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And there's a handful of kids still back there. So just a heads-up.
Great. No. All right. All right. Just a reminder, kids back there.
About this session, if you were here this morning and you've heard Cheryl, you know, we have just, we have had a glimpse of what is to come. So when you get ready, Cheryl, you can just come right on up here. I want to tell you guys a little bit about my friend, Cheryl Gill. Gill, she is, as you, as was mentioned this morning, she has been an RN for 51 years, nursed probably half of Canada, I would think, if you add it up. She's the mother of four children, has seven grandchildren. Pastor's wife, she and Ken went through a very challenging time in their younger years in a situation in, was it Toronto? Yeah. Okay. No. Calgary. Okay. So a very challenging time that really just, you know, like we heard this morning, hard time, hard times aren't bad. They're just hard kind of thing. But certainly a situation I think that many of us can identify with, just going through difficult things that, you know, people that let you down, that type of thing.
So I'm going to turn it to her. And we are looking forward to this. I am really looking forward to it, Cheryl. So be sure and turn it on and, and we'll go. Is it working? This time I have it in the right position so far. It is good to be here. You're all spread out. Could be there's. I'm going to share with you, I guess a message and a time. Do you always, do you want to move in or does that just upset you're already comfortable crossing your legs or whatever? That's fine. Um, spiritual practices. You've helped me in the last year, a journey of grief. And now we all know the Bible tells us, and we know from life experience that if you have a life, you are going to die at some point from our pets. Many of us I've had to put down, we call it put down when it's a pet, um, all the pets, because Ken could never handle it. Um, one time he patted the dog on the head and said, Cheryl, this dog's sick. Cause I used to tease him and say, you're going to Australia for six weeks. Say, well, I think the dog won't be here when you. Get back. Cause it had been a brat or something, you know, but this time he said, uh, cause I was nursing the dog, you know, um, eating it with a teaspoon. And, um, he said, I think maybe the time has come. So obviously he didn't want to do it. And, uh, so that helps me consider whether I'll get a pet again, because I know what the end is. I'll fall in love with it and I'll have to let it go. So spiritual practices that have helped me in the last year, and it would help any of us. Uh, that I've come across is what I want to talk about today. Some of it will crisscross with what I said this morning and that's okay.
Right. Um, like I said this morning, I was married, uh, for 50 years to the most incredible person I've ever known. And, and I say that, uh, with love and adoration and honor, uh, he was an incredible person. Um, when I go across the nation and even here, somebody just said, we really miss Ken. I say, yeah. I do too. Um, and our whole family misses him and I'll get phone calls from sons across the nation. We really miss him. And, you know, something, uh, one of our daughters said to him, dad, how in the world do you have so many friends and so many people that love you? Every time I walk in the house, you're talking to someone. And he said, well, that's easy. I call them. If I waited for people to contact me, lots of it wouldn't happen. And he used to say to our church that we pastor in Calgary. Now, you know, it doesn't take a lot to be kind, a text, a phone call, and the old-fashioned card that we might send in slow mail, very rare nowadays. And texting has taken over, but he said, really, we can all do it. We can all reach out to people. And I'd come home from work and he'd be on the phone to the other side of the world to somebody. And he told me that he would get up in the morning and say, Lord, who do you want me to encourage? Thus. The phone calls and check-ins and why he is so missed. And so I would leave that with all of us. This is something we can take away today as women, as people, that we can be encouragers in very simple ways. I'm not as good as him, so I have to get on the bandwagon and carry on his legacy, caring and loving.
