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EN(dur)ANCE by Robin Gudal

“When our hope is secure in Jesus, we can give thanks in any season.” — Ruth Chou Simons

Recently I attended the funerals of two pillars of faith in my life.

First was a gentleman, Paul, who was one of the founding board members of Youth For Christ and a friend of Greggy and mine.

He was a prayer warrior, a soft-spoken, small-framed man who displayed generous love, wisdom and kindness. I interviewed him on his 95th birthday at Wilderness Prayer Center regarding his testimony.

In that conversation I asked, “How many in your family are in ministry as a result of your surrender to Jesus?” I remember as he counted on one hand, he had to use it at least three times over.

His memorial ended with “It Is Well With My Soul.”

As I looked around the room I knew this was a holy moment. It felt like a heavenly chorus. It also challenged me.

After a horrific accident that only she survived, Horatio Gates Spafford’s wife, Anna, said, “God gave me four daughters. Now they have been taken from me. Someday I will understand why.”

Horatio then penned the comforting words of this hymn:

“When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say, ‘It is well, it is well with my soul.’”

My second funeral was for Maxine. Her husband was also a founding board member of YFC.

As a young momma and new in ministry she was our neighbor. As the years went along —mainly the last seven — we would receive lovely, kind and timely notes of encouragement. These notes literally felt like a love letter from Jesus in her own penned writing.

I didn’t know her extremely well but felt a connection and knew she covered us in prayer and love.

“There are blessings in grief, as it makes us tender.” — Lysa Terkeurst

Have you ever seen a lonely green tree growing in a desert area, sticking out of a rock, and wondered how it can survive? In the movie “Average Joe,” it’s explained:

“It gets just enough water, so it won’t dry up, and wind is sent to help it bend.”

My New Year’s prayer is that we grow and learn to bend just a bit better this year in a Paul and Maxine kind of way: with kindness, love, empathy and a deep well of strength that can only come from the life-giving source — Jesus!

At both funerals the assurance was communicated: I’m spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year.

“But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” — John 4:14, King James Version

Robin (Beckman) Gudal is intentional in life, a wife, momma, nana, friend and a flawed and imperfect follower of Jesus.