I had the privilege of first getting to know Tina over five years ago. She began attending my church when our boys were in kindergarten. We became familiar with each other through the choir, but where I really made my first connection with her was at a Mom’s Night Out a few months later. Being our first year of homeschooling, it was the first one either of us had attended. Not knowing many people there, we found ourselves drawn to sitting together and while we ate, we bonded over the similarities of our sons’ learning needs. She passionately gave me ideas of things to help Caleb with his learning challenges that night. We talked enthusiastically together the entire evening. Little did I know it was the beginning of a God ordained friendship.

Our lives were similar in a few different ways. We were both soloists in our choir who shared a passion for worship. And we watched as God began to open doors of ministry development for each of us in the choir, leading us into areas of leadership that neither of us had anticipated. She became the assistant choir director as I assisted with leading worship. The bond between us was further strengthened as we had many conversations about the similarities of what God was doing in each of our lives. We often marveled at how God would be teaching us both the same lesson at the same time. I began to call her my "soul sister" because of our seeming "twinship". We also had sons the same age who had learning challenges and we felt a connection through discussing that as well. She poured out her expertise from working with children so willingly. She cared so intensely about my son and seeing him succeed. That’s how she was with everyone.

Tina had a lot that she was dealing with in life before her diagnosis of Leukemia came. She was a single mother of an 11 year old son whom she had adopted from foster care as an infant. She had never been married and fully felt the burden of being a parent without a partner to help in the daily challenges of life and raising a child. She was the most dedicated and devoted Mom and gave parenting more effort, patience and determination than I have ever seen. Her son has particular learning needs that Tina knew from her job experience as a Pediatric Occupational Therapist would not be met in public school, so she chose to homeschool him. She did this in addition to working part-time as an OT in Carrollton. Work placed many demands on her time and it was also physically demanding. In order to keep up with the required 180 days of school, she and Austin did school on Saturdays and through the summer. Being the sole provider both financially and for her son’s educational needs was a factor in her decision to not rejoin Wisdom’s Way this year. It was a commitment of time and money that she didn’t feel she could carry this year. She was always working hard, and the last few months before her diagnosis, she had begun to talk about her great need for a rest.

Then on October 25, 2007, her doctor told her that she had Acute Lymphatic Leukemia and that she would need to be admitted to the hospital immediately for intense chemotherapy. She was expected to be there for 4 to 6 weeks and then be out of work for six months to a year. However, the chemo caused her liver and kidneys to stop functioning properly, and she ended up in ICU for several weeks. Good news came in December when we found out that the Leukemia had gone into remission. We all rejoiced! Then Tina began to gain strength and was able to leave ICU. Things were looking positive. Her kidneys began functioning again, she was regaining mobility, she began eating again. Then on Christmas Eve, during a procedure they had done many times, something went wrong. Tina was rushed back to ICU. She died on Christmas Day. She went home to celebrate Jesus’ birthday face to face with Him.

If you listened in on any conversation about her this week, you would hear people talk about how Tina lived her life, as challenging as it was, to totally honor God in everything she did. As one of her closest friends I can say with certainty that her greatest desire was to do God’s will in everything and to show others that He is worthy of all our worship, adoration and service. Her funeral was no different. Every statement made about her reflected her passion for God and for worship. I was honored to be asked by the family to sing one of the songs that Tina had written, appropriately titled "Let Your Will Be Done". If you knew Tina at all, I know that you too were blessed by this beautiful woman of God who has finally entered her rest.