When I retired from teaching in 2016, one of my first goals was to find a way to connect with other women of the church. For the first time I was not teaching Tuesday morning and Tuesday night. Those were the times the ladies of the church met for Bible study and prayer.
Tuesday morning was all I had hoped for. I loved the first minutes of simply visiting and getting to know one another, then sharing our burdens and requests and hearing others pray fervently for our needs, then the time of Bible study. I got to know that group of women in a special way. One of those women was Renee Bottoms. Amy O’Rear has shared so beautifully the relationship she had with Renee, but I want to, no, I need to share what I started the morning I found out Renee was Home. I knew Renee casually before I began attending the Bible study, but that class sealed the deal. We had an immediate connection.
Outwardly Renee and I did not have much in common with our backgrounds. She had been a lawyer, had beaten cancer, had married Rick later in life, then had moved with Rick from Texas to Chattanooga. I moved here fresh from grad school to teach, then married and had five children, homeschooled for twenty years, then went back to teaching, and ultimately found myself alone. It doesn’t sound like much in common to build a friendship, but build one we did.
This morning I read back through about six months of our texts and found tears running down my cheeks. She was the friend who allowed you to say whatever you needed to say, and in return, felt free herself in the relationship. We sat and talked on my porch over lunch, we sat on swings on her back porch, we sat in her Texas room and shared our childhoods. We called and talked, but more frequently we texted. And now I have those texts to go back to. I want to share some of those texts to show you what kind of woman Renee was.
5/28 I’m getting well practiced at praising God.
6/18 I regularly pray for all of your children (know it’s close to your heart) but you never told how I can pray for YOU.
6/25 Praise God that He allows doctors the ability to give relief.
7/1 Rick and I prayed and God resolved. My faith is strengthened and God showed off His faithfulness again!!
7/4 I have struggled but the Lord has helped me level out again. He promises not to give me more than He will equip me to endure (I Corinthians 10:13). And I’m holding on to that. . . . .I’m asking for wisdom and trust His James 1:5 promise that He’ll help me know. The effort of asking and listening is day to day. Please pray for my courage and faithfulness and peace.
7/5 Today is another good day—praising God!! Trying to focus on each and every one. So thankful to count you a faithful and trusted friend.
7/10 We certainly do live in a strange time. So wish Jesus would come.
8/1 I’m hanging on! And feeling His presence and that is enough, just like He said.
8/27 Looking forward to Faith-time.
8/31 Thank you for being in the yoke with me on this phase of life.
9/18 God has used it (a broken wrist) to show His continual presence in incredible ways. Even in this, He is here. But I am so weak, with so little courage.
Can you see Renee? She knew Scripture and could apply it even on difficult days. She had a vital relationship with her Savior. She loved her friends and showed it. She prayed for her friends and their concerns. Renee was not a perfect woman. She had difficult days and nights. She had fears. One of the fears she shared with me was her fear of smothering. What if they turned the oxygen up as high as it would go and she still couldn’t breathe?
On September 22 I had just loaded up the beans and rice she had asked for. I had planned even to stop at Taco Bell to get her the tostados she yearned for. And then I got the word that Renee had stepped through the door of Heaven the night before. In my head I heard this song,
But just think of stepping on shore and finding it Heaven,
Of touching a hand and finding it God’s,
Of breathing new air and finding it celestial,
Of waking up in Glory and finding it Home.
Finally Home!
Renee didn’t need to struggle to breathe. Her oxygen never got turned to the highest. Instead she’s breathing new air and finding it celestial.
Above my kitchen sink is a sticky note that says Renee, a reminder to pray for my friend. I’m not ready to take it down yet. I miss her, but every time I see it I think, “She’s breathing celestial air,” and I smile.
~~Faith Himes Lamb
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