The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

2 Timothy 4:6b-8, “…the time of my departure has come.

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;

8 in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

Much like the Apostle Paul, Rose Marie knew that her time on Earth was short. One day in the ICU at Regional, she said to me, “We may not get out of this,” meaning she might not survive. I tried to talk her down on that issue, but she knew her time was shortening.

When the LORD’s time came to call her Home, He let her know. She had a B-Pac on to force oxygen into her nose and lungs, and she said to Teri, “Call Alicia and have her come.” Alicia one of our closest friends. She arrived at the hospital in a matter of minutes. Rose Marie then wrote what she desired: “Circle of Life Hospice.” She wanted to go there.

She was at Circle of Life for less than a week, when she yielded to the LORD’s beckoning to leave this Earth for a Heavenly home. She was surrounded by family when she breathed her last. It was exactly what she wanted because she obeyed the LORD to the letter. It was His will and she was compliant.

She had ‘fought the good fight.” Saved at age 16 (the first in her family), she was instrumental in leading her sister, Lou, and her mother, Gladys, to faith in Christ. I have always believed that the LORD answered her prayer for her father’s salvation. Whether that is true is something that she alone now knows.

Her departure from this Earth was indeed the LORD’s timing. She had indeed “fought the good fight”; and her “course” had been faithfully run. She had “kept the faith.” That which our LORD had for her to do was finished. It was time for her to rest, and now she is at rest.

My sweet and lovely wife was a beautiful lady inside and out. Her love for the LORD allowed her to love me and me to love her. She was possessed of a delightful humor that was sometimes revealed through a mischievous wink. We lived a happy and joyous life together for 64 years! In a similar manner, what was said of President Lincoln, can now be said of her: “Now she belongs to the ages.”

Dado III

( Gene )

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

Springdale, Arkansas 72764

United States of America

“We never know that God is all we need

until He becomes all that we have.”