jenny

One of our dear friends passed away over the weekend. She was the friend who made a few adjustments to my wedding dress, sewed a couple of perfect pillows for our ring bearer, and encouraged any and every person that crossed her path. She knew how to make a joke that made you say "what?!", and she knew how to tell you that you were beautiful, perfect, and loved.

And now she's spending her days with Jesus.

She knew this is what she'd be doing. She knew what her eternity looked like, and she knew who gave her that eternity. She was never shy about who she knew God was, and she was never fearful of where she would be when the end of her long, struggling journey was over.

I hadn't thought much about my brother seeing Jesus, or my cousin meeting God. I was too upset, too confused, too angry, to even think about the joy they were experiencing. I was in such despair that my young siblings and friends were taken away long before I was even thinking about college, marriage, adult years, life.

But now I see, or at least I dream of what they see. I imagine Jenny is singing. She had a voice that was soft and innocent, but nothing short of powerful. I know she is using that voice to worship and laugh. And I bet she is dancing. Oh, that body was weak and tired, but I'll bet she is feeling the freedom of a perfectly strong, healed body.

I bet she is seeing things she never thought imaginable. I bet she is seeing colors and rainbows and waterfalls and angels. I bet she wishes she could share all of it with the rest of us.

And, most of all, I bet she is delighting in the sight of Jesus. She knows what He looks like, what His true character is, what He is really about. She is having conversations, worshipping, smiling with the man she had been living for all her life.

And I bet Adam is doing the same. With a body that was in a wheelchair since he was two, I bet he is running and jumping and playing. I bet he is smiling and laughing, even bigger and louder than he was here on earth.

And to think, to even believe that there is a day coming when I'll be standing beside them, singing and laughing and dancing in the glory that they will have known much earlier than me, is mind blowing. To think that they will tell me their stories of the greatness of God because they were there is phenomenal. It's more than I can fathom, but it is incredibly good news.

She is with Jesus. With Jesus. Beside Him, near Him, surrounded by Him. The man I continue to strive to live for, the man I yearn to know more and more, the man I am amazed by, the man who adores and loves me beyond recognition, she is right there with Him.