I received this amazing note from a friend about 10 days before I made the Dandelion post. It is a sample of one of the ways the Spirit of God is blowing seeds around the nations! So cool!
Dear Pam,
I'm writing you from India, where my husband and I are working. I only ever had a couple of conversations with Jenna but her kindness, grace, and stunning beauty always stood out to me.
I wanted to write to let you know I thought about your family about once a week in September, and you have come to mind in prayer almost everyday (often multiple times a day) over the last seven months. I didn't know Jenna well at all, but I wept every night for about a week after her journey into heaven and still do some days. I'm so deeply grieved thinking about what you as a family are facing in this loss. I will continue to lift you up to the Father asking him to bring the supernatural comfort only he provides.
Jenna's life and death and the words of your blog have had a lasting and profound impact on me. Thank you for sharing your heart, pain, and wisdom. Your words have a stirred in me a deeper desire for faith and trust. The loss of Jenna's life here on Earth was a stark reminder of the reality that life here is short and that heaven is home. Never before have I longed so intensely for God's Kingdom to come in fullness and for every single person to get to partake in it. I shared Jenna's story with several neighbors here in India and the Spirit was present as we talked about what our purpose in life really is.
I remember a prophetic word you shared on your blog about Jenna's passing being like the grain of wheat that Jesus talks about in John. Through death, the grain is able to produce many more seeds than if it had clung to life. I wanted to let you know that a small part of the fruition of that word is happening here in India. You wrote on another post that one of the prophetic words over Jenna's life was being a mother of all nations. I think some of that word is also being realized here.
I wrote this song after reading your blog and as I prayed for you all a couple months ago:
Anthem of Praise (Grieving Song)
Where else would we go?
You have the words everlasting
Where else would we go?
For mercy unending, for grace beyond compare
Chorus:
Like a river, flow
Fill our souls with this grace
Like an ocean, deep
We have known your mercy
This is an anthem of praise
In the midst of the suffering, the heart of the pain
This is an anthem of joy
For nothing, not even death, can remain
And to the broken-hearted
You've said you will be close
Come, come sweet Spirit
Gently bind us up
Bridge:
In faith, we will stand firm
We have yet to see all that's in store
Before we've tasted, before we know
We believe, we believe
I will continue to pray (along with hundreds of others, I'm sure) for space to grieve and for rays of hope to pierce even this darkest night. Jenna and your whole family has a legacy that reaches farther than you will probably know in this lifetime. I'd love to reconnect with you all someday.
(this friend prefers to remain anonymous)
Hopefully she can record this song & share it with us!
Photo: Amit Gupta
Jenna was in India back in 2008, helping a language arts school with her dear friend Azahar.
Beautiful
ReplyDelete