Aunt Marilyn

My Aunt Marilyn passed away last week. She had lived a full life and we had time to express our love for her so the blow wasn't as traumatic as it could have been. Everyone who knew her can say with perfect honesty that she was the sweetest woman you could ever meet. I concur and can add that she always went out of her way to show me kindness even though I have never lived close by. It is sometimes easy to forget about extended family when you don't see them often or when you are a part of an enormous Mormon family with an insane amount of cousins, second cousins, etc. But she always sent me kind notes and remembered important events in my life. I will miss her dearly.

At times like this, when death feels extremely real, I remember these verses from the Book of Mormon that reassure me about the life to come. I believe them to be absolutely true.

"Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life.

And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow."

Alma 40:11-12