It has been a busy time for me with visits from grandkids and family members. This helps the days go by and there is some joy with the sadness. The sadness always surprises me since it comes up when I don't expect and it can make me weep easily. That is good I'm sure, so I'll handle what I must. One thing that has brought a lot of comfort is reading. I'm enjoying some books on heaven as well as a book about what widows coop with. I try to drink in whatever will help me have more understanding to my situation. I'm also enjoying a study by Beth Moore on the life of David. It has been amazing how comforting this study is since it has some good points about how David cries out to God in his distress. I could relate easily to that feeling. I have also found that when a dark cloud seems to loom over me, crying out gets rid of the cloud, and I feel so much better. These are a few of my struggles in these first weeks since the death of my husband. Death of my sweet husband - still so hard for me to believe! Even though I was there by his bedside and watched it happen - still so hard to think he will never come back home or back to me on this earth. I went out to eat tonight with a dear niece and we went to a place Tom and I went often. It was okay, but again seems strange to be without my dear man.
Yet there is comfort, I have to say. I think about heaven a lot lately. I've read some good books on the subject. All of which I check with the main source of information on heaven, the Bible. Probably the biggest question everyone has is how can we be sure we will get to heaven. The best verse in the Bible for that is:
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever BELIEVES on Him will not perish but have eternal life.
Asking Jesus into our hearts to help us live the way He wants us to. That is all we need and reading His Word to know and understand who He is. I mean His whole Word. Tom and I read and studied all our lives and it is so full of treasure and new things to learn. We both knew we had not arrived but the simple truth is that God loves us, gave Himself for us through Jesus, and we just need to believe and go to Him. Jesus often said, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near."(Matthew 4:17) Repent what does that mean? I believe we have to realize we need to be saved from something. Many places throughout the Bible it says no one is righteous or good. We are all sinners or have done wrong. In God's eyes we can't point at others we are all in the same boat lost without someone paying the price. JESUS pays the price and we are only asked to believe it!
My dear Tom was coming close to his last days and he had a dream about heaven. He said he saw his brother - in - law, Cornie, who had died 6 years ago. He knew he was watching him in heaven through what seemed to be a window. He was waving at Tom and laughing. There were other people around as well, but Tom said he did not recognize them. Cornie was very clear and he knew him. Tom awoke and lay awake for awhile thinking, "I feel better like I can do the things I used to, especially like driving!" Finally falling asleep again, he awoke the next morning and told me he had a dream. With tears in his eyes he could hardly get his story out. His body felt sick again in the morning so he knew he was not healed for now. A few weeks later I asked him, "Do you have any fears about dying like your father had years ago when death was near?" Tom said, "No I have such peace about it ever since my dream." That was when I realized how real it had been for him. It gave me comfort then and still does.
He was expected in heaven and I hope you are too! Personally I can't wait because I believe heaven is for real! Now too I know someone very special is expecting me!
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Expected In Heaven
First of all you may be wondering about our name - "Expected in Heaven". This started a few months back when my husband, who was diagnosed with acute leukemia, was not expected to survive. We as a family have always believed that the Bible is the true word of God and we believe in Jesus as our Savior. My husband, Tom, was a wonderful example of God's love for us in the way he loved me (his wife), as well as his family. He lived his faith in his business dealings and how he was generous in many areas of life. We lost this dear man September 28, 2012, a short 3 weeks ago. During the 10 months of his illness we had many family gatherings with our 4 kids and their children as well as foster children and their kids. This tribe totals 37 but we were not always together at one time. We did often have at least 25 to 30 of us. All of our gatherings included food, fellowship, and fun. We always began our food time with time around God's Word and some singing of praise songs. One of those times Grandma (me - Vera) said to the grandkids (which was part of a devotion), "If grandpa and I go home to the Lord first we 'expect' you in heaven." I wasn't sure anything had registered until one of our granddaughters came over with writing she had special printed on her hat that said, "Expected in Heaven". Needless to say both my husband, Tom, and I burst into tears. A week or so later (September 21 to be exact) was my birthday and we had another surprise as the kids came up with
t-shirts for everyone which said Expected in Heaven on the front and RU on the back with 2 Corinthians 5:1-10. My husband and I were very touched again, and, as many times in the last 10 months, shed some tears.
