Matt and I spent our first 5 years in the ministry at a wonderful little church in Wadena MN. We began serving there just two weeks after our first child, Cole, was born. Among the amazing blessing the Lord gave to us during that time, there was one very special woman that will forever be a part of our lives. Dana Jacobson was the wife of our visitation Pastor there. They were a retired couple still faithfully serving the Lord and sharing His Love. Dana was a quiet, gentle, and strong woman of faith. She was one of those women who completely radiated Jesus. I would not even begin to be able to share to lessons I had learned from her. The importance of prayer, the importance of hope, and the strength in a quiet and gentle spirit. During my pregnancy with our 3rd, Dana was battling cancer again. Matt and I were also going through the heartache of knowing it was time to move on from our ministry in Wadena. The Lord seemed to just whisper Dana's name upon our lips for our newest little one yet to arrive. When we looked up the meaning of Dana, it was of no surprise that it meant "bringer of peace". How beautifully it captured Dana's spirit and we would soon find out that it would also very much represent our own Joslyn Dana during such a time of difficult change in our life. I believe that one of the Lord's greatest gifts to Matt and I , and most precious pictures to us, is that of Dana holding our Joslyn Dana, at less than one week old, and just a little less than two months from Jesus taking Dana home to be with Him.
Today, a dear friend from Wadena, emailed me a letter written by Dana's daughter. This letter comes today on the 7th anniversary of Dana's meeting Jesus face to face. This letter is a beautiful description of how Dana lived her life. I was blessed this morning to be able to read this to Joslyn Dana and share with her the great legacy that her name holds. Of course Joslyn watched my face in bewilderment as my tears streaked my face and my words were hard to speak. But I told her that it is a reminder of how much my heart yearns for her to understand and have the love of Jesus that Dana had for Him.
Thank you more than words could offer to Sylvia for sending me this precious letter and Diane, for sharing more of your Mom even after she has gone, with those who had the privelage of knowing her! You have blessed so many!
Below is the story that Diane has shared of her mom, Dana Jacobson.
Dana’s Story
In the fall of 1993 while living in Loveland, OH, my mother was given the news during a check-up that she had cancer. It was devastating to her but being a woman with a deep faith in the Lord, she knew she could get through it and that He would walk with her no matter what lay ahead.. She had developed a very close walk with her Savior through the years.
The Sunday right after her visit with the Dr., the pastor of her church ended his message with an invitation to anyone who needed a healing touch to come forward and let the Elder’s pray and anoint them. My mother immediately left her seat and made her way to the front of the church with the others. She calmly stood as her pastor and Elder’s anointed her and prayed for the Lord to touch her body. She took a seat near the front row and sat down. As soon as she was seated, she felt a gentle breeze on her face and shoulders. She looked around to see if there was an open window or if a ceiling fan was on, there wasn’t. It was then that she noticed there was a distinct scent that the breeze had brought a musty, spicy yet sweet aroma that filled the air around her. She looked around but there was no one sitting near her. She knew it was a scent she had smelled before, it was an aroma familiar to her but she could not remember from where. She continued to feel the gentle breeze and smell the sweet aroma for a few minutes and then as strangely as it had come, it left her. Immediately she felt as if a burden had been lifted from her.
On the ride home, she remembered where she had smelled the aroma that had surrounded her at the church. She went to her cedar chest in the spare bedroom and began to look for the little box that held the gift. She found it near the bottom and as she took off the cover, she began to weep. She removed the tissue paper and held the sachet to her face, the tears streaming down her cheeks. It was a gift given to her by a missionary lady from Israel; the sachet held a mixture of the spices said to have been wrapped with Jesus body at his burial. It was the very same aroma that had surrounded her that morning. She knew without a doubt that Jesus had visited her that morning, wrapped His loving arms around her and given her His peace, the peace that only He can give. She had smelled her Savior.
When He came and took her home on the morning of April 2, 2002 at around 9:00, I know that as He pulled her into His loving arms, she knew Him not only by the nail prints in his hands and feet or by the look of love on His face but she knew the aroma of her Lord, He had been with her before.
Our Joslyn Dana Now
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