But I developed at the last session I did with this something I call a tool belt. The tool belt. I use to, yeah, you can tie it on me now. And I'm just calling it a tool belt. It was made by a nurse to be a swift cleaning method. So when she made it, you know, she put her cleaning cloth, the window cloth, the dusting thing, feather thing that you go around your house with. I don't know how those things get anything clean. You know, I had a house cleaner and she'd go over all my stuff with a feather thing. And I said, aren't you just swishing that thing around? Like, I want the dust. I want the dust taken off, not swished onto the next thing. Anyways, this was made to put all those in. So I thought I would use this to show you some of the tools I have used. Now, again, some of them are going to crisscross with what I said this morning. One thing we do in our family that's very helpful is we talk about Kim. And I think when you lose somebody that's very real and close to you, no matter who that relative is, we need to talk. What made them special? What did we learn from their lives? And we talk about him probably every time the family gets together. And it helps the grandchildren. Why do I know it's helpful? Well, one of my daughters had a father sudden death of heart surgery. And my husband and I did a video for them for their funeral way over in Vancouver. And since then, they have not looked at a picture of him. They do not talk about him. They go on with life as if it never happened, but it happened. And when my daughter told her that we talk about our memories of him almost every time we meet, and what we loved, and what we learned, and it has healed them. She said, oh, I haven't looked at a picture of my dad in a year. I can't bear it. We never talk. I'm telling you, it's a tool of healing. If you've lost someone you love, you need to keep the memory of what blessed you. And what helped you and what you learned from them alive for the next generation.
Now, there's the opposite, where people have lost someone that maybe wasn't so great in their life. And that's a different kind of grief. I'm here to talk about the many kinds of grief. I have a close friend who has a different kind of grief in that her husband is not well and still being a caregiver and losing all kinds of abilities or even the ability to, you know, converse and share in the same way. A different kind of very painful grief. Then there's the loss of jobs for people and causes a lot of fear and grief. A loss of finance. A loss of friendships. Anyone here lost any close friends over the years? Life's journey. A very painful type of journey we talked about. There's grief is a part of our life. And to stuff it away does not help. To ask God to help us. He's an ever-present in our time of need. And he says, I talked this morning about worship and how I love to turn it up loud. So this is me. This is kind of a picture of me in my house now with worship. And I turn it up loud. I had to turn it down in the hotel room because I don't know who I'm bothering next door. I put it on loud this morning. I thought, Cheryl, remember where you are. You were in the hotel. But there's something about loud. There's something about worship in your ears when you are grieving that helps. And then yourself to dance before the Lord. There's something very freeing about it. You'd have to know that I'm probably not a person to openly dance like some people do up at the front of the church. I'm a little more behind the scenes girl, quiet. But God, in some cases, I remember we had a pastor's camp. Asked me to do some things that felt. Very out of my comfort zone. But in these seasons of grieving, I just feel there are times that I've been dancing with Jesus. And it is beautiful, private, intimate, love to him. Ask God to do it. Get on something that really ministers to your spirit. Some lyric. And we all have different styles of music that minister to us. Because God's made us very diverse. Like heavy rock and roll would not cause me to have any of these experiences, I'm sure. But there's some of the younger generation what it might be a different kind of music that will really minister to them. It doesn't matter. It's what takes you into the presence and throne of God. And then you start to sing and pray and nobody can hear you. Not in my house. It's all. I got the whole main floor to dance in my bedroom to dance in. And. I just do things that you would think. I twirl around like I'm a famous dancer, which I'm not. And, you know, I dip and swirl in God's presence. And somehow when I'm finished, my heart is light. My spirit is light. And then praying, as I said this morning, in my spirit language. And then singing in the spirit. And it was my son-in-law that told me that the girl I told you about in the first service, Sally. When we were praying an intercession together, he said, actually, it looked like you were more high and almost off the ground. I think, you know, like you you were in another realm. And maybe you have a friend that would pray with you in the spirit. And that is a precious thing. If you can pray with a good friend that wants to enter into that kind of worship and intercession and praying in the spirit. I think you can ask Heavenly Father for just about anything. And he will grant it to us in his time. You can ask him for further understanding. You can tell him how you feel. I've talked to him about how that if I was, that I would have taken me to heaven first and left him here. Because he was brilliant, I thought. And a bright light and a broad perspective. I mean, Ken gave me a cliché answer when I told him that in the last few weeks. I could never live without. I said, oh, for goodness sake. But as we heard this morning, I trust the sovereignty and the encouragement of the body of Christ.
