Love is simply amazing…
I was thinking today of my sweet mother and something she said to me years ago.
She was very ill at the time, enduring the ravages of kidney disease and the debilitating effects of dialysis. Despite all the physical pain she was enduring, she was thinking of me when she said these words.
“Jill, I hope I live to see you happy.”
I had no idea the depth of love that she had for me when she spoke those words, but I eventually came to understand. I discovered that when you love someone more than you love yourself you are willing to do anything to provide what they need. Whatever sacrifice is required you are more than willing to offer it. In fact, you don’t even hesitate or blink. You just do it.
When it became necessary, I offered my kidney to give her the life she so desperately needed. I wasn’t scared or even concerned about the implications. I just knew I couldn’t wait to do it. Even though my mother’s earthly life ended five months after our surgery, I still feel that it was more than worth it to see her living without dialysis and enjoying life.
During my mother’s funeral, I met the man who later became my husband. I certainly wasn’t looking for him, yet he was there for me when I needed someone the most. The grief of losing my mother was excruciating and I don’t know how I got through that period of time without his love and support. It was my mother’s hope that she would live to see me happy. Even though it was her death that ultimately brought us together, I feel that she did see me happy, as my husband and I have been happy together for many years.
Sometimes we think we know what we want for ourselves, but more often than not, it is those who love us the most who know best what we really need. It may not be what we think we need or even want, but ultimately, it is always what brings us the most blessing in life.
God is like that. The depths to which He loves us, we cannot comprehend. It was because of His enduring love for us that He sacrificed his Son to make a way for us to spend eternal life with Him and experience love that we cannot imagine and blessings that we never even dreamed possible.
He loves us the most, so He knows exactly what we need when we need it.
Isn’t Love amazing?
–Jill