Author: A Little Faith Lift…Finding Joy Beyond Rejection
www.alittlefaithlift.com
AWSA (Advanced Writers & Speakers Assoc.)
She graduated from seminary with a Master of Theology degree and became a well-known, Christian speaker. I met Lucinda about twenty years ago when she welcomed me into her home and church where her husband pastored. Sixteen years before that, while speaking at a ladies’ retreat, Lucinda was asked to pray for the pastor’s wife who was in the hospital, dying of cancer. When she met the frail woman, Lucinda asked how she could pray specifically for her needs.
“Pray for my husband to meet and marry a follower of Jesus who will be a good mother to my two children, especially Justin, our six-year-old, special needs son.” Lucinda’s heart broke for this precious woman who died a few days later. She continued to pray as the woman had directed.
Two years later, my friend was at a Christian event when she was introduced to a young pastor. Within a few months, they began dating, and Lucinda met his children, one, an eight-year-old, autistic boy. God had orchestrated a meeting between Lucinda and this man, the husband of the dying woman Lucinda had prayed for. Little did she know, she would become that man’s wife and mother of his children.
As a guest in Lucinda’s home, I met her son, Justin, who had just returned with a gold medal from the Special Olympics’ tennis competition. Following dinner, Justin announced that it was his turn to wash the dishes. I asked if I could dry. “Probably not,” he said. “You probably won’t do it right.” I cracked up, but Lucinda lovingly told him that his criticism was not warranted and he should give me a chance. Which he did. I immediately learned that Justin had a very specific way to handle dish-drying. I never knew that that task could be so ardeous.
Lucinda died a few months ago, an unexpected cancer diagnosis that came just as she was finishing her book 52 Blessings for Women. Her devotional is for women who are “weary and wandering, disheartened and discouraged, stressed and searching” (basically, every woman I know). Little did she know, she would be asked to endure the very thing other women were enduring in hopes her words would be a blessing to them.
A few weeks ago, Janet, an author and close friend of Lucinda, asked fellow writers to help spread the message of Lucinda’s soon-to-be-published book. Would we be willing to read it and share its message with others? I signed on, and yesterday, my friend’s devotional was delivered to my home. The last sentence of her introduction is the perfect picture of Lucinda’s life. “Lucinda was always the first to offer an encouraging word, and it was her mission to communicate God’s faithfulness, extend His grace, and encourage others to trust him fully.”
And now, through her death, she is able to do just that as she wrote for us all to be a blessing to others…not in a fake sort of way, but to truly lean into the hearts of those we encounter, to encourage them to be an encouragement as a tangible way to show love and compassion.
Although Lucinda never got to see the fruits of her newest writing labors on earth, I’m sure she is seeing them through eternal eyes. Thank you, Lucinda, for inspiring so many of us to do better.