A Love That Will Never Forget

It had been three years since my sister Gina was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. Life became a series of highs and extreme lows—and now the doctors could do no more. They had exhausted all prescriptions and procedures.

The family had prayed and pleaded for a miracle.

Sadly, the end had come. As we spent the last few months together, it felt like there were still millions of words and bundles of love to share. Instead, we chose small sentences filled with meaning. Once, my sister looked at me and said, “This is it, huh, sis?” I whispered, “I think it is, sis.” She agreed and simply said, “OK, then.” We would yield to God that which we could not avoid nor change. A few days later, early one March morning, while her eight-year-old boy slept, I stood alone by my sister’s bed reciting Psalm 23, with one hand holding hers and the other hand on her chest. Her heart danced, and her breath waved for the last time.

The light in her eyes flickered and faded. My sister was gone.

A smile replaced her suffering, marking the hope of future joy when Christ returns.

The next several days, I soldiered through the packing, planning, and putting away that comes with loss. Then, all I had was sadness and despair.

I felt confused about my place in this world and my position in God’s Word. One day, alone in my grief, I screamed into the silence, “Now what?” As if in response, a still, small voice answered, “Neither death nor life can separate us from the love of God.” I desperately needed to know that God had not forgotten Gina. The truth of Romans 8:38, 39 hovered over me, gently guiding me to consider and accept that God still loved my sister! He would not forget her. In my distress, I found a God who loves beyond the grave, and my broken heart settled on the certainty of the resurrection. One day, Christ will come back, and the same love with which He rose to life will awaken my sister from death (see 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17).

My dear sisters, when we trust in God, death is not the end.

And no matter where we are—above or below the ground—He will never, ever forget us!

Rose Joseph Thomas