...............................................................................................................................................
We can
ask God for healing, yes - we are free to ask for it boldly - and we should.
But we ask humbly, knowing that this world is NOT our home. On this earthly
shore, our vision and understanding is limited. Why would we want those we
love so much to stick around this broken, rusting place when Jesus has prepared
a heavenly home for them - a home that eye has not seen nor ear heard. We’ll
miss them - our hearts will ache in their absence - the hole they leave behind
will be profound and deep. But for those who belong to Christ, those who have
confessed with their mouth Jesus is Lord and believed in their heart God raised
Christ from the dead, they are citizens of heaven - their life is just
beginning when they take their first breath in heaven
Priceless Blog
I sit and wait. I occupy myself with the needful and the
mundane.
I read to my son. I email instructions to my class. I text a
grocery list to my daughter.
All the while my heart is in another place, another plane
really.
My dear friend, one who has taught me so much about the Kingdom
of Heaven, is about to step into the Far Greater Country.
The last message I
received from her family said simply “she has her feet in the Jordan.”
She is ready to depart this earthly existence. She has struggled
with her mortality and concluded Paul’s statement in Philippians 1:23 is true,
being with Christ is better by far.
But leaving is hard. My friend is only in her 50s. She has a
husband and children and grandchildren who love her dearly.
People she longed to grow old with and watch grow and marry and
become who God created them to be.
But cancer is a sinister foe and death is a reality for us all.
A couple of years ago, she spoke prophetically and profoundly at
our local Bible Study.
She talked about her journey with cancer and the crippling fear
she faced.
She shared an analogy the Lord gave her to calm her fears. She
recalled traveling when her kids were young.
The family would stop at rest stops along the way. The kids
would play on the playground and run in the grass.
They thought the tall metal slides and squeaking chain swings
were the most fun they could ever experience.
When it came time to leave, the kids cried and protested. And my
friend just stood there perplexed.
She would tell them in
frustration, “Don’t you know where we’re going? We’re heading to Disney
World and you’re settling for an old rest stop playground.”
She said she knew she was only playing on the old playground
right now.
She knew her final destination is infinitely more beautiful and
breathtaking and overwhelming than anything her mind can grasp.
Paul says this earth is only a shadow of things to come. But
knowing the truth and walking out the reality is too much for our earthly heart
to comprehend.
She told me just a few months before her health declined so
quickly that she didn’t want to go, but she was at peace.
She knew that God knew the number of her days and when she had
finished what He needed her to do on earth, He would take her to her true home,
and she knew it would be uncomprehendingly beautiful.
After that conversation, my prayers began to change. I asked the
Lord to heal her, but more than that, I asked God to have His way.
I went back to the
simplicity of the prayer Jesus modeled for his disciples, “Thy Kingdom come,
your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew
6:10)
Ultimately, isn’t that the most powerful prayer we can pray over
those in Christ who are sick and suffering?
On this
earthly shore, our vision and understanding is limited.
Why would
we want those we love so much to stick around this broken, rusting place when
Jesus has prepared a heavenly home for them? A home that eye has not seen nor
ear heard.
It’s
because we selfishly want them here a little longer. We’ll miss them. Our
hearts will ache in their absence.
The
hole they leave behind will be profound and deep.
But for
those who belong to Christ, those who have confessed with their mouth Jesus is
Lord and believed in their heart God raised Christ from the dead, they are
citizens of heaven.
Their
life is just beginning when they take their first breath in heaven.
The sorrows and tears of this present place are left behind and
complete healing and wholeness are ahead.
If, as a follower of Christ, I say this is what I believe. Then
I have to walk it out in the hardest places.
Today that place of waiting is painful, but hopeful. I have
prayed fervently that the Lord would take her quickly home, but I am resting
fully that His will is best.
Asking Him to have His way and resting in His sovereignty and
love is the only way to grieve with hope.
Because of the reality of Jesus Christ who defeated death, even
death itself cannot overcome us.
In Christ, we are more alive than we have ever been before. May
His will be done. I trust Him in life, and in death.
*Epilogue: My precious friend
crossed the Jordan and walked into the Promised Land just a few days after this
was written. Her memorial focused clearly on the hope we have in Christ. Her
life and her death have spurred many on toward a deeper relationship with the
One who saved her and made her broken soul whole once again.
We at
the Priceless Blog celebrate the inestimable value of women!
We hope
to INSPIRE women to desire a deeper relationship with their Father
God, grow in the grace and knowledge of their Savior Jesus Christ,
and live a Spirit-filled life.
We
commit to CHALLENGE women to study the Word of God, pray in faith, walk
obediently as Christ-followers, and love and serve others around them just as
Christ did.
We long
to ENCOURAGE women as they daily experience the good times and even the
mundane, but also the difficult times: the obstacles, the tragic, or the
unknowns in life.
Priceless Blog is a ministry of Gardendale
First Baptist Church (GFBC). We support the basic beliefs of the Southern
Baptist Convention (SBC) when it comes to theology and salvation. We are a
group of individual writers with varying opinions. The opinions stated here do
not necessarily reflect the exact opinions of GFBC or the SBC.
https://gfbcwomenslife.com/2017/09/21/as-it-is-in-heaven/
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