This was a tough weekend. A very dear woman whom I called a friend passed away on Wednesday evening and her calling hours and funeral were Friday and Saturday. I know it was a blessing as she had fought bone cancer for three years and has been in so much pain that wasn't really able to be controlled. However, her faith never waivered and she was a true lamp of God, never complaining or losing sight of God. Amazing -- that is all I can say. I am so grateful she is now with the Lord but it also hard to imagine not hearing her sing again in church. She loved her husband and her two boys so very much -- I hope they will always hold that love inside of them and remember the depth of her love forever.
I made this card as much for myself during her illness as for anyone. It was hard for me to cope with the fact that God was not healing her. He healed me of cancer and she was a much better woman than I could ever hope to be. However, that wasn't her message and as I watched her through this illness, I had to remember that she was going to see her Lord -- if she couldn't be here, Heaven is where she would want to be.
This card started with a base of Baja Breeze. I layered two different pieces of the Parisian Breeze DSP onto Kraft and adhered them to my base card. Next, I stamped the Cross from Refuge and Strength onto Whisper White. After I inked the cross in Chocolate Chip, I used the small floral image that comes in this set to stamp off the Chocolate Chip ink on the cross before stamping the image onto Whisper White. It doesn't photograph as well as it looks in person, but you can see it just a bit.
I layered this image onto Kraft as well and, after popping it up with dimensionals, I attached it to the card. Next, I stamped the sentiment or verse from the set onto Whisper White cardstock. I punched the image out with the Circle punch and layered this onto a Baja Breeze circle punch, attaching it to my card with additional stacked dimensionals. The heart was on my desk from the three heart punch and I attached it with a very teeny glue dot.
I need to remember that God is in control and that whatever He wills is what I need to accept. I vividly remember my own cancer experience. When I found out that Kim had cancer, I wrote to her and told her that even though we may never know why we had this disease, the way we handle ourselves through it is helping someone else. I shared with her that through my own struggle, I knew that people who needed to meet one another for whatever reason now know one another because they were helping me through my illness. I know that Kim's struggles, and the grace with which she handled those trials daily, were a huge blessing to others within her life and our church. In addition, although we may never know the why behind all of this, God does and that is all that matters. Kim embodied that statement and I truly take comfort that she never once felt that God had abandoned her.
Remember that we are not home, that earth is just a dress rehearsal and that God has something so much better in store for us. I'm counting on it! Thank you, Kim, for reminding me that life is so precious but that in death, God will be waiting for us and what a reward there will be in heaven if we have lived this life as God told us to in His Word.
Have a blessed, God-filled day!
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