The other thing you can't ignore is family. I have an incredible family. Four adult children, two single, two married, seven grandchildren aged 13 to 19. My adult children are incredibly kind, loving and helpful. And I could call on any of them at any time. Therefore, part of my probably getting through my grieving journey is the incredible support of family. And I know everybody does. And they're all in different places of their journey. How many here have adult children or children? So no matter where they are in their journey with faith, our prayers never go. They're eternal. And I trust God with them. Even if they're not. Even if they're not in the place where we might want them or dream of them to be because that's where we've been at that age. God loves them. And you believe it, that he loves your children, grandchildren, adult children, little children more than we ever possibly could. And when that came to me one day, God, you love them more. And you have their journey. And I trust you with them. Because for many people, that is a very big package of grief. When you have. To the best of your ability, raised children in faith. And they're not walking in the same way that you dream. But God has them. And the prayers you pray for them are eternal, as was emphasized in this conference already. They don't go to weights. And then I encourage praying as you go. Do you know what I mean by that? I ask God for if he would give me a spirit of prayer. Is that possible? To have a spirit of prayer. That you can just call on me at any time. I love when we had to wear the masks at work because I can pray in the spirit. And if I move my lips, nobody knew. Because it's behind a mask. I could walk around the hospital. I could walk everywhere praying in the spirit. And because one day I was walking into the hospital praying out loud in the spirit. And people were around me like they think they're wacky. But now in cars, people talk all the time because of earbuds. Nobody knows. But I pray quietly in my spirit. At any time. And we, that is the spirit of prayer. I would encourage you. It helps with whatever you're going through in life. Whatever grief you have. Ask God for to increase the reminders to pray. Because if you're like me, I can get so distracted by so many things. But I say, God, remind me. I'm a daughter of most. And my connection with heaven and prayer is the most important connection I could ever have. And the other thing is the word of God. And this conference in church. However you want to get it into you. That's how to do it. Whether it's little verses around your house. Put on your mirror. In your car. Listening to the word. There's no excuses now. I'm talking to myself as well. We can have audible Bibles. Every translation there is. I've probably got them all. My husband and I had an ongoing joke when I would speak. Because I used messaging. And he'd say, sure. It's not a translation. I said, fine. And then he'd remind me that, you know, he said, well, you're going to keep the theology straight. This is what I'm going with. I love the message. And I loved the Phillips translation. And I couldn't find one. It's out of print now. It's one I had as a young teenager. And it would do it in short story form. I'm seeing a nod. Do you know the Phillips translation? Do you have one still? Do you know that they're not printing it anymore? And my husband lost it years ago. Because I love it. I loved it so much. I lent it to him. We were witnessing to a friend. And the Bible disappeared. But it was one of my favorites. But whatever helps you. The Passion Translation, although there's a big argument whether it's a translation. Did you know that? In the Bible world. It doesn't matter. It's a beautiful way to read the Bible. And then the spoken word that we had here the other night in worship. Another beautiful expression of the word of God. And as my daughter says, get the word into you. And so we are encouraging that. And then, of course, do not negate the body of Christ. My granddaughter did these for me. But some of them didn't take. Find friends in the body of Christ that encourage you. And build those friendships. And be together. And if you think you don't want to be there, that means you need to be there more. That's the way I. We need each other in the body of Christ. We need to support one another. We need to pray. We need to pray for one another. Encourage one another daily. That's a scripture. Because it brings life to people. I've had encouragement here today. Encouragement is a powerful gift. And it also helps us deal with our grief. When I encourage others while I am grieving, it has a boomerang effect. It helps you.
