I never thought I’d be writing about a funeral here, but here we are.
Typically this venue is a fun way for me to share my party tips and DIY’s, but occasionally (especially on Instagram) I’ll share about someone else’s party that I attended. In no way did I help plan this event, I just got to be a part of the sweet celebration.
For a little background, I must confess something: most of you know by now that I’m a teacher’s kid, but did you also know I’m a minister’s kid, too? (#DoubleWhammy) Now that we’ve got that settled, you now know that anytime the doors were open, we were at church. Being a staff kid comes with a fun extended family of other staff members & kids. Since most of us move away from biological family to a town specifically to be part of a church, we gain new family members. Fabulous aunts, crazy uncles, even a surrogate grandparent or two. (It makes bringing a boy to any gathering a whole lot more challenging 😉 but in the best way.) They are there for all the milestones: births, graduations and everything in between. I always knew where my people were in the football stands as I danced on the field at halftime.
Last week we lost one of our extended family members. D’Ann was our children’s minister’s wife and battled hard with cancer the last couple of years. To me she was so sassy in the most genuine way possible. She always had a good story to tell and was so very easy to talk to. And she always wore super fun jewelry. I moved away from my little hometown to go to college and stayed put, so my later impressions were left up to social media and Sunday morning hugs on a visit home. I enjoyed watching what she & her family were up to through posts because they were always up to something cool.
But the thing that stands out most is her genuine faith in Jesus and passion for loving others well. She was very specific in her instructions to our pastor that the service be a worshipful celebration dawned in bright colors with “Jesus” displayed prominently on the walls throughout the service. And man was is just that. We sang in different shades of pink (her favorite color) with tears in our eyes and smiles on faces because we know that she is dancing with her Jesus in Heaven.
I almost hesitate to post this, but as a fellow blogger and proponent of The Truth, my prayer is that this post celebrates her life & what her life stood for. Maybe it can give you a new hope you haven’t known yet or a refreshed purpose in your walk with the Lord.
To let her tell you more about God’s story in her life, I am linking a couple vlogs she posted here. I am also linking our pastor’s sermon today here because it sheds theological truth about death if you have any questions arise.
As mortal, finite, humans it can be really difficult to imagine what Heaven is like and maybe even difficult to long for it because of things we want to accomplish here on earth. But Jesus is better. D’Ann throughout the whole process said “He is still so good” much more gracefully than I probably ever would.
All this being said, life calls for celebration: things big or small, happy and even sorrowful because we serve a God who is greater. I’d like to think that there is limitless confetti in Heaven (without the clean up, of course) but I know it is even better than my little mind can imagine. “She is more alive now than she has ever been.”
This world, especially right now with a global pandemic and so much injustice can feel so heavy, but God is still so good & He wants to carry our burdens.
#AlreadyWon
Confetti Reign 