The Footprints We Leave Throughout Our Life In Memory of Mary Ann Stanic January 12, 2020 Amy and I have known Mary Ann for at least 25 years since our days together back in Toronto at Stone Church. We were in the same small group together with Ian and Elaine Armstrong. We remained in contact through calls and emails during her time in New York where we went down to visit her a few times, meeting her friends and being toured around. Staying either in her cosy apartment or with friends. We particularly remember staying at a friends house who had built a loft area and camping out up there in sleeping bags. Years later we drove down from Montreal to New York and helped Mary Ann pack her few belongings and move back to Canada when her time in the US was finished. As her friends we have walked with her through the many transitions in her life. We lost touch with her for a few years as we had moved to Switzerland but we reconnected through one of my trips back to Canada and, whenever I was going through Toronto, I would connect with her and we would often meet up at a coffee shop. In the last few years of her life she had asked me to be her pastor, and I was happy to do that as best as I could living in Switzerland. Amy and I drove up to northern Germany to visit her during her treatments at the clinic, and we prayed together with her and encouraged her during this difficult time. We had regular contact via email, skype and calls. The truth be told she didnt need her faith strengthen; she remained steadfast even resolute in her faith to the very end. Although it was my job to encourage her, she, in fact, probably encouraged me more than I did for her. We had very deep conversations about the Lord especially, but also life in general, as she launched businesses in various areas of design. But really our relationship revolved around the Lord. This was our shared experience together, and Id like to reflect on that for a moment. Mary Anns faith was her guiding light - her north star. She was a woman of prayer and contemplation. She took these matters very seriously and its what we discussed whenever we got together be it at Tim Hortons or Andy and Rutsuko house. Its her faith and her unwavering devotion to our Lord Jesus Christ which are the footprints that she leaves in our lives. This morning at church, our pastor was commenting from Exodus that our God is the God of the Living, the God of Abraham, Isaak and Jacob and the God of Mary Ann. I can assure you that even though her battle against cancer is finished she is very much alive now - more so than she ever was here on the earth. We celebrate that fact; that not only will we see her again but that her true life is only now just beginning. The struggles that she constantly faced are now just a dim and fading memory and she will be surrounded by the very manifested glory of the living God. Clothed in a new body, unaffected by time or illness, she has now taken on the fullness of what she was meant to be. She stands now fully healed, fully restored, complete in every way, and is stepping into joy, peace and love that is beyond our current understanding. Heaven is real and I am certain, without a shadow of doubt, that she is joining with the angelic choirs and all the believers who have gone before us in the great and eternal celebration of the love our Lord Jesus. So although a small part of our heart is temporarily grieved, we celebrate with her; gone for the moment but not forgotten, and until we meet again: Thank you for the footsteps that you left in our lives. We are richer and better for having walked beside you in our time together. God Bless you all, whoever has gathered to remember Mary Ann. Her hope and faith in Jesus Christ is a testimony to us all. I encourage you, like Mary Ann to embrace a life of faith in God - it is the greatest and most wonderful way to live. No matter how life goes you are never alone and his footsteps will leave their eternal mark in your life as they did with Mary Ann. Blessings, Franklyn and Amy Rev. Franklyn Spence and Dr Amy Brice Forerunner Ministries www.forerunner-ministries.com Magden, Switzerland