Christie Brown

“ I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:” 2 Timothy 4:7

Christie fought the good fight, she loved life and fought through all her adversities, God called her home and she obediently went to Him, she graduated from this world to eternity in Heaven. God provided a way in which we can go to heaven, His son Jesus is the Christ and He stepped down from Heaven to live as a man and to die as our sacrifice for our sins. His blood cleanses us and covers our sins in the eyes of God IF we accept Him as our Lord and Saviour and ask forgiveness of our sins. We are not perfect but this begins the process of becoming more like Christ until we reach heaven where we will be like him. We are tremendously sad to lose our child on this side of eternity but at the same time rejoice in the fact that “absent from the body is to be present with the Lord,” 2 Corinthians 5:8. She now has no disability and has a healed perfect body. 1 John 3:2, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is.” Christie was incapable of making that decision on her own but the Bible tells us that God provides for children and those mentally unable to understand this. The belief among Christians is that children who die before they reach the age of accountability are safe through the blood of Jesus. The reasoning goes something like this: the child himself has never had the capacity to either accept or reject the Savior, so God reckons to him all the value of the work of Christ on the Cross. He is saved through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, even though he himself has never fully understood the saving value of that work. “Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?” Genesis 18:25. When there are mysteries in life too deep for us to fathom, we can relax in the confidence that the Judge of all the earth is the God of absolute and infinite righteousness.

           Christie brought us great joy along with sadness. She brought joy to us through her bright smile, great determination and her deep belly laugh. Her laugh could make the entire room break out in laughter. And also through her small accomplishments which were actually monumental given her disability. There was also great sadness because of her disability and the loss of seeing our child never grow up physically or grow older mentally. But, God used her disability as an ability of growing our faith in Him. It opened our eyes to our weakness in ourselves and brought us to Him and His ability to grow us and work through us. John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Word is our Bible, we dove into our Bibles and in doing so this developed our relationship with Jesus.

Religion is one thing but relationship is quite another. The more time we spent in His Word the more He opened our eyes and ears to the truth of the gospel of Christ. This helped grow our faith and put our eyes on Him instead of on ourselves.

            At school, Christie was always assessed on her ability of what they thought she could do and could achieve. Could she hold a pencil? Could she learn to count? Could she read at appropriate level or at all? ETC…. But, in reality she should have been assessed on what she taught. She taught so very much to everyone in which she was in contact.

Patience: To her teachers (up until we moved to Georgia we had her included in regular classrooms and this up into high school) as they would need to meet her goals and needs, they would have to adjust their methods and adapt their room for her in her wheelchair and her 1 on 1 aid, (Ms. Mildred Cooper).

To us as her family to adjust our lives and schedules around her needs and have her included with everyday life.

Friendliness: To her classmates. At first there would be a few who were afraid of her because she was in a wheelchair but soon this fear was overcome and many considered her their “best friend”, even inviting her to parties and sleepovers. As these friends reached high school and worked summer jobs I would see them around town and they would always ask about Christie, some even called to check on her.

Discernment: She knew people. She didn’t care if you were old or young, short or tall, skinny or fat, male or female, black or white, she knew if you were kind and friendly, if you were willing to take the time to talk to her, spend time with her.  If so, she smiled and got very excited, she loved people.

Unconditional Love: No matter how she felt on what she was experiencing she always wanted to be with us and around people. She didn’t want to be left out and didn’t want anyone else to be left out or upset and she expressly let us know that. She had the ability to evaluate people and situations.

Determination: She was a fighter and worked hard in her therapies and through all her adversities. She loved life and gave 110% at all times.

Compassion: She could sense our feelings and would respond accordingly. She laughed with us and cried with us.

Joy: She simply loved life and would smile and often laugh just because. At times we would see her and Kacie looking up and just burst out in laughter, we wondered if God in His mercy and grace was giving them a glimpse of heaven or maybe he allowed angels to speak to them.

There’s a poem that was given to me in the early years of Christie’s disability and I’ll share it with you now.

Welcome to Holland By: Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this…  

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.   

 After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland.” 

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy.”

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. 

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It's just a different place. 

It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts. 

 But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned.”

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss. 

But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things... about Holland.  

Better yet….Christie has now been welcomed into Heaven in the arms of our Saviour!

Psalm 116  King James Version

I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. The sorrows of death compassed me and the pains of hell gat hold upon me; I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the Lord; O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is the Lord and righteous; yea, our God is merciful. The Lord preserveth the simple: I was brought low and he helped me. Return unto they rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered y soul from death, mine eyes from tears and my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted: I said in my haste, All men are liars. What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord, truly I am thy servant; and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people. In the courts of the Lord’s house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord.

