A Letter to Remember
Jan. 4th, 2009 06:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deirdreI hope none of you are ever in the circumstances to receive a letter like this, but if you are, I hope you receive one that gives you comfort in times when you feel like you've never done anything worthwhile or when you miss your special someone.
It was written in a blue ballpoint on yellow tablet paper, and has been folded and unfolded so frequently that it's starting to get worn, so it's time to transcribe it.
Letter follows.
My name is [name]. You don't know me, and I don't know your family. First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt regret for your loss. I have shed many tears and grieved over the death of your loved one. This letter is intended to honor him as much as I can. The hospital tells me they cannot release your name, and that is fine. So I am sending this letter to [hospital name] in [city] in the hopes that they will forward it to you.
My father's name is [name]. He is a proud man who loves deeply and cares about others. He is the kind of person who goes out of his way to help others. He loves and is deeply loved as was your loved one I am quite sure.
Please let me tell you about our family. We are a family of [number] children, [number] step-children, and [number] half-children. As you have guessed, it is a broken home. We haven't always been unhappy, however. The Lord revealed Himself ot us when I was very young and the [number] of us children accepted Him right away, as did our mother [name]. My dad however was reluctant and refused. My brother and sisters hounded him for years to accept Christ. He refused more and more vehemently until we finally stopped hounding and started praying. A lot has happened in the last 23 years, and when Dad got sick we began to panic. I told my family that if I suddenly died, I wanted my liver to go to Dad. You see, he still hadn't accepted Christ as his Savior. My brothers and sisters agreed to do the same if anything should happen. I remember praying that God would send me to Hell in my Dad's place if there were no other way. My sister called him and shared Christ with him again. I called Dad, and told him in tears that I wanted to have the relationship we never had with him in Heaven, but he hadn't done what needed to be done. I told him I wanted him to invite Christ into his life. A few days later my sister called to tell me he had done this!
I had such peace after that. Then dad became very sick. His liver was being poisoned by a disease called Alpha 1 Anti-Tripson[sic] Deficiency Syndrome. He was hospitalized, and we began to lose hope in his survival.
I don't know why. Maybe my dad was allowed to live so my stepmom would come to know Christ. Maybe it was so you would receive this letter. I know, without a doubt, that when we get to Heaven, we will see and know God's greater plan. It seems to me that this situation makes a great picture of how Christ gave his life so that we could live.
Thank you for your family's gift of love to mine. I know the giving was, and is, a painful thing to do. You are in my thoughts and prayers.
With Christ's Agape love,
[name]
(The letter writer's father is still alive, fyi, 12+ years after the transplant. As you know, I'm not Christian, but I felt the letter was important to post in its entirety, sans identifying information. The liver donated was that of my late husband's. The decision to donate was one of the easiest I've ever made, though the circumstances were, of course, anything but easy. The rural county hospital later told me that it was the first donation of a major organ from that hospital ever.)
It was written in a blue ballpoint on yellow tablet paper, and has been folded and unfolded so frequently that it's starting to get worn, so it's time to transcribe it.
Letter follows.
My name is [name]. You don't know me, and I don't know your family. First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt regret for your loss. I have shed many tears and grieved over the death of your loved one. This letter is intended to honor him as much as I can. The hospital tells me they cannot release your name, and that is fine. So I am sending this letter to [hospital name] in [city] in the hopes that they will forward it to you.
My father's name is [name]. He is a proud man who loves deeply and cares about others. He is the kind of person who goes out of his way to help others. He loves and is deeply loved as was your loved one I am quite sure.
Please let me tell you about our family. We are a family of [number] children, [number] step-children, and [number] half-children. As you have guessed, it is a broken home. We haven't always been unhappy, however. The Lord revealed Himself ot us when I was very young and the [number] of us children accepted Him right away, as did our mother [name]. My dad however was reluctant and refused. My brother and sisters hounded him for years to accept Christ. He refused more and more vehemently until we finally stopped hounding and started praying. A lot has happened in the last 23 years, and when Dad got sick we began to panic. I told my family that if I suddenly died, I wanted my liver to go to Dad. You see, he still hadn't accepted Christ as his Savior. My brothers and sisters agreed to do the same if anything should happen. I remember praying that God would send me to Hell in my Dad's place if there were no other way. My sister called him and shared Christ with him again. I called Dad, and told him in tears that I wanted to have the relationship we never had with him in Heaven, but he hadn't done what needed to be done. I told him I wanted him to invite Christ into his life. A few days later my sister called to tell me he had done this!
I had such peace after that. Then dad became very sick. His liver was being poisoned by a disease called Alpha 1 Anti-Tripson[sic] Deficiency Syndrome. He was hospitalized, and we began to lose hope in his survival.
I don't know why. Maybe my dad was allowed to live so my stepmom would come to know Christ. Maybe it was so you would receive this letter. I know, without a doubt, that when we get to Heaven, we will see and know God's greater plan. It seems to me that this situation makes a great picture of how Christ gave his life so that we could live.
Thank you for your family's gift of love to mine. I know the giving was, and is, a painful thing to do. You are in my thoughts and prayers.
With Christ's Agape love,
[name]
(The letter writer's father is still alive, fyi, 12+ years after the transplant. As you know, I'm not Christian, but I felt the letter was important to post in its entirety, sans identifying information. The liver donated was that of my late husband's. The decision to donate was one of the easiest I've ever made, though the circumstances were, of course, anything but easy. The rural county hospital later told me that it was the first donation of a major organ from that hospital ever.)