The anchor holds

Just three short months and 8 whole days from my mother-in-laws first appointment with her oncologist did the Lord take her.

Are we ever ready to bury a parent? I can assure you, if you haven't experienced it, you don't want to. I told Husband that I could live the rest of my life without having to do this again. And I mean it.

I must tell you that she handled everything with dignity and grace. She lived, when most others may have grieved. She reconnected and revived relationships that had long passed. She restored and renewed her faith. She persevered.

For my pastor to stand over her casket and say that he hoped to have her faith if he is ever faced with her situation speaks volumes. She never wavered. The anchor held.

It's been quite an emotional experience for me. Sure, she's my mother-in-law. She's also my friend. She's the grandmother to my children. I hurt for them.

Will I be able to do her justice as I tell them stories of her? Will they truly ever know how excited she was for them, even having never met Blue? Will I be able to convey her spirit to them?

In her last days, I suspect she knew her time was short. She handled some things that in most eyes was probably plenty of time for. But I believe she had an intuition.

She worried some for the life she was leaving. She worried more for the people she would leave behind. I suppose everyone does.

What will life be like without her? I don't know. Currently, we are still in the frame of mind, where even if for a split second, we expect her to walk in the room to visit with company or pick up the phone to call her, in the next instant, realizing she's gone.

We received an answered prayer. We prayed for healing and for mercy. And that the Lord provided.

We take comfort in knowing that He knows every tear we cried. And the only way we get through this is through His grace and strength.

In your prayer time, please remember us.