The Holy One calls me this morning. The death of a small child close to home has lives turned upside down and inside out. Why? is the question on every one's heart, mind and lips. There is no one to blame and that is a good thing. Humans tend to want to place responsibility for tragedy on someone or something tangible and controllable so we can have an object upon whom or upon which we can vent our anger or frustration or helplessness.
The dark finger of death intrudes. It comes without invitation or warning. It is the among the greatest evils we will ever have to deal with. The age of the child as well as the circumstances of the accident send people over the edge as they search the darkness for answers that just are not to be found.
We are called to bring comfort for those who mourn and today the Holy One speaks, "Share your testimony. The sorrow and trials you have gone through find Divine purpose in the sharing".
Looking back at how my Beloved has sustained me and taught me through so much turmoil and sorrow over the years, I can see that testimonies of His grace and love and comfort are an encouragement in their places of similar pain.
While it hurts sometimes to re-visit those days of darkness, testimonies provide a rope others can grasp onto until they reach the other side.
Facing the darkness of death was what began my walk with Jesus a long 47 years ago. I was "saved" as a young girl by a free will decision to accept Jesus as my personal Savior. But I did not understand what it was to "walk" with Him on a daily basis nor draw upon the indwelling Holy Spirit for personal guidance. Looking back I know I was sealed and protected but not living in the fullness and intimacy that I now know is not only possible but desired by my Lord.
When I was 27 years old, having been raised in the church, my beloved father passed away. It was the first and hardest death of someone close and I was devastated. The pain will never be forgotten even as so much time has passed, just because I miss him so. I was in shock to say the least and thankful that God's mercy provides shock for those things we cannot understand, death being one of them because we were never meant to die.
God created us for eternal life and we are not wired to handle the termination of it from the earth realm. My father's death was one of many in the dark year that followed. My sis-in-laws father died 3 months after my dad, my uncle died 3 months after that, her uncle died 3 months after that and then I lost my dog of 13 years a few months after that....and our family dog was beloved by my 2 sons and like unto another child to our family.
When my dad died, I stood over the grave and mourned in the deepest parts of my soul. I had all the head knowledge about death and Jesus and eternity but at that moment it just wasn't enough. I watched them lower him into the dark abyss of the grave and cried out to the Lord. Please, God, you have to become a reality to me. I confess I do not know where he is and I cannot go on unless you become my reality over this place I am standing.
Jesus heard and answered the cry of my heart that day. That began what I call my walk or journey with Jesus. Shortly thereafter, He arranged for me to get into an in depth Bible Study of His word. With 500 other women, over the next year, I studied and searched the scriptures in the Book of John to get to know the God who had called my dad away from me and unto Himself.
There is where I fell in love with Jesus, and began to be comforted by my Savior whom I didn't really know before. The journey has been arduous at times, like the balance of that first year of those losses, and many other trials I have had to endure along the way. I have learned much through the constant study of God's Word, and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit within, and I am thankful that He took my hand then, when my whole world fell apart.
Since that season of my life I have sustained more losses this side of the veil, each one as emotionally hurtful as that first but as the curtain grows thinner between Heaven and earth, Since that first incredible loss, I have walked more of my beloveds through that valley of the shadow of death. In fact all of my family of origin and even my priceless second born son have passed through the veil and await me on the other side.
The dark finger of death intrudes. It comes without invitation or warning. It is the among the greatest evils we will ever have to deal with. The age of the child as well as the circumstances of the accident send people over the edge as they search the darkness for answers that just are not to be found.
We are called to bring comfort for those who mourn and today the Holy One speaks, "Share your testimony. The sorrow and trials you have gone through find Divine purpose in the sharing".
Looking back at how my Beloved has sustained me and taught me through so much turmoil and sorrow over the years, I can see that testimonies of His grace and love and comfort are an encouragement in their places of similar pain.
While it hurts sometimes to re-visit those days of darkness, testimonies provide a rope others can grasp onto until they reach the other side.
Facing the darkness of death was what began my walk with Jesus a long 47 years ago. I was "saved" as a young girl by a free will decision to accept Jesus as my personal Savior. But I did not understand what it was to "walk" with Him on a daily basis nor draw upon the indwelling Holy Spirit for personal guidance. Looking back I know I was sealed and protected but not living in the fullness and intimacy that I now know is not only possible but desired by my Lord.