The other thing is, get outside. And I chose mountains. We live in the Rocky Mountains. And whenever we drove. To the mountains. And would burst. Anybody that knew him. Would burst into song. Singing majesty. So the whole family now. When we take a drive to the mountains. Soon as we turn a certain quarter. And there's this beautiful view. Where you see all mountains on all three sides. We all sing. Majesty. In remembrance of my husband. Who said. I said, Ken. They're the same rocks as last time. And he'd say, no. Stop the sun shining on a different angle. And there's a cloud here that wasn't there last time. Every time you look at God's creation. There's a new view. So now we go to the mountains and say, oh, we remember dad. He loved to come to the mountains and see God's creation. His incredible majesty. And I just say, get outside. Go for a walk. Prayer walk the area where you live. And pray for your neighbors. And. And once God feels us and you say, God, I invite you to minister to me, to change me where I need to be changed. I invite you to help me grow. What do you want to do with the rest of mine? Because he has a plan for every single one. And you say, well, I'm not as talented. I'm not wrong. It doesn't matter. God loves you. You're sitting here today for a reason. And you have talents and gifts. You know people that I will never meet. But you will. You shop at a store that I'll never shop at. But you will. And I would encourage you to pray even for the people that you meet all the time in stores. One thing that has helped me with my grief is getting outside. And getting to places that I enjoy in the city. I'll tell you how often I go to one place. They know my name. And it's one little strip mall where I know all the stores. Hi, Cheryl. Here she comes in her yellow coat. They used to call me the girl in the yellow coat. And you get to know people. Then they ask questions about your life. Ask God to broaden your perspective. Because it does help you. Who's in your neighborhood? What's going on in their houses? But when we walk by and do a prayer walk, say, Lord, would you bring them to you? Would you give me an opportunity? All these things have helped me get outside of my own journey of grief.
The hardest things for me have been the evenings where we used to sit and chat. Because that's what 50 years of marriage does for you when you get along. And there's chats in the evening and just companionship and friendship. So you miss that. I've been watching history movies and the life of incredible people. Has anyone watched the movie Cabrini? It's on Angel Studios where I found it. Cabrini was the woman who started wrestling. She was rescuing children during the war. And do you know that there are orphanages all over the world? She was a Roman Catholic nun. They told her it couldn't be done. And she found out these poor kids were living under bridges and cold. And they said, you can't do this as a female. That was the wrong thing to say to Cabrini. I would encourage you. Do you know that there are places for children today because of one woman? We met somebody. That made a difference. It was confident. Mars. Did everyone, was everyone hear her? If you didn't, you didn't hear her. I think it was probably recorded. You need to listen to her. Wow. I don't. I am sure. I do not have the strength to go through what she did. What an incredible person. Women. We're a mighty force. We are a mighty force. With our prayers. With our faith. With giving God permission to work. In our lives. And I'll tell you what. All of this takes us outside of the pain that we may be going through. It turns us outward instead of always in.
