Prayer of invocation
Father we ask you to send your Holy Spirit to come and fill this place with
the awareness of your presence.

We have come to celebrate God’s deep love for us, Lynne’s resurrection, and
her new life in heaven.

Two years before Lynne's cancer was initially diagnosed we knew that
She had a seriously deteriorated heart condition that couldn’t be repaired
surgically. The massive surgery that would only give her a hope of recovery
from the cancer was just not possible.

Surprising to me was the fact that I had no inclination to pray for healing.
As I meditated on this the Lord gave me a scripture reference. He often
will give me chapter and verse reference so that when I look it up I will
understand what it is that He wants me to know.  This time the reference
was Isaiah 57:1  which reads in part:
"none considering that the righteous  is taken away from the evil to come."
The NIV version says :
"no-one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from
evil"

Because I was so emotionally close to the situation I asked a few
trustworthy intercessors to confirm that I had heard the Lord's heart correctly. 

Their response was a very positive “yes, and we will begin praying that way”.

Initially the cancer was nothing but an inconvenience but as it progressed
and became much more painful.  I started asking the Lord when would
Lynne be taken away from the evil to come?  

 

His answer was "after the tulips bloom''

We had a lot of tulips in the flower beds, some in bloom and more yet to
come. The tulips flowered and died and yet there was no deliverance,  Lynne's
roses one pink and one red bloomed and died but still no deliverance, Ok Lord what
didn't I understand correctly. What was significant about tulips.  A search
on the internet yielded this legend from Turkey.

  “The Tale of the Tulip.”
A famous legend from Turkish lore tells of a handsome prince
named  Farhad who was stricken with love for the fair maid, Shirin.
One day he heard that she had been killed, and in his grief, mounted
his favourite horse and galloped over a cliff to his death. It is said that
from each droplet of his blood, a scarlet tulip sprang up, making the
tulip an historic symbol of perfect love.

I understood then that He was telling me that He had a perfect love for
Lynne and it would be all OK.

The roses came back into bloom a second time with as many or more blooms
than the first time.

During this time He began to show me what was the significance and His
purpose for Lynne's life.  Our lives here on this earth are training for ruling and
reigning in His Kingdom, we aren't going to sit around on clouds strumming
harps. Whatever your life experience has been it was only training for what
is to come in His kingdom.

Lynne absolutely loved being a mother, First to our own 3 boys, but then to
so many others.

In Wabowden it was sisters  Karen and Sheena, in Thompson it was a brother
and sister who lived down the hall of our apartment building, in Gillam it
was Geoffry and Roland, in Headingly it was 2 Sturko boys who lived down the
street, Later in Headingley it was Jenny, Michael and their older sister
Melanie, then Kristal who came to us as a baby and left when she was school
age. We moved into Winnipeg on Ness Ave.  When Cindy Henry had an unexpected
surprise, Julie-Anne, who could she get for a babysitter.
Lynne came highly recommended by her sister Kathy, Kristal's mother.
Julie-Anne came to us when she was 7 months and was with us until she
started school.
While Julie-Anne was with us the ladies at the Alliance church in Headingley
were looking for a reliable babysitter for their children. On Thursday
mornings they had a mom’s morning out”  Lynne came highly recommended by one
of the ladies from her Headingley bible study group. Lynne became surrogate
mom to dozens more. She alternated between the babies and toddlers and the
preschool class.  Just how well liked she was played out one day when Lynne
was getting one of the toddlers ready for his mom to pick up.  The nursery
door was open in expectation that the moms were coming to pick up their
kids.  A little girl from the preschool class stopped outside the door and
pointing to Lynne said to her mother, "I like that gramma"

Lynne knew every one of those kids by name, their mothers by name and what
they liked and didn't like.

She loved to tell stories about her kids and their adventures.  She was
remembering and re-telling those stories even up until last week.  She made
sure that those mom's heard about each day’s activities so they didn't feel
left out of their kid’s child hood. She kept a few secrets too.  Secrets:
like first words and first steps so that moms would think that they got to
hear or see them first.

We have a few extra words in our vocabulary that kids taught us like:
"gooder and gooder"   “Keeter colour” and we still have a "checking for bugs
flashlight"

All of this training as a mother will not go to waste. Lynne has a place to
serve the Father and Jesus.
She will be mothering babies that come to heaven too soon. Babies that are
stillborn, miscarried, or even aborted, need to be mothered. They need to be held and
loved until they can grow into young children and be trained by the angels
and even Jesus Himself.

How do I know that this happens in heaven?
The Holy Spirit has directed my reading these last few months to books like:

“Scenes beyond the grave" by Marietta Davis first published in 1856
"Within the Gates" by Rebecca Springer first published in 1898
“My Time in Heaven” by Richard Sigmund published in the 1970s
"Heaven is for real" by Todd Burpo published in 2010 the story of a 6 year
old who died and went to heaven
"Visions of Heaven" by Wendy Alec published in 2013

The Holy Spirit used these books, His Bible, and other sources to build a
faith filled picture of Lynne’s life in heaven.  She will be doing what she
loves the most, being a Mother.

 

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Alan’s memories of his mother

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”You are loved, God values you and your life, and He has a good future
planned for you. Join with me in expressing your confidence in His love by singing
Jesus Loves Me”

The next musical selection will seem more appropriate at a wedding than at a
funeral.

While I was courting Lynne and just before we were engaged or soon after I
wanted to tell her that I loved her, but  I grew up in a family where

“I love you” was never spoken, understood, but never spoken.
Valentine’s day was coming up so I went to a record store in Polo Park
shopping center and ordered a 45 rpm single of Petula Clark’s  “My Love”.

I wrote ahead of the title To:    and signed it Ralph, and mailed it to
Lynne at the nurse’s residence in Minnedosa just in time to arrive before
Valentine’s day.
Her friend Gail told me that she nearly wore it out by playing it so often,

You can sing along, the words are written in your bulletin.

Petula Clark’s “My Love”