Clara called home

A cherished, precious little girl I have ardently prayed for with my sweet LaLa (who is only just slightly older than she) for two years, gently passed into heaven's embrace last night. After a long and miraculous battle with cancer, her soul was released from the arms of her mother into the embrace of the Lord.

Though I never held her hand or smiled upon her face in person, my soul sought a miracle for her. I begged God for her cancer to be cured. I prayed ~ often tearfully ~ pleadingly for her sweet, tender life to be totally healed and made miraculously whole, free from this awful disease.

God answered those prayers tonight, but not in the manner that I, in concert with hundreds of others who prayed faithfully for her, so earnestly hoped for.

And now I am pounded by waves of sick grief. Awash in tears. Though I did not have the honor of personally knowing this child, I was unable to hold back chokes of pained emotion when the news reached me early this morning. I can only imagine what it must be like for her parents to experience this deep, tragic loss. My heart is broken for them. Her mother. Her father. Their baby. I can only imagine.

After crying and praying over the news of her passing, I stole into LaLa's room and carried her urgently into my bed. I snuggled her close all night, comforted by the rhythmic beating of her heart and the smell of her hair conditioner. While I clung to my little girl, I tearfully prayed. My desperate, angry, sorrowful pleading of, "WHY?" will likely not be answered until such time as I can ask God in person.

She is free now. There is no cancer invading her tiny body anymore. No tubes and needles, oxygen masks, medicines, or machines. She is free.

But the void she leaves in the lives of those who love her is immensely vast. My heart hurts and my soul aches for her parents and her family as they grieve the death of their sweet daughter well before her fifth birthday. May God envelope them in peace that surpasses all understanding, and love that can triumph over bitter anger and pierce through the darkness. May He love them and comfort them as He welcomes heaven's newest angel.

God Bless You, Clara.