Remembering Anna


I lost a dear friend this week. A close friend who understood me. I will miss her.

We shared a love for Jesus and an appreciation of knowledge. We laughed and cried about many things together. We had a desire to translate books into Italian - I was going to do the translating and she would have made sure the Italian was correct and beautiful. She was an English teacher and loved my language, and I enjoyed talking to her about her lovely country over a delicious plate of pasta with home-made sauce.

She listened to people and gave good advice if you asked her for it. Praying for others was second nature - she prayed for everyone. She really tried to identify God's will so that she was sure to live according to his plan for her life. Teaching and encouraging others were both her secular job and her normal way of interacting. She lived by both the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

Anna was 56 and this was her third bout with cancer. The first two rounds had ended over a decade ago with miraculous healing, but this one was different. The miracle of this illness was the complete absence of pain. However, the current crises (plural because the world is seriously messed up right now) overshadowed her illness and besides, until about 10 days ago she was convinced that she was going to recover!

Today, I spoke at her funeral. Now I'm remembering our time together, the trips we planned that we will never get to take, the long conversations and the shopping spree for my mother-of-the-bride dress last December. I'm grieving but I believe that we will meet again one day. Until then, it's going to be hard. I am sad, but I have hope.

It's a comfort and a blessing to be convinced that, after death, we do not just cease to exist but rather we fall asleep, and if our soul belongs to Jesus we are not lost. We will live on the earth after the second coming and do whatever it is that people will do when there is no more suffering. 

Anna imagined that we would enjoy each other's company over meals, laughing and talking, and just being friends doing the Lord's work. Scripture tells us that the next world will be this one renewed and everything we love will be restored. No endless church services, no sitting on clouds playing harps. The afterlife will be more vibrant and colorful than we can imagine, and we'll spend eternity enjoying this earth in ways we cannot comprehend while no longer having to worry about illness, hardship, hunger, racism, division, and death.

God envisioned this earth as the lush garden that he originally created, which could provide everything his people need, and I have faith that we will meet again in that world. Until then, I'll cherish the memories that I have.

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