Sister Lisa,
I am very sorry to hear about your dear friend, I pray that the Lord would comfort you and your friends family and friends.
In thinking about your loss it sparked a memory of my own when I lost a dear friend in the Lord through a tragic car accident and he died suddenly at the age of 53.
Like your friend and my friend and all the loved ones and friends we all lose at one time or another in life (It is guaranteed) I pondered this thought.
What Legacy, Mark, Witness, and Testimony does God and that loved one and friend leave behind?
I have my own thoughts to share about my friend but I want to encourage you and I will be praying as well in what is going to happen in the hours, days, weeks, and months ahead.
Has the funeral plans been set? Because it is here where your friends life, legacy, mark, witness, and testimony are really going to matter for all those who have been left behind.
Ecclesiastes 7:1-4 KJV A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth. (2) It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. (3) Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. (4) The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
Solomon tells us that it is the end of ones life that is better than the day of their birth as long as they have obtained a good name. A name written in the Lambs Book of Life.
I trust your friend had that name and that her life will bear witness to that name and the name of Jesus Christ. Now we all know that when we lose a loved one there will be mourning but what is most important is that the living all those who will be attending the funeral will consider their own lives.
In seeing the loss of your dear friend and family member it is important that they ponder their own life and standing in Jesus Christ. Do they truly know Him, have they repented, have they forgiven those who have wronged them, are they struggling between this life, the lust of the world, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of this life?
It is appointed unto men once to die and then comes the judgement. We will all one day be where your friend is, no one will escape that appointed time.
What is going to be said, shared, and preached at that funeral is now what must take precedence over the loss of your friend. Again, I trust your friend is in heaven with the Lord, if given the chance to return to earth she wouldn't think of it. As much as she loves her family and friends she would never leave Jesus or heaven.
As I had claimed, prayed, and confessed that Jesus would save my mother the other side of that prayer was what would happen at her funeral? It was my deepest prayer that God would speak to our family and friends, that they would hear the gospel, that they would be able to SEE discernible fruit of the life of Jesus Christ in my mothers life.
This is what I will be praying for you dear sister and for the life of Aggie, Andy, and their family and friends.
Will you be willing to share about your friend, if not now, maybe in the future? I want to share the amazing testimony of my friend Frank, his life, and his testimony of what God did in this man.
I won't share now, but I can tell you this. When he died, it was so sudden and I was overtaken with one of the deepest griefs in my life at his loss. I felt the pain of his loss even more than my own mother and there are reasons for that that I will share soon.
There is something amazing about friends and family when they come together to mourn, this is how God comforts, it is through one another. We are His hands, feet, voice, and arms. Whether one is saved or not, they cannot escape that inborn desire to comfort those who are hurting.
Praying that Jesus Christ will be exalted in the LIFE of your dear friend.
Much Love In Christ!
BD