it’s now been just over 3 weeks since sarah beth
left for heaven. in some ways it seems like
yesterday yet sometimes it seems like she’s been
gone for years. we miss her. and that’s a
tremendous understatement.

leaving sarah’s blog at the previous entry did not
seem to me to be the way to do things. while many
of you who are reading this were able to be
present for the celebration of her life, even more
were not. so i think that time should be shared
here. as heavy as our hearts were, a celebration
is what it was – celebrating and honoring sarah
beth in a way that celebrated and honored God.
there were 388 people there. 388 different points
of view, 388 people with unique ties to sarah.
but all of us were there to honor her, to comfort
each other, to be comforted ourselves, to seek God
in all of it. God was certainly there, and He was
given glory in this time that was planned by sarah
and by the family. we sang hymns she loved and our
church’s youth praise band led us in worship with
a few songs that were some of her favorites.
there were times of scripture reading and personal
words from her brothers, jeremy and jason (she
would’ve been SO proud of them ), her uncle greg,
her poppaw keith, her best friend julie and dear
friend julia, and friends tom sharp, rich
holtzapfel, willie wilson and steve willis. we
watched hundreds of precious pictures of sarah
beth and a video of her singing – so bittersweet
to hear that sweet voice of hers. it was
difficult, heartbreaking, beautiful, priceless
time together.

at sarah’s graveside, we released pink balloons
into the air, each one with a tag that read,
“www.loveyourguts.com”...somewhere, someone will
find a tag and will be curious enough to check
into it. and sarah’s story of faith will be read
by another person. hopefully by countless people.
in her blog entry from february 19, 2006, sarah
wrote, “sometimes i wonder if i will ever see
fruit. however, i am trusting God that the seeds
being planted will not come back void. i may never
see fruit, but i have to be OK with that…i know
that i am at one of those points where God is
getting ready to do something with my life, and i
am just opening up my everything to Him so that He
can work.” she was referring at that time to her
ministry with daybreak in lincoln heights but she
did feel that way in other areas of ministry as
well. as she became less able physically to go and
“do” ministry hands-on, she frequently felt as
though she was doing nothing at all for God. i
know it frustrated her completely, but she really
couldn’t have been more wrong about that. we
heard from so many of you how her faith had
touched your lives and spurred you on toward
moving closer to God. during sarah’s visitation
time at the funeral home, we were told of a little
boy in our church family who prayed to ask Jesus
into his heart after he’d been there earlier in
the evening. he has been taught about Jesus all
his life, knew all the answers to all the sunday
school questions…and came to a point of decision
that evening. later he said, “i’ll go to heaven
just like sarah.” we are still seeing it happen.
we have friends who have started coming to church
as a result of her testimony. just examples. maybe
you’re another. maybe you’re reading this right
now because you found a pink balloon with a web
address attached.

sarah beth’s faith was mentioned many times at her
celebration. one of those who spoke pointed out
that her faith was not needed anymore – because
now her faith is sight. the One that she believed
in and trusted with all her heart, having never
seen Him…He is the One she now sees face to face.
their eyes have met. they’ve smiled at each other.
she has seen the nail prints in His hands. she is
in the arms of her Jesus. He’s told her the story
of her faith through HIS eyes. and no doubt, she’s
seen the fruit of her faith’s effort. this
loveyourguts site is more than sarah beth’s diary.
it’s a God story of how He gave us glimpses of
His love through her life. sarah’s faith was huge.
but i think we need to realize that we each are
capable of letting God cultivate such faith in us.
the key for sarah beth was that her life was a
surrendered life. that’s His desire. He won’t
make us be His. we need to choose Him. we need to
surrender. you can do it. i can do it. but will
we? what has God been showing you in this example
of living life to honor Him, no matter the
circumstances? what will we do with what we know?

as a family, we continue to grieve. we miss her so
much. please continue to pray for us in this,
especially for mark and kathleen, jeremy and
jason. her absence is felt most tangibly by the
four of them. still, we hold onto the hope we have
in Christ. the sureness that we will spend our
eternity with Him. and through that, the knowledge
that we will see sarah beth again. when she was
still with us and was having some fearful moments
toward the end, jason reminded her of 2 peter 3:8,
which says, “but do not forget this one thing,
dear friends: with the Lord a day is like a
thousand years, and a thousand years are like a
day,” and then he told her in that case, it would
only be about 17 minutes until she saw us again.
she told him he’d been studying.

on april 10, 2006, sarah beth wrote, “please know
that i firmly believe God has his hand all over
this. He does not allow anything to happen that is
not in His will. i will continue to be obedient
and will serve Him to the day that i die…no matter
what the circumstances.” ….God surely did have His
hand all over it. and sarah surely did serve Him
in obedience to her very last breath. we were so
completely blessed to be able to call her ours. we
love her guts.

leigh ann

thank you all for the messages that you are
sending to our family to let us know of your prayers
and to tell us of the impact sarah beth's faith has
had on your life. we appreciate both so much. and
knowing how she has touched your hearts reminds us
that God has a purpose, a good purpose, in all
things.

we wanted to share a link with you so you would be
able to read sarah beth's obituary.

