Are There Birthday Parties In Heaven?

In the eight years that have passed since I wrote this post I have been fighting cancer and dealing with the aftermath. Last year it reached a point when the doctor gave me 6 weeks to live. By the grace of God I’m still here, and will soon be writing about my journey with Him to reach this point of being cancer free.

Today is about a tribute to my brother, so I’m re-posting this post to honor his birthday. Today he would have been 58.

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April 13, 2010, my brother would have turned 50. April 3rd marked 13 years that he’s been celebrating his birthdays in Heaven. I thought of him when I woke up this morning, and asked God if the angels throw birthday parties in Heaven.

Since he’s not here, he missed hearing all the “over the hill” jokes our family and friends come up with for those occasions, and the “Big 5-0” party we would have had for him. Earthly birthday parties for the “Big” decade-marking ages like the
“Big 5-0” include such things as black candles and wax tombstones on the cake, and AARP jokes (at least mine did!).

My brother missed the fun of getting a t-shirt or mug with an “old guy” saying on it, being warned about not letting “all those candles” set the house on fire, and getting to read all the latest over-the-hill birthday cards addressed to him.

But he’s not really missing anything. I’m the one who’s missing him.

One of his favorite Gospel songs was “I’ll Fly Away“.

“Like a bird from prison bars has flown, I’ll fly away…”

And he did. Now he’s forever free from the prison of pain.

Whether he’s having a birthday party in Heaven or not, he is most definitely celebrating today. He is celebrating being in the presence of God, having eternal life, being healed and pain-free, and knowing that will never, ever end.

Another favorite song of his was “When We All Get To Heaven“, and his prayer was that he would see all of his family again in Heaven. As he grew weaker and closer to being called out of this world he spoke often of the words to that song.

“When we all get to Heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.
When we all see Jesus, we will sing and shout the victory.”

He is rejoicing, he is shouting Victory!

I miss my brother every day, and especially on his birthdays. Although I can’t celebrate it with him by giving him a big birthday party, I can celebrate knowing he’s in Heaven, and I will see him again someday.

What a party that will be!

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Memories of Mom – Priceless Moments, Eternal Lessons

Even though my Mom has been gone for decades now, I still remember her smile, her soft voice, the joy on her face as she sang in worship, her tenderness towards us, and her caring, unselfish nature.  I can still remember seeing her on her knees praying, rocking my baby brother, fixing a meal in the kitchen, and standing at the door when I came home from school. I remember her patience and tenderness as she brushed tangles out of my long hair, and how she calmed my fears when I woke up in the middle of the night from a bad dream.

My Mom died after an extended illness when I was six. She knew she was dying, but her kids didn’t. She was confined to bed at home until the last couple of days, but she would spend time with each of her kids every day. On her good days we could take our plates into her room and have a meal together, although she was unable to eat much herself. Any time spent with her was priceless, even if all I could do was sit and hold her hand while she coughed and struggled for her next breath.

It was hard for a “mommy’s girl” to see her beloved Mommy growing weaker every day, although she bravely put on a strong front when we kids were in her room.  She was a quiet natured woman with a sweet, humble personality.  That’s not just the opinion of a biased six-year-old, it’s what others have told me about her too.  It must have been hard to know she was dying and leaving her husband and children behind, as well as her own  mother and siblings.  She knew where she was going, so she wasn’t afraid of dying, and that was evident in the way she gracefully accepted her pending death. 

I remember various things she told me during those last days, but she taught me much more than her words could have expressed.  As an adult looking back on those last weeks with her, I’ve come to realize that my Mom taught me eternal lessons as she lived through her dying days. 

She taught me that when you belong to Jesus Christ you don’t have to worry about dying.  Death is temporary, life with Jesus is forever.

She taught me that when you trust Jesus you know He will take care of those you leave behind, and He will never forget the prayers you prayed for them on earth.

She taught me that His grace is sufficient, His mercy never fails, and regardless of what I’m going through He is always with me.

She taught me to believe His promises,  because He is faithful to His promises.

She taught me to look forward to Heaven, where there’s no pain, tears, or dying.

She lived out her faith gracefully until the end, even while suffering.

