As I sit here this morning with tears rolling down my face, for no other reason, other than the fact, that yes, it’s that time of year when we remember those who are no longer with us. We miss them with all our heart, and yes, although my mom and my brother are no longer here with us today, I find complete comfort in knowing, that yes, what a day it will be when we’re reunited again in God’s very presence.
Please indulge me as I share my story again, while trusting,that yes. if you’ve lost a love one and this is your first, second or twentieth holiday without them, hold on to your Hope, for yes, you too will see them again in His perfect timing, and yes, in His awesome glory.
It was 1989. My brother and best friend was diagnosed with cancer. George and I were always inseparable. He was older than me, and yes, I thought the sun rose and set with him. We had so much fun together growing up. We were each others rock, as growing up was somewhat chaotic in our home. However, I had the comfort of knowing, that no matter what, he was there for me. He helped me through so many rough times as a teen and on into adulthood. He loved me totally, and yes, unconditionally.
You can imagine how I felt when he got sick.
Ten years prior I had went through this with my dad, so I knew, it wasn’t going to be easy days in front of us. It seems like yesterday. We lived out on old 98 in Gulf Winds East, and yes, in spite of the illness, there was great joy in the many walks on the beach while reminiscing of our time together. As time went, and yes, as cancer sometimes goes, he became worse and eventually we moved him to Pensacola to moms house where she took care of him until he left us. I would go over often, play cards with him, laugh and yes cry. He and I both knew that he would leave us soon and we wanted to make the best of every minute we had left together, and yes, that’s just what we did.
He kept his sense of humor like no other.
One day at the VA center, one of the nurses said to him, “George, dying is like going through another door” .. haha , and in his witty and charming way, he replied, “yes m’am, and I just want to reach out and grab that cool knob” We laughed so hard, we cried. I can remember the look on the nurses face, and yes, I’m sure her life was changed that day. Oh how I miss him. Especially this time of year when these memories flood my heart, for you see, George, he was slowly losing blood and had decided that there would be no more transfusions. It was time. So yes, as always, I respected his decision, liked it, no way, but yes, totally respected it. It was a difficult time and I leaned on my mom like crazy.
I remember standing at her back door one day and screamed, “Mom, I feel like we’re just letting him die and I don’t know if I can do this!”
I will never forget the look on her face as she gently, and yes, so lovingly looked at me and simply said “No Baby, we’re loving him enough to let him go”
What a changing point for me in my life. I have drawn on that day so many times. So yes, as I cried over the loss of one of the most important people in my life, I was also overwhelmed with joy. I was overwhelmed with the joy of knowing, that yes, I had the best the brother in the world, and yes, that God had given him to me for over 33 years, and no, He didn’t have to suffer too terribly long.
When he left us, I was overwhelmed again, with the joy of knowing that he left peacefully, straight to the arms of Jesus, so yes, even amidst the loss, that painful, heart wrenching, tear flowing loss, there was joy, joy, and yes, sweet comforting joy.
The beautiful truth about this story, is simply, as Believers, we have the gift of knowing that our joy in Him is never meant to be killed by the breaking of sorrows. So yes, still to this day it makes me smile, and yes, even laugh just knowing, that George, my precious brother and friend, reached out and grabbed that “cool knob”, and that yes, we’ll see each other again, face to face, in the presence of Love Himself.
So yes sweet friends, we can all be grateful this morning to know, that we know that we know, yesterday, today and all of the tomorrows to come, that yes .. haha .. oh yeah .. love wins period
“You Lord, keep my lamp burning, my God turns my darkness into light”
#lovewinsperiod #peoplelovingpeople #850strong #OperationRebuild #LeTSGO