one of many things I am thankful for for 2008

As I do every year I recap my 2008 in a thank you letter to Jesus. I wanted to share a small yet extraordinary story with you from my 2008 letter that will give you a glimpse of how God showed His love to me through a couple of extraordinary woman that I am so greatly blessed to call friends.

On May 28th the Lord took one of the good ones home to be with Him, Peggy Evans. Peggy and I have been friends for many years and she was my spiritual Mom mentor for about 11-12 years. Losing this pillar in my life here on Earth was a very difficult one. For my birthday this past year my dear friend Stephanie Finn bought me the most meaningful gift. I'm not a real gifty kind of gal because I find the most joy in knowing that someone is praying for me more than anything. But this gift was more from Jesus through the thoughtful hands of my friend. I opened the first Willowcreek statue and it said celebrate. I thought how sweet is that a Willowcreek to celebrate my Birthday. Then I opened the other one and it said one for "Peggy too" and it said "Remember". Now for some this might not seem significant but I couldn't believe that Steph had considered my lose and wanted to bless me with a small token of remembrance of Peggy. With joy I placed them on my mantle and everyday when I see it I think of Peggy and the blessing she was and is through her legacy to my life. Well that leads me the next picture......

So October 16th the Lord took MY GIFT, Donna Thompson home to be with Him. There was this one day right after she was gone that I was looking on my mantle at the 2 figurines that represented Peggy and I. I began to cry - the first day of real grieving that I had done up to that point. 'Jesus I don't have one for Donna" I cried over and over again. Sure it may sound silly but it was the thing that broke the flood gates and the tears wouldn't stop. I held those two figurines crying for quit awhile. Fast forward two days later......................Stacy Richards a dear friend for many years who my Jesus used during the ending days with Donna to love on me and encourage me in ways that could have only been dictated by the heart of the Lord, came by Church on Saturday and called me out side. She said i have something for you and I could see the emotion build up in her that she was being sent by God. It was one of those moments that is so overwhelming you feel like you just might combust. She went to her car and came back with this gift bag. She didn't even have to say anything as I knew what it must be. She went on telling me that she was shopping for a friend at the Bible Book store and God showed her this and told her to buy it for me. She was going to wait until Sunday but He said no to go to the Church now and give it to her. What she didn't know is I needed to feel the Lord so much that day. I felt like I was drowning in sorrow that I couldn't let out. I needed to find Jesus that's all I knew. She walked away and I still hadn't opened the gift up. I knew what it would be and I couldn't believe that the God of the Universe with all the huge things to deal with would orchestrate such an act of love to me as if I was the only thing that mattered to Him. Shaking I opened the gift and cried tears of happy tears, tears of great joy and overwhelming love. This beauty is called "Happiness" there she was my Donna standing in the presence of our King with complete Happiness - the tag said live laugh dance - o how this is Donna. So here they all are standing together on my mantle as a perfect remembrance of Peggy and Donna from 2 beautiful friends that allowed God to use them in such an extraordinary way - - for me!
Thank you Jesus for Your love