Farewell Elaine

  I mentioned a few blogs ago about my friend Elaine.  She was called home a day and half ago to be with Jesus.  A life here on earth snuffed out to quickly; but the impact of her life huge, beyond measure, and in ways that my human mind and heart don't fully comprehend. I stood in my bathroom this morning at 5 am crying as I was praying for her family.  My crying honestly was more for her 3 young adult sons and of course as a mom of a 24 and 27 year-old I couldn't help but think of them and what it would be like to lose their parents.  Would they miss me? Would they teach their children the things I've taught them? Will they seek after a relationship with our Savior in their own unique way?
  Elaine and I hadn't seen a lot of each other the past few years.  As so often happens, life had taken us on our own journeys the past several years.  However, as I am getting older the definition I place on friendship looks so much different than it did when I was younger.  I so appreciate all the friendships I've had in my lifestime.  Many have been just for a season (whether short or long), some are for a lifetime.  And it matters not whether they are there always or on occasion.  What matters for me is how I am able to serve and love and plant into them, even if ever so briefly.   I used to want friends who always gave back to me; now I don't honestly think of that so much. And the reality is that so many people do sew something into the fiber or the tapestry of your life.   
 That's how Elaine was.  I watched her handle her husband's death with grace and strength that was amazing; and truly a testimony to a life built into following Christ.  I watched from a distance, mostly through following her blogs and praying for her, and on occasion with a visit to her, as she fought this six-year battle with cancer.  She challenged me to love my children more deeply and not to forget that you can still strongly influence your adult children once they leave home.  So many people touched by one Spirit-filled woman.   Here's one of the things she wrote in her journal just weeks before her death:
  As I laid in the CT scan donut, arms over head tingly and falling numb, I had a picture of Christ with His arms spread wide on the cross, bleeding and suffering. And I thought, “This is nothing.” Thank you, Lord, for all the sweet gifts You have given me these 51 years. So many gifts, many overlooked, but so many gifts."
  What a testimony; and she inspired so many to live a life pressed into our faithful God.  I hope I, too, can be that type of woman - in sickness or in health.  And to "live in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ" as Paul encourages in Philippians 1:27.  God speed Elaine.