A personal note about how this page came into being
We'd like to share with you our motivation for writing this page in case this approach to praying is unusual to you. Prayer is often a very personal thing in which we can sometimes find ourselves rushing into God's presence with a whole collection of jumbled ideas. Click here ...
Heaven Day
Dear Lord, today would have been Esther's birth-day but we're renaming it her 'heaven day'. There was something unique about Esther from the day she came to us. To have our daughter born on the same day of the year that Ian was born again made her so precious to us from the moment she entered the world.
We thank You for her unusual character qualities of gentleness, kindness which so many of her friends valued. When leaving Junior school she was given a mug that was full of slips of paper on which her classmates had written comments about her. It moved us to discover almost all of them either saying "Esther is gentle" or "Esther is kind".
We thank you for the depth of the relationship she enjoyed with you. As she wrote those screeds to You it must have thrilled Your heart to hear your child finish her prayers at night with 'love you lots and lots' as she gave herself to sleep.
We thank you for her quirky sense of humour that emerged best when she felt safe. Her gentle wit and razor sharp insight into people around her simply delighted us so often.
We thank you for the caring side of her nature which caused her to go out in love and concern for the disadvantaged, for people in her world who were just a little unusual and for the elderly. She made these people feel that they mattered.
We thank you for her courage and spirit of adventure. You gave us a daughter who, like Abraham, was never afraid to take bold initiatives even if they meant leaving the familiarity of home and friendships. Despite her shyness she bravely embarked on adventures which deepened her character and tested her walk with You. We want to emulate her initiative.
We thank you for her determination to improve herself in those life areas that are most significant - in spirituality in academic study, in music and in fitness. We feel privileged to have been trusted with a daughter who had the courage to face deeply personal challenges, like her anxiety about speaking, and not shy away from facing these hurdles. By drawing on Your power, she overcame some of her greatest obstacles. Her conscientiousness and hard work were an example to us.
We thank you for the faithfulness and loyalty she displayed in her friendships.
We thank you for the way she sought to live a highly principled life, even to her own disadvantage. Her wrestling with the place of Law and Grace deepened her enormously and must have brought joy to your heart.
We thank you that she embraced the musical gift you invested in her from her earliest days. Although she was so rarely heard in public we believe You were thrilled with the intensity of her praise and the clarity of her voice as she worshipped you at the altar of her own heart and in the privacy of her own room.
We thank you for the joy she gave to us over each of the twenty-two years she was part of our family. We felt loved by her even though she often found it tough to express her affection in words.
We thank you for her respect for Christopher. In their growing closeness over the last few years you gave her a much deeper confidence as a sister and enjoyment in their relationship together. Despite her shyness we were so pleased to see the enjoyment and natural pride which filled her as a bridesmaid at his wedding.
Thank you for the love which You gave us for her as her parents. We feel as if that specific love can never be diverted elsewhere and her loss leaves us with a soul-emptiness which we only slowly come to terms with. We need to experience your healing and receive your resilience as we continue through life without our daughter.
We confess that You have surprised us by the brevity of her life but we thank you that the longings we brought to you at her dedication have all been fulfilled in her short life. We want to tell you that we are grateful she is now in your presence enjoying joy and freedom, and the struggles which plagued her on earth are finally a thing of the past. The race she ran with such perseverance is now over.
We trust you Lord that in your goodness you know the glory she's been saved into and in your mercy the trials she's been saved from.
We recognise that the past few years have been a consistent struggle for her but you never left her side, you never let her down and you were present, even when she was slipping into unconsciousness.
And so we want to commit ourselves wholeheartedly to you for the rest of our own earthly race however long it may be. We want to tell you that we love you and desire to receive the legacy of persevering love for God that Esther has bequeathed to us.
We want to make our relationship with you the primary focus of our lives. So lead us only into those activities and relationships that are ordained by you and will be anointed by you.
Work through us to bring many other people to know you. When we meet challenges, small or large, help us to tackle them as our daughter did with wisdom and grace. Deepen our love for you and our Christian character during these difficult times.
So we rejoice that for our daughter Esther every day is now a heaven day.
Amen
Ian and Ros White 31st May 2009