Truth Archive

This is a story that maybe I am the only one who can tell it because it is about my little niece; she was John and Linda’s first child. She is the first grandchild in our family. She was named after her mother, Linda Jean. Her name was Sarah Jean; a little redheaded girl. She grew up on the farm with her parents and her grandparents, my parents, nearby, and my brothers.

Sarah grew and she loved to play the piano. She loved to run and play. She had a little friend who was born in the city, her name was Susie. Susie had fire engine red hair. Those two little girls, best friends, were the same age. After every gospel meeting they would run to find each other to talk. Susie, the little city girl, would touch Sarah, the little farm girl and say, “pretty baby”, and Sarah would say, “Bull.”

When they were about 10 years old there were sister workers working in their field, and they would talk to them. Then they talked together and said, “One day we will go in the work and we will be companions.” They nurtured that dream every time they were together. They saw that the workers were learning sign language because there was a deaf lady attending the meetings. They got books, and they were learning sign language, so that they could be sister workers one day.

Then one morning Linda noticed that Sarah’s little left hand was not coordinating when she was playing the piano. When she ran with her brother’s, Jack, Pat and Mike, (we came from Ireland 400 years ago), her left foot was just turning and twisting. She was worried. She complained about headaches. They took her to their family doctor and he said, “Tomorrow we need to go to see a specialist.” The specialist said, “Tomorrow we need to put her in the Children’s Hospital in Omaha.” That day all of the family gathered around her. They had her on a little rolling bed. Before they took her away for a CAT scan, with the doctor and nurses standing by, she asked, “Can you sing number seven for me?” As they sang number seven, she screamed and held her head. The doctor and nurses were saying, “Explain to us, explain to us,” as they took her away.

What they did not know was that she had a tumor on her brain stem and at that very moment the tumor hemorrhaged. They kept her through the night on ice to keep her alive. The doctors told John and Linda that it would be better if she died because she would only be a vegetable to you if she lives. They tried to call me in Haiti; I found the message a day later.

As the time went on, she lived, one day, two days, three days. She hung between life and death. Eventually she was able to come back to her room with all of these apparatus attached to her body. No one thought that she knew anything. My sister, who is in the work, came home and she had been trained to never underestimate. She sat at her side and talked to her about Sadie this, and Sadie that. One day the nurse noticed something and said, “That little girl is signing.” With her left hand which had a nervous twinge, she was spelling words. Her intelligence was entirely intact, but she was paralyzed. John and Linda said at noon, “We will go down and get a book.” Sarah signed to the nurse, “Tell them go right now.” So they went and they brought it back and she understood everything perfectly. She would answer with her fingers spelling.

She had told her mother that she wanted to profess at Malcolm, but she was in the hospital that day. The workers came by her room and she professed in her hospital room. She was able to come home, and she had a little wheelchair with a motor on it, and she chased her brothers. She eventually got so she could walk on crutches, and she caught up with her class in school. Her face was badly distorted, paralyzed on one side. In the morning she would say, “Mom, I have been thinking of a verse. Find it for me. I have been thinking of this hymn.” And that is the way she Lived.

Her little brother Jack, who was born prematurely, had a speech impediment. Sometimes his parents could not understand him. Sometimes the only person who understood him was Sarah. She was his best friend and his interpreter in everything. He also was redheaded.

The day came when they noticed something changing. They went back to the hospital and the doctors gave a report, “Yes, the tumor is growing again, and there is just no hope.” Sarah went home and she wanted to tell Jack. She sat on my father’s lap with Jack, and she told Jack what was going to happen. She rubbed his head, and he was crying, and she said to him, “Jack, it is okay. God loves us so much that he knows every hair in your head.” She told her mother that she was not afraid to die, “But I know you are going to miss me”. She told her parents what she had heard in meeting at one time: “There are two important days in life. The first day is when we are like a little canoe crossing a river, and Jesus gets into the canoe with us. And the second important day is when we arrive at the other side and we step out of the canoe together, leave it behind and go on Together.”

The day came when my sister at home was holding her hand as she sat on my brother’s lap, her mother holding her other hand. Her mouth opened and her eyes looked upward. She smiled and she died. This was six months after she had hemorrhaged. Before she died, when she was in meeting and had her part, she would write her testimony on little yellow stickums. She would have John read her testimony. When she passed away Linda gave me some of her things. One of them was one of her little testimonies written in her shaky hand. It said, “I love the shepherd and I love the sheep and I want to be a good sheep. This is my testimony.” It is the best thing we can do once we leave convention to have this written on our hearts.

The story doesn’t end there. Little Sarah was laid away, but from heaven her life and her testimony have been like a beacon. That little meeting has grown. Little Susie is in the work. She has had several years in the work now, a lovely sister worker. Her brother Jack is finishing his fourth year in the work now, and her little brother Mike is finishing his first year in the work. Her cousin Dirk is finishing his first year in the work. There are other young people that have been influenced, some married and well married and kingdom minded; others following on.

In Christ there is no loss. It is all gain. God has a perfect, perfect plan. Whatever the year holds for you, remember, He is waiting there for you and it will only be a blessing as long as we keep that in our hearts: I shall prove, no matter what it costs, that I am a child of God.