The other was I recently watched the life of Bonhoeffer. Has anyone watched that movie? Incredible. And then the life of Dr. Ben Carson, an American, called The Gifted Hands. These uplifting, encouraging things make me realize. That all of us, in the hands of God, are mighty in him. Like I said, if I had chosen, I would have gone to heaven first and left my husband here. But I trust in the sovereignty of Almighty God. It's not the plan he had for me. And Ken is in a better place. The other thing I've done is I went crazy looking for books on heaven. And in that bag, there's a book. And I would encourage you, if you're in a place of grief. Take a trip. Take a trip to the bookstore. Now, this was written. His name is John Burke. Has anyone ever heard of this guy? He's a pastor in Austin, Texas. A multi-church site. I found this at Indigo, of all places. Not a Christian bookstore. And he and his wife, they've been on the New York Times bestseller, Imagine Heaven. They founded the Gateway Church, a multi-site church in Austin, Texas. He's an international speaker. He went on a journey to study near-death experiences. Around the world. Now, I get so excited about this book, I become a bit unglued. Because it's not just Christians. All kinds of faiths, religions, and people have reached out to him. A near-death experience means that you have... Clinically, you're dying, and they're pretty well leaving you for dead. And then you come back. That's what this book is about. And he wrote interviews with all these people. Quite a few months ago. Before Ken died I realized now after reading this that he had an NDE or a near-death experience and let me tell you about it he had a special treatment for the cancer that he had we walked back to the hotel after this treatment I left my phone out it was a suite in an outer room and uh you know sometimes when you're married a long time there's a certain tone that your spouse calls you with that you know they're in trouble and uh I ran to the bathroom very small bathroom old hotel downtown Toronto and uh he said I think I'm passing out I said yeah yeah yeah you are when he uh is fainting he goes his base color was golden yellow he was profusely sweating and then as he said it he was gone and my phone was in the other room and he had no carotid pulse his pupils were dilated i i reached for a radial pulse and I found a faint one I thought well he's still alive and if I'm gonna do CPR I gotta get him on the floor and I gotta call 9-1-1 and the phone's out there and I don't want to leave him alone he'll have brain damage you know all these things that and so I went to lift him up that no that's a dumb move he's heavier than you bigger than you and the bathroom's not wide enough you're gonna drop him on the floor all of these seconds right and so his head was lolling to the side he was gone and older by the minute and uh I started praying praying in the spirit yelling at him and then I said God no not now no not here not now please please no no no no and then I smacked you wake up I said you come back here and I had to keep holding his head because it was lolling off to the side I mean the man died and uh I said did you hear me get back here you're not doing this here now no and I'm yelling at God yelling at Ken he told me after and this is what my patients have told me and this is what the book says that's how I know he he said I was up on the ceiling watch and I heard you calling me and I heard you calling on God but I couldn't answer you of course you can't your spirit is leaving your body I'm telling you he almost died I'm telling you he almost died I'm telling you he almost died went to heaven probably two years before and God heard my cry and sent him back and I had him so when I read this book and they all explain the same thing often they're up on the ceiling watching everyone watching the doctors now the time in heaven as explained in the book you know say well how can those people see all that when they've only been out of their body for fifteen minutes or twenty minutes as doctors or whatever work on them well because God's time frame is so different than our earthly one so in this book I'd encourage you to read it if you are grieving and you want to get excited about what's in store for us as believers wow I become unglued and I've got about ten books at home I'm going through about heaven do you know that we have an incredible hope in Christ they all explain the same thing some of them don't say it's Jesus because they've been raised as many different faiths and religion but they all explain the same feeling this incredible love that we have no words for it's liquid it's a bright white light often they explained I was going through a tunnel so fast I didn't know when I was going to stop and I came into this incredible light there's a lot of details in here some of them having have seen the city of God with gates and pearls and none of them want to come back none and God says I want you to go back and the one that really just I haven't finished the book yet there's my bookmark he was a man that knew nothing about Jesus Christ but he said I knew it was Jesus and he said tell me because this man also had a vision down below of darkness and he said I knew I didn't want to go there and once you go there you don't come out this is everything he understood in his near-death experience he said I want to stay in this place of love this liquid love this this bright light this peace he said how can I be sure I can come back because God said I'm sending you back and he gave him three things five things to do the first one was to love your wife and children you go home and love your wife and your children that makes God's heart joy love your spouse ladies treat them well you have a spouse these are spiritual things these are things we can do a young lady in a restaurant on our 50th anniversary we went out for dinner and she said well can I please tell you what is the secret to being married fifty years oh I said that's easy I treat him as my gift in life and he treats me it's his gift it's as simple as if you really believe your spouse is a gift you will not treat them that's a spiritual prayer he said and then I want you to be kind to people can we all be kind imagine that as an instruction from God Himself and help people be kind to the broken-hearted be kind to the poor and help them sounds like the new testament because this man has since come to know Christ I think you'll be excited I'd encourage you to go get the book you can even get it on Audible and I think it's the author that reads it to you and he he uh he repeats this scriptures all through the book it will be a big encouragement to you to help you with whatever grief you're walking through or may walk because we are releasing as believers people into our eternal reward what an exciting what an exciting I have one uh by C.S. Lewis wrote a book on grief after he lost his wife and the grieving room is another one written by a pastor's wife I have so many at home I have pictures of them all I would just encourage you to go to a store if you are in a place of grieving and read some of the very healthy books on grief that help you understand and move beyond for me it's been an immense help and I have released my husband with absolute joy at this time I also believe that if you really love someone and you see them in pain you can ask to selfishly stay yourself, for myself. I released him to his heavenly reward with absolute joy. As we all prayed over him, Psalm 23, and with tears and weeping released him, he had said to our seven grandchildren, you know, don't worry if you feel sad. You need to know that this shell that I lived in is just a shell. I want you to remember that when I leave here. My real being, my real spirit is up with Jesus. And that has helped in this journey. And that's another thing I mentioned this morning to your children, your grandchildren, as a husband and wife, talk about that which we will go through at some point in our life.
