This past week I lost my best friend.
She put up a valiant fight with cancer.
Her life was entrusted to her Savior Jesus Christ when she learned that this disease had returned.
She gave her life to Christ and leaned on Him for strength and the direction she was to go.
In the last 3 years of her life, she never confessed defeat to the enemy.
She always spoke of winning this battle.
This positive outlook extended her life to complete what needed to be done.
It gave her the time to see her son mature and live successfully on his own.
She can be proud of that accomplishment.
She used her last remaining years for God's glory.
She found the importance of witnessing to others who were also afflicted with cancer.
No telling how many lives she affected for God's will in their own lives.
Sharon was greatly loved by all who knew her.
She always had room in her home for whoever needed a place to crash.
She always cooked as if an army would show up.
No one ever went hungry in her home.
It was a safe haven.
I am going to miss her greatly, but my heart takes comfort in knowing that she has reached her final destination.
I know because I was there when she accepted the Lord.
I admired her great faith in believing in health and wholeness through Christ.
I attended her veiwing this past week.
Her body lay in a coffin, which is not her final destination.
This body which now looked so fragile, was a mere shell of who she now is.
The Word of God tells us when we are redeemed in the blood of Jesus, death is to be absent from our earthly bodies, and to be present with the Lord.
As a believer in Christ, I can celebrate her life because she has reached her destination in glory.
This world is not our home, we are but aliens passing through.
She lives because she handled her life with care.
She was a child of God's.
I made a plaque in her honor and placed it in her coffin.
I wanted it to bring comfort to those who otherwise may not have realized that this body was no longer my life long friend.
It was merely the shell that housed her soul and spirit.
As a Christian, another fellow believer's death should be a celebration, not a time to mourn.
Here is a copy of the poem that displayed a picture of her in life.
"Miss Me...
But Let Me Go" When I come to the end of the road, and the sun has set for me, I want no rites in a gloom filled room.
Why cry for a soul set free? Miss me a little while...
but not too long, and not with head bowed low.
Remember the love that we once shared, miss me...
but let me go.
For this is a journey that we all must take, and each must go alone.
It's all part of the Master's Plan, a step on the road to home.
When you are lonely and sick at heart, go to friends we know, and bury your sorrows in doing good deeds.
Miss me...
but let me go.
" Author unknown.
This poem was requested by her family members.
It is a reminder that her life is one to be celebrated because she now has fulfilled her destiny here on earth according to God's will for her life.
How can we be sure there is a heaven? Because Christ tells us so.
If you believe in any part of the Bible, it all must be taken into account as truth.
Every word of Scripture is God breathed.
It was written by man, but inspired by God Himself.
So know that heaven is real, as is hell.
"In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
" John 14:2,3 These "dwelling places" that Christ speaks of, are literal rooms, or even apartments in the modern sense.
It is to a believers advantage that Christ left us in His body.
As a result, He sent the Holy Spirit to live in us.
This Holy Spirit indwells in a believer's heart.
He is known as the "Comforter, Helper, or Paraclete" He guides into all truth, otherwise known as our conscience.
When Christ returns in the Rapture, the dead in Him will rise first.
Those who are still alive will be caught up in the air.
Heaven will be our destination for the duration until Christ returns the second time in glory and power to destroy all wickedness from the earth once and for all.
"For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.
" Philippians 4:20,21 All born again believers are citizens of heaven.
This earth is not our home.
This is why Christ prepared a place for us.
Our names are registered in the Lamb's Book of Life(Lk.
10:20) and our inheritance awaits us.
(1 Pt.
1:4) God designed heaven for all who believe in His Son Christ.
He rewards His children of the Light to be partakers of all His glory and riches according to His Son.
God has saved the best for last and through eternity.
As we travel this raod called life we must handle it with the utmost care, because we belong to Christ Jesus.
Death for the believer is no longer the end.
This marks the beginning and the wonderful citizenship we have in heaven.
Death for the believer no longer has a sting.
Because of Christ, we have conquored death.
The victory is ours! Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes in his later years.
This is a book of wisdom to the truths of life for all mankind.
He tested God and came to the conclusion that all is futile unless God is present in one's life.
In fact, a life lived carelessly without God's presence will never know the peace and comfort of a life meant for eternity in heaven.
Death is something regarded with great fear and anxiety.
Solomon expresses man's fear of death as one who is falling and is terrified of the unknown.
"Furthermore, men are afraid of a high place and of terrors in the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags himself along, and caperberry is ineffective.
For man goes to his eternal home while mourners go about in the street.
" Ecclesiates 12:5 What he is essentially saying is, don't let the fear of the unknown lay claim to your soul.
If you hear the good news of the gospel, accept it while you still can.
In the next few verses he gives the images of death for the lost.
It's not a pretty image.
"Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the cistern is crushed; then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, all is vanity!" Ecclesiastes 12:6-8 This portrays death as tragic and irreversible.
His descriptions of death as "broken, crushed, and shattered"all describe a life that as not handled with care.
If you have not yet given or fragile life to Christ, don't wait another second.
Confess your sins and ask Him to forgive you.
Confess from your heart that you believe that Christ lived, died and rose again to redeem you.
Claim Him as your Lord and Savior over your life.
Thank the heavenly Father in Jesus' name.
Now start living and loving Him with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind.
Get into His Word! If you know God, you will know peace.
If you have no God, you will have no peace.
All Scripture taken from the MacArthur Study Bible.
She put up a valiant fight with cancer.
