Prayers for Marianne

Wow!  I'm not sure what the message is, but there must be one there...  I have to apologize that I wasn't able to better interpurate it...

When Marianne was so sick and we were praying so hard, I had the girls join me/us.  We explained to them when she had passed and we prayed for their family.  It was the first time for Julia (my 5.5 year old) to encounter loss to that degree.  She listened to me but not sure how much of it really registered.

We hadn't discussed it since.  I continue to say my own prayers every day for that sweet family, but tonight out of the blue...  We're saying our blessing for our dinner and Julia speaks up and says, "and pray for Marianne".  She will tell us of friends at school that are sick, and things like that to pray for, so I thought that was what she was referring to.  I had asked, are you talking about mommies' friend Marianne or is this a friend at school?  She answered, in true Julia fashion, the last thing that I had suggested...  Friend at school. 

So we prayed for Marianne that she would feel better and be back at school, and that she would know Jesus loves her as he makes her all better. 

Later that evening, Julia was a little chatter box (which is ODD so we eat it up!!).  She went on and on about this friend and that friend and naming one after the other and it was so neat to be in that small glimps of her life...  As she was listing all her friends, I asked, "what about Marianne?".  Is she in your class, or on your bus, or maybe I misunderstood and she's a teacher...  She continued to say, no mommie, no mommie...  So I stepped back and said are you talking about mommie's friend that was so sick and we prayed for a couple of weeks ago??  She said yes, mommie!!  She light up because finally I had gotten on the same page with her.

We stopped and I explained it all to her again.  I said, Julia, do you know who Jesus is?  And she answered right away, yes he's God.  I said yes!  Do you know where Jesus lives?  She said, yes with God.  I said you are correct, but where do they live?  She looked puzzled and I said do you know about heaven??  I said they live in heaven!  And, now Marianne lives with them there in heaven!!  What we need to pray for are her three sweet daughters.  They are just like your age, Elizabeth, Emily and Chloe are Marianne's daughters...  We need to pray that they can continue to be happy all the time, and still know how much their mommy loves them!  Obviously at that point, I had lost her, but...

I am struggling to know what the meaning of that coming to her sweet innocent mind...  Wish I had the bigger message here, but I found it very interesting...! 

Anyways!  Interesting!  Give Jesus a hi five for us, Marianne!!  :o)

9/25/2010

Preparing for the Candlel Light Vigil tonight for Marianne. 

I asked Julia if she wanted to come with.  Considering her above noted recolection of Marianne out of no where I thought that just maybe she would connect and appreciate actually being a part of that...  She asked if she could see pictures...  I said, well sure!  I showed the video that they showed at her funeral and both my girls LOVED watching and seeing that sweet family.  Even they could see and tell how beautiful and happy they were.  I said, this is who we are going to keep praying for...

Julia was telling her sister, Marianne died.  She's with Jesus now.  So, she definitely gets it as much as she can...  Every picture, they said, oh look there's Marianne...  They also enjoyed seeing the baby Chloe through the different pictures.  I'm fighting again, the question why... 

It will be interesting tonight!  I actually have feelings of excitment!  I'm actually excited to get to celebrate what she lived her life as! 

Guy shared at the funeral how she always loved to have her feet rubbed.  That was her thing!!  Thought it was just a pregnancy thing that stuck around, but it was so much more then that!  It was there time together, face to face talking as he rubbed her feet...  See, Marianne never stood still.  She was always serving!!  ALL the time!!!  Their early days in dating was rough because she was always too busy to maintain a relationship... 

I knew Marianne as my older sisters BFF.  I was just the enoying little sister that just had to be in the middle of things...  Her "ministry" so to speak started way back then!  I know because I recently spend a long period of time looking at pictures from WAY back when...  Let's just say Cindy isn't the kid that looks the SAME as her freshmen year...  Cindy has said herself she has Marianne to thank for getting her out of her shell!  Little did we know she would touch SO many lives in that very same way day after day throughout her short life. 

Sorry to go on and on, but I think all should know the legacy she leaves, and I look forward to trying to do my part to keep my feet busy serving others...  :o)