A Woman of Great Worth

We met over coffee. It wasn’t the usual two cups and a table in a coffee house. We had just been introduced. I was holding my coffee cup and saucer in my hands when I started to gesture with my right hand which was holding my full coffee cup. I watched in horror as my coffee with cream collided with her lovely cream colored silk blouse. It was not a pretty sight! I profusely started to apologize for my clumsiness, assuring her that I would pay to have it cleaned or replaced. She started laughing and assured me that her blouse would be fine and that it was no big deal. She was wrong. It was a big deal because it was the start of an amazing friendship that was not bound by age, by location, or by background, but by the love and pursuit of God. As our friendship and love for one another grew over the years, she became my “iron-sharpening iron” friend and my biggest cheerleader. She was always eager to share with me what God was teaching her and just as eagerly listened to me share. There was never petty girl stuff between us. I knew she loved me unconditionally and she knew I loved her the same way. We could, and did, share our hopes and dreams, our visions for our futures, our struggles and defeats and our joys along the journey. She was one of the most giving, unselfish people I know. She gave even if it meant doing without for herself. She would buy a new purse for a friend or two and still continue to carry her old one. She cared for her mother and father when they were unable to care for themselves, as well as caring for her husband and three sons and the myriad of women with whom she maintained active contact. No one was too small or too great for her touch. She was one of the main protagonists for a women’s Bible study group, Women of Worth. She brought together a number of us who were feeling overlooked and unseen as we entered middle age. We started meeting together at a coffee shop to study until we outgrew that space and moved to meeting once a week in my office after work. This diverse group of women became more than friends, they truly became sisters as we prayed, shared and studied together. One woman shared an island tale of a very plain woman being wooed with an unheard of bride price of eight cows. That bride price was greater than any that had been paid for even the most beautiful bride. We all loved the story as the tale progressed to share how this woman became the most beautiful on the island because of the great price paid for her. What a kindred story of the redemptive love of Jesus! We, at first, called ourselves the “Eight Cow Women”, but then thought perhaps we should change it to Women of Worth. Not as colorful a moniker, but just as accurate. My friend, Lena Chaco Akindipe, passed from this present glory into the next after a short battle with pancreatic cancer on Sunday evening. She had called to let me know the dignosis in September and that it was Stage IV. I didn’t cry. We were both praying and believing for a miraculous healing. She had so much she still wanted to see and do. She had more vision and purpose for her life that was yet to be experienced. She wanted to grow old and active in the Kingdom with her husband, Femi. She wanted to see her sons pursuing their purposes and visions with families of their own. She wanted to lay hands on the sick and dying and see them healed. She wanted to be about her Father’s Kingdom business. She wanted to love the unlovely, the lonely and the forgotten for a very long time. Her time was cut short. Even those of us who knew of her battle were not ready for the suddenness of her passing. She and I had been texting several times the week before as she let me know of her father’s passing on Tuesday. I was not ready for the call telling me that she had passed on Sunday. I felt cheated from more time with her and I have grieved. I’m not grieving for Lena because I firmly trust that she is more fully alive than she has ever been and that she is fulfilling everything that she was created to do and to be. She is completely enveloped in the love of the Father and that gives me peace in the midst of my grief. My grief is for Femi, Matthew, Johny, Andrew, her sister, Susan and family, and for all of us who loved her and were loved by her, and for those she never got to meet. I’m thankful that Jesus understands our grieving and that our tears will cease and we will have joy even in the midst of the grief as we trust Him. I miss you, Lena, my sister, my friend. You were and are a true gift from the Father to me. I will miss the random calls and your greeting, “Hey girl! What’s going on with you?”. I’ll miss laughing with you. I’ll miss our phone sessions of hours sharing what we’ve been studying in the Word. I’ll miss being able to call you with some new understanding or a new provision from the Lord. I miss you, my sister, my friend. You lived your life well and impacted all those you met with the unfailing love of God. Until we meet again, Lena...