Our dear sister and W2W writer Shari Miller went home to be with the Lord on October 12, 2021. Today we are blessed to have her daughter Emily share with us.
It feels a bit surreal writing this. This week marks three weeks since my sweet mama (Shari Miller), passed.
Those who say that grief comes in waves do not lie. There are times where I feel almost ok, that I am ready to set out and move on with life in the way God intended and my mom would have wanted. Then there are other times, that more often than not come around at night. These are times of aching loneliness where I feel the true depth of the void that my mom used to fill. These are times where I feel her loss the most keenly, knowing she is no longer around for me to vent my frustrations about things that are going on in my day-to-day life, or to just talk about how my day went with her.
However, my mind is drawn to the concept of my mom’s blog, Leaving a Legacy. What a legacy my sweet mother has left. She has touched so many lives in her social work, through the church, through the women she was blessed to be able to connect with via social media, her friends, and her family most of all.
Despite her 18 year-long struggle with cancer, my mom never hesitated to give of herself, especially when it came to her family. She never hesitated to make sure my brother and I were involved in some type of social event outside of school, be it bible quizzing, to art classes, to ballet, to horseback riding. There were a plethora of planned playdates as well when we were younger. In addition, she always made sure to make each one of us feel special on our birthday, from having themes such as Disney princesses to Little House on the Prarie when I was a pre-teen, to always being sure to decorate the house in brightly colored streamers of our favorite colors as we got older.
She always gave without a thought to her own self. Through all the cancer treatments, her priorities always remained to be a mom, wife, and friend to those people who crossed her path. One of her favorite passages of scripture comes from the fourth chapter of Philippians.
I rejoiced in the Lord greatly because once again you renewed your care for me. You were, in fact, concerned about me but lacked the opportunity to show it. I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. I know how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content—whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.
-Phillipains 4:10-13 (CSB)
In the end, looking back on my mom’s life, it is clear to me that she had truly learned to be content not only with just her circumstances but to put aside those circumstances to be of service to others. Her example encourages me to take her legacy that she left for me, and to go out, and be of service to others using my God-given gifts in the way she used hers. I hope we all can live through her example so that we might hear this said of us when we enter into heaven, the same words mom undoubtedly heard when she made her grand and glorious entrance; the words that were uttered to the servant in the parable of the talents in the book of Matthew.
“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy.’
-Matthew 25:23 (CSB)
I hope you all will enjoy and have the opportunity to look back and reflect over these next several weeks as Woman to Woman will be reposting several of my mom’s previously written posts.
Emily Miller
I love to hear stories like this. So encouraging. It's like the good in her life has ripple effect, reaching out through her writing and acts of love and service.
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