I remember watching Ken, Ken, knowing that he said, what do you think, Cheryl? You think I'm going to make it? I said, well, it's like this. This foot is in faith that God can do anything. And we've seen miracles everywhere around the world. This foot is in my experience of 51 years as a nurse and looking at you, I actually think you probably will be going to heaven. So let's talk about this. I said, he'd been making fun of me because I was looking for a burial ground that would be around the house that I could go visit and talk to God and ask God to talk to him up in the heavenly realm. And finally, he said, you are like a dog with a bone. I said, yep, because I really want to have the faith you're going to be healed. And I want us to buy it, even if you don't die till 20 years from now, which is my hope. But I don't want to visit you out in the country or across this busy city. He said, and this, this is the way he was. He said, well, eighteen months ago, I met a Russian priest over at a burial ground near us. And I said, you're just telling me now? Well, he said, I've made friends with him. I said, well, let's go. Let's go. Okay. So then I had to bug him a bit more and say, have you phoned? Have you made an appointment? And he finally phoned. We went over there. It was cold. January. He died in June of the same year. So January fifteenth, we bought two plots. And that was the funny part. Okay. That's why it's healthy to talk about these things. And the guy said, Father Stan, he's a Russian Orthodox priest, came to Calgary. The government gave him money to fix up this grave site that was overgrown. It's very beautiful. I should have it on my computer to show you. He said, well, I have plots way back there at the back. They're almost all gone at the front. I said, are there two left? I want them at the front. Ken said, what do you mean? I said, I'll be looking for you in the winter. Uh, I want to be able to find you right at the front row. He said, yeah, I got two left. Good sold. I said, we want those two right in the front row, right behind the fence. And then the only disagreement we had, he said, well, we'll get just a little flat. Oh no, we won't. I said, no, I want a headstone where I can sit my latte right on it. When I come to visit you, he said, that's crazy. I said, no, I want to be able to find you. I want to be, people to be able to read the scripture. We're going to eventually put on the headstone and I want to visit you easily. Do you know that I can walk to this place from my house and do we visit it? Yes. The day before I came here and we put a big, hot, beautiful summer flowers and his little picture is there. Cause we don't have a headstone yet. Then I found a book by a Christian minister that you have a headstone and the words you say are for future generations. So we will get a headstone. I was so blessed. You think of the future generations that will read a scripture from the word of God that will tell them there is hope in this life of eternal life on a headstone, maybe a hundred years from now, the oldest grave there is in the 1800s. And everybody that comes to it, I think in his death and has brought so much traffic to that grave place. There's people visiting. All the time. And they text me and say, I went to visit Ken's burial site today and just sat and talked to God. There's a big rock by it. And you can sit there. The whole family went the other day on June third, before I flew out here, June fifth. Do you know that I go over there with my latte? I talked to heavenly father. I talked to Ken pretending because I don't know that there's a great, the thin veil between heaven and earth. Or I say in case, God, would you just look him up there and say, we miss him. We love him. And we're doing well because of all he poured into our lives. Do you know that heals my heart? And it's right in the front row. So, you know, he laughed about it. Little did he know January by June, he was going to be in that grave site. The beautiful thing was our good friends, Kim and Mark came to help with the celebration of life. They used to be on staff at the church in Calgary. And Mark did the service. I didn't even plan on saying this, but I feel it's important. In all the funerals and grave site services I've been to, I'd never seen one like this. It could be that this was originally a Catholic grave site. I don't know. Maybe somebody can educate me later. In all the