Praying into the Arms of Jesus

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 11^th 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