Blessings

A few days ago I found, through Face Book, a long-time and long-lost friend.  Bill was the guy who, for some reason, just had to introduce me to a girl he went to high school with.  We were Freshmen in college at the time and he insisted we hitch-hike to his home town to meet a girl named Bonnie.  

She was a Sophomore in high school and her parents would not let her go on a 'blind date' with me.  So, we just met and decided the following week it would not a "blind" date.  Five days later found Bill and I hitch-hiking back to his home town so that we could double-date. 

You know the rest of that story. 

Except that isn't the rest of the story.  Bill told me that he had a serious heart condition that led to his being disabled.  In addition to that tragic situation, his wife had left him, being unable to deal with his disabilities.  A short time ago, another of Bonnie's friends told us how pleased she was that we'd stayed together during Bonnie's health challenges.  She said that many marriages end due to one side or the other being unable to 'cope' with situations such as these.

For Bonnie and me this was never an issue.  It was never a question.  The challenges that Bonnie faced, we faced together.  Those challenges brought us closer together.  They brought us closer to God. 

We were, in fact, closer in our last couple of weeks than we'd ever been before.  They were horribly difficult times.  But, I remember us commenting that we'd told each other "I love you" more times than at any time previously.  God put HIS arms around us those couple of weeks and kept us so close that even the doctors and nurses had trouble getting to us individually.  We had been a team, we were a team, we are a team and we will be a team...eternally.

Can you imagine what a blessing it is to have a marriage founded on faith in Jesus?  I know that there are many, many happy marriages out there.  There are people who have been married for more than 42 years who do not know Jesus or who have not accepted him as their Lord and Savior. 

I also know that because of our faith, our love for each other and for Christ hasn't ended.  Bonnie is happy.  She is victorious.  She has thrown off the body that gave her so much pain.  She is praising Jesus face to face.  Someday, I will be doing that too.  That is the difference.  That is the blessing. 

I am broken hearted that Bonnie is not sitting here beside me helping me to write this.  But, she sat beside me for all those years and is the reason I am able to write that I have claimed my spot in Heaven...right beside her.

Did Bonnie make a difference with her time on earth?  I know she did for me.  I also know that she continues to do so. 

Her funeral is a good example of that.  Bonnie and I had talked about it.  She wanted a funeral that would remember her, but more importantly offer an opportunity for someone to come to know Jesus and accept Him.  Was that possible at a funeral?

Last evening my nephew Mark stopped by.  He has a lake house just down the lane and was here for the day raking leaves.  As he was leaving, he tearfully told me about a couple of men in our neighborhood:  One who'd been to the funeral;  one who'd been reading these entries.  Neither knew Bonnie well but both are being affected by who Bonnie was and by her faith.  Because of the funeral, one is asking questions of Mark about his faith, about Bonnie's faith and has started his "walk".  Another, having read about her and her life, is feeling the need to see what this 'faith thing' is all about.

How wonderful is that?  How precious that is to Bonnie!!  These two men have a chance to be eternally grateful for HIS grace because one person lived her life as she did.

There are probably other stories out there as well....stories of how this incredible woman changed lives and how she will continue to do so because of the legacy she leaves us.  She would be the first to inject here that it is not because of her that these changes will be made, but because of the one who saved her...Jesus!

My prayer this morning is that these two men will continue to question, to learn, to find out what this "Jesus thing", this "faith thing", this "eternity thing" is all about.  My prayer is also that someone else, somewhere will hear about this and "knock" on the door to salvation.  That will make Bonnie so very pleased.