It Won't Be Long...

Heaven has been on my mind a lot lately. There are certain times in life when the reality of heaven becomes infinitely more precious...this week has been one of those times. This week as I said goodbye to some dear friends for at least a year, remembered the anniversary of the passing of a dear woman of God, and learned of another dear man who went home to glory, the longing for heaven became even more intense.

What am I looking forward to about heaven?

No more goodbyes. What sheer joy it will be to enjoy the pleasures of heaven alongside so many people who I loved and shared so many memories with on earth. How precious to know that all because of Jesus, we will spend eternity together and never again have to experience the pain of goodbyes and separation.

The absence of sin. Do you ever wish you could just drop-kick the sin nature inside of you? There are times I would love to give it a crushing blow to the jaw and scare it away for good. Unfortunately its not that easy. The war against sin has to be fought daily for as long as I live. Imagine the freedom of living without the burden and struggle against sin. The very thought of it brings tears to my eyes and fills my heart with thankfulness. Someday the struggle will be over.

The presence of the Lord. All the other joys heaven holds pale in comparison to this one. One day I will stand in the presence of my Savior. One day I will see the Lamb of God "who takes away the sins of the world." One day I will see the scars that bear evidence to the great price He paid for my freedom. One day I will worship Him and sing His praise with a perfect voice, in a perfect body, in a perfect place. There will be no greater joy.

"Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." Jude 24-25

"Goodbye is not Forever"

Tonight I spoke on the phone with one of my dear friends. She and I spent nearly a year of our lives on a mission team together in Peru. We helped each other through some very difficult spiritual struggles and times of discouragement. And we also shared some hilarious times of laughter and adventure.

Tomorrow she leaves the United States to fly to Honduras and get married. Tomorrow she begins a whole new chapter of life.

Today I realized that it is very likely that we will not see one another again...until Heaven. What a bittersweet thought...but what a reunion that will be!




Te quiero un montón, Steph! Estoy orando para ti...nos vemos.

There's So Much to be Thankful For: Friends

Yesterday was a fourteen-hour work day...hence the lack of a thanksgiving post. (Let me clarify...I was still thankful, just not coherent enough to write) Sorry to any of you who were disappointed. :-)

Today I am thankful for my friends.

Correction, everyday I am thankful my friends.

There is almost no greater joy in life than that of true friendship.

In true friendship there is no pretending; they know you for who you really are, but the amazing thing is, they love you anyway.

True friends pray for you.

True friends encourage you.

True friends tell it to you like it is.

True friends are there to scream in excitement with you during times of joy, and to hug you in times of sorrow when there are simply no words.

True friendship does not end because of goodbyes, or distance, or time, or change.

To my true friends,
I love you, I thank God for you, and I rejoice that because of Christ, we will spend eternity together.