Strong and Vibrant – A legacy worth leaving

This past November, we had to say a difficult goodbye to my grandma, Delores Rutherford, on this side of Heaven. After her death, I decided to reread her book, To Send A Dove, that recounts the early days of her battle with breast cancer. In it, she mentions that she wanted to be strong and vibrant. And that she was. Those are two perfect words to describe my grandmother. But her life and legacy as a strong and vibrant woman doesn’t point to her; It points to Christ. The Bible is clear that when we die, our legacy will eventually fade, but God will never be forgotten (1 Peter 1:24-25). God stands the test of time – He is the beginning, the middle, and the end (Isaiah 44:6, Revelation 1:8, Revelation 22:13). My grandma knew this, and lived her life like it. She was strong and vibrant, yes. But she was strong and vibrant in order to give God the glory. When I look at her life, I see a woman who boasted in her weakness to highlight God’s strength, and a woman who was salt and light of the earth, making everything around her flavorful and bright.

In To Send A Dove, my grandma candidly shares the struggles, fears, and frustrations that come along with having cancer, yet she always kept a strong spirit that pointed to back to God. From the day she learned about her cancer in the late 1980’s to her last days here on Earth in 2025, she was always, always so strong. It wasn’t a type of strength that came off as arrogant, or something that seemed exhausting to keep up for the long haul. It was a type of humble strength that could only come from knowing that God is the ultimate provider of peace and sustainer of long term, true strength.

The strength she possessed reminds me so much of the strength Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. These verses read,

” ‘My [God’s] strength is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.’ Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Paul’s words here encourage us in two ways; 1) When hardships are present, we get to rely on God in a new way, and 2) When we are weak, we get to glorify God by sharing with others that it’s God’s strength sustaining us, not our own.

These two lessons from Paul were exemplified in my grandmother’s life, maybe even more than she realized. When it came to trusting God in the midst of struggles, my grandma recalls a particularly difficult night after learning she’d need to start chemotherapy treatments. On page 111 of To Send A Dove, she wrestles with why God would allow her to become a victim of cancer. Her thoughts drifted to verses in the Bible, like Psalm 121:1-2, that tell us hardships give us the opportunity to rely on God in a way that isn’t always possible when challenges are absent. She knew that sometimes, there is no good answer to the “whys” in our life, yet the circumstances can lead us to put our faith and trust in God all the more, strengthening our relationship with Him.

When it comes to boasting in our weakness to give God the glory, my grandma did that well, too. On pages 150-151, she shares with the reader that she wondered if her battle with cancer would ever produce anything good. She settled on the answer, “perhaps”, writing, “Even now, as I endeavored to demonstrate a positive attitude towards the disease, an incredible thing was happening. A casual conversation with someone experiencing problems or difficulty in a relationship would turn into a counseling session. I was so eager to share my confidence in God’s power to restore and renew, I couldn’t refrain from saying this to others.” Grandma used her weakness, her cancer, to boast about Christ’s faithful strength.

Not only was my grandma strong, she was also as vibrant as they come. She could turn any place she walked into from a boring gathering to a room bursting with vibrant energy. She could captivate an audience, keep a conversation interesting, and bring fresh life to people around her. Yet her actions weren’t about magnifying herself, they were to bring attention to God. I think about the imagery Jesus shares with us in Matthew chapter 5 about being salt and light in this world. Jesus says,

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lost its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:13-16

Grandma brought salt and light in this world in a way that honored the Lord. The air around her literally felt more exciting and bright, and that was the Holy Spirit working through her because she welcomed Him into every space. Grandma was vibrant because God is vibrant, and she gave Him the stage every opportunity she could. When God takes the stage in someone’s life, those people are naturally lighter, brighter, and spirited – God literally shines through them and they can’t help but be vibrant in a way someone never could without God. Her energy was like a mirror that reflected God and gave Him the glory.

Earlier I mentioned that my grandma wondered if good would come from her battle with cancer. In my opinion, good things did come from her battle with cancer. Through her book, she encourages readers past, present, and future as they face various trials, cancer or otherwise. Through her daily actions while on this earth, she loved countless people. She displayed God’s strength by boasting in her weakness, and she shined God’s vibrant light for others to see. She was a strong and vibrant woman who did what she set out to do – Give God all the glory. We will never truly know how far her reach went to further God’s kingdom, though I imagine it’s large and it’s affects are still extending!