The end for her here was just the beginning for her in eternity, and I look forward to seeing her again in Heaven.

(Graphic is from www.timothyreport.com)

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Jesus Heals

“Is not God as willing to show the mercy of healing to His worshippers as He is to show the mercy of forgiveness to His enemies?” (Romans 8:32) – F.F. Bosworth in “Christ The Healer“

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Romans 8:32 NKJ

The Amplified Bible is often helpful for explaining the meaning of words in a passage (amplifying them):

“He who did not withhold or spare [even] His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all [other] things?” Romans 8:32 AMP

He sends forth His word and heals them and rescues them from the pit and destruction.
Psalm 107:20 AMP

Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul; and all that is [deepest] within me, bless His holy name!

Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul, and forget not [one of] all His benefits—

Who forgives [every one of] all your iniquities, Who heals [each one of] all your diseases,

Who redeems your life from the pit and corruption, Who beautifies, dignifies, and crowns you with loving-kindness and tender mercy;

Who satisfies your mouth [your necessity and desire at your personal age and situation] with good so that your youth, renewed, is like the eagle’s [strong, overcoming, soaring]! Psalm 103:1-5 AMP

There are many, many more Scriptures about healing, as well as many examples of healing in the Bible. There are also many books written about healing, but not all of them line up with Scripture. In my study on healing I’ve ran across several books that completely disregard what the Bible says about it. I’m currently reading “Christ The Healer” by F.F. Bosworth, as I’ve quoted above. I’m not finished with it yet, but my opinion about it so far is good. The book is mostly a compilation of Bosworth’s sermons, with some incredible and encouraging testimonials from people who were healed of various ailments and diseases, several which were life-threatening.

Have you read any good books on healing that are based on Scripture? If so, please share them in the comments.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Let There Be Light

This week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is light.

The hardest part of this week’s challenge for me was deciding which photos to use. I like the way different natural light sources capture a scene or moment, but I also like the twinkle or glow of artificial light sources. So I’ve included some of both.

A late-summer hike along a shaded trail was brightened by sunlight piercing through the branches of trees.

Sunlight brightened these colorful fall leaves the day before a storm blew them to the ground.

Painted scenes come to life on a wall with the use of black lights as the light source.

Strings of tiny lights draped around a Christmas tree transforms the ornaments into glowing decorations and lights up the whole tree.

Light reflecting off of shiny and glittery decorations dress up an ordinary mantle for Christmas.

Light was called ‘good’ when it was created, and our lives would be very different without it.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. Genesis 1:3-4

As much as I need the light from the sun though, there is another Light that I need even more, and I would not want to live without.

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12b

Jesus, the Light of the World, is a light source that never dims or darkens.

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“Take a look around you. Choose one of the light sources you see, and make it the focus of your challenge entry. .” Ben

More submissions to this week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Light

The candle “Light of the World” graphic is used with permission, and is one of 4 free Christmas graphics from The Timothy Report.

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What a wonderful illustration of what Easter is really about. Visit Unshakable Hope to read more of his blog.

Unshakable Hope

Sweating drops of blood, in anguish I prayed,

While friends sleep in the cool of the night’s shade,

 

A crowd, a commotion; with a kiss I am betrayed,

Scorn and ridicule; with a crown of thorns and a royal robe I am arrayed,

 

With the shards of a crude whip my body is beaten and flayed,

“CRUCIFY HIM” came the verdict of the angry brigade,

Hands and feet nailed to a cross, as a trophy I was displayed,

“It is finished!” In a dark tomb my body was laid,

 

Hell and death defeated; for you the price of sin I paid!

“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

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The Gift Of Christmas

The Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as this truth of the Incarnation. J.I. Packer

You can never truly enjoy Christmas until you can look up into the Father’s face and tell him you have received his Christmas gift. John R. Rice

Christmas is based on an exchange of gifts, the gift of God to man – His unspeakable gift of His Son, and the gift of man to God – when we present our bodies a living sacrifice. Vance Havner

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Where Is Jesus In The Christmas Frenzy?

