Thank You, Lord.

In the garden of splendor, now waiting above,
He’s preparing a place for us–filled with His love.
He is yearningly waiting as we tell of His plan,
To all of the lost ones His redemption for man.
Our hearts ever open to feast on His word
So graciously taught us by one who has heard.
God bless, too, our leaders who help us to share
God’s riches and blessing He brings to us there.
Thank You, Lord.

Earlier today, I was talking with a friend about death and reminiscing about the few close friends I’ve lost to death during my short lifetime. There is a sadness, but there is also a joy to have shared a few short years with them…

One of those was Grandma Vera…

Vera Glopen was an older lady from my church who my family and I got to know during middleschool and early highschool. She was a spunky woman from a different generation. She had this metal flashlight by her bedside, and repeatedly told me, “If any one ever tries to rob me, I’ll just bop them on the head!”

She and her neighbor, also a member of our church, had been neighbors for forty-plus years. There was this chemistry between them–they were so funny, so cute, and so spry…

Grandma Vera was a woman of prayer who daily spent time reading the Bible and praying for people. After she quit driving, she began letter-writing to encourage people. She was a prodigious writer, sending letters to missionaries around the globe, to friends, to the church leaders…

Eventually, Grandma Vera’s health started failing. The prescribed meds messed with her mind, and she started losing track of reality. Alternative meds were found, and she started getting better; however, this was only a temporary respite. Later that year, her health took a turn for the worse, and she had to enter a nursing home away from her beloved neighbor. We visited her relatively often during this period, but her health steadily deteriorated….

I remember visiting her one final time–we knew this would probably be the last time. By this time, Grandma Vera couldn’t talk, and she floated in and out of consciousness. I remember saying goodbye, holding her frail hand one last time, kissing her, looking into her eyes, and finally leaving…

  • I miss Grandma Vera.
  • I miss her poetry–she would always end it with “Thank You, Lord.”
  • I miss her twinkling eyes–they had such energy and bounce!
  • I miss her quick tongue–it was edgy, but never rude.

“Who needs computers?? Genealogy studies?? [her neighbor’s hobby] She’s just digging up the dead!”

Indeed, Thank You, Lord, for the blessing of Grandma Vera (She died on February 6th, 2002.)

Precious Jesus, My lamb
Why did you come, precious Jesus, my Lamb?
Could you not just have spoken to accomplish Thy plan?
My heart cries in sorrow-I can’t understand!
Oh, why did you come, precious Jesus, my Lamb?
Why did you come, precious Jesus, My Lamb?
Could You not just by love bring redemption to man?
My heart cries in sorrow-I can’t understand!
Oh, why did you come, precious Jesus, my Lamb?
Why did you come, precious Jesus, my Lamb?
Just to be our example of glory to man?
My heart cries in sorrow-I can’t understand!
Oh, why did you come, precious Jesus, my Lamb?
He looked down and saw me, in sin standing there,
My heart fully broken and torn in despair.
From the cross then He whispered, “I came, don’t you see,
To give you Myself, and from sin set you free.”
“I am the Redeemer, God’s lamb, only Son,
(I’ve) come to redeem you in My cleansing blood.
By My death you have died to the power of sin:
By My life you may live, forever with Him.”
So look up and see Him, My Jesus, My lamb,
Who is coming again to complete God’s full plan.
Let not your heart sorrow, you need not despair:
He came to redeem you-precious Jesus, my lamb.
Thank you, Lord.

-Vera Glopen 1985

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