Dear friends –
Life has a way of not turning out the way we plan. Almost 34 years ago, I married a beautiful young lady with whom I thought I would spend the rest of my life. Susan and I were inseparable. When you saw one of us, you saw both of us. We formed AbsolutelyGospel.com together as a team. Unfortunately, January 5th of this year, the terrible disease that she battled for most of her life overtook her, and she left me to take her place in Heaven.
Susan has gone to a place we all long to go. She’s not struggling to breathe anymore, and she’s able to walk again. She has attained her goal. The problem has been that I was left here alone. I couldn’t go to her, and she couldn’t come to me ever again. Life seemed to come to a halt. I was going nowhere. I was miserable. For the past five years, I had been Susan’s caregiver. For the last two years, it was pretty much 24/7 taking care of her. I grieved for her for two years as she went steadily downhill in her health. I knew that God was still there, but it just didn’t feel like He was anywhere close.
About 5 months ago I met a very lovely lady, Pamela Cooper Lewis, who lives in Cleveland, Tennessee. She has owned her own business for 15 years. She was raised as a Church of God pastor’s daughter, and God has been instrumental in everything that has been happening lately. Pamela and I started communicating and from there developed a relationship. Soon, I was going to Cleveland to visit her. As I visited her, the emptiness in my life began fading away.
Let me shorten this story just a little. On September 3, 2011, we were married in the Prayer Garden at the Church of God International offices in Cleveland. I know the first thing on everybody’s mind is, How do your kids feel about this?
Amy said, “We are thrilled that Dad has been able to find someone to spend this next part of his life with. We adore Pam, but most of all, we adore that she has been able to make our Dad happy once again. They are happy together – and for that reason alone – we are happy for them both!”
Chris said, “We’ve already grown to love Pam and see her as a part of this family. We know that there is no one that will be able to replace our mother, but we are excited that God has brought Pam into our lives.”
Pamela is joining me at the National Quartet Convention, so come on by our booth and meet her.
You may be wondering what role Pamela is going to have in AbsolutelyGospel. She is not a singer or musician, but she is an astute business lady and will continue to operate her business, but she will also be helping us in the business area of the website. It’s kind of cool, because she is quickly becoming a fan of Southern Gospel Music.
We want to thank all of our family and friends for their support, love, prayer and well wishes as we embark on this new life together.
God bless you,
Deon Unthank
President/CEO
AbsolutelyGospel.com
