Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. 13 “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed. Hebrews 12:12-13
I don’t really know where to start. This special lady was my next door neighbor, my friend, my confidant……. I can close my eyes and still see her soaking up the sun lying on her patio on Saturday and Sunday afternoons; her dark complexion deepening in the light and her dark brown hair glistening like a halo, her cigarette smoke rising like a prayer. I moved in next door and under her wing I was gathered. She was a happy, Son worshipping soul (pun intended), everyone loved: Her friends, they were many, like me, miss her still. The deep scar placed in our hearts the day she decided it was time to fly away to the arms of her Heavenly Father remains raw and very tender.
She was next to sit in the “cloud” seats of my stadium. I cherish the time I had with her. I remember the “packed house” the day the world bid her adieu. I remember the way I awakened the morning after the phone call came, how I sobbed and could not breathe and was gathered into the arms of the officer and gentleman. The questions of “Why?” screaming from my soul, will never be completely answered this side of heaven.
What did the death of this precious friend do? Her death sent me into a year long c-o-m-b-I-n-g of the Scriptures for the answers to my questions as I clung desperately to the feet of Jesus. The result–I have NO DOUBT of her place in glory! She is secure in the arms of Jesus and her wounded heart is forever healed and the Lord used her life to help prepare me for another devastating loss many years later. I already had the answers I needed. “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” Matthew 10:28
I want to tell you a story about this friend of mine. She had never learned to swim and it was something she really wanted to do because then she could lie in the sun on a float and be cool! She learned I was a swimming instructor and she badgered me until I agreed to teach a ladies class at night! (I had two small children at the time.) One of the many skills you must learn is proper breathing technique to keep water out of your nose and to be able to submerge your head under water. In shallow water, I placed shiny pennies on the bottom and the goal was to retrieve a penny. Yep, gotta go under the water: All. The. Way! The ladies had some difficulty doing this but were determined to succeed. Smiles beamed gigantic as one by one they were able to pick up a penny. Imagine my surprise when a few days later I was at her house and saw her penny framed and displayed! A TROPHY! This was no small accomplishment to her. I learned from her a valuable lesson. Celebrate your success! No matter how small, make a memorial so you can remember on days when you feel like a loser. There. Are. No. Losers in God’s kingdom. Only LEARNERS!!!!
Today, she is in the cheering squad of many. She loved a good baseball game, a marching band, and AU football. A stadium was her happy place. Just knowing she is cheering me on gives me courage to persevere. I never looked out of my kitchen window, that looked out into her backyard, that I did not see her in my mind even though once she learned to swim, she was only on her patio in the early spring until the pools were filled.
What, you may be wondering, was her relationship with the LORD? She loved her Lord and never wanted anything in her life to bring Him dishonor. She reflected His attraction of others to Himself. She drew people into her world like a fly to honey. Those who came, left refreshed, feeling loved, and they had laughed. She died and will be forever young. I cannot wait to see my beautiful friend again! These are the Scriptures the Lord Himself gave me and I have clung to with a tenacity of a dog guarding a bone.
Job 14:5 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Psalm 139:16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
It matters NOT how or when we take our last breath. Young or old: Our days have been ordained by God HImself. If we belong to Him, our life is safe in His hands. Psalm 91:4 reminds us, “You will be covered by his feathers; under his wings you will be safe: his good faith will be your salvation.” She laid the stone “if you seek Him, you WILL find Him”. (Deuteronomy 4:29, I Chronicles 28:9, Jeremiah 29:13) and God is indeed the shelter in the storm: (I Kings 9:11-12, Job 38:1, Isaiah 43:1-2) Two stones (seeking and sheltering) vital to spiritual growth from one beautiful God-given friendship! I am forever grateful…………………
I have the best cloud of witnesses! I am blessed! God using life and death to spur His children on in this walk we call faith! As the penny declares, In God we trust!
Friends Are Friends Forever, by Michael W. Smith
Treading and learning,
Yvonne Jones
Edith Hill-friend extraordinaire
