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Be Brave and Do Hard Things - Part 2
Monday, March 23, 2015 by Diane Susek

BE BRAVE AND DO HARD THINGS

PART 2

Dear Friends….                                                                                                         March 2015

            It has been a long time since I have written to you.  When we spoke last, I was sharing my mama’s final journey and her reminder to me many years ago to “be brave and do hard things”.  Most of you now know that she(94 yrs old) is in the loving arms of Jesus, rejoicing to see her Savior face to face.

            It has been eight months since that warm July morning when Ron and I, my brother Buddy, and even our Mary Kitty (our Tortoise Shell cat) and Buddy’s Maybelle (Coonhound-Great Dane mix) gathered around her bed and sang the Doxology as she slipped the bonds of earth into the presence of the Lord.  Let me interject at this point that Mary and Maybelle are not best friends yet; however, there seems to be an understanding between them. As we sat with Mama, these two sat very close to her, Mary at Mama’s feet on her bed and Maybelle just a foot away on the sofa.  I couldn’t help but think of the Millennium when “the lion will lie down with the lamb!”  It seemed that they, too, sensed the importance of this moment, both to our Queenie and to us.

            July 19, 2014, has drastically changed my life.  It was such a privilege to care for this one who had raised me to love Jesus, to “get inside a song and sing my way out”, to “be brave and do hard things”.  Her “things” are still in their place in the cozy apartment that she loved, not because I have built a shrine, but just because they have been a comfort to me.  And while the sight of them often prompts my tears, I embrace the tears because they are a part of the journey and God understands.  Her absence is palpable in everyday things and at family gatherings….the first Thanksgiving without her, the first Christmas dinner she is not at the table; now the first Easter without her and then Mother’s Day and her May 20 birthday. I miss her in my concert audiences breathing every song’s note with me.  So over and over again, I am reminded to be brave and do hard things.

            But I do not sorrow as those who have no hope.  I WILL see her again and I am as sure of that as I am of the rising and setting of the sun.  That promise from God’s Word is the reason for the hope, right?  I yearn for every eye that reads this to have this hope of eternal life with Jesus because of the salvation made possible through His death on the cross.  Queenie is enjoying the presence of the Lord!  My wonderful and wise friend, Harry Bollback (Word of Life co-founder) reminded me that Mama doesn’t miss me as much as I miss her.  He is so right! She is with Jesus which is far better.

            Be brave and do hard things today.  A great reunion awaits God’s family! Thanks to so many of you who expressed love and comfort to me.  Always love hearing from you.  Love…Diane

 

                                             “Queenie”                       “Mary”                  “Maybelle”

                                        

 

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