A few weeks ago my cousin Angela shared how she's learned to praise God in the good times and bad. She's had her share of storms and testified that God has been with her through each one. Today she is telling you her sister's story...Kelli's story. Kelli is part of my story too. Her life is a reminder that sorrow and beauty and wonder are strangely intertwined. Her life is a reminder that our days are few, but never too few to be without great purpose. 

Psalm 90:12  Teach us to number our days,

    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

  
A Guest Post by Angela Dorris

My sister Kelli

Where do I begin? 

 There is so much to tell. The first thing I really remember after she was born is that soon after coming home from the hospital, it was discovered that she had a blue color to her. It didn't take long to find out that my beautiful sister had a heart problem.

 This was only the beginning to the troubles she would encounter. Kelli was born in 1983. From the beginning she loved life and everything about it. 

 She had an open heart surgery before she was even 1 year old. That surgery actually helped her. As time went on, she would require another heart surgery. 

 Little did we, or the doctor know, that Kelli knew that surgery wouldn't be successful. I have never heard of anyone waking up during a surgery until Kelli came along. She woke up during her surgery, sat up on the table and told the doctor to stop because it wasn't going to work. They had to put her back under anesthesia and proceed with the surgery.

 Kelli would be correct in saying the surgery wouldn't be successful.

 During her time in the hospital, the Christmas holidays came along. I remember staying at the Ronald Mc Donald house in Ft. Worth. Staying there was such a blessing. They made sure that all of us had the best Christmas possible. 

 They gave Kelli, my sister and I a Cabbage Patch Doll. Kelli's doll was named Nia Gale and the doll went through everything with Kelli, including the IV's that Kelli had. The nurses would put IV's on Kelli's doll also to make her feel better. All of this happened such a long time ago and I will do my best to put everything into order.   

 

During Kelli's brief moments at home, she would cling to my brother Shawn. She loved swinging with him. Kelli somehow knew that she was very different from other kids, even though she didn't look any different. She knew she would never run and play like the other kids. How do you explain that to a child under 5 years old? We didn't have to explain to her, she just knew.  

I remember being in the choir at Early First Baptist Church and we did a program with the Kids Praise songs and I had my grandmother purchase the cassette tape with those songs. Kelli learned every one of those songs but her favorite was IN HIS TIME...

 In His time, in His time

He makes all things beautiful in His time. 

 Her other favorite song was Jesus Name Above All Names. My dad made a video of Kelli, my sister Holly, my cousin Kristi and I singing those songs. That memory will always come to mind when I hear those two songs. I truly believe that Kelli understood exactly what those songs meant.  

You see, Kelli at that time was on a heart transplant waiting list. She knew she didn't have much time left here on this Earth. She would however get the opportunity to attend school for a very short period of time. I was told that Kelli even communicated with a boy in her class that couldn't talk or walk. When Kelli was picked up from school that dad, she told her mom Tammy that the boy she communicated with was going to walk one day. About 6 months after Kellie passed, Tammy found out that the boy in Kelli’s class had a surgery that enabled him to walk. Kelli was very gifted.

Soon after she wasn't able to go to school due to her health declining rapidly, she attended Vacation Bible School at Early First Baptist Church. During that week, the best week of her life, she learned that Jesus was her friend and understood that Jesus died on the cross for her sins. 

 

 
 I later learned that Kelli didn't even sleep at night during that week of Vacation Bible School. Kelli loved Jesus so much that she wanted to make sure everyone had Jesus as their friend. She was very adamant about Holly accepting Jesus as her friend, but Holly didn't make this decision until some time after Kelli passed away.

There would be times right before Kelli passed away that she would see a hearse and say "that's my car". She knew her time was coming quickly.  

How can someone with such a short life span make such a huge impact on others lives? It seems impossible and Kelli made it happen. I'm so blessed that God gave her to me and the rest of our family.  

As she was taking her last breath on Earth, she was reaching up toward Heaven.

This only makes us realize how much of our time here on Earth is wasted and not focused on what we have in front of us. Our most important task is to love God, seek God and spread the Word about Him to others. 

 What can you do differently today?

You'll notice social media is peppered with thankful posts and pictures. It's November! Most times our thankfulness can't be summed up in a sentence or two. If you have a story that expresses your gratitude and you'd like to share it on this website, please send it in an email to kristiburden@gmail.com