A Legacy Written on
Our Hearts
On August 25, 2022, I went home with the hope of spending time with my whole family and celebrating my parents’ wedding anniversary. I had no clue what was to come.
I arrived in Ethiopia on August 26, 2022, and went straight to the hospital to see my dad. He was lying in the hospital bed, but he had such a light, such glory, and such beauty on his face that I can’t even put words to it. He couldn’t speak, but he would move his eyes when I spoke. The peace on his face was so profound, it was like he was already in the presence of God.
When I explained this to my husband, Joshua, he reminded me of when Moses spent time with God on the mountain and came down reflecting that same glory.
“When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord”
Exodus 34:29
I turned to the doctor and asked why they had him in there when he looked so well, so glorious… he didn’t look sick one bit. But the doctor started explaining how bad his condition was. At that moment, I tuned it out, sat next to my dad, and started talking to him. I still had no idea that was the last time I would get to see my sweet, wonderful father. I had so much hope and faith that he would pull through and that we would get to talk.
But the Lord had a different plan. He took him home the next morning at 7:00 AM. That day changed the course of my life. I became a new person I couldn’t recognize. It was a massive loss, not just for my family, but for the entire world. My father, Tefera, touched so many lives. He walked and breathed Jesus everywhere he went, to every person he came in contact with.
Turning Grief into Purpose
The Lord used that change in me to draw me so close to Him. He placed the same fire that was in my father’s heart into mine to be bold and walk into ministry for Him. But grief had such a hold on my family and me that we couldn’t boldly step into what the Lord had placed in our hearts.
Today, four years later, my family and I are launching a ministry called Tefera Ministry. That love, that fire, that joy, that truth, that grace, that glory, and that Spirit who carried my dad will never, ever go away. Now it lives in us. All glory to God.
Reflecting on Ezekiel 3:18-20, the Lord has shown me the profound urgency we must have in our lives to share the Good News of Jesus and to make Him known. My dad lived that legacy every single day; his life was filled with the urgency that people need to know the Lord. He breathed it, he lived it. The sudden way the Lord took him from us taught me so vividly that tomorrow is not promised. This has instilled in me a deep sense of urgency to share the Good News with others and to be bold for the Lord, understanding the weight of the warning God gave to Ezekiel and how closely it connects to our experience of losing my dad so suddenly. God does require that blood from our hands when we go to heaven. We should be really prepared and obedient to the Lord in what He requires of us while we are on earth.