I recently heard about this amazing girl named Abby. I’ve never met her though. Its kinda weird to think about admiring someone you don’t know, but its possible because I admire her so much! This incredible young lady just went to be with the Lord and I know that she is up there singing praises to our almighty God. I had heard a little bit about her because she was my friend’s cousin, but not too much. As her life started unfolding, and I heard more and more things about her, I began to love this girl. Katie Sherrod says, “We were so encouraged when we read Abby's letter to her cousin, Hannah, that beautifully expressed her understanding of death after the heavenly departure of her 16 year old friend, Landon. She wrote the following:"I have a peace about Landon's death....I know God has a plan but one does want to ask why He would take the life of someone so young who was living for Jesus. Couldn't have God used him better on this earth? When I ask these questions, two things come to mind:
1. There are just some things we will never understand.
2. 'Better is one day in His courts than a thousand elsewhere' (Psalm 84:10)
If we could see what Landon is seeing now, we would never want him back!"Abby got it! "To live is Christ and to die is gain (Phil. 1:21)." To see so much faith and in such a young girl is overwhelming! It seemed as if God was preparing Abby for when she died.
Last summer Abby went to visit her cousins here in Tyler. When she returned home, she wrote a letter to each of them telling them a characteristic that she liked about them and giving them each a Bible verse. She wrote one to Jordan saying:
Dear Jordan,
Continue to look to Him for guidance in your life and encourage others to do the same you and me have been given extra responsibility in our family, cause we are the oldest so we have even more pressure than our siblings. It’s scary if you really think about it! We have a lot of eyes watching us to see how we react to life. Love continues to run the race and fight the fight because we have a bunch of young soldiers learning from us. Proverbs 10:17 says, “He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.”
She was younger and yet she still encouraged others who were older. Also, her cousin told of an amazing miracle which happened before her death.
Becky writes, “As a testimony of God’s sovereignty I must share this story. On Tuesday March 31st (the day before Abby went to be with Jesus) I was heading home from class. I was listening to my ipod as I always do when I ride the Tiger Transit. I had it on Chris Tomlin shuffling (songs come up randomly). “I will Rise” began to play… I’ve heard the song one or two times on the radio but I had never listened to it all the way through. It usually takes me around 15 minutes to get home when I ride the Transit. By the time I reached my duplex I had listened to the song 4 or 5 times. I fell in love with the song. In my heart I kept feeling like I needed to go home and learn this song, the Lord had placed this huge burden on my heart that it needed to be learned that day, not tomorrow, and not Thursday. So I drove over to my parents and called the kids downstairs (Whit, Ans, and Little) and explained that I had heard this song and felt like we should learn it. I told them I thought we might sing it in church soon… So immediately we began to learn it. This NEVER happens by the way. I taught them parts and I learned it on the piano within hours. The kids loved it! It was on my heart all day, and the lyrics played over and over in my head. I continued on with my day, went to my last class and wrapped up my day later on that night. Mom called me around 6:50 am on Wednesday April 1st. She told me that Abby had gone to be with Jesus. As I stated above, I was floored. I could NOT believe it. When I hung up, immediately “I will rise when he calls my name no more sorrow, no more pain………” came to mind. The lyrics began to play in my head again. It was then that I KNEW the Lord had given me this song on Tuesday to prepare my heart for the news I had received. An hour or so after mom had called me, I text Uncle Ty (Abby’s dad) and told him he HAD to listen to this song ASAP! A little while later he replied with this, “Beck, yesterday (Tues.) on the way home from the doctor, Abby heard that song on the radio in the car with Traci (Abby’s mom) and she said, “Mom that is MY song!”” That is the sovereignty of God, friends. He knows our hearts, He knows our struggles, He knows our pain, and He knows the number of our days. He was preparing my heart for the news I’d received and He was preparing Abby’s heart for eternity with Him. Aunt Katie and Uncle Chris were coming from Tyler, TX on Wednesday – they heard the song in the car as well and Aunt Katie had written it down, thinking this might be a good song for the celebration service. Little did she know, the Lord had already taught it to me and given it to Abby the day before. God is good.”God is so amazing! He works every little detail out before it happens! (the lyrics for the song are posted below)
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