February 26, 1986. Today is Christy’s 37th heavenly birthday. Early on the morning of February 26, 1986, our baby daughter, Christy Therese, left us to be with Jesus. She was with us for only two months and nineteen days. I don’t really know the exact moment she entered heaven, I just remember that on that early morning, before the dawn, her breathing began to slow down. Her heart rate lessened, and we were scared. We called our neighbors to come quickly and stay with our other three children who were still sound asleep. We wrapped Christy in her warm blankets and headed to the hospital driving as quickly as we could. It was still completely dark outside. As Joe drove, he coached me as I performed CPR on our little girl, the way that were taught before bringing her home from the hospital a few days earlier. I did my best, trying to make sure my fingers were correctly placed on her chest, holding her body in the proper position, and hoping I was doing it effectively. It was so dark that it was difficult to see what I was doing. When we pulled up to the hospital, Joe put the car in park and ran in as the ER doors slid open in front of him, calling out to the hospital staff that our baby was not breathing. I continued doing CPR in the car, not sure what I was supposed to do. The nurses were there within seconds, grabbing her from my arms and whisking her away. We were ushered to a private room to wait while the doctors and nurses worked hard to revive our baby. However, as hard as they tried, they could not get her heart beating again on its own. Her heart had stopped somewhere between home and the hospital. With CPR and the efforts of the wonderful doctors and nurses, she remained pink as long as efforts were continued. But somewhere during the time her heart first stopped, and resuscitation efforts ceased, Christy flew away into the arms of Jesus.
The doctor brought us the news while assuring us that we did the CPR correctly. The nurses then led us to the room so that we could see her one last time. We held her little limp body close and tearfully said our goodbyes. We knew that this was not a final goodbye. This separation from our baby girl was only temporary!
We are as certain of this truth today as we were that cold February morning. We will be reunited one day. We will see our precious Christy again. At the time, eternity seemed forever away. Thirty-seven years later, it doesn’t seem so long anymore.
February 26, 2023. God healed our hearts and blessed us abundantly with five healthy children, all grown and married now. God has blessed us even more with nine beautiful, healthy grandchildren. One of these grandchildren is Carys, our only granddaughter. Her name means “grace”. And that is exactly what she is. She is a reminder of God’s grace, along with her three brothers and five boy cousins.
We rejoice in today and the blessings of our family in this life. We seek to make the most of every moment, to enjoy each opportunity to spend time with our grandchildren. We are grateful for every visit and every time to cheer them on at their basketball games or football games, to celebrate birthdays, to play board games together, take a walk, go out for ice cream, make cookies, or watch a movie.
When we get to do life together, we pray that they see Jesus in us. We tell them stories of God’s grace in our lives, we tell them the story of Christy’s life. We tell them that their heavenly Father loves them more than they can ever imagine. We tell them about Jesus and pray that they will accept His gift of salvation, that they will know and love Him and walk with Him all the days of their lives. That they will be confident of their eternal future through faith in the Lord Jesus.
Future February 26 and Forever. Whatever the future holds in this life, we have this secure hope for an eternal future with Jesus. One day we will be reunited with our daughter and all our loved ones who have gone before us in Jesus. We know this because God has promised. We trust Him because He is faithful and true. He promises to always be with us, keeping what we have committed to Him until that day when He returns or takes us to be with Him. I don’t know how many more heavenly birthdays Christy will have until we see her, but until then we commit her to Jesus’ loving care, knowing that one day we will celebrate eternity together.