First, thank you to all who have prayed, who have sent cards, who have called, who have given gifts, including that of time.
Thank you to those who came and stood in line to honor the memory of Donna and show your support. Thank you to those who attended the memorial (funeral) service honoring her life and legacy.
The service was a wonderful time of inspiration and encouragement to me and a time of worship for all who could sense the hand of God at work.
First was the processional "The Strife Is O'er" played gloriously on the organ.
Then there were the hymns "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" and "My Savior First of All" sung by the congregation.
Dr. Jim Nelson, pastor of the First Baptist Church, Toccoa, Georgia comforted us with scripture upon scripture and a time of prayer. Later in the service, his message was one of hope and blessing. (Thank you Jim!)
We were honored to have some of the men of the Sons of Jubal (the Georgia Baptist Convention Men's Chorus) who gave up their Saturday afternoon to drive all the way to Toccoa to sing two of Donna's favorite songs from their repertoire, "Because of Love" and "Untitled Hymn."
After Jim's message, there was only one soloist who could sing at Donna's service. Thank you to my brother-in-law, Kenny, for working so hard to get her solo, "Amazing Grace" from a concert we did a few years ago onto a CD so that she could sing and close the service. It was amazing in itself when everyone in the congregation stood and joined their voices with hers to sing "When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing His praise than when we first begun."
After such an amazing service, we were escorted out to the majestic greatness of "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" once again played on the marvelous pipe organ at First Baptist.
Blessing and honor and glory to Him Who sits on the throne and unto the Lamb. 25 years of marriage cut so short by Donna's untimely death, yet God still shows Himself faithful.
On my other blog,
Richard's Ramblings, I just described my sense of being lonely. However, I am not alone.
Praise be to God for His unspeakable gift!
Richard Dickson
