In Memory

Today I’m thankful for technology. I was able to attend a funeral in Washington DC from my living room in Irvine. The funeral was broadcast over the internet so that those of us far away could attend.

Carol Marshall was an amazing woman. She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the early part of this year and on Monday she saw our Savior face to face. She will be greatly missed here, but I’m comforted to know that she is complete, made whole in Christ and no longer in pain. She is experiencing the riches of heaven and the Lord in all his glory. Her life was well lived and she was fervent in telling others about salvation in Christ. I am confident she heard the words “well done good and faithful servant upon standing in the presence of the Lord. I want to be like her.

Carol had placed her faith in Christ. She accepted that He died for her sins and that they were forgiven because of his shed blood. She lived a life worthy of the call and placed her trust in Him. When the cancer started to take over, she didn’t worry because she knew the Lord had a plan for her life and He was in control. When she was experiencing pain, she drew close to the Lord for comfort. When she was scared, she went to scripture and found peace in the Word of God. That is a life worthy of the call. It wasn’t just for Carol. It is for you to, whoever may be reading this that doesn’t know Christ. He died so that all sins would be forgiven. Jesus took on the weight of the world and paid the penalty so we wouldn’t have to..because we never could. We are all sinners, we have been separated from God, but by his grace, through faith we can have a right relationship with him. Place your trust in Christ and allow Him to change you the way he changed Carol. You can have assurance that when you depart from this world you will stand before the savior and he will welcome you in and not send you away.

I met Carol when I was in high school and I became friends with her son, who led me to Christ. We eventually started dating and I distinctly remember a later conversation with Carol where she told me that they had been praying for me. Together, they allowed the Lord to use them to bring me to Himself. I’m forever grateful. Over the next few years that we dated Carol made me part of the family. She had this uncanny way of making you feel like you were the most important person to her. She invested in me, cared for me, treated me to dinners and trips, and taught me about living the Christian life. They brought me to church with them, the church where Matt and I met (also grateful for that!), and made sure my feet were on the right path. She also had an impact on Matt. He wrote this on her blog and it sums up how we feel about her. “Carol, our memories of you span many cities and many different stages of life on this earth. You've taught us both how to know the Lord better. You taught Jenny how to be a woman of God when she didn't have a clue. You taught Matt how to bring faith into business without compromising excellence in either. In all our memories of you, what's consistent is your unwavering solidarity with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and your contagious energy that so easily drew others to you. In his book "Don't Waste Your Life," John Piper writes, "God created us to live with a single passion to joyfully display His supreme excellence in all the spheres of life." Rest confidently that you have done just that. We love you.”