Remembrance Stories
James | Sheila
James
I had an enormous shock earlier this year. A very dear and close friend of mine Tillie, died very suddenly in January of this year. I saw her three days before she died at a friend’s birthday party, for this I’m grateful to my friend and to God for bringing us together one more time.
Tillie was a youth worker in a Catholic Church in London. She had a great love for life, and for all people particularly the young. With great energy and enthusiasm, she spoke to them about the tender love and mercy of God.
She studied drama at University and her creative and artistic ability, coupled with her great zest for life, led her to write a musical, based on the life of King David from the Old Testament, called the “Rock of the Anointed”. The musical shows God’s unconditional and merciful love. She had a great way of showing God’s love to the young in a deeply tangible and personal way through drama.
I had personally known Tillie for the last 3 years of her life. The unconditional love and friendship she showed me has helped me in my own life, particularly in my relationship with God. I have also received a lot of healing from God, and Tillie played a great part in my healing process. Tillie never allowed any of her weaknesses to stop her from achieving her dreams and this was clearly shown to me through her seemingly tireless work with the young.
I spent a lot of my life (up until the age of thirty) in deep depression, seeing God as a distant figure, who loved me when I was good, but ready to send a bolt of lightening down upon me when I did bad. Tillie played a big part in my conversion (process of internal and spiritual change). This is an ongoing struggle, but it’s made easier because I know now that God loves me unconditionally, and his mercy knows no end. He died on the cross for me. What an amazing God! Many people are our friends, but how many would be willing to die for us. Wow! This blows me away. God creates us in His Image and we are precious in his eyes: “Yahweh, you examine and you know me… you understand my thoughts from afar.” (Psalm 139 verses 1 – 4).
It was a deep shock when Tillie died and still is in many ways. Time is a great healer, and the loss of a great friend is made easier for me by my faith in God, who is the greatest healer. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about her, and pray for her, (and indeed ask for her prayers). I love her very much, and miss her dearly but I am convinced that I will see her again in Heaven. Although it is hard, my grief is made easier by my faith in God’s merciful love for Tillie.
Sheila
 Sometimes life seems so unfair! My brother Peter, five years younger than me, died of lung cancer two years ago. It should have been me. He never smoked in his life, and I was on up to 25 cigarettes a day for 26 years.
Peter was slim, athletic, a dedicated teacher of English, drama and sport and an exceptionally gentle and loving person. I went to stay with him in Canada for the last time just 2 weeks before he died, and we shared again some of the ups and downs of our journeys through life.
When I left, knowing I would never see him again, my heart nearly broke and I cried for several hours. Yet even then, beneath the tears, I was consoled, because I knew he was very close to God. What made me so certain?
There is a beautiful passage in the Bible (the First Letter of St John) where it is written: “God is love, and anyone who lives in love lives in God, and God lives in him.” Peter’s whole life was filled with love – not only for his beautiful and caring wife, but also for his family, his students, his friends, his dog, the birds and rabbits in his garden and for the rare breeds of fish he kept. When any of us hurt, he hurt. He was not a church go-er, but I remain convinced that he was never far away from God. Before he died he had several talks with a Catholic priest from the local hospice who gave him the Sacrament of the sick
Although that was important to me my real hope and comfort rested in the firm belief that my loving and very lovable brother had been welcomed into the arms of a very loving and welcoming God, and that he now rests in peace in that love.
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