October 8th, 2018
We laid my sweet bride's body to rest yesterday. I honestly didn't know what to expect. The night before when my oldest daughter and I met with our dear friend who was performing the service, I could barely hold it together. But God...intervened. Yesterday morning He started putting some things on my heart to share about Melissa and her faith. He seemed to be clearly telling me that He wanted me to talk to everyone there at the beginning of the service, before anything started.
The service was outside at the Town Line Hill cemetery in Enfield. It was a large crowd, very large considering we hadn't advertised it. Everyone was standing sort of awkwardly around the few chairs that had been set out, not sure exactly what to do. Before we even got there I knew what I needed to do. God told me that I needed to gather everyone in close together, not just so they could hear, but so they could support each other. So, just before 2 pm, I started asking everyone to come in close: that if they were there it was because they loved Melissa and that meant they were family.
Here's the word that God put on my heart to share:
"I look out in this group of people and I see your sorrow and feel your pain. This is so hard, isn’t it? We don’t understand why things like this happen.
I feel like God wants me to say some things today. He’s been putting this word in my mind and heart so that I would share with you good news in this day of pain.
I’m wearing red today because it was Melissa’s favorite color. She would want this to be a celebration, not just of her life in the past but of her life now. What do I mean by that? The Bible says that for those who trust in Christ, these bodies are just temporary and that when we die we receive a heavenly body. Here we suffer pain and sorrow and suffering and death. We groan in these earthly bodies because we know that they are destined for death and we hope for them to be swallowed up by eternal life.
For all of you who knew Melissa well, you know that Truth was important to her. She was a truthful person and had no patience for anything that was not true. Melissa believed with all her heart that the Bible was true, that God loved her and that He provided a Way for all of us to escape these dying, earthly bodies so that we could have a relationship with Him.
John 3:16 says it clearly, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Melissa believed in this truth and so do I. If it was not true, she would have rejected it because she was all about truth. She didn’t just believe it, she lived it. Everyday. She so wanted everyone to know this truth so that they could share this hope…that by believing in Jesus and turning our lives over to Him, He will bring us life. Not just life in this world, but life in eternity with Him when we leave these earthly bodies.
Please pay attention to this celebration of life. If any of you have never fully trusted Jesus and made him the Lord of your life, if you have stood on the fence and just can’t make up your mind, make today the day. Choose Him. Make this time of sorrow the day of joy where you met Jesus for the first time. Melissa so wanted those she loved to trust Jesus that she would gladly lay down her life for that to happen."
The service was absolutely amazing. A number of people shared about their love for Melissa and why they loved her, how Melissa had touched their lives and some little story of her love, generosity or personality such as her creativity. Her brother shared about how she had purposed to hold his hand when we first came home because he told her that he missed that. My daughter wrote an amazingly touching explanation of why she had chosen the white casket in which to lay her mother's body. If she is willing I will share that in the future. Our friend leading the service brought the story of good news in a clear and articulate and compassionate way. Finally her other brother shared a word that the Lord had placed on his heart and led the group in singing two of Melissa's favorite worship songs. In case you want to listen to those songs yourself, they are "I can only imagine" by MercyMe and "Nothing but the blood of Jesus".
I was overwhelmed by two things. First, none of us coordinated what we were going to say. For that matter I don't know about Melissa's brother, but I didn't even know I was actually going to say anything before yesterday morning. I do know that he didn't know what he was going to say until about 90 minutes before the service. Frankly, I had no intention of speaking at all and didn't even think I'd be able to. Yet, God impressed on me that it was my chance to share what Melissa couldn't and He gave me the words and the strength to do it. Despite all this, there was an obvious common theme running through everything. God loves you and has provided the way for eternal life with Him and that we are convinced that Melissa is absolutely experiencing that perfect, sinless, painless, sorrow less, fearless life right now. My friend preached from John chapter 11. Specifically, he focused on this part:
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
For the full context, please read this story for yourself. It is touching and powerful. The bottom line, however, is that we all have to make a choice about Jesus. He offers life in this life and after this life but we have to answer that question, "Do you believe this?" for ourselves.
For those of you reading this who were there yesterday, you can attest to my account and please add your own thoughts. Thank you for supporting my family through this. Thank you for the the hugs and the love and the financial gifts and the food most importantly the prayers. Please keep those up.
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