My God is My Refuge
How am I so sure the next life is really any "better?"
I am not someone who has had a boatload of family support in my life. My life actually would make a rather good soap opera, if you ask me! But...because of this extreme amount of trouble and travail, I have often been brought to my knees in suffering. And THAT is exactly where I found The Lord Jesus! ...in and through my earthly suffering.
People wonder how I can have such a strong belief that my deceased children are truly "OK." I cannot understand how they cannot see it otherwise! It's THIS life where the enemy does his dirty work...NOT the next life! I cannot recall, at ANY time --reading anything-- that depicted or portrayed the afterlife of a Believer (or young innocent) as anything but wonderful! No ifs, ands or "but....s" about it...Heaven is a state of perfect peace.
But that doesn't mean we'll have no "oomph" left in us when we finally "get promoted"...! We will be who we have always been meant to be from the get-go...from our mother's womb...from when God fashioned us at the very first. Before dysfunctional family rearing shaped (more like warped) some of us...before any number of evils that exist "here" invaded our little angel-like body...making it sometimes difficult to do something even as basic as to "trust."
Nothing's impossible with Him and that has been proven over and over, in my life. If I hadn't known trouble--I would not have had the amount of "on my knees and being gently lifted up under my arms" experiences, that have cemented my Faith in Jesus' saving abilities. And keeping of promises. Number one of which, to us bereaved Moms, is that our child is now with Jesus, joyful beyond our wildest dreams, in Paradise. Amen to that!
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."
James 1 vs. 2, 3 (NIV)