Hometown Madison - January & February 2016

Remaining
FaithfulJill Dale
As a writer, I’ve written many stories and
articles on various subjects. I wrote procedure
manuals and procedure documents on web
applications and other application processes
for a few years. I then began writing for the
agent magazine that is distributed to the
agency force of Southern Farm Bureau Life
Insurance Company. I remember reading
trade magazines and hearing the stories
about the importance of life insurance and
what it means to a family. I would listen to
agents talk about delivering the death claim
check and how hard that was, but also the
relief and comfort it brought to a husband,
wife or mother or father. Never did I think
I would become the story I read about and
wrote about.
As I sat Sunday morning, two days after
my son died, I reflected on this and how life
has a weird way of playing out. I stared at a
blank document on my computer. I’ve never
been at a loss for words when it comes to
writing, but now I was. The hardest thing I
have ever written would be the obituary of
my 5 year old son, Campbell Grady Dale.
How would I condense his life, his impact
into a brief obituary? How do I tell the world
what an amazing, phenomenal boy Campbell
was? How do I tell people about his love for
his friends at the hospital, for his family, for
his twin sister and especially for his Father in
heaven…the one he trusted to take care of
him and heal him forever of his cancer?
What would I most want people to know
about the most amazing boy who called me
mom and David dad? I think it could be
summed up with this–he fought a brave
battle against a fierce enemy and the ultimate
Victor won, the One who wins every battle
against death, every, single time. Campbell
believed that God would heal him of his
cancer, and He did. He may not have healed
him in the way we wanted, but He healed
him according to His perfect will, His perfect
plan for Campbell’s life and for ours.
From the first day Campbell was diagnosed,
we laid him at our Father’s feet. We knew it
would take a miracle to heal him. The odds
were stacked against him, but we were ready
to fight. Our prayer was always that “Thy will
be done” whatever that may be. As we went
through the original treatment protocol
beginning in February 2014 of 54 weeks of
intense chemotherapy and 24 days of
radiation, we trusted God with each step,
with each decision that we made. When
Campbell’s cancer returned in April 2015,
we continued to trust Him and His plan for
his life. When we received the heartbreaking
news on August 17, 2015 that our doctors had
done everything that they could to heal him
here on earth, we continued to trust Him.
We always knew Campbell would be
healed, but now we knew that healing would
come in heaven and not here on earth. As
the words began to flow, so did the tears as
I reflected on what most would consider a
short life. His life may appear short to the
normal person, but the impact he had and
continues to have will be felt for years to
come. He lived the exact amount of time
God had ordained as He knit him together
in my womb…not a day more or a day less.
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