My little sister was born on January 1, 1969. Today she would have turned 42! I’m sure the angels are celebrating with her today in heaven.

After battling with brain cancer, she went home to be with her Lord and Savior in January 2006.

A few months before she died, my wife and I were blessed to talk with Mary and her husband Steve about her perspective on dealing with the cancer. You can watch the video here.

Words cannot express how much I miss my sister! I am so grateful for her faith in God, her example to so many, and her love for her husband and five children.

Here’s the conversation on the video…

Dave: “Do you remember what you said?”

Mary: “Not quite.”

Deanne: “What was the question Dave? What did you…I want to hear the question.”

Dave: “Well, I think I just asked you what… how you respond to people who ask you why is this happening, or why is God allowing this and how do you deal with that question of ‘Why?'”

Mary: “Basically, God knows what is going to happen and it doesn’t help me to ask why. I just let Him do His own thing. Therefore, people say, ‘Oh really’ and it catches them off their…”

Deanne: “Off guard.”

Mary: “…and out of their tracks. And it surprises them that I’ve come to think that way. But God will do His own thing no matter what I decide.”

Dave: “Or what you tell Him.”

Mary: “Yea. Of course I still have hope that He’ll do something – but if He doesn’t, then that’s okay too if that’s what He intends. So, …pretty much that’s what we’ve decided – right? or not?”

Everyone: Laughter

Steve: “That God’s going to do His own thing no matter what we think?”

Mary: “Yea.”

Steve: “Uh huh. I think it would be nice if He did what we wanted right now. Yes.”

Dave: “I think that’s part of the conversation that we had too about purpose. You know, and when you embrace that God has a purpose – whether you know what it is or whether you like what it is – you know, you have that confidence that God’s purpose is so much bigger than anything we can comprehend, therefore I’m going to trust Him because God doesn’t do things without purpose.”

Mary: “Right.”

Steve: “Without good purpose.”

Dave: “Absolutely.”

Deanne: “Amen.”

This is the video from Mary’s memorial service – watch here.