Hope, Stephanie Annemieke
Feb. 4, 1987 - Nov. 17, 2004
Stephanie was unexpectedly called home to be with her Saviour on Wednesday, November 17, 2004. She will be greatly missed by her parents David and Leah Hope and her siblings Amie, Joshua and Danielle and many beloved family members and friends.
Stephie was born February 4, 1987 in Comox, BC. She was an incredible 鈥榠n your face鈥� type of person. She was intent on imprinting herself on everyone she met. She barged into our lives, talked our ears off, and made us adore her. She was full of energy and surprises and she loved people and loved to be loved by them. She was a beautiful, giving girl, but also very greedy for love!
In January of 2001 Stephanie was diagnosed with Crohns Disease. God used her incredible struggle with the disease to shape her. Stephanie became very deep and transparent. She welcomed everyone in her world and into her struggle.
Stephanie had surgery on October 4, 2003 which gave her a new lease on life. It was a difficult adjustment for her, but she rose to the challenge with vibrant enthusiasm. The last year of Steph鈥檚 life was an incredible adventure. She crammed more life into that year then most people experience in a lifetime.
In amongst all her various activities and jobs, Stephanie enjoyed and embraced life and cultivated intimate relationships with those around her. She reached out in love to friends, family and sometimes even strangers, making each of us feel as though we were the most important person in the world to her.
This poem that Stephanie gave to her dear friend really sums up the way our Stephie lived her life.
From now on, I am going to grab
the good times with both hands
I am going to walk outside
and feel the sun on my face
and learn to laugh.
Really laugh.
Most of all, I am going to take love
that comes my way
and hold onto it for dear life.
Sometimes we don鈥檛 need new scenery,
just new eyes.
- Dawn Miller -
Although Steph was a wonderful person, all the love, joy and light she poured into others was just a reflection of God鈥檚 work in her. She loved her Saviour deeply and longed to be free from all things superficial and empty. The night before Jesus carried Stephanie home, she slept to the song 鈥淚 Can Only Imagine鈥� (Mercy Me) blaring in her ears. She understood and embraced the fact that Jesus had given His life for her so that she could spend eternity with Him. Our Steph was ready to meet Jesus. God had prepared her, in His perfect time, to go home to be with Him. So we thank Jesus for taking her. She is happier now then she ever has been. She has no more pain and she cries no more. She is dancing before the Lord right now - beholding Him face to face.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4: 16-17