Farewell to Joanne

Yesterday I went to the funeral of a friend from church that I’ve known for almost 25 years.
When I first moved to the US and I attended my first funeral I was shocked, to say the least, as I came from a culture that viewed wakes and funerals as a somber moment, and here I was at a celebration. I am not saying that there isn’t any pain, because that would not be truthful, honest. There is always the feeling of final farewell, but this was a joyful “adios”.
Coming back to my friend, the thing that everybody who gave a testimony about her agreed on was the fact that the thing that you would always get from her and from her husband was love. The love that God through his son Jesus Christ had shared with them. Even in the midst of a painful illness there was still joy.
Many years ago a friend told me that joy stands for “Jesus, others, and last yourself”. And that in a nutshell is what Joanne and David have shared with us, the whole idea of putting others first. We can go down the list of things that they have done, but probably the one that illustrates it better is the Homeless Sheltering. They gave shelter to homeless men on Saturday nights for 20 years.
And yes, yesterday was a celebration, to her life, to her love, to her faithfulness, cut short because of the illness that afflicted her for over a year. And in the midst of everything God always reveals himself, he is always present.
Now she is at peace.
Farewell my friend.
God bless you, Joanne.
The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.