A Happy Day.

The last couple days have been pretty heavy around here. I am just so broken-hearted for my friend, Morgan. Thursday night from 6-8 p.m. was the visitation for her mom at their church in Sheridan. I have seriously never seen anything like it. There were people wrapped around the church in line to hug her family and pay their respects. We got there right at 6 and waited for over an hour ... Can you believe that? That is such a testimony to their family and how loved their mom was. When we left, at about 7:45 the line was even longer than when we had gotten into it, so I can't imagine how long Morgan and her family stayed up there. I can only imagine how exhausted they must have been.
Yesterday afternoon was the Memorial Service and it was truly beautiful. Morgan gave a tribute to her mom and she did such an amazing job. I know that God gives grace to those who are mourning and carries them, but she is just so strong. She said from the start that she wasn't going to cry, that she would just smile instead. She said that "today is a happy day for us." She gave tributes from all of Mrs. Carol's siblings with touching sentiments and funny tidbits like, "She thought every recipe could be improved by adding rotel." (My kind of lady!)
She told a little bit of her mom's history, how her parents met, fun stories about her childhood. She just did such a great job. She also gave a "cry" from their family, saying that people keep commenting on how strong their family is, and it's because they know where she is. She went on to say that they knew that many people had been touched by their faith and had come to Christ and if they were giving their mom to the Lord for them to come to Christ, she really hoped they would make that extra step and follow Him. It was very moving. Morgan's posts on the caringbridge were such a ministry. She had a message and I think it reached a lot of people. There have been over 30,000 hits to that site in only one month. One of the best challenges she gave was when she continually said, "I hope we are all listening to God during this time, and not just talking to Him." That is so good. It's so easy to just talk and talk and tell Him what we need, but it's so much more important to meet with Him and listen for what He has to tell you. And I don't think He tries to talk over us
She read this verse at the end too, which I just think is SO powerful. It was the last verse she wrote on the caringbridge website, the night Mrs. Carol died. I'm going to work on memorizing it.

"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."" Revelation 21:3-5

I think the thing that was the most touching, to me, was how she ended it. She said she had struggled to find how to close and all she could think of was the Little Mermaid and how many times she had watched all three of the movies. She said there was a part at the end of the first movie where Sebastion and King Tritan were sitting on that rock watching Ariel go off with the Prince and Sebastion said, "There, just one problem," and he asked what it was and he replied, "How much I'm going to miss her." And she said that was what was going to be hard, how much she was going to miss her. :(
I boo-hoo'ed.
I'm attaching her obituary, in case you would like to see it. Please keep this sweet family in your prayers.

Love, Rebekah

http://www.webfh.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=240596&fh_id=10392&s_id=10A61F6369C1BD87952B0AF3E695B3A2