Sunday, August 19, 2018

Precious moments and saying goodbye...

           "I am yours for all of eternity: I am the Alpha and 
         Omega. The One who is and was and is to come,
         the Almighty." Rev. 1:8  
                         
                             "It's all as it's meant to be."
                                  - a text message from Vicky Held Westra

Some text messages just take your breath away. You know they are coming. You can just feel it in your heart and in your mind and soul. Vicky's last text message to me said, 
              "We met with Hospice for end of life care." 
Nine words and my heart stopped and my tears flowed. 

That night I wrote in my journal:

Dearest Vicky,
When I got your text today my heart stopped and I could barely breathe. Yes, my precious friend and soul sister, my friend who has fought cancer for seven long, long years... it's time. It's time to start to say goodbye and it's time to look back on all of the precious moments.

I am so grateful, dear one, for each moment we have shared, each prayer we have prayed, each email and text message we have sent...all of the connections that have linked our hearts forever.

Plain and simple, you are a treasure. When God made you, He made a miracle. Your love for life and gratitude for everything, even the hardest lessons that living with cancer has taught you, well...you have changed all of us who know you and love you and have been blessed to share this journey with you. 

I'm not sure you understand the impact you have made. Your faith in God, your prayers for others while having chemo, your deep, deep love for Rick and your boys, your honest, authentic voice in every blog post you have written, your reaching out to help and come along side others in the midst of your own hard times, your trusting in God even when so many prayers for a miracle have not been answered in the way we all would have wanted... you, my dear soul sis, trust Him anyway.  

For all these years I have heard you say, in the hardest of hard moments.."All is well." After everything you have been through, you are still able to say, and mean it, "I do know Jesus is at the core of this all... It's all as it's meant to be."

And on top of all of those precious moments and memories...Thank you, dear heart, for really "seeing me" and "knowing me" and encouraging me to just be me. Thank you for every prayer you have prayed for my beloved Bert and for all my dear hearts. Thank you for commenting and sharing your heart on my blog. Thank you for the cards you sent me and the bracelet and necklace with the moon on it. Almost every communication we have had has ended with "Love you to the moon and all the way back again." 

And, my dear friend, we have loved each other just like that.

I will be grateful for you all the days of my life, dear Vicky. I will, as I told you, always share your story...with my family, with my friends, with my students. I will miss you forever. You hold a special place in my heart that no one else can fill.

Rest now, dear one. Know that God Almighty is there with you, holding you gently in the palm of His hand. Know, that when it's time to go home to Him, His angels will gently wrap their wings around you to take you home to God. Know that your Daddy will be there to greet you with open arms. Know that you have been His good and faithful servant.

What an honor it has been for me to know you and to call you my soul sister. I will always love you to the moon and all the way back again, dear Vicky.

God Bless!
Your Soul Sis, 
Linda  









3 comments:

On a Wing and a Prayer said...

Oh my...and the tears just fall as I read all that I feel as well! There is no good bye...only till we meet again! For I know without a doubt we all will meet again! Love you Linda and your beautiful real. Love you Vicky and your oh so beautiful real. Just beautiful.. all of it despite the pain....

GrammaGrits said...

What beautiful words to describe Vicky and her amazing life in so many ways, just the beauty of her words and faith and commitment to her family, friends, faith . . . Thank you for sharing, Linda. I've been praying for her and checking her blog but didn't know what was happening.

Miss Myia said...

My Dear Linda,
As always, reading your posts gives me hope of greater things to come. It's been a tough few weeks, emotions all over the place and just trying to sort out stuff, thank you for being the amazing woman that you are and I love you and miss you!
Myia

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