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Date: September 19, 2009

Books & DVDs Kingdom Chums by SQuire Rushnell Read Our Letter To Parents When God Winks on New Beginnings by SQuire Rushnell When God Winks by SQuire Rushnell When God Winks on Love by SQuire Rushnell When God Winks on You by SQuire Rushnell

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