Thanks to all of you who left a comment to enter the iPad giveaway from Clover Sites.
Through the week 1,091 of you left comments about the way in which someone influenced your life for Christ.
First of all, this post may be the first in the history of the blogosphere to get 1,000+ edifying comments in a row!
Secondly, I’d encourage you peruse the comments sometime. They are incredibly encouraging to read. We all know that God uses means to bring the gospel and grace, but these comments are a great and humbling reminder that he uses everyday folks to show others the beauty and majesty of Christ Jesus. It was especially encouraging to see the number of spouses and parents mentioned.
Clover narrowed down the list to half a dozen entries, then selected one of those randomly.
The winner is Ellen Jervis.
Here was her comment:
The last few years of my husband’s life meant having a lot of folks in it trying to heal his body and keep it from dying. That last year has a lot of layers to it. Layers and layers of lessons from God but the watershed moment when I finally got what God wants from us is the same as what he wants for us.
My late husband endured lab tests and blood draws nearly every day for a year. After one ten-hour day in the hospital he looked over to me after the lab technician left and said, “You’re the only one who doesn’t hurt me when you touch me.” He had great doctors and nurses and he was grateful for every one of them but their care was not as important to him as mine was. I knew my being there with him was important but I didn’t realize the depth of it until that moment. I had not internalized the restoring comfort of the human touch when it comes from those who love you. And especially when it comes from the one who loves you the most.
However, realizing the power of the human touch was not the thing that floored me in that moment. What just sent tears running down my cheeks then, and as I write about it now, is my finally realizing that God in that moment had just stripped away my last few misconceptions about having any control over my life or my husband’s life. The only thing valuable about me was that I chose to be the most important human being in another person’s life. I could do that because God loved me first. Everything about who I was and why I was came into crystal-clear clarity when my husband told me I was the only one whose touch didn’t hurt him.
So it had been for the short eleven years we had together. We had five and a half years to teach each other how to love one another and then it got tested for the following five and one half years that only God could plan.
I believe God used my late husband to teach me how to be a caregiver and how to not question God’s ways and to believe our lives have a greater purpose then we can possibly imagine in the lives of others. We are to be here for one another and it is in this we begin to know him.
Six years after his death God gave me the opportunity to be the one in my family to take in and care for our aging mother. She will be ninety years old tomorrow. Before I met my husband I would have never seen myself as having the ability to be here care giver. She now lives with me in the small house I shared with my husband. And I might add that an iPad would be a wonderful thing for my mother who has never seen a computer let alone touched one. It would be such great fun showing her how to use an iPad.
in Christ—Ellen
They also picked a couple of folks to receive Clover T-shirts:
Mark W., who wrote:
My uncle Chuck is on my heart this week. He is an amazing man who has faithfully followed Jesus throughout a very difficult life. He was born with cancer in his eyes and lost his sight when he was only a few months old. Throughout his life he battled numerous types of cancer. He always kept a wonderful attitude and pointed others to Jesus. One of my very fond memories was seeing Chuck preach on occasion. He faithfully and joyfully preached the Word even though he was personally struggling through such difficulty. This week he passed away and I am encouraged by the thought of him being able to see again and walk with Jesus.
And Kyle Fox:
My Mother in law. You lost your husband 23 years ago, raised two daughters and now are raising a young orphan from Jamaica. This is a living sacrifice. You are amazing.
Thanks again to Clover for doing this!
