man, this is tough...
Sarah was a classmate of mine from Alamo Heights. She was a year younger than me but one year we played on the same basketball team. I didn't know her all that well, she had a sister, a year older than me that i knew just about as well as i knew Sarah.
anyways, the interesting part is that while in Houston about a year ago, my mom and i were sitting out front of Domy Books and she and her fiance walked up. i recognized her and we chatted for a bit and caught up a little bit. it seemed like we had a lot in common, as far as our Christian Faith and some interest in Africa, so we enjoyed talking about that. After parting ways, i remember having a good feeling in my heart about running into her just then, you know how that feels. I think that we went to Houston back in April 2010 and looking back at sarah's posts on her blog, she started posting in March for events that began taking place the past September.
i also remember being in Eat, Pray, Love with Matt, which i guess would have been in August, and my mom and friend Jana were calling me to tell me that Sarah Chidgey had cancer...
so this is when i found out about her blog and started keeping up with it.
Sarah passed away Feb 16th, just 6 months after doctors found spots in her lungs. she had a mass in her arm which was taken out earlier that year and followed up on (just like Kate, matt's mother, did too. then when kate went in for a seperate reason, they also found spots in her lungs. kate also only lived for 6 months after they found this...)
similar stories, both at M D Anderson, down in Houston.
it's so sad. cancer has its way.
i know so many will miss sarah. she is one of the strongest, spiritually, i have seen in a long time! she was such a bright shining light for so many that followed her blog or knew her, during this past year, and before, i am sure. she was engaged and before she got too sick, she and her significant other got married, very last minute. i am sure that made sarah SO happy. what an awesome couple!
i am glad i ran into her in Houston at that book store. i can't believe she is gone, but it just goes to show how we are all going to go, one way or another, and this life is NOT all there is. it is just a flash before the eyes of our Lord God. He is waiting for us in Heaven to spend eternity and Sarah is basking in all His glory as we speak. we have to serve our purpose while we're here, to tell other we love, know, or run into; about HIM and our relationship with Him, even though we all have our own struggles. this life is not perfect and Never will be. perfection awaits for us in Jesus. He is the only thing that is Perfect and He is there for us ALL!
whether we choose Him or not is OUR decision!
Amen, Amen!
this is the amazing post her husband wrote just a couple days before she passed away:
Sarah's Transition
February 14, 2011:
Sarah is currently in the process of transitioning out of this life... away from her current worn down body and into an indescribably beautiful one. She is very close to leaving the cocoon and becoming the butterfly she has always been so symbolically drawn to. Her condition has dramatically worsened over the past several days, and given her current symptoms, we are being told that the time for her to pass is very near. Currently, she is having few lucid moments, and the ones she is granted are spent straining for those three precious words that exemplify her life... "I love you." Rest assured that she is certainly enveloped in love. Please pray for a painless and peaceful transition, and those of us here struggling with the huge void caused by the loss of her presence.
I think Sarah's light has shown so bright that this earth can no longer contain it. It's time for her to go to the true source of that light, to stop being the lone lantern shining into the darkness, but to join the grand symphony of radiance. It would seem selfish to keep her after she has worked so hard and is this close.
Shine bright firefly, shine bright... with tears in our eyes we cherish the path you illuminated.
Shine bright firefly, shine bright... with tears in our eyes we cherish the path you illuminated.
-Your husband
oh my gracious. thank you, dear friend, for sharing. i have been reminded very frequently of late just how fleeting this life is. even as daniel was preaching through 1 John 2:28 on Sunday, i was convicted. i want to stand before God as one who has been faithful on this earth! what a precious example this Sarah is!
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