Dearest Mindy,
You do not know me. I do not know you...in person at least. But, I do know of your steadfast faith in Jesus. I know that you have such a deep and passionate love for your precious, sweet son...I won't even pretend to begin to understand such a loss. As I write this, my heart is filled with grief. Grief that should not be mine because I did not have the honor of knowing your son, but the grief is still there...grief because cancer is so unkind. He was not my little boy. I did not know him, but I strongly believe that being a part of the body of Christ can connect people through the Holy Spirit. I feel so much grief for your family as if each of you were a close friend of mine. Please allow me to share with you how you and your son affected my life.
I first heard about your son about two and a half months ago when my sister, Amber, told me of a family in New York that had a sick child. Amber would give me brief updates of the child's health progress and at that time I didn't even know his name... Ben.
What a darling little boy. Just a little over four weeks ago, Amber let me know that Ben's cancer had increased and that things were not looking good for him and asked me to pray with her. I was overwhelmed to pray with her for you and your family's behalf and did so for the next 48 hours. Because that's all I could do...pray.
On May 13, 2014, one month ago from today, little Ben Sauer passed away. I do not know of the exact time, all I remember from that day was that in the evening, my urge to pray for your family increased. It wasn't until the next day that I found out that Ben was now flying in heaven...something he longed to do.
You, his devout mother, have the gift of writing and I am so grateful that you have allowed your pain to bring hope to so many as you blogged about the entire journey of Ben's cancer struggle. Oh, Mindy. You are a pillar of strength and I know that the only reason for your strength is your deep faith in Jesus Christ. The first blog entry of yours that I read was when Ben was in his "eleventh hour" and the emotion that you portray through your words have penetrated many readers hearts.
With his passing, Mindy, you could have stopped writing. People would have understood. They would have known that you would have to deal with your grief and take care of your three (one who is on the way) other children (one who is Ben's identical twin brother), your husband and somehow make sense of all this heartache. Instead, you keep writing...and I keep reading.
What a darling little boy. Just a little over four weeks ago, Amber let me know that Ben's cancer had increased and that things were not looking good for him and asked me to pray with her. I was overwhelmed to pray with her for you and your family's behalf and did so for the next 48 hours. Because that's all I could do...pray.
On May 13, 2014, one month ago from today, little Ben Sauer passed away. I do not know of the exact time, all I remember from that day was that in the evening, my urge to pray for your family increased. It wasn't until the next day that I found out that Ben was now flying in heaven...something he longed to do.
You, his devout mother, have the gift of writing and I am so grateful that you have allowed your pain to bring hope to so many as you blogged about the entire journey of Ben's cancer struggle. Oh, Mindy. You are a pillar of strength and I know that the only reason for your strength is your deep faith in Jesus Christ. The first blog entry of yours that I read was when Ben was in his "eleventh hour" and the emotion that you portray through your words have penetrated many readers hearts.
With his passing, Mindy, you could have stopped writing. People would have understood. They would have known that you would have to deal with your grief and take care of your three (one who is on the way) other children (one who is Ben's identical twin brother), your husband and somehow make sense of all this heartache. Instead, you keep writing...and I keep reading.
Mindy, thank you for sugar coating nothing and for keeping your ministry of this blog alive! I appreciate how brutally honest you are as you dictate you and your family's pain as you all try to adjust to life without Ben. But with each and every post, you never, ever renounce God. Yes, you get angry and confused as to why God would do this to your family, but you, above all else, trust God with your whole entire being. You are a great example of what I hope my faith will be and is in times of trials and tragedies.
Please know that I am still praying and thinking of you and your family. I heard this song below by Royal Tailor and thought you may be able to connect to it. Thank you for coming into my life via blogspot and being a great witness and mentor as to what the Christian faith should look like.
Forever Grateful,
-Alexandra
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