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Verse:For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will 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 thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. —1 Thessalonians 4:16–18, NKJV
My husband of fifty-four-plus years is now asleep in Jesus.
He entered into rest in Jesus on April 5, 2019.
This date will be forever seared into my mind as a day of great sadness, yet a day of relief. Gone are his suffering, his pain, and his anxiety, replaced by that blessed sleep that comes to those who know and love Jesus.
Now, I have begun a new chapter of my life.
Part of this newness of a changed life for me will be dealing with enormous loss. Instead of intensively caring for Melvin and his needs, I have time —and time is a great commodity. That I do not have Melvin to share it with is sadness beyond belief, but I have that blessed hope of renewal when Jesus comes to take all of us home to live with Him forever. This life is but a blink when compared to what waits for those who love Him and love His Word. Today is called Good Friday. It is celebrated by most of Christendom as the day Jesus paid the supreme debt for all our sins.
We will never understand this kind of love, the agony of crucifixion, and grace that is completely foreign to our carnal minds.
Yet, we believe, and we trust, and we hope.
Our thankfulness for His life is unmeasured.
This grace is unlimited, incomprehensible, not understood, but it is available in sufficient measure to assure us that, one day, we will live in the earth made new. With each passing day, we are given the strength to cope.
We are given unlimited holy strength to live as Jesus wants us to live. We are given insight into this strength that comes from loving and sharing with those we love, their impact on our lives, and the shared desire to be together forever.
I cling to that knowledge, that promise, the encouragement in God’s Holy Word, and the sacrifice that Jesus made for all of us to rise above the cares of this world and live with Him forever when He comes again to redeem us as His own.
Grace A. Keene