Our family, and a lot of others, have lost a loved one.  She’s not a relative, and really not a personal friend – as she’s suffered through a year or so of dementia.  But, our family loved her nonetheless.  My husband has formed a strong relationship with her husband, Pastor Stone, above and beyond their Friday Bible Study sessions at our church.  They had moved away to an assisted living facility and hated it, so we helped them move back and I made a week’s worth of meals for them to heat-n-eat, as well as stocked their cabinets with groceries upon their return to their home in town.

I even invited them to our Easter celebration last week at church, and they were looking forward to it.  We had them out at Thanksgiving and they were so elated to finally have a family event – Mrs. Stone was a nun for 26 years and her husband, a Pastor, for double that time.  And it was their wedding anniversary, so it made the date all the more special.

Mrs. Stone had a brain hemmorage Monday, on her 79th birthday.  She was in a coma by Monday night.  This morning, my husband went to sit with Pr. Stone in the hospital.  He visited with the doctor and we knew, at that time, that Mrs. Stone was moving to her final destination.  

Pr. Stone saw her CAT scan, and knew that her time here on earth was coming to a close.  Her brain was indescribable and illegible – full of blood to the point that there was no gray matter left – just blood.

My kids were upset, one even to the point of sobbing.  My husband was, too, after Pr. Jim called him and talked to him just before our Lenten service last night.  We shall hold each other and comfort each other as the days pass.

Please pray with me that Pastor Stone is able to eventually find comfort that his precious love is now in the hands of God our Father, that he finds help for himself, as he’s nearly disabled and needs someone to watch over him and that the rest of us can grieve and offer up prayers of peace for all affected by Mrs. Stone’s passing.