Written March 14, 2013 for the 1st Anniversary of Ruby's Homegoing. A Heaven-Bound Balloon Release was hosted at Ruby's gravesight and the following delivered by Katie.
Ruby Joy – My
Opportunity Child (by Katie Luse)
Ruby is my opportunity child. She opened up the world to me,
and presented me with a basketful of rare and beautiful opportunities, gems of
experiential living. These are 6 of the many opportunities that Ruby gave me
through our time together.
1. Upon birth Ruby
presented me with the opportunity to believe. Contending in prayer
for countless hours I have stood inside that reality of hope against hope,
believing for the impossible. The impossibility of her even living, bowed down,
and she jumped over it. And as she did, we watched the world follow behind her,
beginning to believe with her for the intervention of a God who is real. “I
don’t believe in God or healing, but I am praying for Ruby,” was not an
uncommon remark in our world. After a corporate week of 24/7 prayer for Ruby,
we found our mailboxes full of testimonies of people who were now believing God
for things they did not know they could ask for. Ruby introduced us to faith,
and the miracles began flowing. I know what it feels like to look at a cardiac
ultrasound and no longer see the cardiac malfunction that used to be there. I
believe God was delighted in that time to be finding faith on the earth through
the life of this little girl.
2. Ruby gave me the
opportunity to persevere. I remember sitting with our parents at the
hospital after the diagnosis was given. Mitch and I were like bricks, we would
believe God for her complete healing. Our parents started telling stories about
how stubborn Mitch and I were as kids; falling asleep on plates of food we
would not finish, sitting on the step until 2am refusing to apologize to a
sibling, basically stubborn. You have to wonder if God knew we would need persistent
qualities for our life’s journey.
Ruby taught us how to channel this stubbornness for good -
perseverance. I cannot tell you how many times the world said “dead end,” to
Ruby, and in love I would delight to go - find a rope, through it over that
“dead end” and discover that there was more land on the other side. Hours of
research, studying pediatric disease, traveling to the nation’s top
specialists, developing a blended food diet, fasting, praying, contending,
waiting, watching and then landing with more days.
I now love perseverance, thanks to Ruby. It is absolutely
exhilarating to not swing around with circumstances, but to feel like Mt. Zion
in Ps. 125, “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be
shaken but endures forever.” As the song
goes, that Mitch wrote for us in this process, and we have sung many times
since, “I will not give up, I will not give in, and even if I fall, I will rise
again.”
3. Ruby gave me the opportunity
to live for what matters. It’s so easy to get caught up in and
focused on what we don’t have – until we lose what we do have and then realize
how precious it was. I would give almost anything for another day to braid
Ruby’s hair, or tuck her in at night, rock her, take her for a walk in the
stroller, feed her, etc. In this loss I have realized that it is these simple
moments that make the tapestry of life. Life is literally happening in these
small simple moments that we take for granted. Ruby has helped me to stop,
embrace these small moments, take time for what matters.
4. Ruby gave me the
opportunity to experience the presence of God. Ruby has an
incredible anointing on her life. When she was in the house, prayer meetings
were explosive, and people had all kinds of encounters, including angelic
visitations, visions of heaven, etc.
Mitch and I would often look at one another and ask, “Who is this
child?” She was not speaking or walking, or talking – but she carried an
anointing that broke through - anywhere
we took her. I can remember a time when Mitch and I both fell out under the
weight of God’s presence while getting prayer for Ruby. We were on the floor,
and I just laughed because there she was in my arms, unassuming, smiling,
looking back at me, like “Hi, Mom! What happened to you?” J! She opened up a realm
of encounter for us and desperate for God as we are, we jumped into it and enjoyed
it.
5. Ruby gave me the
opportunity to meet many heroes; other parents and children who are
also contending for life and choosing to stand up under immense pressure to
celebrate what life really is. I remember a Dad we met whose little girl was about
9months old, born with a severe disease, on a ventilator, and barely conscious.
He showed up on Halloween to the hospital dressed in a full suite of aluminum
foil declaring that he was his little girl’s “Knight in Shining Armor.” You may
think that’s crazy, but I think it is crazy love, and Mitch and I love that Dad.
I recall standing in line on Thanksgiving Day at the hospital cafeteria
realizing there was another Mom in front of me, and another one behind. We
shared the holiday, and it was precious.
6. Ruby gave me the
opportunity to love. I know now that I have experienced love to the
point of death, sacrificial love, and I feel like I’ve been ruined for anything
lesser. I don’t know if the love of a Mother can be paralleled, but if it can it’s
hard for me to imagine because what I feel for Ruby is so deep. I love Ruby so
much and would have given my life for her at any point in this journey. I feel
like loving Ruby broke my heart open in the best way, making space on the
inside of me for genuine love and compassion for others.
Thank you Ruby for giving me these amazing opportunities and
so many more. You truly are my opportunity child. For all the things you
introduced me to on earth, I can’t wait to see what you will introduce me to in
heaven.
Thank you Jesus for the gift of Ruby Joy and the honor it is
to be her Mom. I celebrate her today. I ask that her legacy would continue, and
You would do on the earth all that you originally intended through her life.
To Ruby!
