Wednesday

With Everything….

We live this life with faith that God is who the Bible says He is, who we believe Him to be.  We live this life in preparation for the next life, not just the next chapter but the next life.  This life will be over book closed. This is why we are written in the Lamb’s Book Of Life – it’s a new book, new beginning, new life.

These are hard words to hear when a loved one is living the final pages of their book on Earth.  A dear sweet friend at work is saying goodbye to a prayer warrior in her church and it is very hard for her to see her friend during these final pages.  She was at my desk and I was struggling for the words of encouragement to give her when the Lord reminded me of the following story.

About 10 years ago, my son received a catepillar in a cage from his Sunday School Class.  He was to bring it home and care for it until it became a butterfly.  When the little guy created his cocoon we are all so excited.  Then after a long period of time I began to get concerned, the cocoon was a strange color of gray as well as very dry,  shriveled up and looked of death.  I begged my husband to get rid of it in hopes that my son would just forget about it because I was convinced that we had done something wrong and it was dead.  My husband refused, he said we must wait.  I went back every morning worrying and fretting and completly convinced of it’s death.  Then one morning, of course you’ve guessed where this is going,  there was a beautiful butterfly stuck in that little cage trying to fly.  The family was so excited and then my son let it free.

Death will be like this.  It is horrible to see a loved one leave their body behind and we do not get to follow them to see what they will arise to become in the next life.  But I truly do believe “with everything” inside me that there is a next life. If we could only see it we would want to be there instead of here, but no one really enjoys the cocoon stage of transformation.  We must die to live.

My love to you all. The pain we feel when we say goodbye may only be healed when we ourselves wake up in Heaven and see our loved ones again. Then we will leave those behind who cry for us.  The cycle goes on but trust me there will come a day when we see Jesus face to face. I truly do believe this and until that day we must give everything to shout for His glory and shout forth His praise.