Last month, I lost one of my oldest and dearest writing friends. I found comfort in the words Alice herself wrote in Devoted, her first published novel. This is from the final page:
…Owen felt again a hint of the peace that had descended on him in the church when he committed himself to Christ and his people’s cause.
He still had no assurance of anything, not tomorrow or his springtime, but he had found his heart and his life. However long he lived, he would take that assurance with him.
Even if his road brought him soon into the shadow of death, he would carry that achievement , that peace with him into darkness and beyond. To whatever God waited there.
–Devoted by Alice Borchardt (1995)  Here’s a detail of a memory collage I made to give to Alice’s husband:
Wishing peace and love to all.