Life goes on

Life goes on ... I realize that more & more the older I get. Life does go on. Our friend Arlene went to heaven yesterday and those who are still here remember the pain that came with the news of her passing. But we keep on breathing and going and doing just as we did while she was with us. There's some numbness when I think of her leaving, there always is when a loved one dies. But it will pass. It has before and it will again.

I first learned this lesson when my sister died in 1957. I was 10 years old and Janice was 4. Just a baby really. Why her and not me? I wondered back then. Life went on. I lived and grew up and she didn't. My parents buried a 4 year old, blond-haired little girl and they had to go on because they had other children to raise. I can't imagine the pain they endured. I can't.

I learned it again when my Grandmother died. She lived to be an old woman, she died, and life went on.

The hardest was when I knew my Dad was dying. I found myself wondering how I would get through it when it came his time to leave this earth. God prepared me months ahead of that time and I am so thankful He did. I cried more before his death than I did afterward. I was grieving while he was still with us. But it was all in preparation for later. The Lord allowed me to know I would be with him when he passed and I considered that a great honor. He was there when I was born and when Dad died at age 79, I was with him as he left. And life went on.

If the Lord wills, my husband and I will pick up my Mom tomorrow afternoon and go to pay our respects to Arlene and her family. We will give hugs and handshakes to people we've known for years. We will talk of Arlene's life and ministry and will be thankful because we know where she's gone. And if the Lord wills, we'll come home and do what needs to be done here. And life will go on .... until it's our time to die.

And then, praise the Lord above, LIFE will still go on! You see, it never, ever really ends. We were born with the seed of eternal life within us. Where we spend it is the most important decision we'll ever make.

If you're reading this and you've never accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord; if you've never realized you need a Savior and haven't repented of your sins, would you do that now? There are only two places we can go when we leave here ... heaven or hell. We know the choice Arlene made years ago and she's rejoicing in heaven as I write this.

Heaven and hell are real. The choice is ours to make because life does go on.

Isaiah 55:6

Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.