The night of sharing came and as I got up on stage I tripped and fell. Embarrassing? You better believe it, it's tough to have any pride when you are on your face, but that's when God can do his best work. In a shaky voice I began sharing the miracle of Christ in my life. I don't remember too much about how it went, I do remember feeling exposed and vulnerable as I got down off the stage. I also remember feeling as though I had been through a battlefield, I was physically and emotionally exhausted.
The next morning as I walked toward the dining hall for breakfast I bumped into the camp photographer. She stopped me long enough to thank me for sharing the night before, give me a hug, and press a paper into my hand. As I continued to breakfast I opened up the paper which had been folded in half and in half again. It was a letter and it began with, "Last night as you spoke I was drawn to the light of Jesus shining through you." My tears fell and I had to wipe them off my face as I continued to read. She shared the following verses with me from her morning scripture readings.
"Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father, we all with open faces beholding as in a glass the glory of The Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of The Lord."
She also shared these verses from Isaiah and Nehemiah. "Gladness and joy will overtake them and sorrow and sighing will flee away." "He will give us the oil of gladness instead of mourning, a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair."
This letter has remained folded in my Bible for the past 5 years. Every now and then I unfold it and read it again, and each time my heart is ministered to in a new way.
I received another note from her two years ago, not long after I went through the heartache of delivering my stillborn daughter, Elsa. I cried when I read, "...there let the way appear, steps unto heaven; all that thou sendest me in mercy given; angels to beckon me nearer, my God to thee, nearer to thee!"
She was not only the camp photographer but she was my college roommates mother, my husbands aunt, and from the day I married Caleb 4 years ago she has felt like my aunt too. She was our aunt Karen.
This week I am amazed at how the verses she chose to share with me speak to my soul as we say goodbye. The light of Christ shone through her and now even after she is gone he continues to use her to minister to my heart. I can only imagine the reunion on the far side of the river, give my sweet Elsa a kiss, we will see you soon.
