For You Are With Me

It was a Saturday morning. While trying on mother-of-the-groom dresses for my oldest son’s upcoming wedding, I received a Facetime call from my youngest niece. My brother’s daughters and I have a special relationship and I love them dearly. I answered my sweet Natalie’s Facetime by laughingly saying, “What do you want?” I realized by her facial expression and the uneasy response in her voice that this was not going to be one of our lighthearted, jovial conversations. I heard her exclaim, “No, Aunt T – something is wrong with Mimi!” She had spent the night with my mom and found her to be non-responsive that morning. A day of constant communication with my brother ensued. It became evident that something serious was going on with our mom and my husband and I needed to travel back home to Oklahoma. Not knowing what the next few days would hold, we packed and prepared for the uncertainty.

Arriving at the hospital, I found my brother with our mom. She had experienced a ruptured brain aneurysm. There was no interaction with her. We stayed with her day and night - doing what we do - praying, singing the old Gospel songs and talking with her. On Wednesday the doctors decided to bring in the physical therapy team. Our beautiful mom finally responded. She opened her eyes and, with assistance, sat up on the side of the bed. My brother and I were both there sitting across from her. Mom gave us a wave and we each reached out to grab a hand. This was the only day we had with her looking at us and giving us any kind of communication. Then Saturday morning came - which made it one week since the incident. Our beautiful Mom passed away into the arms of Jesus.

Life changed for my family and me – once again. Three months and two days before the loss of our beautiful Mom, our precious Dad had gone home to be with Jesus. Mom had been his tireless and loving caregiver for several years as he battled Parkinson’s disease. We were devastated to say goodbye to Daddy – but thankful he was no longer suffering. Suddenly, we found ourselves stunned, shattered, and speechless at the unexpected loss of our surviving parent.

Fortunately, we knew where to turn to first and foremost – our amazing God. Thankfully, my brother and I are blessed with a very close sibling relationship and we leaned on each other.
His two daughters, along with my husband, two sons, and daughter-in-love were right there with us in the pain, the hurt, the shock, as well as, the comfort.

The love, strength, and humor rose to the challenge in us. As a family, we prepared a service to honor our beautiful Mom and Mimi and give glory to God. Our three cousins were there for my brother and me, as well. We now have our grandparents, their parents, and our parents as part of our great cloud of witnesses! (Hebrews 12:1)

Through it all, it was not lost on me that our great God Jehovah was among us. Psalm 23:4 specifically states, “through the darkest valley …you are with me.”

There has never been a doubt during this season of loss that the Lord was and is with my family and me. I have not feared evil and I know He has guided our paths. My brother and I even gave our journey a word – seamless. God had His hand on us the entire time even though we walked through the darkest valley. He refreshes our souls. We are sure that goodness and love will continue to follow us all of our days.

One day, each one of us will dwell in the house of the Lord, with our precious Pappy and Mimi – forever.

My prayer for you, friend, is that you know Jesus. If you do not – please pray a simple prayer asking Jesus to forgive you of your sins and inviting Him into your heart to be your Savior and Lord. Just as I have during the loss of my parents so close together – may you also say, “for you are with me!”

Heavenly Father I am SO grateful that you are with me, always and everywhere, in every situation. Please remind me of that as often as I need to be reminded.

Throughout this day: Read Psalm 23, and listen to worship music which will remind you of God’s presence, such as CeCe Winans: Goodness of God.