I said good bye to a good friend yesterday.Good bye for now anyway.
Mary Lou was 81 and though she had some pretty tough times in this
life, she always had a smile and a kind word. She always wanted to know
what was going on in my life when I saw her. She had a servant's
heart; a heart filled with the love of Jesus.

When I was a single parent with five children, we had Thanksgiving
with her family. That was pretty special in my book. It is a
sweet memory that is now a treasure in my heart.

She loved to cook and had made bierocks the day before she went home
to Jesus.

Mary Lou loved to dance. I never saw her dance, but she would tell
me all about it.
Her eyes would light up and she'd
laugh and laugh.
Her husband died some eight or nine years ago
and she didn't think she'd laugh again.

But God brought her a friend.She and Glen went fishing, like she and
her husband used to do.
They went dancing.
They visited and laughed.

At the funeral, Glen told me, "I will never find a better friend
than Mary Lou."

Proverbs 17:17 says, "A friend loves at all times."
Mary Lou was that kind of woman.

My prayer: Lord, there is a great cloud of witnesses in heaven (Hebrews 12:1). Witnesses who fought the good fight of faith, who finished the race. Great men and women, like Moses, David, Mary, and those we knew here on earth who were such a testimony of Your great Love.
When I think of those I knew here, like Mary Lou, I think...these are big shoes to fill. Lord, guide those of us here on earth, to be sold out to You in every area of our lives, so that when we leave, we can leave a legacy of Your great love to others. In Jesus' name. Amen