I have stared at this picture for countless hours since Jenna left us. It is the last family photo of us captured here on this earth, made priceless the day she died. Our family seems frozen in time to me here. When I think of our family, this is still the way I think of us...Five...our perfect number.
In this photo, the love, the joy, even the hope that is captured here with our beautiful Jenna in the middle seem stopped in time. It´s as if our ¨family clock¨ stopped that day. This reminds me of the scene in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes where the old family clock was stopped at the death of the much loved Ruth. This is apparently a Victorian tradition, done for reasons from respect to superstition to a symbolic marking of how time stood still when their loved one died and a new period of existence started without time.
Time didn´t really seem to exist or have importance in the first period of time after Jenna died. It is extremely frustrating and confusing to grieving people in general that life stubbornly seems to march on right in the face of your devastation. You feel like shouting to the world, ¨Stop! Don´t you realize I just lost my daughter?! You can´t go on like this as if nothing ever happened!¨ Very slowly, you have to step back into the world in some ways (even though you may not want to) and even more slowly, you begin to engage in time-related events with others. But time - and life - have changed forever and your heart and entire life and future are marked to prove it. There is a clear and definitive before and after.
None of us can describe our family without Jenna. We are still unsure of how to answer questions about our family when we meet someone new. It seems both untrue & almost irreverent to say I only have 2 kids...Jenna is still so very real to me! Yet here on this earth my reality is two. For now, I tend to answer, ¨I have 3 children, one in heaven and 2 here.¨ I recently asked Jordan how he answers if someone asks about his siblings. ¨It depends on who it is and how much I think they want to know, ¨ he said. It´s a very difficult position for all of us to be put in. Jenna was ripped from the anchoring middle place of our family unit, destabilizing us forever. We are all still struggling to accept this reality. We are still unsure of who we really are as a family.
It´s inevitable and natural that family changes. The kids move on, move out, grow up, start independent lives, new families - it happens. I had already begun to experience that with both girls stateside at university. But being ripped out? That is different. It is violent, traumatic, sad...we are still reeling some days, still adjusting, still struggling with our new number of four... Four!
So many days I look back longingly at our "frozen family." The family we have known is captured whole in this precious moment. I can still remember that day - the weather, the sound of laughter, the different positions we stood in, the dear friends we were with and their voices and clicking cameras. It is stopped in time in my mind yet full of life and the present at the same time.
Although I cannot relive or restore this captured moment except in my mind, I do have this memory to treasure. This paradox of the juxtaposition of past and present is a tender reality I hold in trembling hands. While in some ways still ¨frozen in time¨, thankfully, we are indeed very much alive.
This photo may always capture the essence of our family to us. It will always be precious and irreplaceable. It may always feel both past and present to our hearts...both are very much a part of us, infinitely important pieces of who we are.
Written with big love & appreciation on the occasion of Karol's
Masters Recital. Karol, one of Jenna's dear Brazilian friends, generously
dedicated her amazing performance to Jenna's memory. (Post forthcoming on her recital!)
Saudades*...
There is no other word for our longing
for this lovely soul.
For this lover of nations,
For this allegiant, lively friend,
For this ardently devoted fan of family. Saudades.
For the head thrown back in laughter,
For the smile that lit the room,
For the elegant, mysterious way she carried herself, Saudades.
For the cultural (& abundant!) odysseys in the kitchen,
For the practical jokes & bets,
For the deep philosophy at night, Saudades.
For the opinions readily shared,
For the causes & principles she believed in,
For the zealous passion that spilled out around her,
Saudades.
For the broken heart for the poor & oppressed,
For the dreams & vision to make a difference,
For the intolerance for mediocre or indifference,
Saudades.
For the silent hours over a book or journal,
For the prayers poured out with paint or ink,
For the tender strumming of strings & heart,
Saudades.
For the love of learning & discovering,
For the insight & wisdom gently offered,
For the gift of bringing out the best in those around her,
Saudades.
For the genuine, honest heart,
For the last minute running with mate in hand,
For the stunning, natural beauty she was oblivious to,
Saudades.
For the love running over for God,
For the deep & authentic relationship,
For the passionate quest & journey for Love Himself,
Saudades.
