Linda

This is Linda. Gorgeous right? Good Genes people, good genes.  

Linda is my mom's oldest sister.  

These are her people.  

There are a few missing, but that's another story, for another time. 

She loves her people.  

Two things you should know about Linda.

1. She LOVES Jesus

2. She KNOWS Scripture

 ....And she is stuck. 

You see my sweet aunt, the lady who nudged me to wake me up as I was falling asleep in her church, the beautiful woman that would make me a matching dress EVERY summer, so I would belong to her family on Sundays, the woman who lived out self-control daily, that beautiful woman suffered a terrible blow.  

You see Linda, though young, healthy and active suffered a massive stroke Sunday morning.  She was found by her husband, she was rushed to the hospital, and there was nothing they could do but wait....  

wait...

She is stuck in her head, she can't talk, she can't move and yet every person that sees her takes ownership of who she is.  They KNOW she needs them each, MOST.  Her people, they are fighting, they are screaming, they are aching, they are longing for her.  And I know, she is sitting there hating every minute of it.  

It's just. too. much.

too much focus

too much attention

too much about her

You see, Linda is the kind of saint who leaves the party without telling anyone, because she doesn't want to bother you.  She's quietly present, always.  She is a warrior.  And she is fighting.  Not for herself.  She would rather be with Jesus.  BUT she is so focused on everyone else that she is fighting for them.  I know it in my soul.  

God is comforting her. That too I know in my soul. And I know that in her own head, in her stuck, she is singing hymns and reciting Scripture, because THAT is what comforts.  THAT is what changes.  THAT is what matters.  

Her people are my people. 

And I'm serious about the matching outfits.  I have proof. 

And it occurs to me, the thing that I tease her about, the things that I never understood, I see clearly now.  It was never about her.  It was always about HIM.  And through Him, it was and is about you.  

In your quiet, please remember Linda.  

We need His mercy,

We need His grace,

She needs His healing.

"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39