FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING

"As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children-"
Psalm 103:15-17

Last week my husband, Tony, called me to tell me that his friend's (Starr) mom (Marie) had passed away. To my knowledge, Marie had been battling stage 4 cancer for a short amount of time. Marie, although I didn't know her very well, from what I did know of her, she was an amazing woman and an amazing mother and wife! She was a mother of three children and a grandmother of one precious baby girl! Marie lived her life for her family but she also loved the Lord with all her heart. I remember having conversations with her about God and His amazing goodness. Once again, Marie was an amazing woman! She cared about everyone else more than she ever cared about herself. She is a treasure that God put on this earth for a short amount of time to reflect His Glory... and the job was done well.

I remember crying for a moment... crying for the pain she had endured, crying for her family who will no longer have her around... but as I cried for their loss my heart began to give shouts of praises to The Most High and I felt overjoyed that Marie is now in Heaven! No more suffering and sickness - it's cliche' to say "just in a better place" but it's so much more than that!!! She is in an AMAZING place!!! A place that we cannot even begin to wrap our minds around. She has new life, a life that I long for and hope for each day.

As I have been reflecting on this world's loss of Marie and Heaven's gain, I have thought much about how we try to hold on to this life we have here like it is forever. This life on earth is not forever. Our life with Christ is forever. I believe that God has wired us to hold on to our lives on earth and "fight for our lives" because we have work to do here and if He didn't implant us with the fight to keep our lives, we would all be giving up and going to Glory at any and every opportunity. So we fight because that's how we are wired and we tend to fear death because it is unknown to us. Remember that short story about looking before you leap? It's in us to know what is about to happen but His Word says that we walk by faith and not by sight. "Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it." 2 corinthians 5:6-9

We have to remember in our suffering times to stick close to God and to His Word. His Word is our manual for life. John 3:16 says it all!!! "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever shall believe in Him will not perish but have EVERLASTING life" That doesn't mean we get to walk around in the flesh for forever but that we get to be in Glory with our Father... which, if you are a believer our job here is to spread the Good News and work in the name of Jesus and then go home... to Paradise!


As Jesus was hanging on the cross He made it clear that Paradise was waiting as he spoke to the thief who in that instant believed that Jesus was the son of God "Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." " Luke 23:43 Not tomorrow, not next week, not in five thousand years but TODAY! He knew the thief was on his way to death in that moment so Jesus told him "TODAY you will be with me in paradise". WOW!!!! If that doesn't make you excited, I don't know what will!

Philippians 1:21 tell us to live is Christ and to die is GAIN! So we need to be living as Christians... teaching, sharing, giving, doing!!! Because as we live we are Christ and when we die we GAIN!

I heard a statistic the other day that said that out of all the Christians only 15% are DOERS! Those who act... who get out and help and give their tithes to their churches, who pray fervently and are always looking for an opportunity to serve others. WOW! I can't site the statistic as I heard it on the radio and I'm not sure if it's true but... sometimes I watch Joel Osteen on TV and I see all these thousands upon thousands of Christians soaking up the Word, and then I watched a YouTube video of a Hillsong worship concert and thousands upon thousands of Christians in complete worship, then I look around at churches I have attended hundreds or even thousands of Christians ... but when you leave the church parking lot or the concert hall... where do they go!?!?!?!? I get so frustrated with this question - where are you!?!?! We need you out in the streets, at work, at the grocery store, at the movie theater, out for a couple of social drinks and delicious food... not just behind closed doors at church. This is real people!!! We have to stop playing around and get it together.

Death is always right around the corner because we don't belong to this world. We have to stop holding on to worldly things and live our lives for Christ. Touch others and share the good news so that they too can be called to Paradise.

I didn't even know Marie to the fullest and my heart was changed because of my few, short encounters with her. We have to be these types of people!

I was reading about Trusting God and how it's easy to say that we trust Him but have you ever tried to give Him your money? Ouch.. touchy huh? You may be thinking "who the heck do you think you are?!?!" I'm not condemning you, I'm simply asking. Have you ever tried to give Him your money? And not just a couple of dollars but really GIVE to where it's a little uncomfortable? Some people may skip over this part but it's very vital.

To trust God is to TRUST Him, not just in the things that make us feel all warm and fuzzy but in everything, including our wallets. Malachi 3:9-11 says "You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it" God says test me in this and see if I don't over pour blessing into your life! Yet, we hold on to our money and spend it on things that we don't even need instead of building our faith stronger.

You want to learn to let go of this world.. give up some of your money! I promise you - with the right heart and trusting God, it will change your life. Money doesn't become a treasure to you anymore, it becomes a tool. The bible doesn't say that money is the root to all evil it says that the LOVE of money is the root to all evil. Where are you placing your love and trust in this life?

I am asking you, begging you - to get your mind off of these worldly things and fix your eyes on Jesus. What do you have to lose? 1 John 5:12 says "He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life"

Our lives are made to bring God glory. Are you glorifying Him? Are people meeting Jesus through you or are they being turned away? Are you the type of person who shoves Jesus down everyone's throats but your actions never back up your talk? Are you the person who is a servant at church, completely G-rated and friendly but when you leave you're an unrecognizable person who is too selfish to even open a door for a stranger?

Serious stuff-

Life is short. "As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.

We have to leave something good behind.

I think that it's often in the loss of someone else that we find ourselves looking for answers. God is the answer. There is no other answer but Him.

We belong to Him and He loves us so much... beyond what we could ever imagine.

Romans 14:8
"If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord."

Marie belonged to the Lord and is now vesting in His Glory! She suffered for a short time and now has moved on to her new home. Romans 8:18 "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."

2 Corinthians 5:1-5 says "Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come."

Are you living a life that longs to be with your Heavenly Father? If not, then you don't know Him well enough. I encourage you to read His Word daily to find the answers that you are seeking in Him and find a bible based church where you can be filled up and then pour over to others.

Death is inevitable but we can't live in fear of it for ourselves or those around us. We have to live each day with a heart of gratitude and give thanks in all circumstances. We need to be doers, givers, pray-ERS, all for His Glory.

From everlasting to everlasting. Make it a glorious ride!

You have blessed this earth, Marie, and have brought Him glory! Good job!

Shine Bright!

April