Reva's Glory

It's 3:40 in the morning and sleep, I figure, is overrated especially when you have no choice in the matter. My phone that I accidentally knocked off the bed and retrieved contained a voicemail that informed me that my friend, Reva Arnold, passed away last night. She is in glory!

Reva had been battling ALS for the past year, along with a host of other ailments that rendered her with limited speech capacity, and little mobility but still a clear and sound mind which is an unfortunate hallmark of the disease.  A picture cemented in my mind is that of her 87 year old mother, barely mobile herself and sole care-taker, shuffling Reva to and from the bathroom and bedroom with Reva's arm draped around her weakened and arthritic back, walking together. Please remember Della Arnold in your prayers.

The last time I was able to visit her, she relayed to me a dream she had around the time of my own mom's passing.  In it she saw mom singing in a sea of people Handel's Messiah. She said it was breath-taking and that mom looked radiant. Reva did not know at the time that mom had passed away or that her favorite song had been that exact composition. She was sobbing as she relayed that story. We all were.

Reva no longer has rigid hands and locked fingers, instead she is raising them in restored glory to praise the one who has set her free from her ravaged shell.  Reva is now talking, laughing and praising from the same lips that just hours ago rendered her speechless.  Reva is in glory with her Lord.  There is much to rejoice about today.