Sweet Remembrance

November is a difficult month for me. Many of the people who have influenced me most have died during November.

Today is November 18th, 2014.

One year ago today, we buried my mother-in-law.

92 years ago, my father-in-law was born.

37 years ago, I was told that my grandmother had slipped into a terminal coma. She died 10 days later. I was devastated. She and I had been very close growing up.

Not one of my favorite days.

Yet, it was day of sweet remembrance.

I had not "visited" my grandmother's grave since I was much younger. But, since J and I needed to lay a wreath on his parent's graves, I wanted to pay my respects to my grandmother as well.

It was hard to visit each of their graves. Yet, it many ways, it was freeing. As I stood by their graves, I was reminded of their faith.

It was my grandmother who gave me my first bible when I was 10 and talked to me about how God loved me. At that time, my father was an atheist, and raised us to believe that all religion was a thing of fiction. Yet, I remember my grandmother's eyes light up when she talked of her personal relationship with God, and how He had taken care of her and my mother and brother when they were young, and how God had shown His love for her even when she was abandoned by her husband for another woman.

My father-in-law was a strong man of tradition and faith. Being raised in a staunch German home, he was diligent about attending church growing up. He met my mother-in-law at a church function, and they continued to be actively involved in church throughout their lives. But, it was their son, J, who told them about all that Jesus had done for them and how to have a personal relationship with the Lord. They were so impressed by the positive changes that they had seen in their son and they saw their own deep yearning for something more, that they accepted Christ as their Savior and Lord. They spent their rest of their lives learning to love Him and His people. And they left His indelible print on the lives of the people they touched.

These three people touched my life deeply. I am so thankful for them and their courage to go against the modern dogma of the post-Christian era, and speak truth into my life.

Thank you for allowing me to share this with you. I deeply appreciate each of you, and all of you at BlipCentral, for creating such a great place to share our lives. I know that for many of you, this "isn't your cup of tea". But thanks for listening!