Today is a day of mixture emotions, as I remember my beloved mother. Today is a sad day as I miss her greatly and grieve over the many things she has not be part of. However, today is also a happy day because I rejoice in the knowledge and comfort that mum is in heaven with her Lord and Saviour.
January 20, 2026, marks five years since the passing of Cerys Hughes, a beloved wife, mother, and sister in Christ, who went home to be with her Lord after a courageous battle with leukemia. She was 57 years old when she passed away at The Christie Hospital in Manchester, England, on January 20, 2021. Her earthly journey concluded there, but her heavenly one had only just begun.
Cerys’s life was a living testimony to the sustaining grace of God. Even in the shadow of illness, her faith remained steadfast, echoing the assurance found in 2 Corinthians 4:16–18, “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
During her treatment, Cerys often spoke not of fear, but of hope, a hope rooted not in medicine or circumstance, but in the unchanging promises of her Savior. Those who spoke with her while she was at the hospital recall her warm smile, her gentle humor, and her unwavering confidence in the Lord’s goodness. Even as her strength waned, her spirit shone with quiet conviction that God’s purposes are always perfect.
Her funeral, held on February 9, 2021 at Borras Park Evangelical Church in Wrexham, was a moving celebration of a life lived in faith. Hymns of praise filled the sanctuary, and the Word of God was proclaimed with power and tenderness. It was a day marked by both tears and thanksgiving, for though her family and friends grieved her absence, they rejoiced in the certainty of her eternal rest with Christ.
Cerys embodied the truth of Psalm 73:26, “My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Throughout her illness, she demonstrated what it means to trust God fully, to rest in His promises even when the path ahead was dark. Her courage was not her own, but drawn from the deep well of faith that had been nurtured over years of walking closely with her Savior. She often reminded others that her life was in God’s hands, and she faced her final days with a peace that could only come from knowing Christ personally.
As we remember Cerys today, we give thanks for her life and the legacy she left behind, a legacy of prayer, kindness, humility, and unshakable faith. Her example continues to inspire all who knew her to cling to Christ through every trial, to serve others with compassion, and to live with eternity in view.
Her family and church community find comfort in the words of Revelation 21:4,“And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
Cerys Hughes now knows that glorious reality firsthand. Though we miss her deeply, we look forward with hope to the day when we, too, will be reunited in the presence of the Lord she loved and served so faithfully.
Until that day, we remember her with gratitude and joy, thankful for a life that pointed us to Jesus Christ, our Living Hope.
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