One Day in Heaven

I watched a Beth Moore video recently on YouTube that really made me stop and think. Beth talked about knowing some missionaries who were involved in an accident. For the purpose of re-telling this story (because I can't recall the actual names Beth mentioned) I will call these missionaries Amy and Jenny. Amy died and Jenny was in a coma. When Jenny came to she asked almost immediately, "What about Amy? Did she make it?" Beth said at that very moment Amy was in Heaven with a host of angels gathered all around saying "What about Jenny? Did she make it?" What a powerful visual!! Can't you just picture loved ones in Heaven just waiting for us to get there to spend eternity with them? I can! I have such a longing sometimes that it is a physical ache in my soul and in my body. The more I learn through Bible study and church, the closer I long to be to God and the deeper this longing grows. I have always known that Jesus died for you, to save you. I am starting to believe that Jesus also died for ME! I have never felt worthy of forgiveness or redemption and in all reality, I am not. But Jesus loves me. I have to say that again - Jesus loves ME. And He died for ME. In all my unworthiness and all my sin and shame, he became man and faced the same temptations I face and beat them all. He knew me and chose me before I was ever formed in my Mother's womb and called me to be his own. It is more than I can comprehend, yet I know that it is true. And one day the angels in Heaven will be gathered all around and will say, "What about Mary? Did she make it?"

Changes

Change is so hard, but also so necessary for us to keep moving forward. It is hard to hear the difficult changes my daughters are experiencing and even more difficult to have no control over any of it. I hear them talk about their struggles and I automatically want to fix everything and win the fight for them, but then I have to remind myself that it is not my fight to win. My role is to listen and cheer them on. I can share my experience and what I have learned in through my own fights, but I cannot take over the battle for them. Making it through the fight loses significance when we don't have to work for it. Sometimes it seems as if they are looking to me for answers and I feel afraid that I will give them the wrong answer. Sometimes I feel panicked that I won't have any answer at all. In the end, what I hope they learn from me is that the best we can do every day is to do the next right thing, one decision at a time, one day at a time. There will be bumps and potholes in the road along the way sometimes and other times will feel like open road with no obstacles. If we manage the open road well then the bumps won't seem so big and the potholes won't seem so deep.