Reminders of God's Faithfulness

One year ago today, my Mom passed away.  Leading up to her death, God did some amazing and special things.  I wasn’t ready to write about it last year, but now I’d like to share something from that time.

 

A Castle

 

When I found out my Mom had had a bad fall and was in the ICU, I called my college roommate Stephanie and asked if I could sleep on the floor of her apartment for a couple of nights.  It was last minute and I felt like God brought her strongly to my mind.  As it turned out, Stephanie was house-sitting at a house that was designed to look like a castle.  She welcomed me to stay with her and our college friend, Mary, who was visiting her that weekend.  It seems silly – I didn’t need a castle – but I write this as an example of God’s extravagant love.  At a time when I was learning that my Mom wasn’t going to live much longer, God let me come home at night to a house on Lake Washington, with two deeply loving friends who had food, hugs, and movies for me.  They even made a gift basket of things I’d love and put it next to the bed.  I took a bubble bath in a giant bathroom with white twinkly lights on the ceiling.  I ate dinner with friends overlooking the lake.  I slept in a big, plush bed.  It was a soothing cocoon after hours next to my Mom’s bedside, processing a reality for which I didn’t feel ready.

 

Revisiting Landmarks of God’s Faithfulness

 

After two nights in the castle, I planned to go back home for a couple of days.  My Mom was going to transfer from the ICU to a hospice center.  I’d come back to her there.  Stephanie took Mary to the airport early that morning.  I ate breakfast and packed up with the company of my furry friend, Tiara, the castle family’s little dog.  I couldn’t do my last ICU visit until 10am, but I was antsy to leave the castle.  I didn’t feel like sitting around, even in those beautiful surroundings. 

 

I decided to drive over to Northwest University, where I’d gone to school.  What started as a way to kill time turned out to be a tour of God’s faithfulness in my life.  I went around campus, I went past a special park with trails I used to run, I drove by the house where I worked for a wonderful family, and I stopped in the parking lot of the Victorian mansion bed and breakfast where I lived in the attic.  With each landmark, memories popped up.  As they came, I prayed out loud:

 

“God, You were faithful to me in these dorms.  You gave me incredible roommates and friends.”

“God, You were faithful to me in this classroom.  I learned from amazing professors and You helped me pay for school so I could be a teacher.”

“God, You were faithful to me in this parking lot.  When my parents were getting divorced, You gave me a song to remind me that I’m never alone.”

“God, You were faithful to provide this job for me.  This family cared for me like I was their own.  It was provision on so many levels.”

“God, You provided a place to live that I could afford.  You helped me pay off all my debt early and I had a view of the lake and a place to run!”

 

It went on and on.  It was so powerful.  By the time it was visiting hours at the ICU, my heart was overflowing with gratitude, faith, and strength.

 

I played favorite songs for my Mom, believing that she could somehow hear.  I talked to her about good memories.  I thanked her for things.  It was hard and it was good.

 

Today, it’s hard to believe that one year has passed since losing her from this earth.  I like to imagine her in heaven, free and painless, in the presence of Jesus.  Thinking of her that way encourages me to look for heaven on earth – all the ways that God is shouting who He is to us here on earth.  He is extravagantly loving, faithful, and kind.  The reminders are everywhere when I let Him show me.