One Handful of Rice

Yesterday a group of women who pray together on Friday mornings had the privilege of visiting our friend, Sue. Sue has been battling brain cancer for over five years. She has come to our Friday mornings off and on so we know her struggle, but don’t know her life. She is young–in her 50′s and has a wonderful husband and three children. The battle is nearly over for Sue. We drove to her home and spent time having a kind of party with cake and fruit and deviled eggs which always remind me of a picnic. Sue is paralyzed on her left side now and can whisper, but is so weak that she doesn’t show much emotion. She looks frail. We sang some praise songs and prayed and read out some scriptures to love on her. We held her hand, the right one which can still grip. We gave our best to her.
It was a bit startling to me how the words of the songs and the words in the passages we read jumped out in new ways and with new depths of meaning in that context. Sue has just a short while to live. “Nothing can separate us,” “He will give his angels charge concerning you,” “Because she has loved Me, therefore I will deliver her..” It was all sweet and sad, encouraging and heart-wrenchingly heavy. I felt emotionally tired, but peaceful when we left her. I probably won’t see Sue again. But I’ll dance with her at the marriage supper of the Lamb.