“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted
among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Psalm 46:10 NIV ❤

Hello, my name is Dianna and I’m so glad to meet you! I have been good friends with the ladies at Fresh Grace for years. We share a special friendship bond filled with lots of Jesus, love, and prayers. They invited me to guest post here today on the one year anniversary of the passing of my beloved husband, Jack.

I must tell you that for most of my life, I felt like there was this big dark cloud following me wherever I went. After experiencing a very bad marriage to my first husband, Jim, I spent the subsequent twenty-two years of my life single.  But in 2012, the good Lord blessed me and brought Jack into my life! He was intelligent and funny. Most of all, Jack loved the Lord.  He brought so much sunshine and lots of fireworks into my life.

Jack and I would giggle and talk for hours at a time, multiple times a day, like two love struck teenagers.  In January of 2013, we were happily married at a small gathering with my Grandson preforming the ceremony.

For the next four years, five months and two days I was loved and cherished beyond measure.  It was like we had known each other all our lives. We shared the same love language, finished each other’s sentences; it was all I could ever ask for. God was always first place in our lives and we started each day with prayer and the putting on of the full armor of God. We always held hands for the blessing and ended each day thanking God and praying for a great awakening in our land.

Jack had serious health issues but the Lord helped us to meet them head on together.  Our first Christmas was spent in the hospital. Jack had pneumonia and we were in the hospital for over a month.  But He never complained. Never said “Poor me!” He always had a smile on his face. We even had a sweet date night while in the hospital, watching the 1930’s version of “The Christmas Carol”.

Surviving three stints and the widow maker, Jack’s procedure was supposed to be at 10:00 A.M. but they changed it and I was sitting there alone in his room when they came in to get him. I went on Facebook to ask my friends and family for prayer. Instantly I saw in my Facebook Memories a post that said “RIP Jim”. My heart fell and I whispered “This is not funny, Lord!” The date of my ex-husband Jim’s passing was the very same morning of Jack’s procedure. Jim had a heart catherization and never recovered.  Jack’s widow maker was 99.9 percent blocked and with all my heart I believed God was hearing my cries.

Oh how my Jack loved to sing! He would sing in the Doctor’s office, on the elevator, while being wheeled into surgery. Just whenever and wherever … he would start singing! He was singing that day while being wheeled in to have the heart catherization. I would lay with him in his hospital bed and on several nights I would wake up to him singing and we would have our own revival.  My most precious memories is of waking on many nights to hear Jack thanking God for me and praying for me.  He said if I was asleep, my subconscious heard and would remember.

Jack had been very active in church, taught Sunday School, sang in the senior choir and he was a Gideon. After the COPD had taken its toll, he was on oxygen 24/7, and all the things he once did for the Lord he could no longer do.  There was one thing that he could still do and that was pray! If you called our house by mistake, you could count on Jack asking you: “Do you need prayer for something?”  Oh, how his eyes lit up when he could pray!

When he was in the hospital, everyone who came into our room was asked by Jack, “Do you need prayer for something?” Every. Single. Person. Doctors, Nurses, Technicians, Maids and even the Clerical! They called Jack, “The Praying Patient.”  Our last time in the hospital, when he went unresponsive, our room filled up with people. The girl who had drawn his blood was holding me in the bathroom as they worked on him.  They finally got him breathing and a lady Physician said, “Let’s pray for him!” All of the staff gathered around Jack’s bed, forming a big circle to pray for him while holding hands. At that very moment, Jack became conscious and said “Oh no! I will pray for you!”

A day or two later he became unresponsive again and we were transferred to ICU.  Our Humana Nurse came into ICU to thank Jack for praying for her marriage and to let us know that they experienced a breakthrough on the very night Jack prayed. They wanted to put Jack on a ventilator but he knew he would never come off. The Doctor called me out into the hallway to say there was nothing else they could do. The Doctor’s last words to me were “Your husband is a praying man”. That is exactly how I want people to remember me; that I honor our Savior in everything that I do.

We were able to go home on hospice. One of our Daughters made sure they did whatever they had to do to get Jack home. Jack apologized to me in ICU for causing me pain and not being able to stay with me longer. The tears fell freely as I told him he had loved me well and I would be okay. There was nothing for him to be sorry for. We went home on a Friday. I prayed with Jack and sang with him and held him. With my head on his chest, I pleaded with my Heavenly Father to help Jack not to suffer. On Sunday, he took three little puffs at 10:30 and the Lord took His faithful servant home to Heaven.  I just know Jack was met with “Well done, My good and faithful servant!”

I pray that I can finish my race well like my Beloved.  He was my Boaz Redeemer and I was his beautiful Bride. May my legacy be one of sharing Jesus the way Jack did! I miss him like crazy and my heart physically hurts from his absence. There is no way I could have made it this past year without Jesus and the prayers of my friends and family.

No one is promised tomorrow so I ask you to please live like this is your very last day. Tell people you love them, write them notes, and make videos together. Always put God first and when your time is done, you will be ready to go meet your Savior. Jack was a thankful man and we loved each other well.

We who follow Christ know that our loved ones were never ours to begin with. They belong to our Heavenly Father and we have the sweet hope of seeing them again in Heaven. When grief floods over me and takes my breath away; I remember Jack is with Jesus and I will see him again. I am hanging on tight to God’s promises!

Jack, I will celebrate you, your love and your life until my time on earth is done.

Always and forever,

Dianna XO

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About Us

Photo Credit: Canva

AUTHOR’S PROFILE:

Dianna is a Mother, Grandmother, and a Great Grandmother.

She is lovingly called Grandma, Grams and Mia.

She enjoys Sewing, Crocheting, and Reading.

The Beach is her “Happy Place” and most favorite spot to relax!

She currently resides in in Greenville Alabama with her Daughter and Son in Law.

Her favorite Scripture is “Be still, and know that I AM God …” Psalm 46:10 NIV

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