Thank you Dahda...

This is an excerpt from my personal journal from 2006. It's about my grandmother, and her influence on my life during quite a turbulent time in my life. My grandfather had passed away that summer, and it was weighing heavily on me at the time. I was serving as a missionary in Maui at the time, 5000 miles away from home, and was pretty homesick. As I remember, this was about 2 1/2 - 3 months after Papa went on to be with the Lord, and it was really the first time that I was able to sit down and have a good cry about it. There are a few people who leave a lasting impact on your life, and she has done that in mine. So, this is just one way that I can say thank you to her...

"…I miss Papa, and his death still stings like a knife through the flesh of my heart, but He (God) is faithful. I am enamored by Dahda. She defies my understanding of love. If there is any women who I would pray that my wife is like, it is her. My unrelinquished tears are no longer able to be held back, as I must take a minute to clear my eyes. I can not imagine the pain and the loneliness that she endures. Papa was gone a long time ago with the Parkinson's, but Dahda never wavered. Steadfast, she stood by his side, even when there was no reward for her. There was nothing that awaited her everyday at that hospital except for pain and agony. And yet, through the only kind of love that matures from school children's playground infatuation to 60+ years of faithfulness and devotion, she was able to endure. And I sat there. I sat there as the time drew to an end, when that race that Papa had run came to a finish. I was there when she took his hand and put her head by his and whispered, "I love you. I love you." I was there in the room as she continued to remain faithful to Papa as he went to be with our Lord. As he drew his last and stepped over the river onto the banks of the other side of eternity. And as I pause to wipe the tears from my eyes, I wonder, "How many tears have fallen from the eyes of this angel? How many nights has she cried herself to sleep?" If there has been anyone who has taught me the meaning of love, it has been her. If I have but one desire and one request, it is that God would grant me this one thing. That my wife will be half the woman that she is, and I will be all of the man that she deserves. Thank you Dahda, for your witness to me. Because of it, I have seen the love of Christ made flesh in you."

-Jeff