Gabby

Friday morning, I received this email from a friend--

A good friend of mine and Nancy's, Gabrielle Marcantel, or as we called her, "Gabby," was killed in a automobile accident on Wednesday afternoon as she was driving from Baton Rouge to Destin, Florida, for a Women's Retreat. Gabby was a member of Healing Place Church and had just turned 29 on Tuesday, the day before the accident.

She was an LSU grad student living with her parents as she was obtaining a masters in Counseling. She volunteered at Healing Place Church in New Beginnings, a ministry for people trying to overcome addictions. She was an awesome girl, very happy and content, and very affectionate, and as she put it, "very blessed with many great friends and family." She will be missed greatly. Her funeral will be Monday morning at HPC, so please pray for peace and comfort for her family and friends. Thanks.

On Friday, Gabby's father received lab results showing lymphoma and went to the doctor for a scan. The doctors are very optimistic! The results showed a large cell lymphoma, and he should be successfully treated and in remission for at least 10+years.

It's so easy to praise God when things are going great in your life, but can you praise him during the storm?

On January 17th, Gabrielle wrote the following in our pastor's blog:

Thank you so much for an obedient heart. I am sure you hear it all the time, but I am so blessed to be under your covering. This is a long overdue, but I also wanted to thank you for being led by God to approach communion in such an open way during the Christmas services. I was raised in a very Catholic home. I grew up in Catholic schools and have watched my parent pray and say the rosary each morning all of my life. When I first got saved (October 2000), I was living at home. My father told me I still had an obligation to attend mass. He first stepped foot in HPC when I invited him to my towel ceremony after the leadership course. You are a daddy of a daughter, so you understand what it is to be (or have) a daddy’s girl. When I asked my mom and dad to come for Christmas (after suggesting we go to mass together on Christmas Eve), I was amazed that he answered yes. I know my dad has a relationship with Christ, but he recieved! I saw him wipe tears away (and he is a hard man). He gave me money to put in the offering and accepted communion, the biggest shock of all. We went to dinner that night, and he acknowledged that he was able to commune with the Lord in the mass. He even admitted to wishing it were post-Vatican II (the silence). He also said he didn’t care where I served the Lord as long as I had a relationship with Christ. Thank you for your sensitivity. I know it is not fear of man, but sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

How amazing is it to know that when someone you love passes away they went to see the Lord. Will your family have that peace if something should ever happen to you? Do you know beyond a shadow of doubt where you'll go when you die? Will people say the same things about you as they are about Gabby? Check this out http://www.legacy.com/theadvocate/DeathNotices.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=87762409