Monday, April 2, 2012

Grammy Sue is home!

I have had a simply wonderful day! But even my wonderful day can’t compare with the day that my dear friend and surrogate grandmother, Grammy Sue, had. You see, today was her first day in heaven! She arrived there last evening, just at the moment that her Father decided her tired old heart had finished its job and it was time for her to come home. It was the moment she’d been anticipating for years. And who can say but that her Savior hadn’t been looking forward to it too?

All throughout the day today, as I’ve puttered around the house, cooking and tidying up and making phone calls, I kept wondering what she was doing today. What must it be like to really and truly SEE the Lord Jesus? To realize just how much He loves you, and has loved you through the years? To be right there with Him, and know that never again can time and space separate you from His physical presence? To realize the grace with which He has watched you live your life on earth, the mercy that He has shown to you? Can you imagine what it is to realize that you no longer are a sinner at heart, and that you will never again do anything that will cause anyone pain or regret?

I wonder if Grammy Sue keeps having to remind herself that no, this isn’t just a dream, and she won’t have to wake up to “real life” after all? Nor is it a beautiful vacation from which she’ll have to return “home.” Because for her, heaven is home, and home in a deeper way than any other place has ever been for her. And this is life, eternal life, life which has nothing whatsoever to do with death.

Grammy Sue was someone who never got over the fact that Jesus Christ loved her and died because of her sins. Nor did she forget the hope of eternal life embodied in His resurrection. She could vividly remember the time in her life before she believed in Christ, when she was headed, not for heaven, but for hell. And the joy she had in being saved was evident by her eagerness to share Christ with any who would listen. Not only that, but she labored in her prayers for them, and for scores of her brothers and sisters in Christ. She used to pray for me every day—and now that she’s gone, I can’t help but feel the loss. There are many Christians who know more than she did, who have done more “impressive” things for God, who have read more books and heard more sermons. But there are few who have loved with such warmth and prayed with such faithfulness.

I’m so glad you’re home now, Grammy Sue! And I pray for the help of God to help fill the hole you’ve left behind, to be one of the pray-ers and lovers that this hurting world needs. For as much as I’d love to be there with you now, there are still so many who need to hear of God’s love and sacrifice for them—and it’s worth staying here a while longer to be able to tell them, so that all who believe “should not perish, but have eternal life” in that home that you’re just beginning to explore!

Death?—

Christ said not death;

He called it sleep;

A vast awaking,

A new day breaking,

A bright way taking,

With visions deep.

Tears?—

Christ said not tears;

He said, “Weep not!”

The body dying;

The still form lying;

Then soul upflying,

And grief forgot.

Loss?—Christ said not loss;

He spoke of gain,

In light diurnal,

In worlds all vernal,

In joy eternal,

With no more pain.

End?—

Christ said not end;

He promised life;

The last word spoken,

A parting token,

Sweet love unbroken,

And ended strife.

Dust?—

Christ said not dust;

He called it this—

A tender yearning,

A quick upturning,

A Face discerning

And endless bliss.

--H. W. Frost

2 comments:

  1. Beautiful post Rachel! This really helps one enter into the hope of the resurrection.

    "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." 1 Thes 4:13

    Ken Good

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  2. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. :) Wish you could have met Grammy Sue--but one day you will!

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