Tim and Vrondelia Chandler fell in love early in life – and near the end, they discovered a different kind of love.
“We were high-school sweethearts,” Vrondelia, who goes by Ronni, said with a laugh. “Tim was the classmate of my sister, and did the, ‘So, tell me about your little sister,’ thing.”
Ronni and her husband were “just kids” from Knoxville, Tennessee, when they met and married in 1978. But it was recently that the pair discovered K-LOVE after their 7-year-old granddaughter, Nilah, began suffering from nightmares. Nilah’s mom found K-LOVE and kept it playing throughout the night.
“After that, she kept it on that station and she began to sleep peacefully,” Ronni said.
The change in Nilah was so drastic, the family began playing K-LOVE everywhere, and all the time.
“We have it playing in our house. It plays in our cars,” Ronni said. “It really does change the atmosphere.”
When Nilah brought K-LOVE into the home, Tim started listening, too.
“And when the song ‘Good God Almighty’ [by Crowder] came out, he loved that song and he would play it full blast,” Ronni said. “It really was his testimony, and it became really special to us.”
Then one day in the fall of 2021, Tim’s health began to decline. Unexplained weight loss and discomfort were unavoidable.
“And even when he ate or drank, he would be in a lot of pain,” Ronni said. “And then he would listen to that song.”
Good God almighty
I hope You'll find me
Praising Your name no matter what comes
'Cause I know where I'd be without Your mercy
So I keep praising Your name at the top of my lungs
Tim’s illness turned out to be a rare and aggressive biliary cancer in his liver. Through several hospital stays, they leaned into the Crowder song. Despite advanced treatment, there came a point where there was nothing more the doctors could do.
“Even on the way to the hospital, he wanted to hear that song,” Ronni said. “It brought him great peace. And when he could no longer speak, we would play that song. It would calm him.”
Throughout their marriage, Ronni enjoyed taking photos of their clasped hands. She treasures photos of their teenage hands, of their hands at their courthouse wedding, of their fingers interlaced during their 14th wedding anniversary.
“I'm so grateful that the Lord allowed me to live, to be the one to walk through Tim’s final days with him,” Ronni said.
She recalled holding tightly to Tim’s hand while he received palliative care in hospice.
“And the Holy Spirit just spoke to my heart,” Ronni said. “Because I was just holding his hand and could feel him holding mine as long as he could. And then as the days were dwindling, the Lord said, ‘I'm going to need you to stop holding his hand.’”
Of the 50 years they were together, Ronni and Tim were married for 44 of them. After Tim passed, she continued to lean on K-LOVE.
“There’s the tagline that you hear on the station,” Ronni said. “It’s ‘positive, encouraging’ and that really is what it has been for me.”
Ronni keeps her radio dial and her laptop turned to her local K-LOVE station, and the song that ministered to Tim as he battled cancer is the encouragement Ronni needs today.
“When that song comes on the radio, it just brings a smile because it just feels like a hug from heaven. Now that Tim is with the Lord, K-LOVE just brings peace to my heart. The reminder that the Lord does just as He promised – never to leave me, never to forsake me, that He is here and He is good. Good God almighty, I hope you'll find me praising your name, no matter what comes, no matter what comes.”
