Sometimes I ask, "God, what are you doing to me?" Have you ever been there? You're just going about your life as normal, and then God just messes things up. The last few months I have been wrestling with God. There's been this struggle that I really can't explain, and that I don't understand completely still. I know some things have changed in how I pray and what I pray about, and there's this growing desire to reach out and hold the lost and hurting close. With all of the evil in this world, I want to use my life to show others what love is.
Lately I have spent a great deal of time with the patients and families that my hospice agency serves. The Christmas season is hard on these families. Many of them are staring death in the face, while also being reminded of the loved ones they have lost in years prior. This is not a joyous Christmas for them; it's heartbreaking. Even as Christians, approaching death is scary and grieving over a life you know you will be leaving behind is sad. Even though we will get to be with Jesus, which should be every believer's ultimate goal, the thought of leaving behind our families, our children, our spouse, is sad. Once we are gone there are no more memories to make and no more life to share together.
Being with these families, hearing their stories, holding their hand, and wrapping my arms around them, is the only thing I know to do to show them that I am with them, staring back at death with them. Walking from this life into the next life is a scary process, but it doesn't have to be a lonely process. So many people run and hide when someone they know is facing death, but that is not what Jesus would do. He didn't run and hide from death. He stared death in the face. He fought death. And He defeated death.
Because of that, the physical death of our bodies is not the end of life. Death is no longer a final end, it's a path. Death is a path we all must take, but it is not the end. The question you have to ask yourself is this: Where will your path lead? Will it lead to everlasting life, or will it lead to eternal destruction? Will it lead to heaven, or will it lead to hell?
I hope you know the answer to this question, and I hope that your answer is everlasting life - heaven. If you don't know the answer, or feel like your answer is the latter, then seek Jesus while he may be found. Turn to him with your brokeness and shame, and let him heal you and make you whole. There is nothing like His love AT ALL!! There is no joy or peace in this world but only what is provided by Jesus.
Please seek Jesus while the opportunity is still there. If you don't know Jesus, please let me pray with you. I don't want anyone reading this to say that they never had an opportunity to start a real personal relationship with the One who defeated death. Jesus defeated death.....He's more than strong enough to handle any hurt you have or any sin you struggle with.
Lately I have spent a great deal of time with the patients and families that my hospice agency serves. The Christmas season is hard on these families. Many of them are staring death in the face, while also being reminded of the loved ones they have lost in years prior. This is not a joyous Christmas for them; it's heartbreaking. Even as Christians, approaching death is scary and grieving over a life you know you will be leaving behind is sad. Even though we will get to be with Jesus, which should be every believer's ultimate goal, the thought of leaving behind our families, our children, our spouse, is sad. Once we are gone there are no more memories to make and no more life to share together.
Being with these families, hearing their stories, holding their hand, and wrapping my arms around them, is the only thing I know to do to show them that I am with them, staring back at death with them. Walking from this life into the next life is a scary process, but it doesn't have to be a lonely process. So many people run and hide when someone they know is facing death, but that is not what Jesus would do. He didn't run and hide from death. He stared death in the face. He fought death. And He defeated death.
Because of that, the physical death of our bodies is not the end of life. Death is no longer a final end, it's a path. Death is a path we all must take, but it is not the end. The question you have to ask yourself is this: Where will your path lead? Will it lead to everlasting life, or will it lead to eternal destruction? Will it lead to heaven, or will it lead to hell?
I hope you know the answer to this question, and I hope that your answer is everlasting life - heaven. If you don't know the answer, or feel like your answer is the latter, then seek Jesus while he may be found. Turn to him with your brokeness and shame, and let him heal you and make you whole. There is nothing like His love AT ALL!! There is no joy or peace in this world but only what is provided by Jesus.
Please seek Jesus while the opportunity is still there. If you don't know Jesus, please let me pray with you. I don't want anyone reading this to say that they never had an opportunity to start a real personal relationship with the One who defeated death. Jesus defeated death.....He's more than strong enough to handle any hurt you have or any sin you struggle with.