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 When God Winks :: Wink of the Week :: Blue Roses (09.19.2009)
Blue Roses (09.19.2009)
Date: September 19, 2009
My sister was killed by a drunk driver in 1984 when I was 14. The night before she died, we'd had a terrible argument. She and I were constantly fighting mostly because I had taken over the parental role as "Dad" in our dysfunctional family. My sister had grown more and more rebellious due to absent parents and a subsequent marriage split. I have been a devoted Christian since the age of 16 and my sister was the only member of the family that I talked to openly about my faith. Knowing that our last interaction before she died was so negative left me heart-broken and resentful. The day my sister died, I wept uncontrollably and kept asking God why He had let this happen. More that anything I needed to know that my sister was with Him so that I could have peace in my heart - not just concerning her but also concerning the anger I had displayed towards her just before she died. My sister's favorite colour was light blue. So I asked God to please give me a sign using her favorite colour. The night she died, I was standing outside of my favorite aunt's house and suddenly up in the night sky there appeared a beautiful, dancing blue ribbon of colour...the Aurora Borealis... which I had never seen before in my entire life. My aunt and I stood there in amazement and just wept at the sight of such a glorious confirmation from God. As we were preparing for her funeral, a next door neighbour came to our home and with tears streaming down her face, she handed my mother a beautiful light-blue dress and asked if we could use it for my sister. It was another confirmation from the Lord. A day or so after the funeral a friend and I were chatting and she said to me, "Gerry, I've heard that if you receive a rose after someone's death, that means that they are in heaven". Such superstitious beliefs don't sit well with me so I just smiled and said, "That's interesting" and disregarded the comment. A few days later I was cleaning out my sister's room and found a small New Testament that I had been given in 5th grade. Inside I had filled out a personal commitment to the Lord by placing my name and the date at the back of the bible. I flipped it open and to my surprise (and joy) my sister had scratched out my name and put hers with her date of commitment in place of mine. I sat on the floor and laughed and cried at the same time. Within moments my mother walked through the door and handed me a small vase with a silk light blue rose in it....I just lost it. She told me that this was all that remained from the funeral and when she realized that I had not gotten anything to remember my sister by, she hid it away so that she could give it to give to me later. That light-blue rose remained with me for many, many years and whenever people would ask what it was for, I would tell them the story. God never ceases to amaze me.....especially in the way He speaks to His children. Gerry |
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