http://news.herald-
dispatch.com/obituaries/index.php?id=36882016

we want to pass along information to you about
times for the services in honor of sarah beth.

a time of visitation with sarah's family will be
held at wallace funeral home in barboursville, wv,
on thursday, 4/1, from 3pm to 9pm.

a celebration of sarah beth's life is planned for
friday, 4/2, at 1:00pm at pea ridge baptist church
in huntington, wv.

mark and kathleen ask that instead of gifting them
with flowers to honor sarah beth (if you plan to
do that), you might consider making a donation to
the loveyourguts fund. this fund will be used to
help various organizations that have meant much to
sarah beth. contributions may be made to pea ridge
baptist church, with LoveYourGuts in the memo line
and sent to our church at the address below.
submitted this way, your contributions are tax
deductible.

again, we need to thank you for your continued
prayers for our family in these days. we are
forever grateful.

leigh ann

=====================================
wallace funeral home
1159 central ave
barboursville, wv 25504
(304) 736-3431

pea ridge baptist church
5945 east pea ridge rd
huntington, wv 25705
(304) 736-5572

sarah beth.

that's as far as i've been able to get up to this
point (sitting here staring at her name) because
i'm not sure how to go about saying what i need
to. many of you reading this are already aware.
but to some of you it will be new, even though
we've been expecting it. it's the entry i hoped
never to make.

sarah beth passed from this life to real life this
morning around 6. she has looked into the eyes of
her Jesus. without a doubt she has heard his voice
tell her "well done", because she has truly been a
good and a faithful servant of his. she has a new
body. the human body that has restricted her so
has been left behind. it could not hold her.
weakness, labored breathing, seizures, fever,
cancer cells, brain tumors...left behind as she
flew to Jesus. my heart knows she smiled as she
went to him. death could not hold her. she is
free. FREE.

"Death swallowed by triumphant Life!
Who got the last word, oh, Death?
Oh, Death, who's afraid of you now?"
1 Corinthians 15:54

thank you doesn't seem enough. we are grateful for
the way you have carried sarah beth (and the rest
of us) to God by your prayers. please continue to
pray, especially for mark, kathleen, jeremy and
jason in these times to come.

leigh ann

==========================================
from sarah beth, october 18, 2007

"Where to even start? I have so much going through
my mind and somehow am going to try to convey what
is on my heart. I should go back to way back when
i was a kid and life was just so simple. No
worries, just living the life. So many memories. I
have been truly blessed with so many things in my
life that i have absolutely not one thing to
complain about. There is so much truth in the word
of God and I pray with all of my heart that if you
don't know Jesus that you will at least open your
heart to listen to His sweet voice. I can promise
you that He will NEVER let you down. Things won't
always be picture perfect, as my journey has shown
you, but a heart that is full of joy and peace
that can only be filled with the Lord Jesus is
something that can never be fulfilled any other
way. As my journey has shown you, there have been
many times that I have struggled to feel God's
presence and His love and yes, it has been very
hard at times. However, the power of prayer and
the living, active word of God will overcome those
feelings every single time. I am a true testimony
to that. Take these last few weeks for example.
They have literally been a blur...I don't remember
much. I have noticed a decline in my health. I am
weak and move slower. I have had many questions
with not a lot of answers.

The word cancer can seem so scary sometimes, but
to me it has become one of the greatest blessings
of my life. I hope that all of you can experience
the power of the the greatest love that has ever
been and will ever be in existence today and
forever: God's love."

sarah beth is with us still. our family, in
various combinations, remains by her side, or
nearby, at all times. she is beyond weak but
continues to hold on to this life. her moments of
breathing are shorter and more labored. her body
shows so many other signs that her time with us is
very short. but she keeps fighting. her pain is
under control. she is not responding to us anymore
- doesn't open her eyes. there was no reaction of
agitation or discomfort to her bath today. still
God allows her to linger here. only He knows the
moment He will release her and take her to be with
Him - the moment she will see His face and have
peace. we pray that, for sarah's sake, her relief
will come soon. we are waiting on Him in faith.
God is merciful and loving. He loves sarah beth
more than we do. what else can we do but trust Him
with her?

reading back over some of sarah's entries, i found
this quote from a Bible study we were part of in
our church:

=====================================
from sarah beth, may 18, 2006
(a quote from angela thomas)

"Sometimes when I am learning to trust God more,
it feels like a free fall. I am giving up control.
Letting go and trusting feels like falling,
because i've been trying so desperately to hang
on, navigate my circumstances, anticipate the
unknown, and find order in chaos. For me, trusting
is learning to breathe during the fall. Trusting
is believing with my whole life that God will
catch me. He promises to keep His promises. He is
able. He is strong. His heart toward me is good.
He wants even more for me than I can dream. He is
bigger than all of us."

- angela thomas "living your life as a beautiful
offering"
=======================================

we can surely trust Him.

"...On him we have set our hope that he will
continue to deliver us, as you help us by your
prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf
for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the
prayers of many." 2 Corinthians 1:10,11

we are grateful for the hope we have that God will
deliver sarah beth and us as well. thank you for
helping us by your prayers. please continue to
pray for sarah beth in these final days.

with our love,
leigh ann