Links

 Memorial post

https://memorials.friendsfs.ca/martha-dueck/5391380/index.php

Funeral

https://www.youtube.com/live/CVKUw94ckdo

Interment

https://youtu.be/B55iRtJw2rI 

Mennville Faspa

https://youtu.be/v04FgL-FQQo

Martha’s notes to her family

 It's a foggy morning in more ways than one

Martha left notes for her family including:

"I am on a path of suffering, considering the cancer in the lungs and the excruciating pain in the leg. I would so much like to be here with you, to have one more Christmas with all of you. 

I love all of you so MUCH. 

I wrote a few ideas for the memorial service in the event that my time on this earth is done and I will meet my Redeemer and Creator, who is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, who is Faithful and True."

To her husband she wrote:

"I don't really know what to say. I know you'll be very lost without me. 

Thank you for all you did for me in the last year, taking me to appointments, etc.

Please remember that my death is just “A” thing and not “THE” thing. God will give you strength to keep going and I wish you all the best. God bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you and give you peace. I tried with God's help to be a good partner for you. I love you and want all the best for you in the days, weeks, and months to come."

Martha has been promoted to Glory

 Martha Dueck has been released from her pain, and she is dancing on the streets of Glory. 

She passed so peacefully at 4:30 pm. March 1. The look on her face was pure peace. Some of that peace is in me now.

She is at peace, and I miss her excruciatingly. 

I weep.

The funeral is on Sunday, March 10, at EasTview.org church. It will be livestreamed on the church channel. 

The service starts at 3 pm. Faspa fellowship to follow. 

A short service with faspa after interment starts on Monday, March 11, at 3 pm. in the Mennville church north of Riverton

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to www.BiblesForToday.com or www.Compassion.ca

In the Sweet By and By

God Heals Broken Hearts

Broken hearts can be mended and they can heal.
But they will still be broken.

Tis so Sweet to Trust in Jesus

This morning upon waking the a few lines of this hymn popped into my mind.
I have included those and a few more. If you want to read the whole hymn check it out in a hymn book or some other source.

"Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to take him at this word,
Just to rest upon his promise,
....
Just to trust his cleansing blood,
....
Just from Jesus simply taking,
Life and rest and joy and peace.
....
And I know that he is with me,
Will be with me to the end.
....
O for grace to trust him more!"

It is my prayer that I will learn to trust God more. But what does it really mean? That reminds me of a blog from the Girlfriends in God that I read recently.

“Just trust me.” Those are the words we hear in movies just before something bad is about to happen. And yet, we are told to trust God. In a culture where we’re taught to take control of our own lives, trusting God has become a religious platitude rather than a life-changing attitude. We say it, but do we really mean it? And what does trusting God really look like?

That is something to ponder as we go into this Christmas season and a new year.

I read this and found it so good. Just wanted to share it with anybody that might come across my blog.

December 16, 2011
Held by Hope
Gwen Smith
Today’s TruthBut Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. (Luke 2:19, NIV)
Friend to FriendHave you ever wanted to travel back in time to be an eyewitness of the celestial celebration that took place in Bethlehem the night that Jesus was born? Now, I’m a bit fussy about fashion, but I’d even consider donning shepherd garb and hanging out with a few sheep for that opportunity! To see angels fill the sky, to hear the voice of God through the cries of a baby. To catch a glimpse of the brilliant Star of David, and to satisfy my curiosity as to what exactly a host of heavenly angels sounds like.
Oh, and to talk to Mary! Wouldn’t that be amazing to hear what she was thinking as she witnessed, and took part in the greatest miracle ever known to man? This baby she gave birth to was God-in-flesh, a true bundle of love. What do you think she treasured in her heart as she took it all in? I’m struck by this thought: As she held the Hope of the world, the Hope of the world was also holding her. Ponder that!
The baby born in a barn that holy night long ago is the Hope of the world - the Grace that saves us - the Love that heals us. Jesus is Hope that changes our worthless into precious, our guilty to forgiven, our hungry into satisfied, and our empty into full. His presence is inescapable. We cannot flee from His stubborn grip. The psalmist, David said: “If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast” (Psalm 139:8-10).
The Bible tells us in the New Testament that Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of God, the Father in heaven and that He “holds us fast.” Relish that thought. The Hope that holds us is Jesus Christ. You and I are held by Hope.
In the Old Testament, God told Joshua that He would “never leave or forsake” him (Joshua 1:5). God says the same to us. He will never leave us or forsake us; no matter the circumstances, not matter the diagnoses, no matter the financial struggle. Our faithful LORD is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We can rest assured that in everything, we are held by Hope.
After His resurrection and before His ascension into heaven, Jesus said, “Surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). My girlfriend Mary Southerland often reminds people that the word “always” actually means … drum roll please … "always!" He is always with us. Always loving us. Always wanting us to find comfort, refuge, joy and satisfaction in Him.
As a Christmas approaches and New Year dawns, let’s be mindful of God’s promise that we are never alone. Just like the shepherds received the headline news of Jesus’ birth from singing angels so long ago, receive this glad tiding of great joy today: If you are in Christ, then you are held by Hope.
Let’s PrayHoly Father, You are more wonderful. Thank You for sending Jesus, my Hope, to forgive me, to love me, and to restore me to Your heart. I join the psalmist today in praying, “Sustain me according to Your promise, and I will live; do not let my hopes be dashed. Uphold me, and I will be delivered” (Psalm 119:116-117a). I’m leaning into Your heavenly hug today.In Jesus’ name,Amen.
Now It’s Your TurnAre you held by Hope? Have you received the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ? Are you seeking God? He’s waiting with His arms open wide. CLICK HEREto find out more about how to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Ask the Saviour to Help You

I had been thinking about writing some more blogs , but was putting it off. Having someone comment on my blog gave me the encouragement to continue.

