Sunday, September 27, 2020

A People Who Show Christ's Love

 

Some people come into our lives for only a short season. Yet it seems that the Lord in His kindness brought them to us for a specific reason at just the right time. For me, such a person was Renee Bottoms. We had gone to the same church for many years and, though we had had short conversations here and there, I did not know her well. I had not been to any of the women’s bible studies that she taught, and within the church, we just seemed to move in different circles.

I had just finished teaching through the book of 1 Peter at the end of February this year when Renee stopped me after church to find out where the Wednesday night women’s study met and how many women usually came. She was set to teach through the month of March and had chosen some of the Psalms as her theme. I told her where we met and a little about the group, and then came to the study that first Wednesday in March. After we briefly discussed our favorite psalms, she took us through Psalm 121, pointing out not only the meaning of the text but also its writing style. She was very down-to-earth in her teaching and also very knowledgeable. She had studied that passage thoroughly. At some point in the class, either based on an application question she asked, or it could have been prayer request time, I spoke of Kelly’s cancer situation and either my fears or what the Lord was teaching me (I really can’t recall). This was a week before we found out that Kelly’s medication wasn’t working and we would need to have surgery to remove the tumors. That evening ended up being the last time that I saw Renee. For it was later that week that everything shut down, and church stopped meeting on-site. Even when we did begin meeting again, Renee could not join us due to her fragile lungs.

That would have been the end of my interactions with Renee had it not been for a card that she sent me a week or so later. Renee had had her own cancer journey many years ago and shared her experience with me in the card she wrote and mentioned how she was praying for Kelly but also specifically for me (in response to what I had shared in class). She then sent me a text while Kelly was in the hospital in early April, and from that day on, until her passing, we developed a friendship over texts. About once every week or two, we would exchange texts. She updated me on her situation as her health was declining, and I kept her updated on how things were going with Kelly and with the possibility of our children having inherited the genetic mutation that caused Kelly’s cancer. And oh how she cared and how she prayed! She told me specifically what she was praying for me, she sent Scripture verses, she reminded me of truth, and she praised our Father with us over the answers to prayer along the way. That day in church, when I shared what God had done in my heart through Kelly’s cancer, Renee was praying for me. She sent me a text right after I shared that she had seen that I was getting teared up and so she started praying right then that I would be able to get through all that I wanted to say. Perhaps it was thanks to her prayer that I did.  I, in turn, was able to bring her name to the Lord as she went to various appointments and as her lungs struggled to function well. When she texted that the doctors had given her only 3-4 months to live, I grieved with her. I wept tears over this precious woman who had become so dear to me whom I would not see again on this earth.

So why do I write this? Because I, and perhaps you too, can get so caught up in my own life. I can have great intentions about reaching out to others, but in the busyness of life, it doesn’t happen. But I have been the recipient of a dear woman who took the time to write that card and to send that first text. A woman whose prayers and texts and Scripture helped carry me through the most difficult time that I have been through so far in my life. Renee reached out to me, a woman she barely knew, out of a heart of care and concern for a sister in Christ. She took the time, and a beautiful friendship developed. I’m forever grateful to her for the role she played, and as she texted me once after she told me that she probably wouldn’t live much longer on this earth, “we have all eternity to learn and grow together.” How thankful I am that I will see her again and will be able to give her a hug for the first time ever.

It’s a bit amazing to me that as I am challenging us to open our eyes to the needs of others, to reach out, to encourage, to write the card, to send the text, and then to follow-up so that we can be those special people that the Lord uses greatly in the lives of others, I know that Renee would agree. The very last text I have from her ends with this (I don’t think she’d mind me sharing): “I DO wait for the Lord and continue to be overwhelmed at His people that He has uniquely in place to meet my needs and show Christ’s love! Tears flow from gratitude for such love!” She had experienced those people in her life. She was that person for me. How I pray that you and I could be those people for others!

--Amy O' P

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