With Hope

Grief.  That thing we feel when someone dear to us, steps into eternity.  That empty, hollow, overflowing feeling.  The way the world looks gray and dull when picturing it without our loved one there.  Most of us know the ache of waking that first morning, knowing it's your first full day without him or her.  Most of us know what it is to stand there in the cemetery, waiting for them to lower someone precious into the ground for a final time. 

But not all of us know hope.  Not all of us believe in heaven and eternal life.  That is the part I don't understand.  How does a person who has no hope, grieve and then move on?  Where do they draw their strength from?  How do they reconcile the death with the eternal nature of our spirits - something we know deep inside regardless of creed?

I believe in eternity.  I believe in Heaven.  I believe that my daughter and my other children are all there waiting for me.  I believe my Gramma is there, and that as we always talked about when I was growing up, she will meet me at the Eastern Gate.  I believe my great-grandpa Max is there.  My great-uncle Elmer.  My brother.

And it fills me with hope and anticipation.  The day is coming when I'll be reunited with them all, and I will never have to say goodbye again.

So I grieve, but with hope.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 - He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

I have often pondered eternity.  In a way, I get it.  It's, like, forever.  It never ends.  It just goes on and on and on... but at the same time, I don't really get it.  How can something simply never cease?  But it's there, in my heart - I "know with my knower" that it's real.

And for today, that is what I am thinking about.  Where will you be spending your eternity?

It's Been Awhile

So, I have been very delinquent in the upkeep of this blog.

Why?

To be honest, I haven't felt like I have anything compelling to share.  But I do miss the writing, so I may just get back into the swing of things - time will tell.

Lately, I've had a barrage of medical problems.  First, a long battle with recurrent infection in my leg, followed by a brief break and then a battle with unexplained weight loss, followed by a bite from a deer tick (which I was unaware of, but I'll get to that in a moment), followed by a bite from a brown recluse spider which turned necrotic and now, two months in, is still healing, followed by waking up one morning with Bell's Palsy, followed by a positive Lyme test (hence knowing I got bit by a deer tick, and the high titer indicates it's been a while).  So now I am on steroids for the Bell's and antibiotics for the Lyme.  I have a 3 inch defect in my leg which is healing daily, but it's still taking it's time.  My right side of my face doesn't work right now - not my mouth, not my eye, not my forehead or my cheek.  I've got my eye taped shut as that's the only way to stop the constant burning and watering.

But in all this?  Yes, in all this, my God is faithful.  He hasn't left me or forsaken me.  He has done much good.  He protected my kidneys in the middle of a systemic reaction to the brown recluse bite.  He is healing the result of that bite quickly.  He kept me from fear when I woke up with half my face not functioning.  He allowed the steroids to work quickly to reduce the pain in the nerves of my face.  He had the doctor test for Lyme disease, of which I've had no other symptoms.  And He will continue to prove Himself faithful - it's how He is.

Deuteronomy 7:9

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.

 

Psalm 71:22

I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, my God; I will sing praise to you with the lyre, Holy One of Israel

 

Psalm 89:8

Who is like you, Lord God Almighty? You, Lord, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you

 

1 Corinthians 1:9

God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Hebrews 3:6

But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.