There are many stories I could share, but the one I am thinking of right now came to my mind as we were discussing the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives at the care group meeting we were attending last week.

This situation took place shortly after Renee died. By shortly, I mean less than a year, maybe four months or six months. Something like that. I can't remember. It is now three years and nine months ago.

I was feeling very overwhelmed with the grief that day, which is quite normal. I was in a certain spot passing from one room into another and all of a sudden the words of a hymn came to my mind, but just as suddenly as I was crossing into the next room it was gone.

(Apparently leaving one room, to go to another does that to our brains. I recently read an article about somebody that studied this effect.)

Anyway, I was very upset that it had left my memory as soon as it had come. If this was a message from God, why did it escape me so soon. Wasn't it a message that I needed?

The very next day, at the very same spot and maybe even the very same time of day, the message came again.

It was the lines from a hymn that go like this:

"Ask the Saviour to help you,

Comfort, strengthen and keep you,

He is willing to aid you,

He will carry you through."

So many times when I feel that I can't go on, that life is too hard, I have to remind myself again that I need to keep focusing on God, and believe that he will do that if I ask, to believe that he wants to help me, carry me, comfort me, strengthen me.

Last week Friday was a hard day as we finally got the gravestone done. The awful, gut wrenching reality hit me again. That morning the Girlfriends in God devotional was based on Zeph.3:17

“The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17, NIV)

This morning in church a soloist sang a song she wrote based on that verse.

Often when God needs to reinforce a truth, it comes in packages of two or three.

The Light of the World is Jesus

I have been thinking about writing a series of blogs on how hymns have impacted me in my life. Not that I'm a good writer or anything.

I am feeling pretty down today. I miss my children in heaven so terribly much and can't wait to see them again. Oh, I hate the separation called death......hate it to much, but being angry doesn't change anything and crying gives me headaches....

The first memory I have of a song that has stayed with me all these years, was at Christmas when I was in grade one. I started my elementary education at the Blumenhof School near Steinbach, Manitoba. What I remember is that all the students filed into the church for the program carrying candles and singing, "The Light of the World is Jesus."

"Come to the Light, tis shining for thee, Sweetly the Light has dawned upon me, Once I was blind, but now I can see, the Light of the world is Jesus!"

I don't remember anything else about the program and not too much about those first few months of being in the first grade in Blumenhof. I do remember having a friend by the name of Dianna. I think we got along pretty good until she stayed over one night at our house. We slept together in my brother's bed. I don't know where he slept that night, but my friendship with Dianna was over after that night. I don't know why or what happened.

But we moved away shortly after that. We moved to a small pioneering community and finished the rest of elementary school there in Mennville. The first year it was still a one room school. I remember the grade eight boys being such extremely huge giants. They were all exceptionally tall fellows. I was paralysed with fear.

I was still not very fluent in English. We had only spoken low German at home and we were not allowed to use that language at school. The other two girls in the first grade were good friends and I was the extremely sly, new girl and I didn't feel like I fit in.

Well, I guess this doesn't really have anything to do with my theme. But to bring it back to that vein of thought, I would just like to add that in the third grade is when one of the girls in my grade came to me at recess and told me that she had asked Jesus into her heart at the meetings we were having at church that week. So after the meeting that night in my bedroom, kneeling by my bed I prayed to accept Jesus as my Saviour, Jesus the light of the world. I remember a sensation of light streaming in from the window and I felt so joyful and peaceful. I went to tell my mom what I had done.

I got my first Bible for Christmas that year and I loved reading it. I kept it close to my pillow at night, so I could read it at the first crack of dawn or when my two older sisters turned on the light for their own devotions, as we called it. There were five of us all sharing a room including two younger sisters as well! Very crowded quarters!

I remember praying for some older fellows in the community who were not Christians and some time after that at least one of them and I think eventually both of them decided to follow Jesus.

Jesus Calling

Jesus Calling

I want you to experience the riches of your salvation: the Joy of being loved constantly and perfectly. You make a practice of judging yourself, based on how you look or behave or feel. When you feel discouraged, you tend to look inward so you can correct whatever is wrong.

Instead of trying to "fix" yourself, fix your gaze on Me, the lover of your soul. Rather than using your energy to judge yourself, redirect it to praising Me. Remember that I see you clothed in My rigtheousness, radiant in My perfect Love.

Ephesians 2:7-8; Hebrews 3:1; Psalm 34:5

- excerpt from the devotion for July 13th from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young