be missed…but she is where she has always wanted to go.

For as long as I can remember, my parents and she and her husband had been good friends. She has been quite feeble lately and in a wheelchair. She was not able to be out and about much. But, after Mom died, she made it a point to call me one day. She had quite a few questions about Mom, and was concerned that Mom had suffered or been in pain before she died. I explained to her that Mom had only a few minutes of pain, before she left her house, but no more after that. She was so happy to hear this. She cried a little and then she said, “I just had to make sure.” She then told me how much she loved Mom and Pop, and Joy and I. And, I reminded her of how much we loved her. We then said our good-byes. Aunt Eunice, you were a special lady. I’ll miss you.

And this morning, I got a call from my cousin, Lisa, in NC. She had the sad news that my mother’s sister, Aunt Della Mae had died. As far as I know this was not expected.

She was a dear, sweet lady. Her husband, Uncle Jefferson, died quite a few years ago. My cousins Kaye, Tony, Jeanie, and Kim adored her. They had given her quite a few grandchildren…who she enjoyed very much. I am just so sad to know that her children, my cousins, are going through what Joy and I did recently. And, as with Mother, she did not linger in pain. I am so thankful for that. Her children have sweet memories, and those will give them comfort. But, most importantly, they know she is in Heaven today with her Savior. I imagine that Mother was there to greet her with open arms!

Here is a picture made in 2007, of Mom and her brother and 3 sisters. Aren’t they all beautiful? They are all such wonderful people. These aunts have been in my life since I was born, even though we lived 600 miles apart. I am so thankful for that. I am blessed to have watched and learned from them. And, my thoughts and prayers are with them, her brother, and the rest of the family as they deal with the next few days and weeks.

L-to-R…Marie…Mom…Elwood…Della Mae…Evelyn

I love this passage from 2 Corinthians…

2 Corinthians 5…NLT

” ¹ For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. ² We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. ³ For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies.^{[a] 4} While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it‚Äôs not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. ⁵ God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.

⁶ So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. ⁷ For we live by believing and not by seeing. ⁸ Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. ⁹ So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. ¹⁰ For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.” AMEN and AMEN