Today I found in a book, I was given as encouragement, a new saying I loved and decided it is going to be mine as well as the woman's who wrote the book. It said, "Till death do us join". This thought reminds me so beautifully I know I will see him again and he is not dead but alive. We were married 48 years ago and in those days at weddings we always said, "Till death do us part". Since my husband's death the main thing that has kept me going is my faith in my Lord and Savior. The tears don't stop that easily, but God is taking such good care of me. Many of the things I was worried about when my dear husband was sick have not been a problem. God's Word tells us not to worry but humanly it is very tempting to fall into the trap of worry.
Matthew 6:25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
I love those verses and when tempted to worry remember who holds me and takes care of my life and those I love. This new journey of mine is far from easy, but I am positive God has a reason He wants me to walk here. I am so thankful for all the years I had to love my husband and all the things we were able to do as a couple. Now God is calling me to walk a different walk and I know I can't do it without His help daily. I therefore never try to run ahead, to do my days work without taking time in His Word the Bible. This morning, as so often in the last 10 months when my husband and I studied together, God gave me some great thoughts.
One was from Psalm 18:16-19
He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
He drew me out of deep waters.
He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the Lord was my support.
He brought me out into a spacious place;
He rescued me because He delighted in me.
There are so many new things for me to learn in order to handle this life I have been called to live but as much as I'd like to speed things up I know I can't. Mourning is not my nature. I love to have fun and this is not at all fun! I have to work hard at resting in God and trusting Him to bring me through this very painful process. Thank you to all who log on and feel moved to pray as I am not at all ashamed to say I love people to pray for me! The prayers for my husband gave him some miraculous life since he was given 10 months instead of a few weeks of time. He stayed sharp of mind to the very last day of his life and went home to the Lord quickly without much pain.
Now we are sure the rest of us are "Expected in Heaven"some day soon!
t-shirts for everyone which said Expected in Heaven on the front and RU on the back with 2 Corinthians 5:1-10. My husband and I were very touched again, and, as many times in the last 10 months, shed some tears.
Today I found in a book, I was given as encouragement, a new saying I loved and decided it is going to be mine as well as the woman's who wrote the book. It said, "Till death do us join". This thought reminds me so beautifully I know I will see him again and he is not dead but alive. We were married 48 years ago and in those days at weddings we always said, "Till death do us part". Since my husband's death the main thing that has kept me going is my faith in my Lord and Savior. The tears don't stop that easily, but God is taking such good care of me. Many of the things I was worried about when my dear husband was sick have not been a problem. God's Word tells us not to worry but humanly it is very tempting to fall into the trap of worry.
Matthew 6:25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
I love those verses and when tempted to worry remember who holds me and takes care of my life and those I love. This new journey of mine is far from easy, but I am positive God has a reason He wants me to walk here. I am so thankful for all the years I had to love my husband and all the things we were able to do as a couple. Now God is calling me to walk a different walk and I know I can't do it without His help daily. I therefore never try to run ahead, to do my days work without taking time in His Word the Bible. This morning, as so often in the last 10 months when my husband and I studied together, God gave me some great thoughts.
One was from Psalm 18:16-19
He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
He drew me out of deep waters.
He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the Lord was my support.
He brought me out into a spacious place;
He rescued me because He delighted in me.
There are so many new things for me to learn in order to handle this life I have been called to live but as much as I'd like to speed things up I know I can't. Mourning is not my nature. I love to have fun and this is not at all fun! I have to work hard at resting in God and trusting Him to bring me through this very painful process. Thank you to all who log on and feel moved to pray as I am not at all ashamed to say I love people to pray for me! The prayers for my husband gave him some miraculous life since he was given 10 months instead of a few weeks of time. He stayed sharp of mind to the very last day of his life and went home to the Lord quickly without much pain.
Now we are sure the rest of us are "Expected in Heaven"some day soon!
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