My grandma Velma's letter on Death... brings a warm comfort somehow.

When you are older and have lost someone, you don't have to ask why.  You find yourself praying not so much for them as for yourself because it seems the only way to make contact, and gradually the tone of the prayer changes, at least it did for me.  I found it became less a cry of desperate longing than a prayer of loving release.  A message of blessing, a time to remember those I loved and to rejoice that they were safely in God's gardens.

You get used to anything, even personal loss, and you get used to the more and more frequent departures.  This relative, that relative, a close friend, another friend, a neighbor, a beloved teacher, your boss, ... You even get used to receiving that first shock, No! I can't believe it, ... not him! There seems no rhyme or reason so often, no special order, only that there are always more and more. Until after awhile it dawns on you how many there are. It must be getting crowded in heaven!  When you try to remember them in prayer, you have to call the roll but there is something actually joyful in the thought... they are not alone up there. They have "The blessed company of heaven." And quietly, steadily, all unseen, this procession of departures has been leading you closer to God.  At least so it was with me.  With everyone who leaves, I am being drawn, without knowing it, just a little nearer to the original source who designed their destination and my own.

For as surely as He sent me to this earth, He has given me a return ticket.  I know that one day I too, will be in that same procession.  I will join them, ... and the mere fact that I call their names in prayer, lifting them up, asking for them, peace and joy and all God's blessings, confirms the fact that they are there.  As I too, will one day be there.

Lord, dear Lord, I will hold fast to you and remember, you did not take lives but you received them.  How gently and how generously you received them. You did not will their going, but you accepted their return.

Written by Velma D. Clark at an older age.

My grandma was very close to the Lord. She was faithful to His ways and His words.  She suffered many great losses at this point in her life when she wrote this, but she always remained faithful to the Lord.

My mother gave me this letter recently, she knew I would find comfort in reading it. I typed this out from my grandma's hand written letter, on a double sided piece of paper.  I decided, others might enjoy it as well, so I'd share it with you.  I miss her, but I too know where she resides, and I believe it is in the house of the Lord. I give glory to Him and I too hope one day to reside there.

S.