Cup of tea, a friend and the dance

Cup of tea, a friend and the dance

We are honored to host today’s post by Ifeoma Samuel.  She is a Woman after God’s heart and is happily married to her sweetheart Obiora Samuel. She has written for various online magazines and is an inspirational speaker at various women ministries in South Africa. Ifeoma recently published her new devotional “My 30 Days Journey To a Fulfilled Life,” and she continues to share her faith journey, devotionals and encouragement weekly on her blog Purposeful and Meaningful.

I sat with a cup of hot beverage drink, reminisced on those beautiful memories I had shared with my best friend, my grand father. You see, my siblings and I grew up at my grand parents’ home. It was so fun growing up at their house. Our friendship had grown to become more of friendship and playmates.

I remember how we made coffee and sometimes tea together, walked to church and laughed all the way; my grand father was my best friend.

One of my doting memories was the birthday gifts my grand dad had gotten for all three of his grand children.

“What did you get daddy?” as we fondly called him.

“I am giving you bibles,” he said. “I thought about it and I considered that the best gift I would ever give you would be this.

[Tweet “In my absence, Jesus is the only guarantee you would be ok. That’s how we got our first bibles!”]

It was the longest and the last time we spent together.

The following year my best friend, my tea companion, my walk mate was gone. The painful clutches of death had snatched him away.

I cried, wept and my heart ached.

Words may not describe how I felt, you probably can’t grasp the immense pain that was imprinted in my heart.

Have you been there?

Do you still grieve?

Are you finding it difficult to move on?

How much does this story resonate with you?

Oh, how much I simply want to hold on so tightly to the one whom I have loved. The reality is he is gone to be in a far better place.

The only thing we have and can hold are:

The memories of the good times we had,

The legacy they have left behind and

Jesus whom is our comfort and hope.

As in all things, we have choices.

A choice,

To wallow in grief,

To remain in pain,

To stay mad at God for letting things be the way they are.

On the other hand,

We can choose to live and be alive, not just for ourselves, but for those who still need us here.

We can choose to hold on to beautiful memories that linger in our minds.

We can choose to hold tightly that legacy left behind by those who we have lost.

We can choose to make a difference and leave a legacy too.

We can choose to dance with Jesus all the way, until our day here is done…

11 You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, ~ Psalm 30:11 (NIV)

Head over to Ifeoma’s website to read more of her words.