I found out this week that a dear friend lost her battle
with cancer and went to be with Jesus. Jamie went through transplant with me in
April 2011 at the University of Colorado Hospital. She had a very tough journey
and spent months in the hospital that year and frequent trips back to the hospital
for blood transfusions. The amazing thing about Jamie is I never saw her complain.
Even in the hospital on Easter Sunday last year when she was not feeling great,
Jamie made candy bags and passed them out to all of us on the 11th
floor who were going through transplant. That was just like Jamie; always
giving and making other people feel more important. I heard she did this even
during her last weeks of life – passing out flowers to girls at the mall and
telling them they were beautiful. Through a friend, I understand her last hours
were spent in quiet prayer until she took her last breath; until she slipped
into the arms of Jesus. When I heard that, I also thought, “that is so like
Jamie.” Jamie worshiped and served our Lord with great passion. I was thinking
about how she spent her last hours and this thought hit me: “she prayed herself
into the arms of Jesus.” Isn’t that amazing? As she spent her last few hours in
quiet prayer, she awoke in the arms of Jesus…in Heaven. It can’t get any better
than that. Then I thought, isn’t that what happens when we pray? We end up in
the arms of Jesus when we pray. Jamie received the ultimate reward of slipping
from this side of praying to Jesus to the world of really being with Jesus. I
just can’t imagine what that was like for Jamie. It must have been beautiful,
just like the life Jamie led; a beautiful life. This experience also reminded
me of a very old hymn titled “Safe in the Arms of Jesus” by Fanny Crosby. The
chorus is:
Safe in the arms of Jesus;
Safe on His gentle breast;
There by his love over shaded;
Sweetly my soul shall rest.
Jamie will be greatly missed by her family and so many
friends. But I’ll never forget the candy gift she gave me on Easter and I’ll
never forget the gift she gave me in how to pray into the arms of Jesus.Amazed by His Love,
Terence
