Jenny

Our friend Jenny died yesterday. She came down with what was thought to be the flu a few weeks ago. It was a rare form of strep A that quickly led to septic shock. She was in the ICU for 19 days. Jenny was an unbelievable person of faith and light. She was truly an angel here on earth and now she is an angel in heaven. I met Jenny 7 years ago when we (mostly Patrick and I because Chuck worked nights/weekends) started going to Lake Cities. Jenny's dad, Rick Ross, was hired as our new minister. Jenny and her husband David had also moved from Mesquite where Rick had been preaching before. Anyways, I met Jenny on a Wednesday night as she was chasing her then 2 1/2 year old daughter Malaya out of a portable building we used as a fellowship hall. She was this beautiful, young mother laughing as she chased her lovely little girl onto the porch. She stopped and introduced herself and all I could think was, "wow.. I want to be like her."Jenny had this beautiful gift of the Spirit. Her faith was mighty. She lived her life in service to others. She made anyone and everyone feel comfortable. She would laugh with you, cry with you and ask to pray over you. She LOVED children. I never saw her lose her cool. She worked in a children's ministry over the last few years called kidstand. Her dream was to bring children to know Chirst. Jenny was someone I have always looked to as an example of how to live as a Christian woman. Over the years we had Bible studies, attended kids birthday parties and went through church events together. We were never close, but the impact she had on my life was extremely profound. I pulled up an old blog post that I wrote in late '07. One of the links for the "girl"s leads to Jenny's blog.

"When we started truly going to church 5 years ago as a family, it was not for me, but for Patrick. I "faked it until I made it" for a long, long time. I made myself and then guilted my husband (who wanted to remain true to his Baptist roots) to continue to go to church. And then, the MOST amazing thing happened. During that time, I prayed and prayed that God would change my heart and mind..that He would fill my spirit up...that He would HELP ME be MORE than just a ride for my son to church. HE did. Life changed for the better. People in our age group pursued us relentlessly. This girl & this girl and their righteous husbands kept on until we relented and let ourselves join a group that we otherwise figured we had nothing in common with. Introverts by nature, our backgrounds so different.... we gave it a shot... and we were so very blessed and changed for the better."

Jenny united thousands of people during her fight in the ICU. She has close to 10,000 messages on her care page. On facebook, a page was set up called Praying for Jenny Bizaillion and between the two, it has been awesome to see how many people Jenny impacted during her time on earth and how many she touched, who never even knew her, during her stay in the ICU. We prayed for a miracle, but God had other plans. We were witness many times to the power of prayer during her days in the hospital. My life has revolved around her carepage updates for the last few weeks. I have come to understand what "praying without ceasing" means. While Jenny was taken from her daughter and husband too soon, it has been humbling to see the impact she had on so many throughout her short life.