A Letter From Grandpa
submitted by Gayle Jones (used by permission)
To Dear All,
I will tell you what happened to me after Christy died. ...
Since her funeral, three weeks ago, I have flown back to Arkansas twice, and driven once, just looking for some sort of peace within myself. I had heard since my Sunday school days that the Lord would not put any cross upon you that you couldn't bear. But this time, I believed, it was just too heavy and was going to do me in. As I have heard before, the death of a child to his parents or grandparents leaves an emptiness the size of the cosmos. Whoever said that was right on target! Christy was loved by me in a very, very special way. We bonded the as soon as she was born, right then! We took her on every trip we ever made; Gatlinburg, Smoky Mountains, Seattle, Albuquerque, Galveston, Seaworld, you name it. For my love to her she paid me back with a love so pure, no one outside the immediate family could fathom it. I am sorry I didn't want this to be a story about her, just a little of what she left everyone that knew her, especially me, her "Papa".
It happened when I came back from Arkansas the last time. Now at this point , you can choose to believe or not, I just want what happened to me to be made known. My daughter, GayleMarie, called me and I just lost control of my emotions. I was in such pain! I did manage to ask her if she would pray for me as I was truly tortured. A short time later my 90 yr old mother called and I asked her the same, "Will you pray for me?". Of course, they both said they would. I went to bed that night with a tremendously heavy heart. I was sound asleep when I heard Christy's voice saying "Papa". I opened my eyes and saw her!!!! The room was pitch black, like black velvet, but she was illuminated!! I said to her, "Christy, you are so bright I can hardly even look at you! You are so gorgeous!". I looked down the full length of her and saw she was barefoot. I said, "Christy, your feet and toes are even shining!". She laughed out loud and then she said, " Papa, I am so happy here!". I blinked my eyes and she was gone. I was half sitting up on my bed, leaning on my left side. The light came in through the windows and I could see the time displayed again on the clock radio. No longer was it black as velvet. Everything at that instant came back to normal with one exception..Never have I known such peace withing myself.
Christy has changed so many lives with her innocent, loving attitude. I wish everyone could have known her a tenth as much as I have. I believe we would all be better people for it. I know I will. I will because I saw a small glimpse of Heaven. I do not know if it was Christy or an angel, but I saw something from Heaven itself and I will remember it till the day I see her again.
Love you all so much,
Dad