For the uncommon global citizen who lived among worlds,
For the one who was nevertheless equally rooted & grounded,
For the girl who always came back to those she loved,
Saudades.
For the one who fought to live,
For the beauty & peace in her final surrender to the Master Plan,
For the one who went back home to the One she loves,
Saudades.
Saudades...
There is no other word for our longing
For this lovely soul.
*Saudades: An untranslatable Portuguese word referring to the "melancholic longing or yearning...it is an evoking of a sense of loneliness and incompleteness...poignant sadness, indolent, dreaming wistfulness." - from blog.dictionary.com
Photo by: Carolina Franceschini, taken in Lebanon last year
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.
Can someone please tell me when and how the lowly dandelion made it to tattoo status? My Dad used to make us dig them out of the lawn on Saturday mornings! They used to be considered a weed but today their leaves have gourmet status, their profile has art status, their seeds have mystical wishing status and they've even achieved literary status inspiring a myriad of sayings from gothic to Hallmark.
Dandelions now grow virtually worldwide. They spread further, are more difficult to exterminate and grow under more adverse circumstances than most competitors. * So in addition to its step up to the art league, it is also international and has a strength & determination factor. I like that.
I hadn't paid much attention to dandelions since childhood, frankly. But when our close friend Amy had a vision about Jenna that involved a dandelion's seeds back in October before she died, I started paying more attention...
Amy had gone out to pray for Jenna in the countryside among some olive trees. As she prayed for Jenna, a full-orbed dandelion was blowing in the wind and kept returning to her. She felt the Lord speak to her heart that the seeds of Jenna´s life would be spread in the offering up of her life. She remembered a painting of the artist Lilias Trotter who gave 40 years of her life to Algeria (Jenna would have loved that) and the sense that Jenna´s life was to be offered up for something greater was very strong. She wept and wrote and prayed and later gave us a letter and lent us the book A Blossom in the Desert where many of Lilias´ paintings and writings are compiled. Amy also made copies of Lilias' painting & poem in card form to hand out at the memorial:
Suddenly the "lowly" dandelion became very special to us.
Other people had visions about seeds and her legacy and Doralicia (another very special friend) shared this verse at the memorial service:
"Very truly I tell you,
unless a kernel of wheat falls
to the ground and dies,
it remains only a single seed.
But if it dies, it produces many seeds."
John 12:24
Dora blessed Jenna's legacy: "we want to bless all the relationships, conversations and all the efforts and contributions that Jenna participated in and we want to bless them so that they bear much fruit and multiply. Our investment in the kingdom of heaven here on earth is never in vain ..." She also prayed for this generation and blessed their lives and work for the kingdom. Jenna would have loved that, too, for her heart beat for her generation to take up the baton and make a difference.
Why am I reviewing all of this? Because God keeps speaking through the lowly dandelion!
One day in November I found this little treasure at an art stall here in Málaga. It was like God spoke confirmation over the truth of the dandelion for us. The music and the birds of peace & hope were such a gift to me:
Then, just this week I was out on a walk and was stopped short by the biggest dandelion I had ever seen! It was as big as one of Jordan´s balls! The dandelions keep speaking...
Months had passed since my last ¨dandelion encounter¨ (although I had noticed their growing popularity in general) and this time God spoke clearly to my heart: ¨I have NOT forgotten that promise. The seeds and flowers of Jenna´s legacy will be far bigger than you can even ask or imagine!¨
You can imagine my love affair at this point with the lowly dandelion. What was once a weed to me is now transformed into something extremely precious.
Sometimes I wish I could save some of the blessings of this legacy:
But I´m pretty sure God wants them floating freely...landing where He has sovereignly destined them to be:
But...I might just have to get me one of these: ;)
May God release more and more fruit through this generation - and all of us - for the kingdom of God through our stewardship of Jenna's legacy...through the one seed that dies to produce "many seeds".
