I am Renee Blankartz. My husband died on June 24th, 2010. This blog was a glimpse into our life including: journal entries, art pieces, political commentary, thoughts on current events, essays on faith, books and recent photo shoots. To everyone visiting to find out more about Michael thank you for taking the time to remember him.







Tuesday, July 6, 2010

With Renee

Thank you to everyone who has offered prayer and support for myself and my daughters during this time. I have noticed that many people have been reading Michael’s writings. I don’t know if you are family members, co-workers, new or old friends or just someone who heard about him, but because of the personal details in Michael’s writings I will no longer be posting his book, With Renee. He started to write the book for our children and grandchildren. The following is part of the intro:

There are a few autobiographies that I would sincerely desire to read and fewer that would leave a lasting impression on my life. I enjoy the Gospels, book of Acts and the whole Bible for that matter because they tell the life stories of God and his people. But two life stories I always wondered about was that of my own parents. Who were they before I was born? You always hear of parents stopping in moments of clarity when they realize they were saying statements to their kids that their own parents had said to them. How had they changed from the child to the adult? I also wondered how my parents acted and how other adults saw them at work and other times when I wasn’t around. I used to ask my parents a lot of questions trying to unveil who they were and how they came to believe and think the way that they did. To this day I have stories that give hints to their past but ultimately I feel their true and complete story will never become clearer than a glimpse to me. I don’t want that to be true for my children. I know that how I raise you will have a lasting impression on not only how you see the world but how you will raise your own children. I desire to tell you why I do the things I do and how I came to learn and believe the things that I taught you.
First off it is impossible to tell my early story apart from God and your mother Renee because they are so much apart of it. The same way it is impossible for me to tell my later story apart from you Lydia and Melody. The other day we were all walking through the graveyard together and your mom started talking about how she would do my funeral. I in turn told her how I would do hers and we both felt like the other person truly knew our hearts and how we would want to be remembered. We both agreed that we would only allow selected speakers to speak. Neither one of us could handle a family acquaintance or friend saying a story that wasn’t true about the life of the person we loved so much. Your mom said she would make everyone walk to a difficult but breathe taking place in nature. There would be no pamphlet or summary written down about my life. Simply a bunch of people in God’s country were she would have someone play Amazing Grace on the bagpipes. She said that she would read something if she could but the funeral would have to be postponed until she felt she had truly captured what she wanted to say.
For your mother I saw a beautiful mood lit room set up for a meal like you would see for a very high end wedding reception. On the walls would be her paintings and pictures. The music playing softly in the background would be piano songs she had written herself or loved to play. I would decorate and coordinate everything with her daughters. It would be a tribute to her and I would make the point that the greatest thing she ever felt she had been able to create and devote her life to was not a painting, picture or musical piece but her children. And that she always felt that her greatest masterpiece was her family. Both of us love you two very much.
This book has two sections. The first is entitled “Loving God with your life.” It holds my personal testimony and I hope one day it will have yours too. The second section is called “Loving God with you mind.” In a world that constantly calls the things of God foolish I have written some teaching that can help us. It can be used as a defense for your faith but most importantly for your own understanding. The word tells us to love God with our hearts as well as our minds. I pray you will love him with everything in you. Believe me he is more than worth it. Jesus Christ was God and he came to earth a long time ago to show us how much he loves us, wants a relationship with us and to lead the way away from all pain and suffering to eternal life in paradise. I will follow him forever and my prayer is that one day we will all be together in heaven with Jesus Christ.


I didn’t know he had written down the details of that day we walked through the cemetery. He wrote so frequently at night while I read, painted or listened to music by him; now every letter, prayer or account of his life that is recorded is a precious gift for myself and our children. I had the privilege of meeting Michael when we were only 18 years old and by the grace of God we were able to grow up together. Everything that made us who we are as a family came from Jesus and is based on His love. A love that can walk you through any hardship and give you hope in any circumstance. Michael was my husband but he was not mine to keep. As God says in Isaiah 55 verse 8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
During this time I will continually put my trust and faith in God’s word and my prayer is that you will too. If you want to know the truth about Michael’s life or faith from his perspective feel free to email me through our website and I will share as much as possible.

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