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How One Mom Continues to Show Love After Her Passing

Shelby Akers is an Inheritance of Hope family member & volunteer. Her mom passed away on May 17, 2020, but her intentional legacy continues to make an impact today.

Happy 5th anniversary in Heaven, momma! Today is always an emotional day, but this year feels extra feely. Grief is weird. Life is definitely less painful than 5 years ago, but the price of loving someone so completely is that the pain never goes away… because the love never goes away! In the past week, my husband Luke and I celebrated our 1st anniversary, and today I’m sitting in thankfulness for the love I have in my life and the love my mom continues to show me even after her passing.

Many of you know how Inheritance of Hope changed my family’s life on our Legacy Retreat® after my mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2014. On our retreat, my mom (with the help of amazing volunteers and my dad) recorded a Legacy Video™ for me and my brother Evan to have after she went to be with Jesus.

Photo of a mom with cancer and her young daughter and son on a New York City boat tour

Shelby and her family on their Legacy Retreat® in November 2014

When she passed 5 years ago, I couldn’t bring myself to watch it at the time because I knew as soon as I did, everything I had of my mom would be a memory. I wouldn’t have a “new experience” with her anymore.
Before our wedding last year, Luke and I watched her video for the first time, and what a blessing it was! My mom knew me so completely (the helpless romantic I am) that she included a section in my part of the video about my future husband and talked to the man she would never get to meet but knew she would love because I would love him. Luke getting to “meet” my mom was a gift I never dreamed possible but was because she was intentional with her legacy. In addition to future birthday cards, words of advice, and even a baby book for her grandchild one day, my mom prioritized making sure we knew we were loved.

In honor of her rejoicing in Heaven for 5 years, I would challenge you to think about your own legacy and how you can show your loved ones how much they mean to you. If you would like to make your own Legacy Video™ for free, check out Inheritance of Hope’s free resource below!

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