Sandra Adye-White
Sandra would tell you that she has had a lot of ups and downs in her life and that was no different in her faith life. She told me many times of her testimonial, not just how she came to Jesus, but also how she came more and more into the fullness of Jesus’ love.
At first, in her rocky and difficult life, she discovered the love of Jesus that was greater than anything she had seen in the world. As a result, the church became a sanctuary, a place where she could find belonging, friendship, and purpose. Even though the world may have been worse, the church wasn’t always good at showing the fullness of Jesus’ love, but it took her a while to realize how deep Jesus’ love was as well.
She would speak to me about how she would overwork herself because she felt like she had to earn Jesus’ love and that she could never be good enough. It took her a while, but one of her greatest revelations and coming to Christ was to realize that she may never be good enough, but that this didn’t matter to God, He loved her more than she could ever deserve and so she didn’t need to fight so much, she could just live in His love. This acknowledgment of a different kind of worthiness, acceptance, and love from God, then began to transform her outlook and ultimately all of her other relationships. As Jesus’ love lived in her, so could she live out that love for others.
You can only imagine how this played out in her life after with family, friends, kids, strangers, and more. She loved to be there for people, to praise God and she felt the Holy Spirit’s powerful presence move very often. She loved to talk about her faith. She would just glow to speak about it and even through her numerous cancer treatments she never lost her spark for Jesus and His love.
That was the thing throughout the 6 years I have known Sandra Adye-White. There were only a few short windows where she was in remission. She had been struggling with treatments and cancer for a long time. Yet, every time she knew God was accompanying her through it, giving her strength and using it. Those of us in her life, knew her courage, her strength, and her faith through all of it and she is an amazing testament, to what faith in Jesus can do for us, even in the worst times.
Psalm 23 speaks to this same reality. This beautiful, poetic and comforting poem of Psalm 23 which so many of us have memorized, doesn’t pretend that life will be easy with God. It speaks of us walking through the shadow of death, times, when it will seem or feel like death, is all around us, consuming us, winning out. It speaks of those times when God might have to punish us by his rod, to set us on the right course, or pull us back with his staff. It speaks of enemies surrounding us. Yet at the same time, it speaks that God’s correction in his rod and staff are comforting, because it is in love. It speaks of God setting up a table of bounty for us, in the midst of our enemies. Scary things may surround us but we can rest confident in God. It speaks of how even though we walk through death, we will dwell in the house of the Lord, anointed for purpose, filled, accompanied by goodness and love, and refreshed. This doesn’t just speak of God leading us through the hard times, it speaks to us leading us to even more than before. Sandra had experienced that more every time too. It doesn’t mean the fight wasn’t hard, but she knew where God was leading her.
In her suffering and love through it, Sandra in moments, took on the image of Christ for us. Reminding us of the greatest gift and sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, which so expressed God’s love for us but through His resurrection showed it to be unquenchable and unstoppable. What can stand in the way of the love of God? Not suffering, not death, not painful relationships, not cancer, not loss, not distance, not spiritual or physical authority, not a lack, not anything. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we know that we have more than conquered these things. Sandra literally conquered these things with the help of God, time and time again. Even now, she has conquered death through the love of Christ.
What shall we say then about these things? We mourn because we have lost a friend, mother, grandmother, guide, and more, but we also celebrate, because we know she has conquered it all and is living into the full and beautiful love of Christ she was beginning to experience. We can also celebrate because she has joined with Jesus in paving the way for us. Showing His faithfulness and how through following him we might know and grow in his love through everything that comes. AMEN
