To View the Video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vq9jK3IF0i0
SHOW NOTES
Welcome to episode 122 of the Hope Rescue Podcast. If this is your first time here, hello! We are so glad you’ve found our little corner of the web. We are in a short series right now on the topic of grief. If you don’t want to miss the rest of the series, make sure to go begin in episode 119 so you know why we’re discussing grief in the first place. This week, we have a very special episode because Kimberly’s mother Sharon is joining us to discuss grief from her perspective after recently losing her husband to COVID. Keep reading to find out more.
Sharon met her husband Paul when she was only 16 years old. A month after her eighteenth birthday they tied the knot, and she moved from her home country, Canada, to the West Coast of the United States to be with her new husband. Sharon and Paul were both children of pastors, and after they were married Sharon jumped into her role as a pastor’s wife. As missionaries, Sharon and Paul traveled the world, spreading the Gospel and planting churches. Sharon explains that she visited fifty countries, and Paul had traveled to even more than that. Although Paul passed away a few weeks ago now, Paul and Sharon’s fifty-eighth anniversary would have been at the end of August. After almost fifty-eight years of marriage, Sharon moved fifty-eight times. She explains that at the beginning of their ministry careers, they would flip houses to make extra money. Sharon’s most recent move was her fifty-ninth move, and that was to live with Tim and Kimberly after Paul passed.
Although Sharon is now going through the grief of losing her husband, she explains that God had been preparing her to deal with her husband’s mortality for years. When Paul was in his thirties and his family was living in the Philippines as missionaries, he was taken hostage by prisoners on death row, tied up with ropes, and stabbed. This story is the first of many that Sharon recalls where Paul was near death but survived.
Paul had a passion to reach pastors and church leaders around the world who didn’t have access or the means to attend seminary or receive a formal education. He desired to teach them and provide resources and materials to help them grow as leaders in the church, all to spread the gospel even farther.
Kimberly says that since her father passed away, her mother has shown incredible joy and peace that passes all understanding. Sharon says that she didn't expect to grieve in this way, and it has truly been a miracle for her to experience. She explains that she has walked with the Lord long enough to know that He is able to come and surround them and lift their hearts and spirits during times of loss. She explains that one thing that brought her so much comfort was the fact that Paul passed away on his 77th birthday. In scripture, the number 7 represents completeness.
In Luke 1:28, the angel Gabriel says to Mary, "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” The greek word for “favored one” is “kecharitomene” which is formed from the root word "charitoo.” A more accurate translation is “pre-graced” or “has already been graced.” The same word is used in Ephesians 1:3-6 which says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” We are not just accepted in the Beloved, but we are more precisely highly favored in the Beloved, Jesus Christ. When we walk with Christ, He pre-graces us to walk the miles ahead, even if they are difficult.
Sharon closes by sharing that happiness depends upon our circumstances in life, but joy is a gift from the Holy Spirit regardless of our circumstances. When we are grieving as believers, we can be sad and cry tears, and still have joy. Proverbs 17:22 says, "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”
At the end of the podcast, Sharon prays for anyone who is currently going through a loss. If you want to hear her prayer, make sure to tune in to the video at 23:28 to hear and receive that prayer. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to us at info@hoperescue.org or you can message us through social media.
QUOTES
“Happiness depends upon our circumstances in life, but joy is a gift from the Holy Spirit regardless of our circumstances.” -Sharon
REFERENCED SCRIPTURE
Luke 1:28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”
Ephesians 1:3-6 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”
Proverbs 17:22 "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”