You can read more about the vision of seeds and Jenna's legacy (including videos from the Memorial) at: http://thruamomseyes.blogspot.com.es/2014/12/memorial-series-seeds.html http://thruamomseyes.blogspot.com.es/2014/12/memorial-series-legacy.html
*quote from Steve Brill's book A Meddlesome, But Toothsome Weed, Dandelion
We received this letter not too long ago from Jenna's "favorite" Doctor, the one who was her very first contact at her first appointment, took out her "umbilical tumor", ran her quickly through numerous tests during the Christmas holidays last year to find the main tumor, diagnosed her cancer and was the surgeon in a number of her surgeries. We were touched by his generous words & wanted to share them with you:
Dear Pamela and Bruce,
I wanted to tell you that your affection and appreciation is absolutely reciprocal. Jenna has always been a a special patient for me and I know that she has been so for all the specialists that have known and treated her. I don´t say this because of the medical challenge that her case represented from the very beginning but because of the quality of person that Jenna was and the admirable fortitude with which she confronted her illness. We were all conscious that her case was quite advanced with a limited survival rate and we tried to fight with all available resources, but unfortunately the norm is that these situations don´t end the way we would all like and the illness was unstoppable.
Although in the last phase of her illness because of my work obligations [he was her digestive surgeon and not involved in her whole process] I wasn´t able to visit her as I would have liked, during that time I have often thought of you all and frequently asked the endocrinologists and oncologists about how she was she was doing whenever I had occasion. Knowing Jenna and her family has been a life lesson for me. A lesson of love, serenity and inner strength when things go bad. Because of all of this, the one who will always be grateful for having known her is I - and I give thanks to God for that.
Affectionately,
Ignacio
(Dr. Ignacio Machado Romero)
Original letter in Spanish:
Queridos Pamela y Bruce,
Quería deciros que ese cariño y aprecio hacia Jenna y su familia es absolutamente recíproco. Ella siempre ha sido una paciente especial para mí, y se que así lo ha sido para todos los especialistas que la han conocido y tratado. Y no lo digo por el reto médico y quirúrgico que desde el principio supuso su caso, sino por la calidad como persona de Jenna y su admirable entereza para afrontar la enfermedad. Todos éramos conscientes que era un caso muy avanzado con una supervivencia limitada y tratamos de luchar con todos los medios disponibles, pero desgraciadamente lo habitual es que estas situaciones no tengan el final que a todos nos hubiera gustado y la enfermedad ha sido implacable desde el principio. Aunque en la última fase por motivos de trabajo no he podido visitarla tanto como me habría gustado, durante todo este tiempo me he acordado muchísimo de vosotros e interesado por su evolución preguntando a endocrinos y oncólogos siempre que tenía ocasión. Conocer a Jenna y su familia ha supuesto para mí una lección de vida. Una lección de amor, serenidad y fuerza interior cuando las cosas vienen mal. Por todo esto el que estará siempre agradecido por haberla conocido soy yo, y doy gracias a Dios por ello.
This lovely painting was painted and gifted to us a week or so after Jenna's passing. This is what Vanessa wrote with it:
Jenna's Hands
The beauty of her hands...
Goes deeper than her slender fingers
It is more than the grace with which she holds them;
Deeper than the strength within them.
The beauty of her hands is in the lives that she has touched;
In every hand she has held,
And in all the love that she has given.
Now her hands are held by the
One whose touch has healed
And while He leads her in a dance of love and victory...
Here on earth, her touch continues on
In every life that she has loved,
And every heart that she has blessed.
Vanessa Brooke
For now Vanessa´s painting rests on our ¨Memory Table¨ but soon it will find a more permanent place on one of our walls. We are so blessed with friends who share our love of Jenna and give of their talents to express it in such lovely ways.
P.S. When we first saw the painting, Bruce thought that was his hand holding Jenna´s! (We still let him think that.) And it DOES look a lot like his hand. He spent many precious hours holding her hands this year during her suffering and THAT really WAS a picture of her Heavenly Father´s hands which were to hold her later. Whatever the interpretation, we are comforted by the fact that SHE IS HELD.
This year we decided not to exchange gifts. We were understandably needing to simplify and that was one of the ways it took expression. We did do stockings. We have always loved stockings and for many years have all taken great joy in buying or making surprises for one another - everyone for everyone else.
