Today is Wednesday, June 17th, 2009; Karen's Korner #1593

Today is my sister, Amy's birthday. She is the middle sister of the five of us girls. Along with being her birthday, it is also the day that Ed and Merry were married in 1995. At their wedding, more than once Amy would say, "Thanks so much for coming to my birthday party!"
 
So in an anniversary honor, here is #3 in a series of Merry's memories at the time of her death. In case, you wrongly believe that this is so sad to remember; instead it is a time for me to recall 'God experieces' surrounding that time.
 
One of the reasons I started Karen's Korners:  so I never forgot......always remembered:
 
Karen's Korner #30

 

".....when Merry died..." (third in a series)

 

Merry's car accident was on Wednesday. The visitation at the funeral home was Sunday night. The funeral was on Monday morning.

 

Even though this was the most terrible thing I had ever experienced in my 50-plus years, I had chosen not to turn my back on God. I knew that this was going to be an impossibility for me to handle and I knew that I was going to get through it only with "extra special" help. I had two choices: to be mad at Him, which would result in my turning my back on Light, which meant I would walk in darkness; or I could walk toward Him and His Love, which would result in illumination of my future path.

 

I told God I couldn't possibly make it without His Help. It was going to be too difficult.

 

I learned that if a person makes that kind of choice in the darkest of hours, God will speak within our thoughts, emotions, and spirits.

 

I can recall two thoughts which were too outstanding to be my own.

 

The first one was at the funeral home. Because of Merry's young age (26), her activity level and involvement in the lives of lots of people in several communities, and Clarion being our hometown for more years than the Welds can count, people came to the visitation for hours. Merry's husband, Ed, had let us know that he wanted to be last person to leave the funeral home. We wanted to honor and respect that request.

 

As I was leaving the funeral home, I reached out to touch the knob of the back door and this is the thought that God gave me: "You raised Merry, you educated her, you loved her, and you returned her to Me, what more could any mother want!"

 

The second thought, both of which I term profound in the midst of loss and grief, was as we were leaving the funeral services. The Weld family attended, and were all members of, the Methodist Church in Clarion for the growing up years of both Jamie and Merry. Jim and I began attending the Church of Christ, near the time of Merry's high school graduation. The funeral would have been at the Church of Christ, but there was a street replacement project on the north side of the church. Not nearly enough places for people to park.

 

The decision was made for the funeral services to be at the Methodist Church. More parking. Bigger sanctuary. Even though Ed and Merry were active in the church near Amana, Merry was still a member of the Clarion Methodist Church.

 

As we were dismissed to leave the church, the Eastern Iowa Brass Band was playing a final hymn. One of the band members was also a pallbearer, so we stood at the back of the church and waited for Steve to come down from the balcony where the band was playing.

 

Standing there, the Thought came, "When you and Jim carried Merry into this church for the first time, she wasn't perfect. (She was born with a birth defect and had already had shunt surgery by the time she was six weeks old.) And now her friends are carrying her out of the church. For the first time in her existence, she is perfect!"

 

And I knew that Merry was loved and cared for, because I was!

 

........and we drove to the cemetery.....


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