Received a message this morning from a cousin, informing the passing of her brother’s mother in law . The turn of phrase used, I found odd – ‘ promoted to Glory ‘ . That surely is a strange way to express someone has passed . I then gave it some thought and realised how apt it was . Are we not being promoted from our lowly station of life on earth to a glorious eternity?
Thinking about the life of my cousin who is most spiritual, I realised she would definitely portray death as a release from this carnal world to greater joy in eternity. From a very young age she seemed to have a closeness to Jesus that none of us ever had. I don’t know what her aspirations were but when we met during vacations she was always kind, helpful and maybe to some extent, a bit of a bore .
Being brilliant, she went on to do engineering at REC , far more academically accomplished than her more average cousins like us . On completing her course she came to Bangalore to work at BPL, an opening she got due to the effort of my parents. She of course, gave all glory only to God . Soon after, my uncle decided to get her married . Through their connections they found a groom, good match, an engineer, a priest’s son working in Muscat .
My cousin moved to Muscat after the marriage and I lost touch with her . Later a child was born and I heard the baby had problems, the child was mentally challenged . My cousin’s life changed drastically, she was fully occupied with nurturing her daughter whose needs were many. Special schooling, special activities, special attention, all of which she gave selflessly .
Then came the second child, a son who was born perfectly normal but they soon discovered he was autistic. She was again thrown into the vortex of a special needs child. Sometime during all of this it was learnt that her husband’s family had a genetic disorder of children born with deficiencies, which the priest did not reveal . My cousin now had two children, demanding her time and full devotion . Never once did I hear her complain, instead in all our troubles she was most supportive and encouraging.
During all of this she never once turned away from God her Saviour. There was no bitterness, no resentment against family, no depression. She accepted her life as it were because she believed it was God’s will and she surrendered her circumstances to Him totally. Her faith has only grown and she is a testament of total acceptance of what life has thrown at her, for she believes nothing can go wrong unless it is allowed by God, and if it is allowed by Him, He surely has a reason for it .
The children are now grown , the daughter in some kind of home during the week for vocational training / work, the son is almost independent and employed. She doesn’t worry about what will become of them, especially after her time, for she knows God’s plans for them are far greater than what she can ever imagine or hope for . And if she doesn’t see His goodness in this world, she is willing to wait to see it in the next .
Mary Jacob 