A Message from a Friend

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I sometimes love–sometimes even weep–over how things come together.

Earlier this evening, I got an email about sending in a copy of a book for the basket giveaway that the Love Inspired Authors site does every quarter. I’m going to send one in, but I thought I’d throw in one of the little prayer books I keep around. Couldn’t find one…finally, I braved the garage and all the boxes of books still waiting to be unpacked from my last move. (Yes, I know that was last February…)

As I was digging around, I spotted a leather cover, which startled me. I thought I had unpacked all my Bibles (I have, well, quite a few). I pulled it out, and when I realized what I was holding, I had to sit down.

Jill’s Bible. I had given it to her for her birthday in 1994, a glorious blue with her name in silver letters. She’d wanted a New American Standard, and I’d bought it and had it engraved at the Lifeway store downtown. Jill loved her Bible. She attended a non-denominational church in our hometown, Charismatic, and she had truly dived into Scripture the few years before. I had given it not only in celebration of her birthday but for her decision to become a missionary, to devote her life to God.

Sometime later, I went to see her, and we drove up on a mountain near Huntsville to walk. After our hike, we sat on a rock, loving the sun and scenery, and talked. She was jazzed as she started making plans to pay off her bills and go back to school.

You see it coming, don’t you?

Her mother returned the Bible to me after Jill was killed in a car accident. Not even when Rachel was born severely disabled have I had as many questions for God and His plans for our lives.

Tonight I sat, opening the Bible for the first time in almost ten years. Although she’d not used it long, Jill was a note-taker. The Bible opened naturally to two locations. Luke showed up first, where she’d underlined 1:37: “For nothing is impossible with God.”

The second? Psalm 112, which is highlighted, be-ribboned, notated, and marked with a dog-eared page.

1 Praise the LORD!
How blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
Who greatly delights in His commandments.
2 His descendants will be mighty on earth;
The generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in his house,
And his righteousness endures forever.
4 Light arises in the darkness for the upright;
He is gracious and compassionate and righteous.
5 It is well with the man who is gracious and lends;
He will maintain his cause in judgment.
6 For he will never be shaken;
The righteous will be remembered forever.

Beside the word “fear” in verse 1, she had written: “reveres.” But it was the last verse that gripped my heart.

Sigmund Freud once said, “Immortality is being loved by many anonymous people.” I think I prefer the psalmist’s definition. I know those who loved her will remember Jill as long as they live; here’s praying that her faith inspires generations yet to come.

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