Barbara

On Saturday, May 18, 2013, we gathered in a school auditorium to pay our last respects to a friend and co-worker, Barbara Hilligoss.  Barbara was born in 1920 and started in the Work in 1951.  For sixty years, she labored in the work of the Gospel in five different states.  I didn't know her well but had heard about her all my life since she was labored in my home area when my mom was young.  Her faithful finish inspires those of us who remain behind to keep true in what we have been called to.  It's worth it all!

A few thoughts shared at the funeral service:

• Barbara didn't make herself a mother.  (She had no children.)  But God made her a mother in Israel.
• Mark 14:3  Alabaster is a cheap stone, but it wasn't the vessel that was costly.  It was the contents.  That lady could have kept it, poured it out for some other purpose or given it to the poor.  Barbara had the same experience.
• When Elijah was taken up to heaven, all he really left behind for Elisha was a godly influence.  That is what Barbara has left for us.
• Sometimes our body puts limitations on us, on what we are able to do, but we can serve with our spirit and look forward to an incorruptible body.
• Barbara took time to think and meditate about the Scriptures.  We need people who will do that today.
• Barbara had a youthful spirit.  She was good at allowing God to renew the inner man day by day.  We can't stop the outside from getting old, but we want God to renew the inner man every day.
•  Even when we lose ground in our body, we don't want to lose ground in our spirit.
• Barbara didn't choose the easiest life, but she chose the best life.
• We don't live by explanations; we live by the promises of God.