For those of you that don't already know, my Mother passed away on June 13 from leukemia. She was diagnosed in January and chose to fight until she had no fight left in her. I am not sad. I know where she is. She's at Jesus' feet basking in His glory!
The song "When We All Get To Heaven" takes on greater meaning when someone you love gets there before you do. And while she's not the first one I've loved and lost here, nor is she the last, she's my Mother. And I love her.
So if I have any crying left to do, it's for myself. I won't get to hear her voice any more. I won't get to hear her laughter here any more. I won't get to text her every night and anticipate her responses. I won't get to visit her any more. But that's okay.
Because as long as I remain in Christ and Christ remains in me, my Mother is also near because she was a born again believer as well. She lives in Christ Jesus and He lives in her. I live in Christ Jesus and He lives in me. No, she isn't here. She's only "sleeping in Christ".
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
- Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope.
- For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.
- For this we say to you by the Word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.
- For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
- Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord.
- Therefore encourage one another with these words.
We sang two of her favorite songs at her beautiful Memorial Service:
and
Every one who loves the Scriptures has a favorite verse. My Mother was no exception. She loved Ephesians 2:8-10.
- For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
- Not of works, lest any man should boast.
- For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has before ordained (prepared) that we should walk in them.
And she was fascinated with the last days leading up to Christ's return. 
In addition to her nightly Bible reading, she was also reading Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins' Are We Living In The End Times prophecy research book.
In addition to her nightly Bible reading, she was also reading Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins' Are We Living In The End Times prophecy research book.
She loved the book of Revelations and had read it several times in the last year or so. But it was Matthew 24:27-36 that grabbed ahold of her prayer life. She was at the same time both excited about the coming events and fearful for her family members who had not yet accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives.
That's why she chose to fight the cancer, even though it took everything she had. She wanted her children, her grandchildren and her great grandchildren to be with her and Jesus. The fields of labor into which God had lastly placed her needed lots of loving attention. But in the end it was God's will to bring her into her heavenly home. It was not her lot to beat the cancer, but to overcome it. But her prayers will not go unanswered. As long as someone answers the call to salvation which God the Father has proffered through God the Son by the power of God the Holy Spirit.
Believe God. Trust in God. Obey God's Word. Love God's people. Feed God's sheep. Water God's planting. Harvest God's fields. And then go home to God's home.
The KJV of the Bible was her favorite, so that version of Matthew 24:27-36 is what I am using.
- For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
- For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
- Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
- And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
- And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
- Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
- So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
- Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
- Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
- But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
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