Friday, December 21, 2007

Sitting on Jesus' lap

Many of you that frequent one of the boards I frequent have read about little Ellie Skees in the prayer request section. I started following her blog nearly 1 year ago. At that time, she was fairly newly diagnosed with neuroblastoma. A very aggressive, painful cancer.

I have never met Ellie in person. I have never met any of her family in person. Even so, I feel a connection to them. Maybe it is because I am a mother and have come close a couple of times to losing my own daughter, Bug. Maybe it is a spiritual connection. I don't really know, but I do know that I feel some connection. Her mother so beautifully documented this little girls journey for the past year. It is evident to me that she and her family love Jesus. It is evident to me that Jesus carried them when they couldn't carry themselves. It is evident to me that God took good care of this family, even though, from an outside perspective, the death of their 9 year old daughter doesn't feel like they were well taken care of.

Every day I would read their blog and cry. Sometimes tears of sadness, sometimes tears of joy. When I read that she finally danced her way into Heaven, I had both kind of tears. She will never suffer from pain again. She will never have to have chemo, needles, doctors poking and proding or anything else that goes along with cancer. On the sad side of that coin, her parents will never have Ellie to hug, to talk to, to laugh with, to eat dinner with and so much more.

I am certain that Ellie's mom will never read my blog. She has way too much stuff going on in her life right now to bother. She has no idea who I am or that my blog even exists. However, if I could talk to her, I would say thank you. Thank you for being so real, so raw in sharing this long journey with us. Thank you for allowing me the honor of praying for your family. Thank you for reminding me how special our children are in such a special, unique way. Thank you for being honest with us. Thank you for being patient with us. Thank you for loving Ellie so much that you released her into the arms of our loving Jesus. I am certain Ellie thanks you too.

If you are up to it, read her blog....go back and read. I guarantee you will cry. But, it is a life changing blog. Seriously, life changing! I will forever be a better person for having "known" Ellie through this blog. If you are not up for the read, please PRAY FOR THIS FAMILY. Ellie has a 5 year old brother and trying to help him understand this is going to be a huge challenge, but God is up to the task.

2 comments:

Jake and Emily said...

Wow...Ellie's mom has such amazing faith. Thanks for sharing this - I had tears reading her last blog...but I think I'll take the time to read the previous posts, too.

LL said...

I have only been able to make it through a couple of the posts. tears and heartwrenching sobs! Her mom has amzing faith. I will also try and finsih later. I can just picute Ellie running to Jesus and climbing onto his lap.