Thanks Aunt Annie!

There you are, 50.5 (+ 9 days!) ahead of me, and I just want to tell you that I'm glad to have you in my life! I'm thankful to, for all these years, be able to keep looking ahead to where you are, ahead of me. 

Thank you for letting a twenty something punk come and ask you questions. (Do you remember that? "I have these dreams sometimes--is it God speaking?") Thank you for making the surprise trip just as I was about to go across the pond, to show up at the party, with your pictures and stories, and show me the place to which I was going. (We're are still pretty amazed that, at 71, when conditions where what they were then, you did that trip!) And through the years--you've been one of the most consistent responders when I write--sometimes gently reminding to watch for dangers (and the need to H.A.L.T.), but often with some very poignant and powerful words that show me just how much you understand. I still wish there was a book with the parts that you didn't include in yours :o) ...but I do understand your reasoning on that, and I probably wouldn't know how to find a way to write it either.

This week you turned 94. Do you know, you're one of the people that make up my "old lady dreams"? (I hope those words don't offend--where I live it's considered a good thing to get to be "old".) Years ago, I thought I would die young, but then I realized I may not, and I realized that living faithfully and joyfully over many years is really tough. Some people live it well. Some don't. If the Lord gives me many years, when I get closer to where you are, I hope I live it a lot like you do--reaching out to others, choosing thankfulness over complaining. Maybe there will be some punk 50 years younger that I can encourage. I hope I'll still be relevant to someone 50 years younger, like you are to me!

You have been for me one who does what Rosalind Goforth talks about in this poem (I think she wrote it...in her book Climbing). Thank you for "Calling Back".

CALL BACK!

If you have gone a little way ahead of me, call back;
'Twill cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track;
And if, perchance, Faith's light is dim, because the oil is low,
Your call will guide my lagging course as wearily I go.

Call back, and tell me that He went with you into the storm;
Call back, and say He kept you when the forest's roots were torn;
That when the heavens thundered and the earthquake shook the hill,
He bore you up and held you where the very air was still.

O friend, call back and tell me, for I cannot see your face;
They say it glows with triumph, and your feet bound in the race;
But there are mists between us, and my spirit eyes are dim,
And I cannot see the glory, though I long for word of Him.

But if you'll say He heard you when your prayer was but a cry,
And if you'll say He saw you through the night's sin-darkened sky
If you have gone a little way ahead, O friend, call back
'Twill cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track.
- Selected


And...since you liked and recommended to me the other Getty's song (even though I'd already been listening to it those days--but what a cool "someone gets it" moment!), I post this one for you--the one with her singing--so you can lip read! ;o)

When trials come no longer fear
For in the pain our God draws near
To fire a faith worth more than gold
And there His faithfulness is told
And there His faithfulness is told

Within the night I know Your peace
The breath of God brings strength to me
And new each morning mercy flows
As treasures of the darkness grow
As treasures of the darkness grow

I turn to Wisdom not my own
For every battle You have known
My confidence will rest in You 

Your love endures Your ways are good
Your love endures Your ways are good

When I am weary with the cost
I see the triumph of the cross
So in it's shadow I shall run
Till You complete the work begun
Till You complete the work begun

One day all things will be made new
I'll see the hope You called me to
And in your kingdom paved with gold
I'll praise your faithfulness of old
I'll praise your faithfulness of old

May you continue to know the Lord's presence through the trials you encounter. May you know His strength giving you endurance. May you know His grace and love, both with you each day, and enabling you to continue to reach out to others.