I will go there again tomorrow for the memorial service.
it's because a wonderful and sweet man passed away on January 1.
he was our neighbor
he was the husband of a dear friend of mine.
he was an older gentleman, and he was sick.
had been sick for quite a while and so it seems it's kind of ok maybe. ( not really )
I also found out today that a dear friend of mine passed away yesterday.
this was unexpected.
she wasn't quite that old.
I haven't seen her a lot since I moved here.
but I loved her and cared about her.
both of these people have left behind loved ones.
my heart breaks for them because I know how it feels to lose someone you love so much.
my friend from Canada had two daughters and grandchildren.
I can imagine how the daughters feel. I am daughter that was left behind.
our neighbor, my friend, lost her husband.
I have lost a husband. not to death, but to betrayal and divorce.
not the same.
so I don't know how she feels.
but my heart nevertheless breaks for her.
it's because I know that death is so unnatural for us.
we are eternal souls... each and everyone of us.
we were not intended to die.
go through the terrible experience of death of a loved one.
we are made in the image of God and therefore to experience the death of another person
cuts us to the core.
it's just not meant to be that way.
thankfully, so very very very thankfully,
both the people that passed away knew Jesus.
and therefore we can be sure that they are now in His presence.
both of them believed that by His death on the cross He had paid the debt for their sin
and reconciled them to the Father.
though they had not seen Him, they loved Him,
through they didn't see Him yet they believed in Him and because of that are now filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, they have now received the goal of their faith, the salvation of their souls...
I learned something just a little time ago...
every time God calls one of His people home, He is actually answering the prayer of Jesus
from almost 2000 years ago... and this is what He prayed:
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world!
John 17:24
I am not sure the wife who lost her husband last week is ready to hear this quite yet... I will be right there to share it with her once she is...I only know that it makes my loss from almost 3 years ago a little easier to bear...
it was Jesus who wished to have my beloved mother with Him when her time came... so that she could see His glory, to finally be fully satisfied, filled with this inexpressible and glorious joy... that joy that we can't even imagine... and that's ok with me... no matter how much I miss telling her about all these things that have been piling up over all the many months she hasn't been around anymore...