services I've been to with Ken, they only lowered the casket, you know, to ground. And then waited till the family left. No, they put him right down seven feet. Oh, so some of you know about that. So this, is this something new or am I, don't know. And then we had taken all the beautiful flowers that had been sent and Ken liked the color. So I said, these flowers are only going to live a week anyway. Unfortunately, with all the beautiful flowers we received, everybody grabbed colored flowers. We're taking them all to the grave site. We put them in a pail and everybody grabbed colored flowers. We're taking them all to the grave site. We put them in a pail and everybody threw a colored flower seven feet down on the casket. And then one of the grandchildren threw in a gold golf ball so he could golf in heaven. And the other one threw in a little football so he could play football with all of his friends that have gone on before him. Then all the children were allowed to lean over the edge of the grave site and look inside all the way down in the dirt. Then they all got, there were two pails of dirt, they all got a handful of dirt, threw it on the casket. We returned to dust, but it healed them. It healed all of us. Even our little Down Syndrome grandchild, he does not ask why his puppy not at supper. He's in heaven. He knows because he saw and he threw in a flower. All of it has brought healing to all of us that this is where his body lays. We go there to honor his memory, but he's in heaven. He's in heaven. He's in heaven. He's in heaven. He's in heaven. He's in heaven because he knows Jesus and it's healing every single. I hope this helps in some way that you would be encouraged to go get a book on grief. If you're grieving, hook up with somebody to pray with you, pray in the Spirit, turn on the worship loud and dance before the Lord. Maybe you know that all these years, I actually never danced in my own house before the Lord. I confess to now. And in my hotel this morning, when I get up in the morning, it's just, I need to have a worship. When I get up all by myself, it's only the last few times that I've gone to a hotel room by myself. When I came here, it was a very strange feeling to come back to Clare, Claremore, Oklahoma, to a hotel without Ken. As I walked in, it just hit me. Oh, the last time we were here, Ken was here. And we had a wonderful time with the ATI network. And all that joined them in October. And it's probably on tape, I'm going to check. But I remember the last message Ken spoke here at our ATI gathering and with the sons, I actually got up and saluted him. I thought in all years I'd heard him preach, it was absolutely the most profound message. And now when I speak, I still salute him because I believe in the cloud of witnesses. He's known. We have such a great, don't grieve as others grieve. Tears are okay. And we have moments like that. But let's spread. I'm asking God for the rest of my life that he'd give me opportunity to win people to Christ anew. And at eleven o'clock, two weeks ago in Ontario, I got a phone call from a nurse that I used to work with probably twenty years ago now. I really loved her. I told her that. And she phones me out of the blue at eleven o'clock on messaging. Says, Cheryl, where do people go after they die? I have no idea. And she says, where do dogs go? I just lost my dog. And she's weeping at eleven o'clock Ontario time. Called her by name. And we had a forty-minute chat of a nurse I worked with twenty years ago. And she said, and furthermore, I went to your husband's funeral. And why did God take him? I said, some of these things I do not have an answer to. I trust God. I talked to her about the way of salvation that she can know she's going to heaven. Is my dog there? I said, I can't answer. There's horses there. I know that. And I'm sure there are animals there because I think my husband's probably playing with all of his dogs. It gives me great comfort. I said, but I'm not going to build a theology on it. But I said, you can know you're going to go to heaven. And I gave her scriptures. I said, do you have a Bible? No. I said, well, we will meet. And I've been very busy. Guess what? I land in the hotel. I get a text from her just the other day. I need to have coffee with you. We must talk. Oh, I said, I'm in Oklahoma next week. I want to lead this girl to Jesus. And I want to lead many of the people that I worked with