Psalm 116 William MacDonald Commentary

The joy and gladness of the first Easter morning are singing throughout the psalm. The garden tomb is empty. Christ has been raised from the dead by the glory of His Father. And now He bursts forth in a song of thanksgiving to God for answered prayer in connection with His resurrection.

Notice how He begins; “I love the Lord” (v.1). Only four monosyllables, yet the purest worship. To timid souls who mistakenly think that God can only be approached in grandiose language, it should be a tremendous encouragement to know that the simple statement of love for the Lord is genuine worship. But we need not stop there, Like the Saviour, we can go on to recite the great things that God has done for us. This too is worship. The Lord Jesus overflowed with ceaseless thanks because His Father had heard His anguished prayers from Gethsemane and Golgotha. When death was tightening its ropes around Him, and the pains of physical dissolution were laying hold of Him, when He was enduring agony beyond description, then He called to the Lord to save Him. And the Lord did. He did not save Him from dying, but He did save Him out of death (vv. 1-4).

A third element of worship is found in telling out the excellencies of the Lord. The risen Christ here lists some of the virtues of God which were displayed in His resurrection, God is gracious, that is, kind and good. God is righteous; all He does is just and fair. God is merciful; He is of great compassion. God preserves the simple, which in the case of the Lord Jesus on the cross meant that He preserved the sincere, the guileless or the helpless. God saves His people when they are in danger. Finally God deals generously with those who trust in Him - He is not miserly in His benefits. And so the Lord Jesus says, “Return to your rest, O my soul” (v.7). His agitation, His anguish, his agony are over. God has heard Him and delivered Him. Now He enters into well-earned rest (vv. 5-7).

In verse 8, our Lord returns to a review of what His Father had done for Him. We learn from this that we need not fear to repeat ourselves in worship. God never tires to hear His children’s praise. And the subject is worthy of endless repetition. Christ’s heart was full of gratitude to God for His threefold deliverance: His soul was delivered from out of death; His eyes were delivered from tears; and His feet were delivered from defeat. Now He walked before the Lord in the land of the living - a Victor over sin, death, the grave and Sheol (vv. 8-9).

The continuity of thought in verses 10 and 11 is admittedly difficult. Perhaps the TEV catches the general meaning. “I kept on believing, even when I said, “I am completely crushed,” even when I was afraid and said, “No one can be trusted.”

His faith did not falter even in the moment of His deepest agony, or when men proved how untrustworthy they were. What He said was not born out of distrust but out of deep conviction.

And then there is a final element of worship, as expressed by the question, “What shall I render to the Lord For all His benefits toward me?” (v.12).In our case, there can be no thought of repaying Him; any repayment we might make would be an insult to His grace. But there is an inborn desire to respond to His grace in some appropriate way. That way is to lift up the cup of salvation and call on the Name of the Lord. To lift up the cup of salvation means to express thanksgiving to the Lord for saving us. Calling on the Name of the Lord means to make a special act of devotion in recognition of the greatness of His salvation.

The risen Saviour was determined to pay His vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people. These were vows of praise, worship and thanksgiving which He made before and during His passion. He now fulfills those vows (v. 14).

Once again the flow of thought seems suddenly interrupted by the Lord’s observation. “Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of His saints” (v.15). Even if we have difficulty fitting it into the context, we can still enjoy it as an isolated text. It is true of all saints, their death is precious to our God because it means they are with Him in glory. But it was never more true than in the case of the Lord Jesus. His death was precious to His Father because it provided a righteous basis upon which He could justify ungodly sinners (v.15).                                                                        

In verse 16, Jesus, the Risen One, is still Servant of Jehovah. It is as if He is saying, “I love my master…I will not go out free.” (Exodus 21:5). And so He indentures Himself as a servant forever. as the Son of God’s handmaid, He vows to serve God just as His mother did, because Jehovah has loosed His bonds.

Again He vows to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the Name of the Lord. In the congregation of God’s people, assembled at the Temple in Jerusalem. He will yet pay His vows as He leads them in a resounding chorus of praise to the Lord. This will take place when He returns to earth, the Great Immanuel, to take the scepter of the universe in His nail-scarred hand.                                                                                                                                                                                   

As King David was recorded in 2 Samuel 12:20, “ Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his apparel and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him and he did eat.” 2 Samuel 12: 23, “I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”

1Thessalonians 4:13,14 (NIV) “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.”

Psalm 31:14,15 “But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God. My times are in thy hand…”  Our times are in HIS HANDS, although we do not know what the future holds, we know the ONE who holds the future and we know the ONE who holds our hand.

We all have this hope of seeing our loved ones again if our faith is in Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross.

Donations can be sent to Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child instead of flowers or plants.

www.samaritanspurse.org/memorial-page/christie-leigh-brown-cumming-ga/