When I was 27 years old, having been raised in the church, my beloved father passed away. It was the first and hardest death of someone close and I was devastated. The pain will never be forgotten even as so much time has passed, just because I miss him so. I was in shock to say the least and thankful that God's mercy provides shock for those things we cannot understand, death being one of them because we were never meant to die.
God created us for eternal life and we are not wired to handle the termination of it from the earth realm. My father's death was one of many in the dark year that followed. My sis-in-laws father died 3 months after my dad, my uncle died 3 months after that, her uncle died 3 months after that and then I lost my dog of 13 years a few months after that....and our family dog was beloved by my 2 sons and like unto another child to our family.
When my dad died, I stood over the grave and mourned in the deepest parts of my soul. I had all the head knowledge about death and Jesus and eternity but at that moment it just wasn't enough. I watched them lower him into the dark abyss of the grave and cried out to the Lord. Please, God, you have to become a reality to me. I confess I do not know where he is and I cannot go on unless you become my reality over this place I am standing.
Jesus heard and answered the cry of my heart that day. That began what I call my walk or journey with Jesus. Shortly thereafter, He arranged for me to get into an in depth Bible Study of His word. With 500 other women, over the next year, I studied and searched the scriptures in the Book of John to get to know the God who had called my dad away from me and unto Himself.
There is where I fell in love with Jesus, and began to be comforted by my Savior whom I didn't really know before. The journey has been arduous at times, like the balance of that first year of those losses, and many other trials I have had to endure along the way. I have learned much through the constant study of God's Word, and the fellowship of His Holy Spirit within, and I am thankful that He took my hand then, when my whole world fell apart.
Since that season of my life I have sustained more losses this side of the veil, each one as emotionally hurtful as that first but as the curtain grows thinner between Heaven and earth, Since that first incredible loss, I have walked more of my beloveds through that valley of the shadow of death. In fact all of my family of origin and even my priceless second born son have passed through the veil and await me on the other side.
I have trained my heart and eyes to look beyond and rejoice in what lies in that place beyond the veil. There are so many questions we all want to know about the whys and wherefores of this earth life we live. One thing I do know is, that the God of all creation wants us to set our hearts on eternity because this world is not our home.
We must understand that while we are here, there is an enemy of our God who wants to separate us from His love and companionship. The Garden of Eden, "Paradise" by our standards, is where God created us to live and love Him. Gen 1 and 2 tells us of God's heart and plan for mankind. At creation's dawn there was...no death...no sin...no sorrow. "Paradise" is the place where those who have died knowing Him reside today and the place where all of us can return one day.
But, the devil, God's arch enemy wants to destroy us as God's beloved....He will stop at nothing to get us to turn our eyes away for our Savior or blind our eyes to His outstretched hand. Satan has made so much available to our flesh, to distract us from the only One who can fill the empty place in our heart that God provides each person as His place alone. It is the place and void that only He can fill...not drugs, sex, porn, work, human relationships. No, nothing can fill the aching abyss of our heart except our Creator God.
What the enemy means for harm, God can and will work for the good of His people...and that means our eternal good....even if we cannot comprehend it in the temporal place we live for a short while longer.
So we wait for the return of our Savior and Lord who promised to come and take us home. As we wait. we are to mourn with those who mourn and be like Jesus who "wept" at the loss to Mary and Martha even as He prepared to raise Lazarus from dead. But we do not mourn as those without any hope...and that makes all the difference in what we can offer those suffering. The great news is that Jesus conquered the death we all must face due to the fall. The physical body of my dad and others I love was returned to the ground out of which mankind was formed, but his spirit and personality and all that made him the one I love lives on and waits for me in eternity.
Death is but a doorway into our unseen eternity. That mysterious place beyond the veil, will one day be visible to us all. Jesus stands ready to welcome all who die and believe/trust in Him. He is the God of all eternity. I pray for all those who mourn, that what they suffer will lead them unto a greater knowledge of the One who died and rose again. I pray for those whose lives are not torn by the separation from those they love, that they will hunger for the knowledge of the Holy One who holds all of life in His hands.
To Jesus be all the Glory for His great victory over death so that we can, with thanksgiving and praise look with great anticipation into that wonderous place beyond the veil.
The Holy Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
No comments:
Post a Comment