If I Die Before I Wake...

 It's been forever since I posted.

I used to write because it helped me think things through while my husband was deployed. I had every intention of blogging after he returned, but life over the last 8 years was strangely in the way.

Now we have the residue of the COVID pandemic and the looming U.S. presidential election this week shrieking that chaos will surely ensue. But I am at peace. 

My mission is the same: to make disciples of Christ Jesus my Lord. My security is the same: He has made a home for me in heaven with the Father through His death, burial, and resurrection.

So whether COVID, anarchists, or a freak car accident snuffs out my life from this planet, I am at peace with my Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, and Friend. There's that old prayer poem that says, "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep; If I shall die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take..." I wish the fear of present day for so many people could be replaced with the assurance God provides in His Son. Romans 10:13 reminds us, "For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Have you called on Him? 

Our Temporary Home

Since I last blogged, we have moved from Colorado to Mississippi to South Carolina and finally purchased our very first house. It was rather monumental, after occupying seventeen prior abodes during our marriage, that we should settle on one, but I think it was really born out of necessity. However, stick a fork in me: I'm done. Done with the moves, the job changes, the searching for a church home, the leaving parts of my heart with friends all over the country... DONE. So, I informed my beloved that he can move us again as soon as the house note is paid in full. Sounds reasonable, right?

Well, we've been here three years now, and I've reluctantly come to the conclusion that this is another temporary home. No, we aren't planning on moving (though I will follow my hubby should we have to go somewhere else), but this is not heaven.

The sadness and tragedy in the daily news, the never ending prayer requests for those with failing health, the day-to-day problems that I see no answer for... Nope, it's not my eternal home. But I still have responsibilities of praying, loving, serving, until all my work is completed. Maybe I can make a tiny difference until then, when I am finally changed into the "fixed" me and living with the Lord in the special place He's prepared for me. What a home that will be! Only truth, goodness, holiness, kindness, and love will abound. No more sadness, pain, darkness, hate. And no more mortgage payment or threat of moving, either.

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also." ~John 14:1-3