This year we were away from the 18th - 25th at a hotel (another change in our traditions) and returned midday on the 25th to make a turkey dinner and do our stockings by the fire in the evening. It was a sweet time and we slowly took turns pulling one thing at a time out of our stockings. There were the typical ¨practical¨ things such as toothbrushes and gum and joke gifts like a green apple from the kitchen but also special chocolates and massage oils and new drawing utensils. But as we were finishing, the most surreal surprise of all appeared...
Bruce drew a packet of sugar from his stocking. It was from Starbucks - which IS special since we only have one at the airport - but still, he thought it was one of our joke gifts. But as we all looked at each other, no one claimed to have given it to him. He handed the sugar to me as he reached again into his stocking, into the very tip. Dani said, ¨Does it have Arabic on it?¨ As I was turning over the packet of sugar in my hand, still half laughing, I saw that the other side of the packet was indeed in Arabic. Dani said, ¨Jenna gave us some sugar last year...¨ and as that was sinking in, Bruce simultaneously pulled out a small keychain from the tip of his stocking with a Cedar of Lebanon hanging from it. Silence descended over us as we all realized these were gifts from Jenna from the previous Christmas that had not been found. In Christmas 2013, she had just returned from her time in Beirut and so gifts from there were predominant at Christmas last year.
Was there ever a trinket so precious to a father? Was sugar ever so sweet? Last year he would have appreciated it but this year it took on a whole new meaning...it was almost sacred. The packet of sugar is now tucked in his wallet (to be carried for years, I suppose - or until it spills sugar everywhere) and his house keys dangle from the beautiful, symbolic and yes, sacred, Cedar of Lebanon.
The beauty of this season
Holds joyful hues of
Family & friends, traditions & love.
But most of all, a Savior.
The melodies of this season
Hang lightly in the air in
Homes & hearts, steeples & stores,
But most of all resounds, of a Savior.
The symbolism of this season
Is reflected in forms,
In patterns & shapes, designs & styles
But most of all, in a Savior.
The meaning of this season
Both cloaked & revealed,
Sacred & secular, cherished & ignored
But in spite of them all, a Savior.
The melancholy of this season
Wistfully clinging to a
Brother & sister, mother & father
But most of all they cling, to a Savior.
The promise of this season
Hopefully whispering to
Souls & minds, hearts & bodies That there is most of all, a Savior.
In spite of our soulful carol this year and missing Jenna so very much,
we join you in celebrating the promise of a SAVIOR who is a Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.
There were 3 distinct prophetic words that came right around the time of Jenna´s passing that I wanted to share. They are such an encouragement to us and the fact that they were each confirmed by others make them more certain.
The first came through a letter received from our dear friend Amy. She shared how she had gone out to pray for Jenna in the countryside among some olive trees. As she prayed for Jenna, a full-orbed dandelion was blowing in the wind and kept returning to her. She felt the Lord speak to her heart that the seeds of Jenna´s life would be spread in the offering up of her life. She remembered a painting of an artist Lilian Trotter who lived 40 years in Algeria and the sense that Jenna´s life was to be offered up for something greater was very strong. She wept and wrote and prayed and later gave us a letter and lent us the book A Blossom in the Desert where many of Lilias´ paintings and writings are compiled. (Amy´s presentation at the Memorial Service can be viewed below on the video.)
Amy later had another experience with the Lord while at a weekend retreat in the famous monastery Montserrat in Barcelona. Again, she was outside praying and she was given the strong impression that Jenna was to receive a crown of honor of some sort. As she looked up, she saw a bay laurel tree, full of it´s dark green leaves used by the Romans in their crowns of victory. Even it´s scientific name, Laurus Nobilis rings of nobility. It is also the source for the word baccalaureate and we now know that she was to receive that on the 19th! (Not only that, but the title Honoris Causa is on her diploma, meaning in Latin ¨for the sake of honor¨. ) When she returned to Málaga, Amy came to pray for Jenna and ask that this crown of honor would be bestowed on her. I share this because it has to do with the following vision...
