Friday, June 14, 2013

The Loss of a Friend

Today we are attending the funeral of a wonderful woman who was taken from this life much too early.  I know that God doesn't make mistakes and that He has a perfect plan but it sure is hard to watch a mom of 6 kids slowly lose her battle with brain cancer.
I've known Betsy for about 16 years.  She and her husband, John, have 6 kids ranging in age from 7 through young adult and Betsy is a homeschooling mom.  She poured her life into her kids and into missions through the church.  She is by far one of the sweetest ladies you could ever meet.  Even through out her battle with cancer this past year, her sweet spirit spilled over in everything she wrote and shared.  She trusted God every step of the way and shared her wonderful testimony through the daily grace she showed.   I saw her about a month ago when we were visiting my parents and had a few moments to say hello; she took time to thank me for sharing that the we prayed for her with the boys and had this photo above posted on our Bulletin Board so we could talk about her and why we were praying.

As hard as it is for those left behind to see her go; she is so much better off.  She is healed - she can see clearly, dance, sing, and even skip along heaven's roads. She is complete with no more pain.  Betsy will be greatly missed by her family, her friends, and her church.

Recently, I've had two other acquaintances from college who have lost their wives to various illness' - one to a stroke that took her unexpectedly and another to a year long battle with cancer.  It has made me stop and think what I need to do to make sure that my family . . .my husband and my boys . . can carry on.  Both of these men have mentioned how they had no idea what their wife did on a daily basis until she was gone and have been overwhelmed with all they did not know.  This has impacted me and I want to make sure to leave a legacy in many ways.  I'll post more about that later but for today, we will remember Betsy as we celebrate her life with so many friends and family.