My friend and young adult ministry confidant, Renita Riley passed yesterday, unexpectedly. Today I will write in her memory. She suffered from a heart ailment. I am healing from post partum heart failure. We both have daughters. We're both in our thirties. We both love God.
This senryu I wrote when my doctor's told me I was terminal four years ago. I am still here and no longer terminal, but chronic. And from the doctor's expressions soon to be recovering. The poem is named after my daughter, Selah.
Selah
She sleeps near my heart
Enlarged, wide open for her
God heals mothers posed for praise
God blesses and keeps you now, Renita. We will all meet perfection and you again.
Writing to see what the end's gon' be,
Dee
The Pruning Principle
2 years ago
7 comments:
Dee, I'm so sorry about your friend.
Mary
Dee,
I'm so sorry to hear about a young mother passing away. God be with her child (ren).
Dee, I'm sorry about your loss, but she is now standing before the throne of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. What a glorious thought! I pray that God will give you the strength to help her daughter heal! God Bless.
Dee,
My wife Lannie was a very good friend of Renita's. Both of them attending college in North Carolina. At one point in time, they were roommates. They used to be on the cheerleading squad together. I can still rememeber them going to get food with me after college parties - they would borrow 50 cents off of me to listen to "Come and Talk to Me" by Jodeci as they would eat my toast (they never had much money, but it was ok.)
I just had to put Lannie down to sleep after she sobbed and sobbed. She is very hurt by this sudden passing. She has missed Renita since she moved back to GA and Lannie stayed here.
I ask you to please get in touch with me so that Lannie can have a chance to talk to you. I think that talking to you and allowing God's grace to work through you (due to your role in Renita's life) will help bring some healing to Lannie. Lannie is a Christian woman, a survivor of trials and, in fact, have overcome having tumors removed 3 times over the past 3 years. Having 2 Christian women pray and heal together over this lost may prove to be fruitful - praise God.
Please feel free to contact me at my "business" phone - 704-728-2622. I hope that you will call me soon. We plan on being at the service Tuesday.
Thank you for your kind words about our friend, Renita. Dee, we hope to see you soon.
Take care and God Bless,
Lenny McAllister
Sorry about my poor grammar and misspellings - I am a little drained myself. Again, we were all friends and this is hard to believe. We all went to school together - Renita and I always got along fine. I had a chance to witness Renita and Lannie together on a regular basis.
I hope to meet you Tuesday. I think that it will be good for Lannie to have Christian women to heal with through this. She is very hurt and this is something that will hurt her for a long time. She feels like she didn't have the chance to say good-bye as she wanted. Like I said, I hope that God will allow some fruit to grow from this tragic situation.
Take care and God Bless,
Lenny
Lenny, thanks for contacting me. I will call tomorrow.
I was shocked by it myself. I didn't know she had an illness until afterwards.
Honestly, I don't think I played a big role in her life. She joined Saint Philip a few years back with Tyrus and we haven't seen each other often until this year. For me Renita helped me to get more involved with my church again, particularly the young adult ministry. I try not to spend a lot of time thinking about my healing challenges, but it affects me when I can't come to YAM Meetings or service, because the drive is too long or my meds are too strong to fellowship with them. I've been fellowshipping with a church around the corner just so I can stay in God's will. But this year I felt stronger and more confident, so I got back in there. I'll call you and refer you to Renita's family and her close friends.
Dee,
Here is my e-mail address so that you can give the information over to Renita's husband and family. lanniemcallister@hotmail.com Please give them our phone information as well.
Thanks
Lannie
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