Sweet Mary Evelyn King

Our hearts are really heavy this week over at the Guerard household. You see, Turner has prayed faithfully every night for 10 months for eight year old Mary Evelyn King to be healed of her cancer. You may recall that we went to her “Cuts for the Cure” event a couple of months ago, and Turner had the privilege of meeting her.

Anyway, Mary Evelyn’s family called in hospice last week, because there was nothing more the doctors could do for her. As soon as we heard the news, Thomas and I agreed we had better start preparing Turner. I was anxious about it and prayed that God might give me the right words to say to a four year old.

And – as He always does – he provided.

You see, on Wednesday, we were driving to get haircuts around 4pm, and Turner said, “Mom, can I have some dessert?” To which I replied, “NO! It’s the middle of the afternoon and almost suppertime. We’re not having dessert right now.”

A few minutes later – OUT OF THE BLUE – she said, “Mom, I really wish I had gotten to ride the pony at Mary Evelyn’s party.” (We didn’t get to “Cuts for the Cure” in time for the pony ride that day).

This led me to say, “Turner, I really am worried about Mary Evelyn. She has gotten really, really sick again, and I am feeling really sad and worried.”

Turner, in complete confidence said, “But, Mom, God’s got it. I am praying for her. When I prayed for her before (in January), she was healed. He’ll heal her again.”

“You are right, Turner. God can do anything. He can heal anyone. But…you know how you just asked me for dessert, and I said ‘no?’ I said ‘no’ because dessert isn’t healthy at four in the afternoon. You know how sometimes you ask for dessert after a healthy dinner, and I say, ‘yes, of course!’...Or you know how you ask for dessert after lunch, and I sometimes say, ‘yes, but maybe later’?...

Well, God is our Heavenly Father. And just like mommy, when we pray and ask God for things, He sometimes says ‘YES!’. Sometimes he says, ‘YES, But not right now,’ and sometimes he says, ‘No,’ because he knows what is healthy for us and he knows more than we do.

God may say, ‘Yes’ to our requests to heal Mary Evelyn, He may say, ‘not right now’, and Turner, he may say ‘no.’ That doesn’t mean we stop asking. Or stop believing he could say, 'yes.' But, we have to be ok when he says, 'no.'”
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Isn’t God amazing? He really set me up to explain things to her in a way she could get. She was pretty quiet after this talk. That night, and the ones that followed through the week, she prayed with fervor for Mary Evelyn to be healed.

Heartbreakingly, Mary Evelyn passed away Friday night. It seemed so fast to all of us, but she had fought the good fight, and it was time for her to leave her earthly body.

Needless to say, Thomas and I had to process our own grief and were not too excited to share the news with our sweet baby girl. But, dying is part of life, and we wanted to tell her the truth.

So, Saturday night at tuck-in, we both went up with her. We knew she’d pray for Mary Evelyn and thought it wise to share the news while she was snuggled up with both of us.

I reminded her of our talk about prayers and God’s answers, and then I shared the devastating news. She was torn up and cried and cuddled with us for a while. We explained to her that Mary Evelyn now had beautiful, long shiny hair and was in heaven with all the angels. She left her weak, sick body and was now a new, happy, healthy little girl, dancing and playing. And it was our job to pray for her family to not be sad and for us to not be sad.

That night, Turner began to pray a new prayer for Mary Evelyn. She’s had a couple of tough moments the last few days, when we know she is still processing this new world, where young people die and God sometimes says “no,” but she inspires us both to keep the faith…even when bad things happen to good people.

We ARE hugging a little tighter these days...and a little more often.