Special as my friend brought me a bottle of wine a week ago, one week before she passed away. I hadn’t even cleaned the table from that day, the unopened bottle is still there. Maybe now I will gather friends and we will open it to toast her and celebrate her friendship to us.

My friend passed peacefully in her sleep after a long illness. Well, she wanted (last month) to write me a Christmas card and she thought how horrible she was for not getting them out before Christmas. (Well, I never felt guilty about not getting them out before Christmas, and she was more busy than me!). Well, she certainly shouldn’t have felt guilty, and so sitting at her house around New Years, I was telling her it was fine, and she wrote it out to me on the spot (and I ended up ALSO getting SO many gifts of goodies, smiles and laughter)… Special as she wanted to gift the card and everything to me. Special as she and her generous spirit were a true gift to me. Her daughter texted just now about how much she loved me. Oh, I felt it!

Spiritual Solace to me is that she is whole, healthy, healed and held by Jesus. Spiritual and simple solace is seeing how amazing her family has grown up, how she raised them, how independent they are, and knowing people will be there for them. Spiritual Solace is knowing, feeling that she is SMILING in Heaven, I feel she is waving at me, I can hear her voice as easily as I can click on videos of her. Thank You Jesus for that.

Spiritual Solace is very often sacred. But I must say that a simple solace to me, and a SILLY one too, as we should not cling to tangible things here on earth, but it has brought me extra peace in WONDER, because the Christmas card she gave me sparkled in my eyes not only because of my favorite color blue, plus the sparkles, it is because the similarities were really evident to a card had I bought, then never mailed myself because I just loved it – they go together as a pair… Blue sparkles, a tree, a beautiful scene in each. Was going to mail it but thought, I’ll hold onto it a bit more. I appreciate it because it reflects that we were like sisters – different but with the same Light inside – the same sparkles. I also appreciated my card was taller and hers shorter, just like us. It also has a STAR. A star brings us towards Jesus. A silly solace here but it truly soothes my soul. 

Spiritual stars draw us to Him. My friend was a STAR and she always pointed me to Jesus too.

A simple Spiritual wake up SHOCK was when I went to her house, just as I heard the news, I just went immediately when I heard that she had passed. It was that I really felt like it wasn’t real (it was), I wanted to see her, but no. That suddenness meant processing via seeing her husband’s tears held back. The Spiritual shocking sight was that her purse was simply sitting silent, next to the door, ready to go but the go-er was gone. Was the purse going or coming? Was it set like “whew, I’m home – or hey, I’m ready to go.”  That image remains in my brain: the purse so simply hers but no longer needed. We are go-ers but God is the Know-er. Some things, well all things, we WON’T take with us. All we will need is that feeling that we are HOME.

There’s a Spiritual Solace here: we don’t need anything but Jesus. Jesus saving us with forgiveness and love and mercy and us believing in the forgiveness and love, then loving others. My friend believed in Jesus, oh yes, oh such faith. My friend knew love in the pain. Jesus shined through all that pain.

You may think each day to put your purse or your keys or your phone in a certain spot. You may start charging your phone, prep your mind and motions for the next day. But God decides your ultimate fate and faithful fateful timing to be here then gone. We don’t decide much more in decisions than picking out special sparkles on a card. We certainly are gifted the ability to pick friends. I’m SO glad she picked me as her friend. 

Her card says: “A wonder of Christmas surrounds us, may your spirit be renewed with special joy at the miracle of His birth.” and my card says: “Wishing you that cozy Christmas feeling of knowing that you are loved – because you are.” – which I wish I had mailed to her – well, now she knows…

Thank you Jesus, she is HOME.

JESUS SAID: “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:2-3 NKJV

AMEN AMEN AMEN