Life as a Suzal

When I lived in a tiny town in Kentucky, one of the things I specifically remember was my first day going to public high school. I was a sophmore, and I was the new girl. Some of the student’s grandparent’s had gone to school together, and so I was perpetually “the new girl” through my senior year. It was hard, but there were a few kind people who opened up to me and made me feel less like an outsider. One of them was my dear friend Megan.

I remember her from my first day of school: her pink striped shirt, bright smile and blonde hair; the prettiest girl in class. She was cute, energetic, and made me laugh. She was popular and had many boys at her disposal, so it seemed. We cheered together, planned proms together, and giggled late at night. I remember when we graduated wondering what she would end up doing in life. Would she marry young? Would she be a nurse? Teach first graders?

I remember getting the call on Valentine’s Day of last year, that the doctors had found a tumor in Megan’s brain. There was nothing they could do. Less than a week later she was gone. It all happened so fast. One week everything was ok, the next week she had passed away. It’s been a year, and yet it is still so hard for me to imagine her gone. I write this with tears in my eyes, thinking it is so much easier to imagine her at college  somewhere, or having just started a job. But I know that’s not the case.

We’ve all lost loved ones. I think the hardest thing about me losing Megan was that I was so far from it all, that she was so young and it was so unexpected. A verse that helped me during that time was Nahum 1:7 “The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.” Losing her also convicted me of a lack of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. I had only had a few conversations with Megan in high school about Jesus Christ, but oh if I had been there that week and known it was our last conversation! Death moves us to think of greater things than what we want to do, where we want to go, what we want to own. The reality is that death is close to us all, young or old.

If you are thinking of your own soul, and do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, may I urge you to look at John 3:16-21 & Ephesians 2:1-10?

“The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” ~Ps. 145:18

To Megan’s family, my heart goes out to you, and I am constantly in prayer for you. I am so thankful the Lord let me be a part of Megan’s life, she was a joy to me, and my dear friend.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at 5:04 pm and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.