A text from Sam Morris came a 9:43 PM yesterday, “Alomha is with Jesus.” As I drove to their house, the words filling my heart were from the hymn “When We All Get to Heaven.”
Sing the wondrous love of Jesus. Sing His mercy and His grace.
In the mansions bright and blessed, He’ll prepare for us a place.
When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see Jesus, we’ll sing and SHOUT to victory.
Sam met me at the door with a smile and a “praise the Lord; her suffering is over.” I shared the words of the hymn I’d been pondering and we both agreed that she was even that moment singing and shouting the victory. We know that Alomha could shout when she was praising God; and there in the presence of Christ, she was surely that moment singing and shouting His praises as He welcomed home His faithful servant to the place that He had prepared for her.
Alomha faced her cancer diagnosis with a determination to praise God, come what may, and to serve Him with all her strength as long as she was able. She blessed dozens of women through her gift of Bible teaching, even teaching this past September to November when she was often weak and in pain. She also used her gift of service and continued as a deaconess and in the kitchen as much as she could until just a month or two ago. It was a joy to be around her because her love for Jesus was so evident and the joy of the Lord was her strength. Like Paul, she could say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7).
Our sister Alomha also loved to be in church services, worshiping God with His people. She was always there, right up front, unless she was out of town or very sick. This picture from her last Sunday in church was taken 11 days before she died. She was very weak, but determined to be at church with her beloved church family lifting praise to Christ and hearing His Word.
Pray for Sam, her loving husband and in recent months, her faithful caretaker. His faith is strong. He and Alomha have set an example for our church family as reflected at the end of the resurrection chapter, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58).
We look forward to the reunion: When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we’ll sing and shout the victory.