Our Real Home

 As many if not all of you know, my husband is now living in an assisted living facility.  This has been a difficult adjustment for him, so I ask you to pray for him.   Earlier in his stay at the facility there were many requests and sometimes demands on his part to go home.  When he said that he wanted to go home, he was referring to our condo in our small town.  As I think of this, however, I believe there is a desire in all of us to go home, to go to our real home, our eternal home.  

As I ponder this further, I wonder if this is not my husband's longing deep down in his spirit as well, to go home to his real home, to the place of no tears, no aging, no pain, and no heartache, to go to a place of rest and security free from the difficult issues of this life.  This world is not our real and lasting home.  We are merely on pilgrimage journeying to our eternal home.  The Lord Jesus is our Shepherd guiding us to our real and eternal home.  He provides abundant blessings and protection along the way.  Yet it is best, if we do not get too complacent or attached to this world, for we are just passing through.

 Personally, I sometimes weary of the pilgrimage.  When my husband and I married, less than five years ago, we both had big dreams.  We both had lost our first spouses to difficult diseases, and this seemed as if it was a chance for a beautiful second love for both of us.  Instead he is now living at a facility, and I have my own physical issues of osteoporosis, back pain, cataracts etc.   Yet God assures me that in addition to an eternal home promised to me, I can be certain that God had placed me exactly where He wants me to be at this time and place.  There is a purpose for where I am in my life.  There is a purpose for even the trials, if only to teach dependence on him.

So wherever you are in your life, dear reader, run your life race with vigor depending on the Lord. Be thankful for your blessings, but don't get too attached to this world.  Look forward with joy and hope to your real home in Eternity.  

Why is There Suffering in the World?

Why does God allow suffering in the lives of Christians?  Why are we living in an increasingly dangerous world of persecution and suffering?  Why is there suffering of any kind in this world? Why is there abuse of all kinds and hardships in our world? Why did your loved one become ill?  If God is a God of miracles, why doesn't God just fix things?

There are no easy answers to these questions.  We do know that sin entered this world when Adam and Eve, the first people, disobeyed God.  Hence, we no longer live in a perfect world.  It is now a world affected by sorrow and sickness.  Also people make bad choices sometimes which unfortunately affects other people as well.

On a personal level I do know God has used the difficult experiences in my life to teach me valuable lessons.  I am learning that I am not in control.  I am learning of the need to depend on the Lord, even though I still am prone to fret and try to solve things in my own strength.  I am learning of the need to seek God for Himself and not for what He can give me.  I have seen His faithfulness over and over.  Through trials I have grown and continue to grow in my love for the Lord. I have come to know not just in my head but in my heart in a deeper way the truths of His promises.  I often still get easily discouraged, but I know that feelings are not a measure of God's truths. Feelings do not negate God's promises to always be with me.

Jesus said we would face trials in this life.  He also said, however, that we can take heart, because He has overcome the world (John 16:33 in the New Testament of the Bible).  He has promised to always be with us and  to never leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5b in the New Testament).  We also have the assurance that someday all will be made right and perfect when He returns.

We just celebrated Easter a couple weeks ago.  Christ suffered unimaginable suffering, so we could be saved. Easter further assures us of His presence in our lives through the trials we suffer.  It proves His love for us.  We need no other proof of Christ's love, when we really contemplate what He did for us.  Rest in that, dear Reader.

Christmas Catcus Lessons

 As most of you most likely already know, the plant in the picture above is called a Christmas Cactus.  It was blooming for me around Christmas of last year.  In fact, if my memory is correct; I bought this plant around that time of year.  For several months, however, it has not bloomed at all.  The leaves were healthy and green, but there were no blossoms. 

Now I understand that the Christmas Cactus also sometimes blooms around Easter.  That is just what happened this year.  A few days before Easter it started to get blossoms on it, and then one day it produced the beautiful flower you see in the picture.

As a person who does not particularly have a green thumb, I was excited about this development and even posted it on my Facebook page.  Yet then I thought about the spiritual lessons from this.  When Jesus came to this earth as a baby in a manger that was a glorious day for mankind.  There was now the promise of new life for believers.  When Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins and then rose again to prove that He had won over sin and death, however, that new life and blssoming of eternal hope was sealed and accomplished.

Through all those years between when Adam and Eve sinned until Jesus came to this earth to accomplish His work of salvation, God's people had to watch and wait for that day of salvation. In anticipation of that day Isaiah 35:1 says,"The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom."  Did God's people ever grow weary looking for that salvation to come?  Then one day it happened!  Some did not believe and accept Jesus, the Savior, and His salvation when it did come.  But for those who did accept that salvation it brought joy, new life, and blossoming in their lives!

Now some day Jesus will return to this earth a second time.  Only this time He will come back as a King of kings on the clouds of glory.  It took my plant a long time to blossom a second time.  So Jesus' second coming may seem like a long time in coming, but one day it too will happen!  You and I may become weary of the trials of this life, but Jesus is coming back to bring His children to Himself. As the song says, "What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see"!   

Easter

 

Easter means that the Lord Jesus came to this earth and lived a perfect life for you and me. He later died on the cross to pay the price for our sins, and then He arose again on the third day to prove that He had won over sin and death and Satan. If you and I have accepted his gift of salvation by repentance and faith, we are His child now and for eternity.

Easter also means that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, identifies with our pain and the pain of our loved ones.  Having suffered the worst possible pain for us on the cross He is able to sympathize with our heartaches and weaknesses. He is also an all powerful Savior to whom we can freely go for grace in our moments of sadness and overwhelming and crushing needs.  Check out Hebrews 4:15-16 in the New Testament.

