A Beautiful Woman of God

This week has been a very rough week, but I didn’t want to write about it until I had some time to process… On Monday morning, a good friend of our family and member of our church passed away very suddenly. She was a beautiful woman with a beautiful heart, and as they said at the funeral today, “the life of the party.” She meant so much to so many people. She was involved in everything and seemed to be friends with everyone. She was a wife, a mother of two, and a new grandmother to four (three born in the last 6 months!). I could go on and on about what she meant to everyone else, but I am just going to reflect on what she meant to me. Through my life, she has been an example of someone who is hardworking, generous, and excited about life. She was a sponsor on my first mission trip. When I got married, she threw my bridal shower at the church and helped coordinate all of the chaos of the wedding day (including rigging my dad’s tuxedo which didn’t fit and keeping my Grandma from walking out--that’s another story!). I sang with her and played bells with her in the church choir-she has done that for years. It’s hard to see the choir without her smiling face (the choir sang at her funeral today). I spent countless summer days throughout my life lounging at her pool which was always open to anyone and everyone. Most recently, she shared in my joy of becoming a mother. When I found out I was pregnant, she was one of those people that I couldn’t wait to tell because I knew she would be so excited. Well, as word travels in a small community, she found out at choir practice before my mom or I were able to tell her. Josh and I were teaching at the time, so after her practice was over, she came to our classroom and waited outside to congratulate me. I could see her through the window and knew why she was there. I slipped out to talk to her. She hugged me and we were jumping up and down-she was so happy for me and for my mom. She was telling me how much she loves being a grandma and how excited she was for my mom to experience that as well. That was the last time I talked to her. For whatever reason, God decided this week that it was her time to go. I think it is especially hard because it was so unexpected. When I got the e-mail through the church prayer chain, I thought there had to be a mistake-there was no way this could be true… even after the visitation and funeral, I still kind of feel like that. It makes you realize how precious and short life is. You never know what tomorrow will bring… As they said at the service this morning, she is in heaven not because she was a great mom, daughter, wife, grandmother, friend, or even church member. It is true that she was all of those things and more, but she is in heaven because she trusted Jesus and lived her life serving him. I can only aspire to be more like her…. What a beautiful woman of God!