Remembering The Blessings

Today was my precious Mom’s graduation day. She bowed her head and left this earth peacefully on December 29th 14 years ago.

I share the priestly blessing of scripture because I wrote it out on most every card I gave my Mom when I became an adult and at the prompting of the Holy Spirit. After my Mom suffered a heart attack in February, 2010, I had these prayerful verses of the blessing printed to hang in her hospital room. During one of my visits, the physician treating her pointed to the blessing on the wall in her room and said, “This is the only reason your Mother is still alive.” She was blessed to recover and live another 10 months filled with more latter day blessings I continually prayed for her to experience.

Like the beautiful “Rose” she was named, her life was filled with many thorns and also the beauty of God’s glorious and redeeming grace. At age 19, my Mom was diagnosed with bi-polar mental illness. She was very artistic, had a great sense of humor, loved to sing and laugh, and always gave away most of what was given to her materially. She wrote many cards and notes of encouragement to others even when her hands were unsteady and shaky due to the side effects of numerous medications. She had the gift of encouragement that triumphed over her own suffering, sorrows, and struggles mentally and later more physically too. She loved people and so loved her children, grandchildren, and all in her family. My Mom buried one twin, beloved David Wayne, 48 hours following his birth and the other twin, my beloved brother, Donald Lee “Donnie,” at the young age of 30. Part of her overcoming story is that she still became an official member in The Salvation Army, and her latter days were filled with more stability and joy due to her family remaining close, and her faith in God. Mental illness is not only very painful for the person battling it, but it also brings many unexpected highs and lows and chaotic challenges for their loved ones, who often feel so inadequate to help. There is, of course, so much more to her story.

In spite of unanswered questions about all the suffering she experienced on her earthly journey, I remember these blessings – the love and laughter we shared, her kind and generous spirit, her beautiful handwritten notes, and her words of encouragement. I am thankful for the peace of knowing she is forever free from all the thorns of this life as a beloved Rose in glory.

Today, I learned of a precious elder brother in Christ also graduating to Heaven. Cliff served faithfully within our church family. Even with his own physical challenges, Cliff was the most joyful encourager, who always made sure everyone anywhere near him received a verbal blessing. Now, Cliff, who was a blessing to many through his uplifting spirit, has entered the purest joy and perfect peace of the presence of Jesus, the blessing in completion.

Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later.

Romans 8:18

“For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Isaiah 55:12-13

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Our good memories of others hopefully prompt us to ask God to help us be the people others remember as a blessing in their lives too. 

What blessings am I remembering?

What cards or notes do I still treasure?

What words am I forever holding in my heart?

What blessings am I giving and leaving as a legacy?

What words have I shared I hope will always be remembered?

Is the last thing I said to someone, the last thing I desire to be remembered?

I pray others remember my words and my life as a blessing too.

 

Your sister in Christ,

Joyful Jenny

When the ties that bind us closely to this earth are gone, the ties that bind us close to Heaven are made stronger.