I would venture to say, many folks desire to be home for Christmas. For years, we packed up the car and headed home to Nashville, Tennessee. This year was no exception. This past Friday, Mark and I headed to Nashville to spend a few days with my family. We’d been there less than twenty-four hours when the bell on my phone began to chime, text message after text message appeared on my phone. I assumed it was friends and family texting to wish us a Merry Christmas, so I ignored the bell. Finally, I thought I should look to see what all the activity was about. Looking down at my screen, I could hardly believe what I was reading. My sweet friend and mentor, Mrs. Heather Olford, had passed away that morning.
Immediately, I was filled with regret. She was in a rehab facility and with all the “holiday busyness,” I had failed to go by and visit with her. My plan was to make a visit the Monday before Christmas and deliver the present we’d purchased for her, but now that would never be possible. The regret was quickly replaced with a deep sense of sadness. My heart ached at the thought of never seeing her, talking with her, or having her wise counsel and prayers ever again. I would no longer hear that sweet Irish voice or the fun way in which she always ended our conversations, “Righty-o,” and then the click of the phone.
I remembered the past years of our friendship and the precious times God allowed me to have with her. There was the time we cleaned out her closet and reorganized her seasonal clothing, ending the day with trying on hats that were tucked inside hat boxes at the top of her closet and laughing like two school girls. The sweet times of worship as I sat on her sofa listening to her play many of her favorite songs on the piano. Then the afternoons, I spent in her home sipping hot tea and recounting her years of growing up in Ireland and the adventure of being married to Dr. Stephen Olford, in order that she might be able to place her life’s story within the pages of a book. Oh, the many Sunday lunches out at a local restaurant, and as of late, the lunches and visits with her in her home. Never once did we have a conversation that she failed to ask about Mark and how he was feeling. She so desired, as I did, for God to heal him and prayed many times that He would do just that.
In my moments of reflecting, my heart ached at the loss of my sweet friend who blessed my life and enriched my relationship with Christ through her example. She taught me about faithfulness to your mate and to the Lord Jesus. I learned so much from her about the work of the Holy Spirit within the life of a believer, and the power that His indwelling gave me, as a child of God. She taught me to love and love deeply. As I tearfully pondered the impact Mrs. Heather Olford had upon my life, I sensed God saying, “My child, there’s no reason to be sad, she’s with me.” Then I realized that this Christmas, she was exactly where she wanted to be, she was home. She was with her first love, her Lord, and she was being reunited with her second love, Stephen Olford. What a family reunion she was having! How selfish of me to wish that she was with us, when she could be home for Christmas!
I will miss her deeply. I will always reflect upon our friendship with great fondness and thanksgiving! I am looking with great anticipation to the Christmas when I will be home with her and all our family!
Father, how my heart rejoices that my sweet friend is home with You this Christmas! Thank You for blessing my life with the life of this faithful godly older woman. Lord, all Your children desire to be home for Christmas. How I long to see You one day and be reunited with her and all my family, until that day I pray You find me faithful!
“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:1-8