Saying Goodbye

I stopped in to visit a long-time family friend when I was in Oregon a couple of weeks ago. It was hard! Yvonne had been placed on hospice and it was difficult to know how much she was tracking with me or if she even knew who I was.

Actually, Bob and Yvonne Isom were more than just long-time family friends – they were our forwarding agents when we were missionaries overseas. They did everything from manage our finances to speak on our behalf when representation was needed. They were even guardians for us kids in my mom and dad‘s will.

So when I stopped in to say goodbye to Yvonne, I pulled my chair up as close as I could to her wheelchair and I held both of her hands with my hands. I tenderly kissed her on the forehead and told her how much I loved her and how much her family meant to my family through the years. She was slumped over, it was a one-way conversation… Until I said “because of your hard work and supporting our mission effort through the years, people in Africa knew about Jesus.“ It was at that point she spontaneously straightened up and said with a newly strengthened voice, “Amen!“

For one brief moment, she knew. Now, she is sitting at the feet of Jesus himself. Now she knows what her life meant to so many because she has heard the words from her Savior himself, “well done, good and faithful servant!“