kitty cathy

Good morning…

In her blog post from The Hidden Life Awakened website, this week co-author Kitty Crenshaw shared with us a loving update.

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Dearest Friends,

Betty is gone now, but the peace of her presence is with us in a new and perhaps more powerful way. She often said, “I can do more for you from there than I can from here.” Having a teacher like Betty meant having a friend who led from her weakness, prayed for us constantly, knew us better than we knew ourselves, and was willing to take the risk of exhorting us to see what we needed to see. Here is the link to her obituary lovingly written by her children. The service for Betty was on Sunday, but due to Covid and a huge family, it was for immediate family only. Though we were sad not to be there, God has cleared the way for a few of her closest friends to climb her favorite mountain in North Carolina to scatter some of her ashes on her beloved Julian’s Rock. We will do the climb on September 30. We covet your prayers.
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September 30th has arrived. Dr. Cathy Snapp, the other author of this life-changing book, sent an email yesterday to the six of us humbly making the holy hike, laying out a rhythm for our sacred day in the mountains.

9:30-10:00 a.m. – Depart for Julian’s Rock

We will ascend the mountain in the order of the years we have known Betty. We will walk as Betty taught us, spacing out until the person ahead is just out of view, “so as to get out of the vibes of each other”. Sue Allen will lead us and Kitty will bring up the last, carrying Betty’s ashes up to her final resting place.

Quietly, reverently, wakefully, we will ascend the mountain, perhaps stopping to pick up gaylax to use during the ceremony to come. Once at Julian’s Rock, we will gather in a circle, each of us taking turns with the small trowel, to dig a small hole for her ashes and “sacred artifacts” that Kitty is bringing, ie. Betty’s hiking whistle, etc…we will then go around the circle, each reading a mediation selected by Betty from Circle of Love and sharing any words of affirmation, love, impact, etc…that each one might feel guided to say, as we open to her soul, from our hearts to heaven.

As we did so many times, the trek down the mountain will be one of joyous celebration and there will be a lunch together at the Whiteside Mountain Brewery, for any who would like to stay and partake. Kitty and I are beyond grateful to each of you for joining us. We love you and are beyond honored to walk this walk together.

Please keep our transformative trek in the deep soul of your prayers. We trust that our collective prayers our powerful and that Betty will join us from the heights of Heaven and you, from across the globe, will be with us from the little chapel in your heart. Together we will experience the saving power of God’s enduring truth.

All of us will be changed! We’ll step out of our mortal clothes and slide into immortal bodies, replacing everything that is subject to death with eternal life. And, when we are all redressed with bodies that do not, cannot decay, when we put immortality over our mortal frames, then it will be as Scripture says:

Life everlasting has victoriously swallowed death.

Hey, Death! What happened to your big win?
Hey, Death! What happened to your sting? (1 Corinthians 15:52-55, VOICE). 

An excerpt from the last poem of Betty’s shared in the book celebrates the essence of this memorable day.

I join hands with others and the earth,

Step into this costly dance.

For eternal is the wheel and endless is the dance

That grinds the seasons of the soul

Where nothing falls but into Life.

Grace brought me to this place,

This gentle hill and ground

Where all beauty is first found.

My story lies upon it. I rest beside it in the dark.

For what I found, I am.

And where I am is Home. – BWS

From wherever you are on this ordinary morn, we invite you to step quietly into this costly, endless dance. Thank you for joining the hands of your heart from afar as we take this holy hike together with God, celebrating eternal life with our dear, immortal friend Betty.

…Sue…