"Okay, God, so when I fall, You'll pick me up, right?"

About 25 years ago, give or take, a girl called Linda lived with her daddy, whom she dearly loved. Her daddy was a born-again Christian, and for years he had been praying for her daughter's salvation, but her heart was cold. I'm not clear on all the exact details, but one day, when Linda was 15, her daddy, by the strength of God, led her to the Lord and she was saved.

After her restoration, Linda continued her relationship with God all throughout high school and college. She married a lovely man by the name of Michael and together they adopted a beautiful little girl from China whom they called Emma Grace. So Linda, Michael, and Emma lived together, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. The daughter went to a Christian school, and the married couple led the outreach ministry at their church.

Linda was also a youth small group leader, and counseled many teenage girls in their relationships with Christ. She was particularly close to a girl in the youth group whom she called Lizard. Liz, as most others called her, loved her Jesus very much but struggled a lot in her relationship with Him for various reasons. Linda prayed over her after she got a concussion, approached her and hugged her very tightly at church out of the blue because she just knew something was wrong, and called her and made her a card when she was in the hospital. Linda was a second mom to Liz, and they loved each other very much.

Then there came a time when Linda's daddy grew very old, and with that came sickness. For two long years his body waged war between life and death, but Linda stuck with him through it all. She traveled back and forth each weekend from her home to his place of residence (sometimes a hospital, sometimes his house) in Brooklyn. She cried a lot, and she prayed. His health slowly deteriorated, to the point where he could no longer walk, talk, or eat by himself. Linda's heart broke at the sight of her daddy's wearing down, and she clung to her God during all this time. Her church family prayed for her, but she didn't know what to do. Her daddy, the one who she had always looked to as a godly role model, was slowly dying, and she didn't know what to think.

One day as Linda was spending time with her family, she received a call from her mommy telling her that her daddy was taking a turn for the worse. She once again drove up to Brooklyn, sat by her father's bedside and took care of him for many days, and watched him die. She was amazed at the "dying process" the Lord was bringing him through, which she had never seen occur before. He did not speak, but simply lay in his bed, breathing slow and peaceful breaths. She stayed up all hours of the night to give him his medication. At one of these times, she was in the other room preparing his meds, and heard him mumbling. She quickly ran to his side to hear what he had to say, wondering how in the world he was speaking which she thought he could no longer do. Her jaw dropped as she realized Who his conversation was with.

"Okay, God, so when I fall, You'll pick me up, right?
...alright Jesus, so I know I'm gonna fall. But You'll pick me right up!
Thank You, Lord. Thank You so much."

Linda knew her daddy's time to go home was coming soon. The next day, she sat next to him and watched his breaths, until finally she witnessed his last. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she gazed at his entrance into the presence of the Lord. She felt peace.

After she had some time to grieve and to take it all in after the services, she attended youth group. The youth pastor informed the group of her loss and asked her to speak about this time in her life. She made her way up to the front of the room meekly with awe and humility in her eyes. She said, "I just want to tell you guys this, because I want you to see how God was faithful through all of this. It's not a sad story - we mourn for his loss on earth, but our rejoicing for eternity is so much greater." One by one, she revealed the events of the past few years.  Not a tear was shed, but only shouts of joy and thankfulness to her Lord. Her Lizard was one of many in the crowd listening, and she was touched. Everything she was going through, everything she was stressed over and all the drama of the day, it was all put into God's light and it all fell into place. She prayed, "Jesus I just want You. You are so good."