Miss Betty...

One of my favorite people in all the world passed away today.

She's gone to meet Jesus and Heaven is no doubt having a party...but the earth (and more specifically my heart) are feeling a tremendous loss!

There are certain people in your world that have secured such a spot in your heart that even though you know when their days here on earth are over and Heaven is certain you would love to be a part of ushering them there you know??!! Holding their hands as they take their last breath, saying the things that you say in moments like those, rubbing feet or hands, just being present as the days on this broken planet come to an end. She is one of those for me.

She just went into the hospital a few days ago and since then has been basically unresponsive. They discovered she had multiple myloma and then her kidneys weren't functioning well and last night she had a massive heart attack and so the medical personnel said they didn't expect her to live through the day.

For the past few days I have faithfully been receiving text messages letting me know her condition and two things kept running through my head. #1 ... I am sooooo mad at myself because I was just home and saw Miss Betty and I kept being "reminded" in my heart somewhere that I needed to go spend time with her and take her to lunch or something and I didn't do it. I got busy, distracted, selfish, whatever and it got bumped down on my to do list until the days ran out and I missed my chance. I knew better, I heard better...I didn't listen well to what God was trying to warn me of at all. So I'm reminded again today that the moments matter, they way matter. #2...I want to be there. If I were home or anywhere close I would have shown up at her bedside and I would have sat beside her for a bit nad reminded her that I love her so much. I would have thanked her for praying for me every single day while I have been here and for her commitment to praying everyday without fail for the mister that God would choose to allow me to walk through life beside. I would have laughed (even if she couldn't laugh with me) about all the crazy things she's said and ways she's made me laugh. I would have reminisced with her about good moments, sacred moments that God allowed us to share. Doggone it, I may not have done a single one of those things, I may have sat there silently and not been able to do a thing, but I WOULD have been there.

Some days being far away feels like a chasm too wide to cross. I love here. I so love being here. I love getting to do what I do. I love feeling like it matters. I just hate it when being here means I can't be there for moments like these.

Tonight though Miss Betty sees the face of the one she's spent a lifetime serving. For a long time we've all talked about how we want to be like her when we're her age. She was in her late seventies and still went to ladies class always...she attended Kid City...she was just a cheerleader in the lives of so many. You would be hard pressed to find someone who didn't just genuinely like this sweet lady.

I had the privilege of getting to stay with her for a couple weeks a few years ago after she'd fallen and broken her hip. We watched movies together and I slept in the bedroom across the hall and listened for her to yell if she needed help in the night and I watched her hobble every morning to a chair by the window to read her Bible and spend time praying.

She was SUCH a sweet lady. I miss her deeply already and cannot wait until I get to see her face again.

Thank you Miss Betty for all you added to the lives of so many of us. Thank you for the memories, for your heart bent toward listening to Jesus, for your faithful prayers, for your sense of humor, and for your realness that made anyone and everyone comfortable in your presence. Thank you for your love and kindness to everyone who knew you. You have left quite a legacy dear one. We will remember you with grateful hearts and an abundance of memories that will forever be company on the days and times that we miss you most.