Time for Prayer

Jack and I were given a beautiful 4 bedroom home to stay at in Kimberly last weekend and it was fabulous. The home belongs to friends that own this as a recreation home..God does truly bless some folks. Anyway it was great to get-away, golf some, sleep in and most of all enjoy God's nature that he created. We had a doe and her two fawns crash in the yard during the day and early evening. It was like being right with the animals.
Then on our way home, I got the dreaded call that my dear friend Darryl passed away peacefully from bone cancer. When I got home I called Penny (his wife/my high school girlfriend). She told me that it was so peaceful for him. He was filled up with fluid but about 30 min. before his passing the gurgling stopped. He was still listening to his wife & daughter talk to him. Then 10 mins. before he reached up and said "open the gates further, I need them opened more". Then just before he passed away he started talking again, "I see wings, I can see wings". Penny and her daughter, Lisa told him that it was okay to go, that they would be okay, that their other daughter/sister who is in another hospital suffering from a brain stem injury, due to her husbands reckless driving, that she would be okay; And then he took his last breath and was gone...so peaceful. (Now this couple didn't attend church other than Xmas & Easter; they were married in one church and their girls were baptized there as well but that was it). This conversation brought me some peace as well for them. Just knowing that he didn't suffer was okay. His service is this Saturday morning.
Then the next thing I got was a message that my dear great aunt (91) who lives here in Calgary passed away. And her passing was peaceful as well - talking with her grown daughter right up to her last breath. The last thing that they told each other was that they loved one another...again very surreal knowing that she too didn't suffer. She has been cremated and her ashes mixed in with her husbands (my uncle) who passed away from Alzheimers and cancer 2 years ago. Their ashes will be interned in Ontario later next spring.
So I thought that was it, and then my mom called on Monday to say that our good friends father passed away from his plight with alzheimers. He was pretty much comotose when he passed. His service is this Thursday.
With all this saddness I was reading a book that Jack has been after me to read and it has helped me put life in perspective. The author is Shauna Niequist and the title is "Cold Tangerines". Some of the book was like looking into a mirror and when I posted a message on my friends Memorial page, I used one of the comments from the book as I thought it was appropriate..."Life with God at its core is about giving your life up to something bigger and more powerful. It's about saying at every turn that God knows better than we know, and that his Spirit will lead us in ways that we couldn't have predicted". Ladies this is a great book and Shauna has written a second one out so I will post the title when I have read that one.
Life has a many twists and turns and we never know when our time will come to an end. But knowing that my last three friends/family passing were peaceful and trusting makes my soul feel a bit lighter.