Because of Easter and Christ's sacrifice we can freely approach God the Father Himself with our needs. We can cry out to Him for help and call Him our “Abba Father,” because He considers us His special child. (Romans 8:15) Easter also means that when our hearts are so weighed down with the heartaches and overwhelming circumstances of life that we do not even know how to pray, the Holy Spirit will intercede and pray for us! (Romans 8:26) 

Easter means that although we will always face trials and troubles in this world, the Lord Jesus Christ has overcome the world.  He is also our source of peace even in the most challenging of times. (John 16:33)  Even in the overwhelming circumstances of life, even when we do not understand God's ways in allowing certain things in our lives, and even in the most unthinkable circumstances, God is working for our ultimate good. We are victors in Him! (Romans 8:28)

Dear Christian reader, my hope for you would be that no matter what happens in your life situations you will slowly heal emotionally and spiritually. God will always be with you, and joy will return one day even in the overwhelmingly difficult situations. His love for you will never fail. He proved that love for you on the cross. That is the meaning of Easter for all of us.

The Time in Between

 

Palm Sunday is a special Sunday.  It is when we remember children and adults lining the street waving palm branches and singing praises to Jesus, the King of kings, as He rode into town on the back of a donkey.  Yet that day was followed with a week of drastically different events including the betrayal of Jesus and His crucificiation on the cross the following Friday.

Jesus's death on the cross was a horrific event for Jesus, as Jesus suffered hell for us on the cross.  Yet for us, who believe and trust in Him, it is was a wonderful event; as it purchased salvation for us.  That is why we call it Good Friday, because it was so very good for us.  Jesus took the punishement that we deserve and paid the price for our sins on the cross.  Now when God looks at us, He sees Jesus Christ's righteousness instead! Jesus Christ first lived a perfect life for us, and then He paid the penalty for our sins in our place!  What a Savior!  What a Lord!  That should make us want to live a life of gratitude to Him for what He has done for us.

The time between Palm Sunday and Easter was a horrific time for Jesus, yet victory was right around the corner!  On Easter Sunday Jesus rose from the grave victorious over sin, death, and hell.  So someday, all our earthly trials will be over as well.  This is the just the time in between.  Someday there will no longer be any night or tears or trials.  To God be the glory!  

Eternity

Seven years ago in early March my Mom passed away after having suffered a stroke a few days before that.  I was with her the last few moments of her life.  I wrote about that experience, about care-giving, and my reflections on eternity a few days after her funeral in March of 2017.  Bear with me as I bring that post back today.  Eternity is really so close to us, just a breath away.  Easter which is right around the corner reminds us of that.  Just click on the link below to reread that post.

http://christiancaregiving.blogspot.com/2017/03/eternity_11.html

His Grace

I have heard people say, "I don't think I could handle that."  They then proceed to name the set of circumstances which they feel they would never be able to handle, if that set of circumstances would occur in their lives.  When I was younger I remember thinking that there were two things I just "knew" I would not be able to handle, if they happened to me.  These two things were the death of my husband  and the loss of a breast.  God asked both of these things of me.  My  first husband, Wayne, died in early 2011 at the end of a long battle against his neurological disease, and I also lost a breast due to breast cancer in the same time frame that I was my first husband's caregiver.

After being my first husband's caregiver and then losing him to death I also said that I never wanted to be a caregiver again.  Yet God has asked me to be a caregiver once again now to my second husband,  Bob.  The circumstances are diffierent but the emotions are also so amazinly similiar.  I so often have felt in the last months that I couldn't go on.  Yet God has always been there with me with His grace and comfort.

The truth is that God does not give us grace ahead of time.  He gives us His extra grace to handle a difficult and "impossible" situations at the time we need it and not before that time.  That does not mean that the difficult situation will be pleasant, and that one is free from negative emotions.  It just means that God will give sufficient grace and even a measure of joy and peace in the midst of the situation.

In the book of  ll Corinthians in the New Testament of the Bible the apostle, Paul, asked the Lord three times for release from "a thorn in the flesh." We do not know for sure what this affliction was that Paul was experiencing, but apparently it was serious enough that Paul cried out to the Lord for relief.  The Lord did not choose to take this affliction from him, however.

Instead the Lord said to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (II Corinthians 12:9)  The Lord was going to give Paul the grace he needed moment by moment to endure and even prosper in the midst of this affliction.  Paul's response in ll Corinthians 12:9b-10 was to say, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.----For when I am weak, then I am strong."  Paul was content to feel weak and to suffer his affliction, because in the process the Lord's sufficient strength in Paul would be seen more clearly.

How about you dear reader?  Are you willing to trust that God's grace is sufficient to get you through any challenge you may face today or in the future?  I remember feeling afraid of what the future held while caring for my first husband.  How was I going to handle each new decline in his physical functioning?  Yet God paved the way and gave me His strength step by step even during the moments when I felt very overwhelmed.  I often wonder the same thing in the challenges I now face.

Do you believe, dear reader, that God's grace will be given to you moment by moment?  Do you believe it will be delivered at the right time and that the grace will be sufficient for every scenario? Do you believe His grace will be enough for you to stay firm in your faith and to continue to believe in God's goodness and love?

God's grace IS sufficient for all your needs, dear reader.  He will equip you for whatever lies ahead.  You will not only survive, but you will prosper spiritually through the process.  This is a truth that I have to remind myself as well when I feel overwhelmed, confused, alone, or need His comfort.  I still often give into fear.  It is not easy to walk this life's path.  Yet I am reminded that God will give me the sufficient grace at the moment and moments I  need it.  God is doing it for me and will do the same for you, dear reader!