Precious Sister Sometimes I still hear the sound of your voice. I wish you were still here with me, but you had no choice. I know an Angel held you as your body said goodbye. But that doesn’t stop my heart from breaking..... ........“I miss you and I cry”. No one can believe that you are really gone, Our hearts are broken and our spirits moan. “She was to young”, I’ve heard people say, “Why did she, have to die this way?” I try not to be anger, I kneel and I pray, Asking God to be with us, as we face each day. I always try to give Mom an extra kiss, To make up for a little girl, she will always miss. I understand everyone's emptiness and their sorrow too, Because, “My precious sister..... we all miss you“. I know you are happy in Heaven above, Surrounded by the Angels and all their love. But today on earth, my heart still grieves, Because you are no longer here to talk with me”. I will look toward Heaven, for I know I will see A Star that will suddenly glow big and bright, It will be my sister smiling.... ..... and watching over me. I stand before you day representing a group of family and friends in grief and mourning. Cindy was many things to many different people. She was the essence of compassion, commitment, dedication, and most of all love. Everyone here today has many different memories of Cindy. I have feelings, memories, and thoughts on many different levels. I know her as a sister, spiritual partner, and she was also my best friend. She was a wonderful wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. She reached out to all she knew, in the only way she knew how, to be completely herself. Today is our chance to say thank you for the way you brightened our lives, even though God granted you only a short time with us. We will all feel cheated always that you were taken from us so young and yet we must learn to be grateful that you came along at all. Only now that you are gone do we truly appreciate what we are now without and we want you to know that life without you is very, very difficult. We have all despaired at our loss over the past week and only the strength of the message you gave us through your years of giving has afforded us the strength to move forward. There is a temptation to rush to idolize your memory, there is no need to do so. You stand tall enough as a human being of unique qualities not to need to be seen as a saint. Indeed to sanctify your memory would be to miss out on the very core of your being, your wonderfully mischievous sense of humour with a laugh that bent you double. Your joy for life transmitted where ever you took your smile and the sparkle in those unforgettable eyes. Your boundless energy which you could barely contain. But your greatest gift was your intuition and it was a gift you used wisely. This is what underpinned all your other wonderful attributes and if we look to analyse what it was about you that had such a wide appeal we find it in your instinctive feel for what was really important in all our lives. I would like to tell you a little bit about the Cindy Stader that I know and love. She was bold in her faith, Wheter or not anyone agreed with her. She loved her family very much, stood up and stood firm for what she believed in. She gave to others as much as she could. I can remember time and time again the times she prayed for me when I would be sick ot had a nightmare. She would come to me wheter it was noon or four in the morning. She wanted all tho be happy and most of all she wanted all to serve the same Jesus that she knew and loved. She had an unusual way of showing her love at times. She could be hard on me especially at times. At the time I looked at it that she was trying to control me and tell me what to do but in all reality, she was on ly doing it out of her unconditional love for me. She always said” I see what you can be.” She wanted me to walk in the calling that she knew was on my life. We had problems throughout life, but we are family and that is ok. Families have problems but in the end she always was there when I needed someone the most. When I had my first stroke in 2001, ahw she say sat at the hospital with me and fed me. There were other times that she would be at the hospital with me, when I ran a nail in my foot because I was not thinking about the dangers of running up and down wooden stairs barefoot, or the numerous times that I had ear infections and was crying because the pain was so intense. I thank her and I celebrate her life today. If I could thank her for 2 things in my life, especially yhthe last five years it would be that she introduced me to the best friends that I have ever had, . July 28th 2003, I was ready to end my life. She wanted me to come to church with her. I thought ok whatever…….Well to make a long story short I gave my heart to Jesus that night and am still serving him to this day. It hasn’t been a bed of roses, but a walk well traveled. The second would be that she taught me that even through heartache, dissapointment, mountains, and valleys, God would always see me through to better times. She taught me a song to sing, “ There must be a Rainbow to follow the storm“ Cindy got saved when she was 16. She dealt with a lot of things, but she knew one way or another , She was a winner. What is dying? A ship sails and I stand watching till she fades on the horizon, and someone at my side says, "she is gone" Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all, she is just as large as when I saw her....The diminished size and total loss of sight is in me, not in her, and just at the moment when someone at my side says "she is gone", there are others who are watching her coming, and other voices take up a glad shout "Here she comes!".... and that is dying. Cindy wrote a blog on the internet the morning she passed at 52 7 am, as she was often online because she felt scared to sleep, her words were “ CHRISTIANS ONLY!!! WHAT IF YOU FOUND OUT OUT THAT EVERYTHING YOU HAD BELIEVED IN WAS A LIE WHAT WOULD YOU DO? WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO THROW IT ALL AWAY AND GO AFTER TRUTH? I fully believe that she has now found the truth she was looking for and sought after for so long. If Cindy could tell us anything today, she would say” Love each other in good times and bad, accept each other as you are, not for what you want others to be. Look within yourself for the answers you seek, and in the coming days as you think of me, don’t mourn or greive, for I am finally happy. It’s so beautiful here, and most of all Love God.” I would like to take this opportunity to thank each of you from the bottom of my heart for loving my sister. She yearned for love and acceptance and I want to thank each of you for giving her that. She told me many times how much she loved each one here. She would laugh at times and occurrences with each of you. Cindy was a unique spirit, that in the end she died as she insisted that she live her life, her way,. Quick but something that I will never forget. Goodbye for now, Cindy, I’ll see you in the morning. I love you.