Alberta Havinga Funeral

Dear family and friends, Alberta was a precious child of God. After a long struggle, God called her home, taking her to the place he prepared for her. It’s interesting, but she’d already made part of that journey over a year ago! On Boxing Day of 2017, she became deathly ill, and went to heaven. She saw the gates and as she approached them, they… closed! She was kinda mad about that!

The gates closed because it wasn’t her time. God’s work—the work he prepared in advance for her to do, wasn’t complete. God knew that I needed to get to know her, so he gave her more time in order that I, as well as many others, would be blessed.

Indeed, those who knew Alberta, were blessed. God worked powerfully in and through her, throughout her life.

Alberta’s life wasn’t easy. She faced more struggles and difficulties in her life than entire families might experience in three generations. And yet, through it all, she was held by, sustained by, God.

Alberta trusted God. He never failed her. You see, trusting in God doesn’t mean that your life is great, perfect, or always fantastic and lovely. It doesn’t mean your marriage will be without struggle. It doesn’t mean that you won’t experience tragic loss. It doesn’t mean that you will be rich and healthy.

Trusting in God means that you always have all of heaven’s resources at your fingertips, available for the blessing of others. it means you can always trust God to carry you through the days you don’t have the strength, the emotional, mental or spiritual capacity to walk.

It means remembering that God is bigger than anything you face and that you can trust him, you can rejoice in the Lord, Always. Alberta did just that. It is fitting that, just a few weeks before she died, she insisted on meeting with me and planning her funeral—the passage she’d chosen.

is more than a sermon text. It was Alberta’s life text. She rejoiced in the Lord always. Oh, it might not have always been flashy or extravagant rejoicing. Sometimes it was a quiet, simple trust. She rejoiced in the Lord, even in the suffering she experienced. She told me so. In this, she was like the apostle Paul, who wrote these words from a Roman prison—a very harsh and non-rejoice worthy place. Our rejoicing isn’t dependent on our circumstances, rather it is from knowing the Lord.

In Jesus Christ, we have everything, all our deepest desires are met in him. And for that, we can rejoice anywhere, anytime.

Alberta let her graciousness be known to all. She did! I witnessed it, always, regardless of her pain, her suffering. The staff, the residents, the families who visited their family members, saw it in her every day. It was evident to all. Alberta provided everyone around her with a picture of who God is. She, wasn’t perfect, don’t get me wrong, and she wasn’t always happy, she suffered, she cried, but she witnessed, she demonstrated that God is a loving, gracious, compassionate and gentle God, who is always near. He is always near.

I don’t know if Alberta was ever anxious. Well, that’s not true, I think there were some things, more specifically, some people she was anxious about. Art, she was concerned about you, how you’d carry on without her. Elza, you and your children. Adrianna & Dyce, Jennie & Brian, Walter & Theresa, that you and all her children and grandchildren would walk with the Lord.

When we talked about this passage, I told Alberta, “I love it when the Bible says things like, “Don’t be anxious.” I love it because the Bible is realistic. It wouldn’t say, “Don’t be anxious,” if people weren’t prone to being anxious. It is not saying, “You’re not allowed to be anxious.” Rather, God is saying, “It’s unnecessary to be anxious.”

It’s unnecessary because the Lord is near. Suppose you woke up one day to discover you were living in a nightmare, it was like a version of the hunger games, but instead of weapons and wilderness, you had to play hockey and it was sudden death, literally. But then, you look around and you see who’s on your team: Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Mario Lemieux, Phil Esposito, Ken Dryden, Guy Lafleur, Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury, Jarome Iginla, Kiprusoff, and more, all in their prime. Well, that’d give you a bit of confidence, wouldn’t it?

That’s what God is communicating to us, don’t be anxious, because he’s on our side. And that’s the peace, the understanding, the confidence, that Alberta had, deep within her.

Even so, with Christ by our side, we can still feel anxious. So, what then, what do we do?

Pray. In everything, good bad, lovely terrible, pray, petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Feeling anxious? Pray. Petition. Request. Give thanks. This demonstrates trust. Children do this all the time. As children of God, then, do this!

The result is a transcendent peace from Christ, that protects and guards our hearts and minds.

The slideshow that played prior to the service was titled, the legacy of Alberta Havinga. One aspect of Alberta’s legacy was how she lived her life with God, as seen in this passage. The other aspect of her legacy is seen in her family, her husband, her children, her grandchildren and her great grandchildren.

As we continue to carry on without her, there will be times when we will feel anxious. Remember Alberta. Remember Jesus. Turn to him in prayer and petition and receive his amazing peace. Amen.