Pray for Courtney

Courtney's mom lost her battle with cancer on Saturday evening. While I grieve for Courtney's loss, I join her in rejoicing over her mother's faith in Christ and his salvation. Below is an email from Courtney announcing her mother's passing. The funeral is tomorrow, please remember her family in your prayers.

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from his hands
Til he returns, or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

Mom passed away August 9, 2008 at 7:00pm. She waited until after Tabetha returned from her graduation in Atlanta. I can only imagine what she is seeing now, but I know that she has heard the words “Well done, thy good and faithful servant.” She is laying her crowns at the feet of Jesus and He is showing her the mansion He built for her when He ascended into heaven. Mom is home and for this we rejoice.

The words above are from the song, “In Christ Alone” written by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty. It is one of my personal favorites and recently it has reminded me of Mom and her life. She lived in the power of Christ, with the knowledge that death had no hold on her. The power of Christ in her was to have no guilt in life, nor fear in death. Dad, Tabetha, David, Granny, Granddaddy, Uncle Paul, Aunt Ann, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we will see Mom again. We will be reunited with her in Heaven and she is already experiencing what we all dream of. We rejoice that she is in Heaven. We also mourn the fact that we will never again have the joy of her presence here on Earth.

We already miss her dearly, and though we are comforted in our grounded Hope we are also saddened that this world has lost a truly wonderful person. Our prayer is that each of you will join us in worshipping our Father and Savior in eternity. Since we, as a family, first learned of Mom’s illness we trusted God had a perfect plan and that He was in complete control. My personal prayer is that you have been able to experience the peace and joy that Mom had in life. Please do not go another day without the assurance that you will spend eternity with God in Heaven. As we have learned, there are no promises of tomorrow.

On July 28, 2007 we had no knowledge of cancer. Mom had been given a clean bill of health in June and she had recently hiked a mountain. July 29, 2007 we learned that Mom had tumors in her brain and her prognosis was grim. If there is one thing that we can all learn from this fact, it is that our life is a “vapor” and there will come a day when we have to face our eternity. Will you be ready like Mom was? Do you have no guilt in life, no fear in death because you stand in the power of Christ?