over the years to Christ. Just because I'm not there doesn't mean I can't still reach out to them. I want to take a whole host of people with me to heaven. And the vision that comes back to me over and over and over again, and I say, God, why, why, why am I keeping getting this picture? And now I know as I speak to you, the picture of when I was a student nurse, and I had a big picture of Jesus in my room. They knew exactly what I was about. I lived in residence. And I was the valedictorian voted on by my classmates at our graduation. And I spoke where there is no vision, the people perish as my graduating class. And all these years later, God keeps giving the picture of all the people that I used to take to church from my nursing class. I just met one of them who had been kicked out of school. And I said, Tell me how you met Jesus. She said, Well, you influenced me, but I was driving down the road one day. And the power of God came all over me and I received Christ. And I just met her a week ago at a Bible study. And she was praying in the spirit, ladies, the seeds we plant in people's lives, we never know when they're going to come to fruition. But let us believe for incredible things in God, that he will open doors for us. And he will open doors for us. And he will open doors for us. And he will open doors for us. And he will open doors for us. And he will open doors for us. And he will plant seeds of faith and love and encouragement and that we can lead people to Christ. Even if those seeds were planted years ago, God has a timetable. Look people up, be an encourager, phone them, send them a text note, and let God work through us for kingdom. I hope you're encouraged that you're valuable in God's sight, no matter what you're going through. I have a song that we played at Ken's Celebration of Life. The original song is called, The original song that we played was sung by one of our Black sisters, Grace Adowu. She's just, but this is by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. And they do, My Life is in Your Hands. I play this the loudest I can in my house, both versions. They're going to play it for us. And the words are going to be up there, I believe, in case some of us with a hearing problem don't get, you know how when you first listen to a song, you don't always get it. The words are going to be there. And I just wanted to minister to you for the next few, if you could put that up. Ken brought the Brooklyn Tabernacle choir, the Queensway cathedral, years ago. So I feel attached to this. I'll sit down. I know you all appreciate Cheryl ministering from her heart. If you would stand with me, and let's just extend our hands and just pray for her. If any of you feel like you have a word of encouragement or, prophetic word, then feel free to step forward. But I just feel like we need to bless our sister with our prayers for the time and the heart that she has given us today. So Father, we do thank you for Cheryl. Lord, I thank you that she has spoken to us from a place of deep pain and deep joy. And Lord, I just thank you for her testimony as a woman of God, that we can look to her and we can see, Lord, that you have given us, even in this New Testament time, you've given us women of God that we can look to as examples. And thank you for Cheryl. Lord, I pray that you will return to her every single thing, Lord, that she has sacrificed, the places of hurt that she has walked through in her life. Lord, I pray that for every place of hurt, you will give a place of bounty. And a place of blessing over and over and over again. Lord, I pray that every evening, which are the most difficult times in her loss, I pray, Jesus, that you will be there with her and that you will fill up her whole place, Lord, with your presence. And that she will not feel alone, that she will not suffer as one that is alone, Lord, because you really are with her. And I just thank you for that, Jesus. Glory and the praise. Lord, I thank you that we as women can know that you're walking with us, just like you're walking with her, and that there is nothing that we could ever face, Lord, that you won't be with us. In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen. Well, thank you for being here. I guess I will see you guys later this evening. In the meantime, I will practice turning on and off microphones, or write myself a note on one, that I need to turn it off. Spoiled to be on.