Her life was entrusted to her Savior Jesus Christ when she learned that this disease had returned.
She gave her life to Christ and leaned on Him for strength and the direction she was to go.
In the last 3 years of her life, she never confessed defeat to the enemy.
She always spoke of winning this battle.
This positive outlook extended her life to complete what needed to be done.
It gave her the time to see her son mature and live successfully on his own.
She can be proud of that accomplishment.
She used her last remaining years for God's glory.
She found the importance of witnessing to others who were also afflicted with cancer.
No telling how many lives she affected for God's will in their own lives.
Sharon was greatly loved by all who knew her.
She always had room in her home for whoever needed a place to crash.
She always cooked as if an army would show up.
No one ever went hungry in her home.
It was a safe haven.
I am going to miss her greatly, but my heart takes comfort in knowing that she has reached her final destination.
I know because I was there when she accepted the Lord.
I admired her great faith in believing in health and wholeness through Christ.
I attended her veiwing this past week.
Her body lay in a coffin, which is not her final destination.
This body which now looked so fragile, was a mere shell of who she now is.
The Word of God tells us when we are redeemed in the blood of Jesus, death is to be absent from our earthly bodies, and to be present with the Lord.
As a believer in Christ, I can celebrate her life because she has reached her destination in glory.
This world is not our home, we are but aliens passing through.
She lives because she handled her life with care.
She was a child of God's.
I made a plaque in her honor and placed it in her coffin.
I wanted it to bring comfort to those who otherwise may not have realized that this body was no longer my life long friend.
It was merely the shell that housed her soul and spirit.
As a Christian, another fellow believer's death should be a celebration, not a time to mourn.
Here is a copy of the poem that displayed a picture of her in life.
"Miss Me...
But Let Me Go" When I come to the end of the road, and the sun has set for me, I want no rites in a gloom filled room.
Why cry for a soul set free? Miss me a little while...
but not too long, and not with head bowed low.
Remember the love that we once shared, miss me...
but let me go.
For this is a journey that we all must take, and each must go alone.
It's all part of the Master's Plan, a step on the road to home.
When you are lonely and sick at heart, go to friends we know, and bury your sorrows in doing good deeds.
Miss me...
but let me go.
" Author unknown.
This poem was requested by her family members.
It is a reminder that her life is one to be celebrated because she now has fulfilled her destiny here on earth according to God's will for her life.
How can we be sure there is a heaven? Because Christ tells us so.
If you believe in any part of the Bible, it all must be taken into account as truth.
Every word of Scripture is God breathed.
It was written by man, but inspired by God Himself.
So know that heaven is real, as is hell.
"In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
" John 14:2,3 These "dwelling places" that Christ speaks of, are literal rooms, or even apartments in the modern sense.
It is to a believers advantage that Christ left us in His body.
As a result, He sent the Holy Spirit to live in us.
This Holy Spirit indwells in a believer's heart.
He is known as the "Comforter, Helper, or Paraclete" He guides into all truth, otherwise known as our conscience.
When Christ returns in the Rapture, the dead in Him will rise first.
Those who are still alive will be caught up in the air.
Heaven will be our destination for the duration until Christ returns the second time in glory and power to destroy all wickedness from the earth once and for all.
"For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.
" Philippians 4:20,21 All born again believers are citizens of heaven.
This earth is not our home.
This is why Christ prepared a place for us.
Our names are registered in the Lamb's Book of Life(Lk.
10:20) and our inheritance awaits us.
(1 Pt.
1:4) God designed heaven for all who believe in His Son Christ.
He rewards His children of the Light to be partakers of all His glory and riches according to His Son.
God has saved the best for last and through eternity.
As we travel this raod called life we must handle it with the utmost care, because we belong to Christ Jesus.
Death for the believer is no longer the end.
This marks the beginning and the wonderful citizenship we have in heaven.
Death for the believer no longer has a sting.
Because of Christ, we have conquored death.
The victory is ours! Solomon wrote the book of Ecclesiastes in his later years.
This is a book of wisdom to the truths of life for all mankind.
He tested God and came to the conclusion that all is futile unless God is present in one's life.
In fact, a life lived carelessly without God's presence will never know the peace and comfort of a life meant for eternity in heaven.
Death is something regarded with great fear and anxiety.
Solomon expresses man's fear of death as one who is falling and is terrified of the unknown.
"Furthermore, men are afraid of a high place and of terrors in the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags himself along, and caperberry is ineffective.
For man goes to his eternal home while mourners go about in the street.
" Ecclesiates 12:5 What he is essentially saying is, don't let the fear of the unknown lay claim to your soul.
If you hear the good news of the gospel, accept it while you still can.
In the next few verses he gives the images of death for the lost.
It's not a pretty image.
"Remember Him before the silver cord is broken and the golden bowl is crushed, the pitcher by the well is shattered and the cistern is crushed; then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, all is vanity!" Ecclesiastes 12:6-8 This portrays death as tragic and irreversible.
His descriptions of death as "broken, crushed, and shattered"all describe a life that as not handled with care.
If you have not yet given or fragile life to Christ, don't wait another second.
Confess your sins and ask Him to forgive you.
Confess from your heart that you believe that Christ lived, died and rose again to redeem you.
Claim Him as your Lord and Savior over your life.
Thank the heavenly Father in Jesus' name.
Now start living and loving Him with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind.
Get into His Word! If you know God, you will know peace.
If you have no God, you will have no peace.
All Scripture taken from the MacArthur Study Bible.