A dear friend from our downtown church, Loli, is very special to us and has experienced many prophetic visions from God since she was little. When she called us after the memorial service to tell us that she had seen something during the service, Bruce drove up to her place to hear firsthand...
¨During the first song at the Memorial Service, Oceans, I saw a vision of Jenna,¨ she told him. ¨ I was seated near the coffin covered in flowers and I saw many hands around the coffin above it, in the air. Coming up out of the middle of them was Jenna. I could only see her from the waist up and she was beautiful and happy and radiant. She was filled with joy! She had a beautiful white blouse on and a flowing turquoise-colored veil wrapped around her head. Her hair was loose & beautiful, cascading down and was full of bay leaves. Then she started rising upwards and as she rose, the veil shifted and fell off her head to her shoulders. As that happened, little seeds fell from it and went everywhere. They were really tiny, like little grains of couscous and they were spread all around.¨
At the memorial service, Amy shared the visions she had had but Loli´s vision was before she had spoken and before Doralicia shared about Jenna´s legacy. Loli got so excited when she heard Amy and Dora share because it was very evident to her that God was confirming the symbolism of what she had seen!
You can read more specifically about what Dora shared about Jenna´s Legacy in the post called Legacy. But what relates here is the clear sense that Jenna left a legacy and that God desires for her generation to take it up. Her death is not a waste but an investment in the future of the Kingdom of God. Dora made specific reference to the the truth found in John 12:24. ¨Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.¨
May Jenna´s life, and now her death, produce much fruit as spiritual seeds are scattered...
Cool, huh?
May it be so...
If you would like to listen to what Amy shared at the Memorial Service for Jenna, you can listen here in English with Spanish translation:
One of our dear friends who has walked alongside our family this year and has served us in multiple ways, spoke at Jenna's memorial service. As a friend and Spiritual Director, she met with Jenna in the last few months and in the last few weeks she was sometimes here daily, speaking blessings over her, praying in her room and playing soft music to soothe her spirit. She is one of my very best friends here and has become dear to my entire family.
One of the things Doralicia did in Jenna's last week was to "bless her legacy". We thought that was an amazing thing to do and asked her to share a version of it at the memorial service. We feel there is great significance spoken here for Jenna´s friends and her generation. You can watch and listen to the video version of it here or it is in writing below in both Spanish and English.
¨It is my privilege today to speak to you about the legacy and influence of Jenna in this world and in our lives.
Jenna was a young woman with vision for a life with purpose. Her principal purpose was to honor God and from there sprung her decisions, strengths, studies, the risks she took and a whole lifestyle that made her one of the most interesting young people that I have met in my life! Today I am going to tell you a bit about her experiences.
A few years ago Jenna travelled to France and experienced great spiritual growth in her life and returned with a new passion for God and with many teachings about the supernatural things of God. She began to teach her family and to share with other youth in Málaga about spiritual warfare and things about that spiritual world we don't see but which is yet a reality.
Jenna possessed a passion that came from the heart of God for people who were the most vulnerable and oppressed. She recognized that her studies and experience with a personal God who restores were an excellent combination for an holistic work because social justice alone is not the answer for us as spiritual beings.
Last year she travelled to and lived in Lebanon. She worked with an NGO focused on human rights. Her work there was dedicated to supporting in a variety of ways the immigrants and refugees doing domestic work in the country. This included refugees from Syria. She loved this region. When a friend from her university recently asked her about her dreams she said: To see Syria restored & rebuilt. I still remember getting together with Pam and asking for God´s protection for Jenna when the conflict in that region got more complex and we were more alert to the dangers present there.
Yesterday we heard that one of her university professors had travelled from the US to present her with her degree. She read a letter from another professor and in her own words as well, spoke of Jenna as a woman who loved to learn. The professors described her as an exceptional student in whom they saw not just a keen interest to learn but in whom they recognized a life of faith, a faith in a God interested in the healing, restoration and needs of the most vulnerable.
Jenna also worked with international students and as a third culture kid, had experienced the US, Argentina, Morocco, Spain, France and Lebanon...a little bit of all of those places made her who she was and is for all of us.
Her friends recognize her legacy of spirituality, honesty, integrity, humor, loyal passion, creativity and leadership. Jenna was an independent woman but dependent on God and a woman with an adventurous spirit which got her the nickname Miss Courageous.