‘Tis the season to ask this question…

Weekly Photo Challenge: Happy

This week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is to “Share (many) pictures in a gallery which mean HAPPY to you!”

I haven’t experimented with using the gallery feature, so this is a good challenge for me to try a new (to me) WordPress feature. Creating the gallery was easy, choosing only 9 photos for this one was the hard part!

Among the things that mean happy to me are celebrating the birth of Christ at Christmas, and enjoying God’s beautiful creation by walking nature trails or visiting waterfalls. We found the Cross and “Thank You” carved into a large stone on a nature trail. The Poinsettia and candle scene was a table decoration at a family Christmas dinner; the small waterfall with the goldfish pond was manmade, but the other waterfalls are natural.

Click on any picture for a larger view or a slide show of the pictures.

More submissions to this week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Happy

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Through

Each Friday Sara Rosso posts the WordPress weekly photo challenges; here is what she said about this week’s challenge:

“Through. Often framing your photo’s composition through something else is the best thing you could do to it. It gives the viewer even more context into what your eye saw in that moment in time. Sometimes it modifies the entire tone or meaning of the photo.”

I’ve been thinking about the concept of through quite a bit lately in terms of this phase of my life. I’m currently going through a battle with cancer, and that can modify the entire tone or meaning of how I view things. Sometimes my view is through the frame of pain, other times it’s through the frustration of treatments, or through exhaustion from losing sleep, or through just being tired of dealing with all the cancer-related issues, day in and day out.

When I look through something to take a photo, I’m only capturing that scene from one angle, and if I shift my focus even a little to the right or left the scene will change. I’ve learned that it’s the same way with going through the battle with cancer. If I shift my focus from the pain, frustration, exhaustion, or day-to-day issues of dealing with cancer to a different subject, I can see my life from another angle.

I’m going through a battle with cancer, but I must choose not to focus only on the view from the battlefield, as one who has no hope. I choose to put my hope in Jesus Christ, and to believe that He will bring me through the cancer battle, and even bless me along the way. Every day I have to choose to frame my view through His word:

Philippians 4:13 tells us, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Psalm 41:1-3 says, “Blessed is he who considers the poor; The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive, And he will be blessed on the earth; You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him on his bed of illness; You will sustain him on his sickbed.”

Psalm 34:7-9 reminds us, “The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him.”

This week’s photo challenge took me through my thoughts and feelings about dealing with cancer. As others faced with cancer have said, cancer is something that happened to me, it’s not who I am. Photography is one of the ways I take my mind off of the ugliness of cancer, by focusing on the beauty of God’s creation, amusing subjects, or unusual sights and scenes.

One of my favorite ways to take photographs is by looking through something to capture a view, or to better focus on my subject or scene. I realized just how often I do that when I browsed through my albums to choose photos for this week’s challenge of through.

The first three photos are different views from a lookout point on top of a steep hill. This view shows a valley of trees from through the window openings on one side, and the view of part of the hilltop from through the back doorway.

The next view is looking out through the back doorway, showing the narrow, flat hilltop, and the trees beyond it.

The third view is from the bottom of the steep hill, with the blue sky showing through the openings of the lookout building.

There is light at the end of the tunnel! You can see through the darkness of the tunnel to the sun shining on a hillside strewn with fall leaves. I love the analogy of this one, especially in relation to my battle with cancer.

The weathered tree in this photo is dead, and actually looks like a piece of driftwood growing out of the ground. But it’s shape reminds me of a sewing machine needle with an “eye” at the top. A close up shot enabled me to capture some of the grass and weeds showing through the eye hole.

This spider was busy repairing his web when I snapped this photo of him through the web as he worked on the underside of it on a foggy morning.

The view through this sunny window has made this photo, taken by my husband, one of our favorites.

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Giving Thanks

For the power Thou hast given me to lay hold of things unseen:

For the strong sense I have that this is not my home:

For my restless heart which nothing finite can satisfy:

I give Thee thanks, O God.

For the invasion of my soul by Thy Holy Spirit:

For all human love and goodness that speak to me of Thee:

For the fullness of Thy glory outpoured in Jesus Christ:

I give Thee thanks, O God.

~ John Baillie

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