"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." ~Psalm 116:15

That passage of Scripture has been going through my head a lot the past few days.  It first came to mind yesterday when I received an email that said that doctors had exhausted all resources, and my friend would soon die.  It again came to mind later that morning as I stood with members of her physical and spiritual families in her hospital room, and joined with them in singing hymns to her.  She knew what was happening, and although she could not speak, she smiled.  And again, that verse from Psalm 116 crossed my mind once more when I received word a few hours later that she had passed from this life.  Precious, indeed.

I never called her anything except Sister Glover, but she emailed me frequently, and would always end her emails with "Love, Mrs. G."  I first met her in the Spring of 1984 when I traveled to Florida College on my high school spring break to visit my friend who was a student there.  My friend had failed to tell her I was coming, and Sister Glover gave me a stern once over, but graciously allowed me to stay with my friend in her dorm room for the week - Sister Glover was the dorm mother there, and was greatly loved by "her girls".

Years later, when we moved to the Tyler area, I again encountered Sister Glover.  She was now living in Tyler, and was a member of the Rice Road church, where we placed our membership.  She quickly endeared herself to our family.  I never saw Sister Glover without a smile on her face.  She always seemed genuinely glad to see me, and would always hold my hand as we visited - always.

Sister Glover was a "there you are" type of person - always interested in YOU, and what was going on in your life.  She loved my children, and had a "tea party" for the preteen girls one time that my girls greatly enjoyed.  She would also write and mail them letters once every few weeks, which she titled "letters from Grandmother."  They were words of wisdom, exhorting and encouraging my daughters to follow after God in their youth.  It touched me that she would take the time to do that, and it also impressed me that she sent those letters to my girls individually - - so often they would get lumped together as one entity called "the twins," but Sister Glover never did that.  She was also quite fond of Caleb, and would often make me laugh in recent years as she would tell me she saw this or that which Caleb had posted on Facebook - she would usually say something like, "I saw Caleb's post - but, honey, I just didn't understand it!"  Smiling all the while.

Her life was not easy.  She shared with me some difficult trials she faced as a young girl - things which would have caused many young women to give up.  But not Sister Glover.  During her middle-aged years, she suffered the tragic loss of her husband and one of her sons in a car accident, in which she was severely injured - an injury that affected her for the rest of her life.  But, again, she worked through her loss, and found ways to lovingly serve and give to others, with a heart full of joy.

Personally, Sister Glover encouraged me as a wife and mother to stay devoted to those tasks.  She encouraged me to take an active role in teaching the younger women, and she would tell me, "Honey, you can relate better to them than I can, because you are closer to their age."  Every year on my birthday, she would tell me that her mother had also been born on that day, and that made my birthday even more special, she would say.

I was special to Sister Glover.  She told me so often.  I can still see and hear her, as she would hold my hand and in her smiling, sweet, quiet demeanor say, "You're special to me, and I love you!"  But, I'm not the only one.  You see, Sister Glover had the unique ability to make everyone she encountered feel loved and special.  She even created a Facebook group called "Special" - I looked at it earlier today, and she had added 70 people to that group.  People were special to her, especially God's people.

The last conversation I had with her was about this blog.  Last week she came to me and said, "Honey, I didn't know you had a blog until just the other day!  Why didn't you tell me?"  And then she went on to ask me why I didn't write more often, and said she would be waiting for my next entry.  She didn't know (nor did I) that I would feel compelled to write about her in that entry, and she certainly didn't know she wouldn't be here to read it.  But, that's ok, because she's in a much better place right now.

I'm convinced that yesterday afternoon, the angels carried the precious soul of Chris Glover to Abraham's bosom as they did the beggar in Luke 16.  Sister Glover embodied the life of a woman wholly dedicated to serving God.  As I think of her, I think of such passages as Proverbs 31:30 - "Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised."  I also think of Titus 2:3-5, which states, "the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things—  that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,  to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed."  Sister Glover was that, and did that.  And I also think of Acts 9:36-43, where the disciples were grieving the death of Dorcas who "was always doing good, and helping the poor."  We, too, grieve for ourselves, who will miss our dear, sweet, sister in Christ.  Our "Dorcas," who never quit loving, serving, and doing good.

But thankfully, because of God's grace, we won't have to miss her forever.  "But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus"  (1 Thess. 4:13-14).  I'll see her again.  And it makes me smile to think she'll greet me again one day with that sweet smile, as she takes my hand, and says, "Oh, honey, it's so good to see you here!"