Pass the Baton

Our husbands worked together.
We lived around the corner from each other.
A shortcut through the woods would get us to each others house.

They had three children and we had five.
Same school, same youth group, same circle of friends.

The youngest was so sweet.
As a little girl, she had a cuddly assortment of three stuffed animals:
Rosy, Elory, and Flopsy…in that order.
She ingeniously sewed them together when she went off to college…to keep them close.

She loved God. She loved God’s people…especially His people in China.

She had been to China on three different mission trips in 2004, 2006, and 2008.
She met a precious friend there…a sister in the Lord.
God gave her the opportunity to disciple this friend in her new found faith.

The Gospel spreads through faithful servants, even in places that try to silence it.

She graduated from college and had just gotten a new job.
She would be working with people who had special needs.
No doubt they would thrive, enveloped in her love and compassion.

On a sunny day in February, three years ago, her earthly life ended on a road she had traveled many times before…an innocent victim.
She was twenty three years old.
A seemingly senseless loss.
In that second, her eternal life began.

She went Home.

The Rock her family stood on in the good times, held them up in the bad.
A sure foundation in this tumultuous storm.

They trusted the Lord they loved, but it was hard to understand.
Why now? Why her?
They prayed for good to come of this…for this to glorify Him.
They prayed for others to come to know Jesus, their precious Lord and Savior.

After meals were brought, and cards were read, life took on a new normal.
They were now four instead of five…a brother and a sister left with just each other.
A Mom and Dad grieving for their child.
They did not grieve like the rest of men who have no hope. (1 Thessalonians 4:13)

Through it all, there was consistent prayer.
Never a, shake your fist at God, kind of prayer.
But the, I do not understand, kind of prayer.

Because her hope was in Christ, and not in herself, or her good works…
There was surety.
There was hope.
They would see her again.

He promised.
He accomplished that on the cross.
Finished.
Paid in full.
Our debt taken care of…something we never could have done on our own.

Death defeated…the grave is not the end.
Salvation is found in no one else. (Acts 4:12)

I received an email from her Mom last night.
She and her husband are going to China.
They are leaving tomorrow.
They will walk where their daughter walked, talk to those she ministered to, spend time with the girl she discipled, who is now married.
They will do Kingdom things…in His Name…in honor of the daughter they loved.

She passed the baton well…maybe not in the way they all would have liked.

Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will. (Mark 14:36)

The transfer was successful…everything is possible for you…they will now run the race standing on her shoulders, and on all the shoulders that have gone before…in His name.

Tears came to my eyes as I read the end of her email.
There is an orphanage there with special needs children that are lovingly nurtured until they can be placed in foster homes or until they are adopted. There was a pressing need for a new room to be built to assist in the care of these children.

Prayers went to the throne of God…Jehovah Jirah…the God who provides.
Funds became available.
The room was built and is now open to serve the children.
A picture of their daughter, along with her story, hangs in that room.
They will be able to see…her dreams…became theirs…while all along…His.

They will testify to God’s goodness…to God’s sovereignty.
The seemingly senseless loss had eternal purpose.

The girl who never got the chance to begin her job with special needs people, was still able to meet those needs…just in a different way…a way they never would have chosen…
but the way that He determined.

She is Home.
There are days that they wish they were Home with her.
But there is work to be done here…a baton to transfer.

The Gospel spreads through faithful servants, even in places that try to silence it.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1,2)