Her family experienced all these qualities and many more. Her love for her siblings; she was a beautiful big sister. Her love for her parents and her influence on them. Jenna, you taught them and they taught you, too. Much of what this precious woman is, is the inheritance from her parents and from her Heavenly Father.
Today we want to bless all these relationships, conversations and all the efforts and contributions that Jenna participated in and we want to bless them so that they bear much fruit and multiply. Our investment in the kingdom of heaven here on earth is never in vain and that reminds me of the passage where Jesus describes the Kingdom of God:
¨Then Jesus asked, ´What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.´¨ Luke 13: 18, 19
God gave Jenna various mustard seeds and she used them in many creative ways, with devotion, determination and dedication. She used her talents and gifts given to her by God.
Jesus also reminded us as He described investment in the Kingdom of God:
¨Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.¨ John 12:24
Today we celebrate the legacy of Jenna and today I feel that what we should do is to remember that her life and even her death can bring life and fruit. Today I would like to pray a prayer of blessing over all the young people present here and the ones who aren´t here. So if you are an adolescent or young adult I want to ask you to open your hands as a sign of receiving:
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, today we ask that Jenna´s life and death would plant life and fruit in the life of these young people in Málaga. Jesus, guide these youth to find seeds of the kingdom that You have planted in their lives and call them to use them. Those who don´t yet know You as a personal God, call them to an intimate relationship with You.
I bless their lives and I call them to gain inspiration from Jenna´s life to live lives with integrity and honesty. Lives with purpose. Help them to use their time well and to cooperate with the Holy Spirit. Help them to make wise decisions. Help them to live with courage against values and lifestyles which don´t produce life. May they remember today that You love them and that You are a God interested in the restoration of their lives so that they can be channels of restoration for others. Put passion in them for the most vulnerable, for other cultures, for the oppressed. Place in them their own expressions of redemption in accordance with how You have designed them. Help us to receive by the Holy Spirit some characteristics of this precious daughter of Yours whom we celebrate today. In Your name, Jesus. Amen.¨
The original version in Spanish:
¨Es mi privilegio
hoy hablarles del legado y la influencia de Jenna en este mundo y en nuestras
vidas.
Jenna fue una joven
mujer con una visión de la vida con propósito.
Su principal propósito fue honrar a Dios, pero de ahí se
desprendieron decisiones, esfuerzos, un estudios, riesgos y todo un estilo de
vida que la hicieron una de las jóvenes mas interesantes! que he
conocido en mi vida. Hoy les contare parte de sus experiencias.
Hace unos años Jenna viajo a Francia y al regresar de su tiempo alláhubo
un crecimiento espiritual en su vida, regreso con una nueva pasión por Dios y con muchas enseñanzas
a cerca del lo sobrenatural de Dios.
Comenzóa enseñar
a su familia y a compartir con algunos jóvenes de Málaga a cerca de guerra
espiritual y enseñanzas de un mundo espiritual que no veamos pero que no
deja de ser una realidad.
Jenna poseía una pasión que salía del corazón de Dios por las personas mas
vulnerables y por las personas oprimidas. Ella reconocía que sus estudios y su experiencia con un Dios personal y
que restaura, eran una excelente combinación para un trabajo mas integral, pues
solamente justicia social no es la respuesta para nosotros como seres humanos
espirituales.
El año pasado viajó y vivo en el Líbano. Ahí trabajo con una ONG
que trabaja en pro de los derechos humanos. Su trabajo ahí estaba dedicado a
apoyar de diversas maneras a refugiados que este país estárecibiendo de Siria. Ella amaba esta
región. Una amiga de universidad le pregunto sobre sus sueños y ella dijo: Ver a Siria restaurada, edificada. Todavía recuerdo reunirme con Pamela y pedirle a Dios protección para Jenna cuando el conflicto en esa región se ponía mas complejo y estábamos mas alertas de los peligros que
habían en esa zona.
