written by Jennifer Dover

Dover and Ewing kids

The past several months have been filled with times of transition for our family… including a season of life I choose to call homecomings. Each homecoming different but a homecoming none the less. First our family made the move to the Habitat For Hope house. After a long journey and way to much to tell you in this blog post, we arrived at the place the Lord had been preparing us for and it felt good to be home. As with all transitions, there were adjustments to be made. We had to get used to having neighbors right under our feet again and learning to keep our noise level down. That may not sound too hard but when you have 3 energetic loud little boys (and one learning from big brothers), it’s not as easy as it sounds. The really sweet thing about living in the house and in community with another family has been watching our kids bond with theirs and almost immediately became fast friends. We could see the Lord using their kids to help ours make the transition and vise versa. It was a beautiful thing to behold. This family moved out recently, and to the praise and glory of God, got to take their precious baby with them and return home together…as a family. I’ll have to admit I was sad to see them go; yet, overjoyed for them at the same time. Their baby is doing well and is making great progress; they have a steadfast, unwavering faith in God and they are home after 6 months of being away. I can imagine it was an emotional but joyful homecoming. I saved the best homecoming for last, the day my mom went home to be with Jesus. It may seem odd to some people for me to speak of death in this way – but isn’t this what we all long for, to be free from the pain of this imperfect world, and to enter that place where there is no death, tears, or even a hint of sorrow? She is finally free from the pain and suffering that kept her from so much in this life. I am extremely sad because in my flesh I miss her and all that she added to our life, but in my spirit, I rejoice because she has received the goal of her faith, the salvation of her soul. I too long for and await that homecoming day but for now I take joy in the earthly homecomings that are but shadows on the wall of the one to come.

Today marks 6 years since our dear 11 year old friend Brent went to live with Jesus. Brent’s mom Tonya wrote this today to honor Christ and to remember Brent. For me, experiencing the days leading up to Brent’s passing was experiencing the tangible risen Christ, who is present and with us. May you be blessed an encouraged today…

I can’t believe that it was six years ago today that Brent got his heavenly healing.. it seems like just yesterday our sweet boy was still here. In the days leading up to today, I’ve thought many times of Brent’s passing and all the things that the Lord allowed us to see. I’ve shared our story, or bits and pieces of it, many times since he left. I thought I’d share some of the most amazing memories with you guys today. I want to share them because they TREMENDOUSLY increased MY faith, and I hope they will yours as well. With that said, this will probably be long cause there’s a LOT of BEAUTIFUL stuff to share.

As you can imagine, those were the darkest days of our lives.. we KNEW we were bringing Brent back to St. Jude to let him go HOME. (back from Vermont where we took him as a last attempt to fight) During those days.. I’d say it was probably the last couple of weeks he was here.. something AMAZING happened. God began to prepare Brent to go HOME. One of the first that I can remember was an innocent conversation we heard Brent having with God. (Now, when I say “conversation” I DON’T mean it was just a prayer.. I mean you could literally watch him as he would talk then wait for a response, then he would talk again). Here’s what I’d posted on his website..

“Please God, I just want to see HIM ……. just for a second, I just want to see HIM!”

That went on for a few minutes and Brent closed his prayer. I was a little awe-struck, but as the day went on I forgot the conversation I overheard. THEN, last night as he started to drift off to sleep he started to pray again. This time it was different. Brent was saying, “I’m SO SORRY, GOD!” I just wanted to see You …… I’m SORRY I tried to look!”

WHOA!!!!!! It’s like Brent was standing in the room with God, having his conversation and being the curious little boy he is he tried to sneak a peek! I’m assuming that God told him that he couldn’t see HIM …….. YET! Before his talk with God ended, Brent started to ask …………. “God, it won’t be long will it?? Will it be long?” (I’m assuming he’s trying to persuade God to let him go/see HIM then) Brent then paused and said, “That’s what I thought, it won’t be long.”

There were MANY times that he’d close his eyes and within a moment or two he’d begin talking to the Lord. (He wasn’t talking in his sleep, he was spending time with Jesus) There were times we’d hear him pray out loud, but many of these were just innocent talks with his Creator. Just after these conversations began Brent’s mindset changed. He no longer talked about silly things we’d talked about before.. his mind was on his Jesus! He told pretty much EVERYONE who came in his room during those last days about his Jesus. He asked us to pray almost constantly. He requested that we sing praise songs almost constantly. Link said that one night he awoke in the middle of the night to hear Brent singing Amazing Grace.

I was reading over some of our caringbridge entries during his last days here and found one that just blessed my socks off. I want to share it with you guys, and apologize that this is so lengthy. Here goes.. this entry is dated Saturday, December 23, 2006 9:34 PM CST

“Our PRECIOUS little man is still quite the chatterbox. He’s talking almost non-stop and seems to STAY in some sort of prayer connection with God. He’s still saying things like I LOVE YOU SOOOOOO MUCH! You’re the BEST, GOD! I also overheard him praying to God this morning thanking HIM for me! (Don’t think he didn’t have me crying BUCKETS!!) He’s told his Daddy & me a thousand times already how much he LOVES US and what GREAT parents he thinks we are. I’m telling you, just when I think he can’t possibly get ANY sweeter ….. HE DOES.

I meant to share with you the other day about one of our prayer times. Somehow the room was filled with just a few of us females. There was Mylissa, Virginia, Kerry, Meredith, and me all standing around Brent’s bed. He started to get upset from fear of choking. (He’d just almost got choked drinking water, but is doing GREAT NOW!) Brent asked if we could pray for him. (Mylissa said that’s EXACTLY what she was just about to ask) As we moved closer and each placed our hands on Brent, Mylissa started to pray. Brent soon was taking over her prayer with his own. We all hushed and listened in awe of his prayer. As he finished, I told him that I wanted to pray too. As I’m sure you can imagine, it’s hard to cry out on his behalf without getting “teary-eyed.” Brent could hear the emotion in my voice and he then started to pray OVER ME. He said something to the effect of …… “God, please bless my Mama. Give her peace, Lord, and calm her heart…….” I’m simply AMAZED at his ability to pray the way he does. He’s so sensitive to Holy Spirit – it just BLOWS ME AWAY!!!”

One of the last conversations that I remember hearing before he left was one that I will NEVER forget. At this point he’d had many talks with his Jesus.. he said, “LORD, your word doesn’t even BEGIN to tell how BEAUTIFUL You are!”

It’s just mind-blowing to think that the Creator of ALL the world will come and prepare His young child to come HOME. ♥

Well, I’ve kept you long enough.. I hope Brent’s story has encouraged you the way it has encouraged us.. and if you’ve ever doubted, I hope it helped you BELIEVE.