This is the second post in a four part series.
Walking with someone who is dying teaches you many things. You receive the gift of intimate knowledge of them. They often share things then they would never have shared earlier. There is no longer any reason for holding back, keeping up appearances, or pretending. Pride has ebbed away. In the midst of presence with them you will also get glimpses into yourself you had not noticed when you were busy doing other things.
I experienced that with Linda when she asked me to be present with her on her way home. Before she had arrived at the “now”, she had already faced so many other things 
that allowed her to often see both closer and farther. As I share from her final journal, I was reminded of a conversation she had shared about learning how to see. She had just returned from being with her best friend in Tennessee. She wanted to somehow take me to that mountain top to see what the Lord had taught her, see how she was learning to see.
She told me she had learned a new way to see. I was fascinated. Here is the way she described it in her final journal:
“How do you see? With rose colored glasses? With blinded eyes? Or with filters on? Or do you see with ‘spiritual eyes’? What are ‘spiritual eyes’, you ask? Well, they’re how God sees! You see – He sees the big picture! We see in small frames…just in bits and pieces. God sees the beginning to the end…all at the same time!
I’m getting ready to go back to Tennessee. I went there last summer with my best friend. One of the neatest things I learned there last year was how we see in pieces!
We sat on top of a mountain looking down into the valley and it was beautiful, but I could only focus on 1 thing at a time! It almost looked like a quilt pieced together, 
yet I could only ‘see’ one piece at a time! One field, one lake, one yard, one farm! We sat there for hours trying to soak it all in, but even now looking at my snapshots I discover I see the ‘whole’ picture and yet can only see ‘one piece at a time’!
Our lives are like that, filled with pieces, things that we see, feel, do – one at a time, yet all of them fit together for God’s perfect plan!
The problem is we can’t get past ‘right now’ and it throws us! We get frustrated, upset and even angry ‘cause we don’t see the overall picture! We ‘see’ with rose-colored glasses, blinded eyes, or through filters from our past!
We have to learn to see with ‘spiritual eyes’ and that takes time and trust in the One who sees the whole picture!”
“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12 (KJV)
What a legacy Linda has left with her journals.
Kind of makes me wonder what will happen to what I’ve written … and might it make a difference in someone’s life after I’m gone.
Our legacies matter … we get some say in how they’re crafted, but in the end, not the final one.
It’s all in His hands, isn’t it …
Yes, that’s very true. What I also see is the number of blank pages she never got to fill. The next two posts go a bit deeper I think.
I agree about wondering what happens with the words we leave behind. I have told my husband that my journals are the most intimate look at my spiritual relational life.
Wise words, my friend, wise words💕
Pam,
These are beautiful words for those, like me, who never knew your friend. Her wisdom and insight is an encouragement for me to trust God for what I can’t see. I’m walking a hard path with my earthly father, but I feel a lifting of the burden knowing my Heavenly Father sees the big picture!
Thank you for sharing!
I am so glad Linda’s words blessed you! This four part post has a number of special treasures tucked inside from her journal. When the Lord nudged me to share this, I felt He was showing me someone very much needed to hear her words written nearly 20 years ago. I hope you will check out the other posts from this past Monday as well as this Friday and next Monday. Trusting the Lord will keep your hand in His during this hard season!💕
Thank you Pam. He’s weaving a tapestry; I get bunged up in the threads. May I learn to trust Him for the beauty of the final product and the necessity of each strand in the process….
I think we can all get caught up in the threads and do so routinely. I am grateful when He uses someone or something to draw me back away from that…even if is just for a day!💕
That’s absolutely lovely. What a gift she has left in this piece. To see as Jesus sees, a knowing that there is much beyond what only we can see leaves us much freer in this world from the entrapment of discontent too. Thanks for sharing this Pam!
Thanks so much, Lynn. Yes, it is indeed a lovely gift and I am trusting the timing of His nudge to share this four part post I started on Monday because there are people He wants to touch through her words from almost 20 years ago. That’s just the way the Lord does things! Blessings on your week!
I am also needed this today. I feel like I am waiting on a breakthrough in my life. I have so many pieces here and there and I know God is sewing them together to create a tapestry of my life. He has a plan. I need to hold on to this message in the coming weeks. Thank you.
I am so glad the Lord used Linda’s words to bless you even though they were written by here almost 20 years ago. Only the Lord could orchestrate that. Your words also encourage and confirm that I was right to follow the nudge to write this four part series from Linda’s journal. I hope the previous one and the next two will also bless you. ❤️
This is really beautiful and such a wonderful word for your friend to leave us today. Thank you!
such a good perspective to gain… especially when we face things that make no sense to us. we have to realize that just because it seems like God isn’t paying attention doesn’t mean He isn’t. We only see a little bit of whats happening right in front of us, but God has an elaborate ‘quilt’ he’s putting together that we have no ability to comprehend. That’s where faith comes in. We trust… not because we see… we trust because He promises. Thanks for your post!
Thanks, Karen. You’re so right! Somehow Linda’s words put all that into perspective once again. Blessings on your week!
Pam, I needed the reminder not to rely on what I can see but to trust His vision and eyes. Thank you, my friend.
I think we all need Linda’s reminders.💕