{"id":52,"date":"2005-03-29T18:18:00","date_gmt":"2005-03-30T00:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/?p=52"},"modified":"2016-03-21T15:17:09","modified_gmt":"2016-03-21T21:17:09","slug":"a-life-worth-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/a-life-worth-living\/","title":{"rendered":"A Life Worth Living – Amy Elizabeth Blundell"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Amy E. Blundell (Dec. 22, 1980 - March 21, 2005)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last week as many of you may know, my family buried my sister Amy. I never dreamed that day would come. I don’t think anyone did.<\/p>\n

Amy was full of life, energy and love for her friends, family and most importantly her Lord and Savior.<\/p>\n

I was honored to write Amy’s obituary, but I felt inadequate as I finished the biography of 24 years.<\/p>\n

How could 24 marvelous years be summed up in 329 words?<\/p>\n

We sat on Tuesday afternoon going through boxes and boxes of photos Amy had collected during her short life.<\/p>\n

If a picture is worth a thousand words, how could 329 words suffice?<\/p>\n

I began to wonder how long my obituary might be. <\/p>\n

I’m certain its length would be longer. I am two years older than Amy and she always considered me the “social butterfly”\u009d of our family. While I was always ready to jump into the next big thing, she was quietly memorizing scripture or spending time with her closest friends.<\/p>\n

I remember after I transferred to The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Amy would be frustrated when people knew her as “Jonathan’s little sister.”<\/p>\n

After all, she did arrive at UMHB an entire year before I did.<\/p>\n

She was never the outgoing, outspoken member of our family.<\/p>\n

As a middle child I think she gave up trying to steal any talk-time or spotlight away from our youngest sister or me.<\/p>\n

But a long obituary means nothing. A life worth living is measured by quality and not quantity.<\/p>\n

I may live to be 99, but I will always question if my life was any where near worthy of hers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Amy E. Blundell (Dec. 2004)<\/figcaption><\/figure>Only 329 words for an obit, but those boxes and boxes of pictures really do say so much more.<\/p>\n

As you look through them they’re not a “who’s who” of Mesquite, Belton, Dallas or anywhere else. But they’re a “who’s who” of who really mattered to Amy.<\/p>\n

No matter how many boxes you went through, you didn’t find too many new faces.<\/p>\n

Amy’s group of friends were small — but they were so very close.<\/p>\n

She wasn’t out to be involved in every club in college. She wasn’t interested in making a name for herself.<\/p>\n

She never set out to be Ms. Popular or Ms. I Know Everybody — but her funeral was a testimony that Amy impacted everyone she knew.<\/p>\n

She was just here to help those nearest and dearest and live a life worthy of Christ — and in the end she made an impact on everyone she came in contact with.<\/p>\n

Because while the faces in Amy’s boxes were few, the lives she touched were anything but.<\/p>\n

Everyone who knew her loved her. And to be a part of her close circle meant you were something special.<\/p>\n

I never understood why while growing up I went through girlfriends like dirty socks and Amy never dated at all.<\/p>\n

It’s because she knew what she was looking for and she wasn’t going to settle for anything less.<\/p>\n

She had her list and checked it twice. <\/p>\n

If you didn’t meet her expectations, see you later, you won’t get her attention.<\/p>\n

That’s why I know God placed her fiance Matt in her life. She wouldn’t take anything less than God’s best.<\/p>\n

When Amy was hitting her early teens I was reminded how she was so worried about how she looked and how no guy would ever want to date her.<\/p>\n

My best friend Matt consoled her saying, “Amy you’re beautiful. Someday your prince will come and take you away.”<\/p>\n

That meant the world to her and she waited expectantly for her prince.<\/p>\n

Her prince finally arrived nearly 10 years later.<\/p>\n

Matt came into her life on a white horse and stole her heart away (much to the frustration of a way-too protective older brother.)<\/p>\n

But despite any fears or doubts, Matt was Amy’s Proven Prince.<\/p>\n

They were so in love. Not only with each other but with their God and Savior.<\/p>\n

And as Amy laid in hospital beds and rested at home over the last month, Matt proved himself over and over again to everyone.<\/p>\n

There is no one else I would have rather have had standing in my place protecting her from the world and its hurts and pains.<\/p>\n

But while Matt was Amy’s Proven Prince here on earth, her Heavenly Prince Jesus Christ comforted her so much more.<\/p>\n

She loved nothing more than reading His love letters to her and talking with Him.<\/p>\n

She talked about Him constantly. She did everything she could to make Him happy.<\/p>\n

And I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that when she walked through the pearly gates of heaven her Heavenly Prince said, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Welcome home.”<\/p>\n

My parent’s pastor told the Easter Sunday congregation that he had received an e-mail shortly after Amy’s funeral.<\/p>\n

The e-mail said that the writer had never really known Amy but they regretted that tremendously after attending her funeral.<\/p>\n

The writer said that Amy was a true example of a life given to Christ and a lifestyle of evangelism.<\/p>\n

Amy’s life was a testimony to Christ and a testimony to lifestyle evangelism.<\/p>\n

She often wondered how she could reach her co-workers for Christ and how she could reach those around her. But she did it the best way she knew how — living a life focused on Christ.<\/p>\n

For many of us, it takes 20, 30, or maybe even 70 or 80 years to figure out this thing called life.<\/p>\n

But I’m quite certain Amy had it all figured out when she was three years old, sitting in a bathtub.<\/p>\n

She made a decision that would affect the rest of her life, by accepting Christ as her Lord and Savior.<\/p>\n

There was no evangelist breathing fire and brimstone down her neck, no flashy media presentation, no pressure to walk the aisle with her friends, just a burning desire in her heart to be like the Christians she knew and more importantly — to be like Christ.<\/p>\n

Yet even as I wrap up this column I feel like 1060 words are not near enough. <\/p>\n

I could write many more volumes on my sister, Amy Elizabeth Blundell. And even still, she would be embarrassed with the little I’ve written here.<\/p>\n

I love you Amy and we all miss you greatly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week as many of you may know, my family buried my sister Amy. I never dreamed that day would come. I don’t think anyone did. Amy was full of life, energy and love for her friends, family and most importantly her Lord and Savior. I was honored to write Amy’s obituary, but I felt … Continue reading A Life Worth Living – Amy Elizabeth Blundell<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[885,973,4657,1011,2102],"class_list":["post-52","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mi-familia","tag-amy-blundell","tag-death","tag-family","tag-life","tag-worth-living"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pEnSo-Q","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14018,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions\/14018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}