What a Gift

I first met her at church. My family had just moved to Milton Freewater, Oregon, and we were looking for a church that would be a good place to worship God. She was always nice to everyone when they walked in the door. She greeted them with the biggest, most thoughtful smile you have ever seen. It would light up your life if you saw her smile.

She always did things that were through the grace and love of God. She always put others first. Karen Villanueva was the kind of person who would gladly pitch in and get the job done when she saw some need. I am telling all these things about this person because we have lost her now to the terrible disease of cancer, and I want you to know what a gift she was to everyone.

Woman of Faith

She really impacted my life in many ways, and she was always a good influence on me. She taught me that if you have a daily walk with God and you are fully committed to Him, then your actions and body language will tell everyone that you are God’s child and you have inherited His likeness. People could tell that she walked with God and continues to walk with God to this day.

Karen was an amazing youth leader that always had something planned that the youth could do on Saturday nights, and her plan always worked. Every year she led a whole week of Vacation Bible School meetings. She did this every year until the chemotherapy treatments overcame her. Even then, she wanted to lead her youth kids on a mission. Her mission was to help the little children gain a relationship with God. From the beginning, it was obvious to me and many others that she was, is, and always will be God’s child. She loved Him with all her heart.

An Amazing Gift

I was devastated when I saw her in the hospital bed, in a coma. I just prayed to God and thanked Him for the time that she was with us. Then I realized that there is always hope for the children of God, and I cried. My heart screamed out, “This is God’s child!” And then I kept crying because of the joy Karen had instilled in my heart. This joy was not earned or worked for. This abundance of happiness and peace came from the one and only, GOD Almighty. I am forever grateful for the amazing gift that God gave us through Karen.

If you liked this, you might also like My Hero | The Secret of Walking With God 

Caleb Hilt writes from the Pacific Northwest.

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