Ayer escuchamos a
una de sus profesoras de universidad que viajópara entregarle su
titulo y ella leyóuna carta de un profesor y aun en sus
propias palabras y experiencia, hablaba de Jenna como una mujer a quien le
encantaba aprender. Los profesores la describieron como una estudiante excepcional
y veían en ella no solo su interés por aprender y su esfuerzo sino también reconocían su vida de fe, una fe en un Dios
interesado en la sanidad, la restauración y las necesidades de los mas
vulnerables.
Ella trabajo también en con los estudiantes internaciones, como una chica de
tercera cultura norteamericana, años en argentina, España, Marruecos y Líbano…un poco de todo esto la hicieron quien
fue y quien es ella para nosotros.
Sus
amistades reconocen su legado de espiritualidad, su honestidad, su
integridad, su humor, pasión lealtad,
creatividad y liderazgo. Jenna fue una mujer independiente pero
dependiente de Su Dios y una mujer con un espíritu aventurero a la que algunos llamaron Miss Valiente.
Su familia experimento todas estas
cualidades y muchas otras más. Su amor para sus hermanos, ella fue una muy bella
hermana mayor. Su amor por sus padres y la influencia que ella tuvo en ellos.
Jenna tu les enseñaste a
ellos y ellos te enseñaron
también a ti.
Mucho de lo que esta mujer preciosa es, es
la herencia de sus padres y la herencia de Su Padre celestial.
Hoy queremos bendecir todas estas
relaciones, conversaciones, todas esos esfuerzos y contribuciones en las que
Jenna participó, y
queremos bendecirlas para que lleven mucho fruto y se multipliquen.
Nuestra inversión en el reino de Dios aquíen la tierra nunca es en vano y eso me recuerda este
texto que describe en palabras de Jesus el Reino de Dios:
Entonces Jesús dijo: «¿A quése parece el reino de Dios? ¿Cómo puedo ilustrarlo? 19Es como una pequeña semilla de mostaza que un
hombre sembróen un jardín; crece y se convierte en un árbol, y los pájaros hacen nidos en las ramas».
Dios le dio a Jenna varias semillas
de mostaza y ella las uso de maneras creativas, con devoción, con empeño y dedicación.
Ella uso sus talentos y dones dados por Dios.
También Jesus describiendo la inversión del Reino de Dios nos
recordó:
Les digo la verdad, el grano de trigo, a menos que sea sembrado en la
tierra y muera, queda solo. Sin embargo, su muerte producirámuchos granos nuevos, una abundante cosecha de nuevas vidas. Juan 12:24
Hoy celebramos el
legado de Jenna, y hoy siento que lo que debemos de hacer es recordar que su
vida y aun su muerte puede traer vida y fruto. Hoy quiero hacer una oración de bendición para todos los jóvenes aquípresentes y aun lo que no están aquí, asíque si eres un
adolescente o joven adulto quiero pedirte que pongas tus manos abiertas en señal de recibir:
Padre, Hijo y
Espíritu Santo, hoy te pedimos que la vida de Jenna y su muerte siembre vida y
fruto en la vida de estos jóvenes de Málaga. Jesus, guía a estos jóvenes a encontrar las semillas del
reino que tu has plantado en sus vidas y llámalos
a usarlas.A los que todavía no te conocen como un Dios personal llámalos a una relación intima contigo.
Yo bendigo sus
vidas y les llamo a ganar inspiración de la vida de Jenna para vivir vidas
con integridad y honestidad. Vidas con propósito,
ayudarles a usar bien su tiempo y a cooperar con Tu Espirito Santo. Ayúdales
a hacer decisiones sabias.
Ayúdales a vivir con valentía en contra de valores y estilos de
vidas que no producen vida. Que hoy les recuerdes que Tu les amas y que
Tu eres un Dios interesado en la restauración de Sus vidas para que ellos sean canales
de restauración para otros. Pon pasión en ellos por los más vulnerables, por otras culturas, por
los oprimidos. Pon en ellos sus propias expresiones de redención de acuerdo con cómo Tu les has diseñado. Ayudamos a todos a recibir por medio de tu Espíritu
Santo algunas características de esta preciosa hija tuya que
celebramos hoy. En tu nombre Jesus. Amen.¨
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