Claudia Lee
I am a wife, mother, grandmother, sister and friend newly introduced to the land of grief as I lost my 32 year old daughter Becky to an autombile accident in December 2010. I am a follower of Jesus and I’m journeying through grief as I abide in Christ.
GLEANINGS from Claudia 
God bless you,
Michael
Praise Him — He does bless us even in the midst of sorrow! Thanks for that blessing Michael!
Claudia,
You dont know me, but I used to work with your daughter, Joni. I still do work at Samaritan and I just want you to know what a blessing this blog is.
I knew of Becky’s death only from Facebook and its true, as an outsider, it is so hard to know what to say to someone that has lost a loved one. I feel connected through your blog, even though we have never met. Im seeing a more personal side of Jesus that I have never seen. Your writings are so beautiful and you truly do radiate your love for the Lord and I just want to say “thank you”.
I have been asking God for months now to bring He and I closer through personal growth. Im finding that as I have come upon your blog and started reading it.
Thank you for sharing your personal journey, even if to get your emotions down to help you process, you are helping others at the same time.
Kirstan
Kirstan, Thank you so much for sharing how the blog is impacting you. This is my prayer, that God will remove the dross from our loss and make it into pure gold. When I hear that others are drawing nearer to Jesus because of the way He is schooling, loving, and carrying me, that gives me great joy! Lord – hear Kirstan’s prayer and continue to reveal and magnify Yourself to her. Woo her into a deep love relationship with you and give her eyes to see you, ears to hear you, and a soul felt understanding of your love for her.
Blessings! Claudia
Thanks for leaving your info with Ozark Christian College for me. I am also passing this info on to others who lost loved ones with us. Thanks for caring.
Latina, I’m so glad to see your comment on Gleanings. I have your phone number and have every intention to call you. Since the grand-girls have moved here life has been crazy wonderful! I want you to know that you’ve been in my prayers since I first heard of your loss. We are in our ninth month since our Becky died and it is still a sorrow that readily brings us to tears. But we, like you, know where our daughter is and look forward to the day that we’ll see the Lord and see Becky again! Love and blessings – Claudia
Claudia,
I am one of Becky’s classmates from Creighton and while I won’t pretend she and I were the closest friends, I will never forget what I bright light she was. She always seemed to glow from the inside out. I just stumbled upon your blog last night and for some reason, I felt compelled to share a tragedy from my own family that happened 23 years ago. On October 16, 1988, when I was 12 years old, my uncle, my mom’s only brother, was murdered at the age of 29. We live in a very small town – murders don’t happen here. My uncle was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I have lived two-thirds of my life with grandparents who lost a child – their only son. A lot of the specifics of those days have faded and much of the raw emotion and pain has dwindled. But the loss is always felt – at his birthday in March, the anniversary of his death in October, and at Christmas most of all. My grandparents visit his grave daily and have for 23 years. There are still difficult days, even after all of this time, but on those days, we share happy stories of my uncle and hold him in our hearts even more dearly, if that is possible. I have such love and respect for my grandparents – how they continued to embrace life and love even through the darkest days following his death (and the subsequent trial of his killer). I can only imagine their pain when I look at my own daughter now – just as I can only imagine your pain of losing Becky.
There is something else I wanted to share though. I sat behind you and your family at the memorial service we held for Becky in Omaha. When “I Can Only Imagine” was played at the end, I was so overcome by how you and your husband embraced the words and sang them. I am actually crying now at the memory of it. You were such an inspiration to me that evening. I realized how much you had to be hurting, yet you were still so embracing of God’s grace. That is a moment I will never forget. It helped me to appreciate God in an entirely new way and moved me to want my relationship with God to be as strong as yours is.
I will wrap up now – I don’t know if any of this will mean anything to you or not – but please know that I keep Becky, and her entire family, in my thoughts and prayers regularly. Have a merry and blessed Christmas, Claudia.
Amy
Amy, Thank you for taking the time to write and share these words of encouragment. I feel for your grandparents. The loss of a child is hard no matter how that loss comes about, but a violent and totally unexpected loss seems to increase the grief by several magnitudes. I am so sorry for their loss and yours. Thank you too for your words of kindness about the Memorial for Becky at Creighton. That service was beautiful and hard and I praise God that our participation in it helped you to see God in a different way. I remember the first time I heard the song “I Can Only Imagine”. I began to cry at the first sentence and continued throughout the song. I love the words and the images the words conjure. That song was sung at Becky’s wedding and then at her memorial. It seems fitting as she has entered into the wedding feast of the Lamb and no longer has to ‘imagine’ anything about it! Enjoy your family this Christmas season and love and appreciate the giver of all good gifts! Thanks again for sharing!
Blessings,
Claudia
So sorry for your loss. Good to see, though, how the Lord is using it for others gain, including mine. Thanks, Gloris